ELIZABETHTOWN - While the East Bladen Eagles rolled up a huge advantage in the offensive statistics department Friday night, they had a much tougher time dominating the scoreboard as they managed to pull out a 22-14 non-conference football victory over the visiting Whiteville Wolfpack.

East Bladen broke a 14-14 tie with a touchdown with 4 minutes, 30 seconds remaining in the game.

The loss put the Wolfpack’s season record at 1-1. The win gave East Bladen a 1-0 mark.

East Bladen, which last season advanced to the state 1AA Eastern finals and finished with a 13-1 record, piled up 404 yards of total offense while holding Whiteville to a mere 149 total yards.

The Whiteville defense came up with two fumble recoveries and a pass interception.

The only points of the first half came on the final play of the period when quarterback Jahreal Cromartie connected with Maliek Cromartie for a 15-yard scoring pass.

Cromartie was hit at the one-yard line after making the catch and appeared to be stopped just shy of the goal, but officials ruled he had broken the plane for the score and a 6-0 halftime lead. The kicking try for the extra point was blocked.

East Bladen extended its lead to 14-0 in the third quarter when T.J. Melvin broke loose for a 45-yard touchdown run with 7 minutes, 46 seconds left in the period.

Coach Mark Little’s Whiteville squad got its first touchdown off a scoring drive later in the third quarter with senior back Jarrod McKinney. Zack Stanley kicked the extra point.

In the opening minutes of the fourth period, the Wolfpack drove for a game-tying touchdown with the help of a couple of major penalties against the Eagle defense.

McKinney again scored from three yards out and Stanley’s point-after kick made the score 14-all with 9:30 left in the game.

A illegal blocking call against the WHS defense helped keep alive East Bladen’s game-deciding scoring drive. Melvin got the touchdown on a two-yard run and the Eagles added a two-point conversion run after Whiteville was assessed with a roughing the kicker penalty after blocking the PAT attempt.

Coach Lenon Fisher’s East Bladen squad secured the win by intercepting a WHS pass at its own 20-yard line in the game’s final minutes.

McKinney rushed for 94 yards on 17 carries for Whiteville. Jahrael Cromartie ran for 158 yards on 20 carries and Mevin had 105 yards on 17 carries for East Bladen.

“East Bladen has lot of quickness ... a lot of good athletes,” Little said. “We had trouble trying to stop their running game and that was the difference,

“Our guys gave a good effort, but we’ve just got to get better at stopping people.”

Whiteville will open its home schedule this Friday night when it plays host to the Red Springs Red Devils at 7:30 p.m. Red Springs slipped to 0-2 with a 36-6 loss to Lakewood Friday.

In the Whiteville-East Bladen junior varsity game, played Thursday at Whiteville, Whiteville took a 22-8 win.

EB - Maliek Cromartie 15 pass from Jahreal Cromartie (kick block).
EB - T.J. Melvin 45 run (J. Cromartie run).
W - Jarrod McKinney 3 run (Zack Stanley kick).
W - McKinney 3 run (Stanley kick).
EB - Melvin 2 run (J. Cromartie run.