Stallions, Pack to clash
in regular-season finale
Whiteville running back Jarrod McKinney
South Columbus linebacker Andrae Jacobs
By DAN BISER
Sports Editor
Through 10 games, very little has stood in the way of the 2007 South Columbus High School football juggernaut.
Coach Joey Price’s Stallions have rolled up 438 points while allowing only 42. They have trailed an opponent only once and have yielded a total of two touchdowns (both against Pender) in first-half play the entire season. The majority of their games have been well in hand at halftime.
The Stallions, ranked No. 4 among the state’s 2A teams, will take their 10-0 record to Whiteville’s Legion Stadium Friday night intent on wrapping up the outright Waccamaw Conference championship as well as a high seeding in the upcoming state 2A playoffs. Gametime is 7:30.
Whiteville, which defeated South Columbus 21-15 last season for the conference championship, is out of the title picture this year, but hopes to give the Stallions their stiffest test to date in the annual WHS Senior Night game. The evening will also include the recognition of the 1987 state 2A champion WHS team, which will be holding is 20th anniversary reunion (see related story).
While Whiteville saw many of its key players from last season, especially on defense, lost to graduation, South Columbus has returned virtually intact this fall.
Whiteville suffered its third conference loss of the season last Friday, bowing to North Brunswick 42-32 after holding a 32-28 lead with less than 40 seconds left in the game.
South Columbus coasted to a 46-0 victory over Trask last Friday, The Stallions held a 33-0 halftime advantage while posting its sixth shutout of the season.
“South Columbus has a lot of talent and a lot of experience,” said Whiteville High School head coach Mark Little. “If they have a weakness, they certainly haven’t shown it. They are going to be a very tough team for anybody to beat.”
Whiteville welcomed the return of running back Jarrod McKinney last week after he missed six games with a knee injury. McKinney rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s loss to North Brunswick.
“It was a tough loss last week,” Little said. “We had played well enough to win, but gave up a big play at the end.”
Without McKinney, the WHS running game had suffered through several bouts of inconsistency, and his talents will be essential when going against the Stallions.
“McKinney does a whole lot for their offense,” said SCHS head coach Joey Price, whose Stallions had reeled off 11 straight wins over the Wolfpack before losing in last year’s conference title game. “He’s an impressive runner.”
McKinney ran for the first two touchdowns in last year’s win over the Stallions. The winning points came on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Harrison Jordan to Alex Royal in the game’s final minute.
Both Jordan and Royal are now at Campbell University, where they are on the roster of the Camel football which will inaugurate its first season next fall.
Senior linebackers Josh Lennon and George Spearman lead the Whiteville defense along with senior defensive back David Mosley.
South Columbus has several players it relies on to carry the football, mainly senior Justin Smith and junior Rashawn Grate. Smith rushed for 208 yards in the Stallions’ recent comeback win over Pender, and Grate carried for 199 yards on only eight carries in last week’s victory over Trask.
Buster James, Dominique Betts, Dakota Piver, Kevin Clay, Antron Bowman and Andrae Jacobs are other ball carriers Price can readily count on. Jacobs, who heads the defense from his middle linebacker spot, scored both SCHS touchdowns in last year’s game.
Junior quarterback Justin Duncan has the size and the arm that give the Stallions an efficient passing game with Piver as his favorite receiver.
Steven Beck, a 265-pound leader in the Stallions’ offensive line, sustained a knee injury in the win over South Brunswick and continues to be sidelined.
“He could be back in three weeks,” said Price, referring to the fact that the Stallions might still be in the playoffs at that juncture.
Jacobs, Piver, T.J. Richardson, Donovan Watts, Lee Hemingway and Jonathan Buffkin head up possibly the staunchest defensive unit ever assembled at SCHS.
Price’s Stallions have lost only five conference games since he became SCHS head coach in 1997, and only two of those losses have come in the past eight seasons.
Whiteville’s last win over South Columbus at Legion Stadium came in 1994 by a 37-16 score. Price was an assistant coach at Whiteville that year, and he moved to South Columbus the following year to serve on Jack Holley’s coaching staff.