Conference football action now in full swing

South Columbus back Dominique Betts carries the football in last Friday’s 33-15 victory over visiting Wallace-Rose Hill.

Staff photo by Mark Gilchrist

By DAN BISER
Sports Editor

For the first time since August, the unbeaten South Columbus Stallions will play on the road when they visit the East Columbus Gators Friday night in a Waccamaw 1A-2A Conference football game.

South Columbus, whose last four games were all played on its Civitan Stadium turf, will be out to gain its seventh straight victory as well as its second conference win against the Gators.

In Friday’s other Waccamaw Conference games, the defending champion Whiteville Wolfpack will try to bounce back from last week’s devastating home loss to Pender when it travels to take on the unbeaten South Brunswick Cougars, and Pender will be out for its third straight conference win when it plays host to North Brunswick. Trask will entertain Fairmont in a non-conference game.

In the Southeastern 1A-2A Conference, West Columbus or Red Springs will claim a first victory of the season when the two squads collide at the WCHS homecoming.

Other Southeastern Conference games will have defending champion East Bladen at South Robeson, St. Pauls at West Bladen and Fairmont’s non-conference meeting with Trask.

All games are scheduled to begin at 7:30.

S. Columbus (1-0, 6-0)
E. Columbus (0-2, 4-3)

South Columbus has won all 16 of its previous football meetings with the Gators and will again be the heavy favorite Friday.

In all six of its games so far, South Columbus had been able to get on the scoreboard early and its defense has been a dominating factor. Through six games, the Stallions have yet to yield a point in the first half, and all 28 of the points they have given up have come after they have gained at least a three-touchdown lead.

East Columbus is now 0-2 in Waccamaw Conference play after posting an impressive 4-1 non-conference record.

South Columbus opened Waccamaw Conference play two weeks ago by bouncing North Brunswick 47-6 and topped non-conference rival Wallace-Rose Hill 33-15 last week.

East Columbus has suffered back-to-back conference losses Whiteville (39-7) and North Brunswick (42-6).

In their 16 previous games (including two in 1992), the Stallions have recorded 10 shutouts over the Gators. In the other six contests, East Columbus was held to a single touchdown. East Columbus has been held to a total of two touchdowns against the Stallions since 1998.

East Columbus has held the lead only one time in the series and that was in 1995 when it took a 7-6 halftime advantage before falling 24-7.

Although South Columbus has long dominated East Columbus, Price has never allowed his squad to look past the Gators.
“You can’t show up and not be ready to play a team like East Columbus,” Price said. “They’ve had a slow start in the conference, but this is a much better football team than they’ve had in recent years. They have good athletes and their running game has been effective this year.”

Third-year head coach Travis Conner said that his Gators not only have to go up against one of the best 2A teams in the state Friday night, but also a program with a solid winning tradition in football.

“There’s been a longtime commitment to the football program at South Columbus, and that is just something that we’re still working hard on building,” said Conner, whose squad has been hit by injuries to several key players the past two weeks.
South Columbus got a strong running performance from backs Justin Smith, Rashawn Grate and Dominique Betts in South Columbus’ first-ever football victory over Wallace-Rose Hill.

Andrae Jacobs, T.J. Richardson, Dakota Piver, Donovan Watts and Lee Hemingway head up the SCHS defense.

South Columbus has won eight of the last 11 Waccamaw Conference championships.

East Columbus, carrying one of its best mid-season records, is led by senior quarterback Alex Williamson, who has bounced back from a knee injury in recent weeks. Jay Graham, B.J. Bracey and Fred Blanks join Williamson in the Gator running attack.

Whiteville (1-1, 5-2) at
S. Brunswick (1-0, 5-0)

South Brunswick is off to one of it best starts ever and took a surprisingly easy 41-7 road victory over Trask in its conference opener last Friday.

Whiteville had allowed only one touchdown in the its last four games leading into last week’s game with Pender, but the Patriots dismantled the Whiteville defense, taking a 38-6 victory while completely shutting WHS down in the second half. It was Pender’s first-ever football win over Whiteville.

Whiteville has won its last six games with South Brunswick (including a 28-7 victory last season) and holds a 21-5 edge in the rivalry that began in 1981.

South Brunswick, under third-year head coach Gordon Walters, has a strong running game and the Cougars accounted for more than 400 yards of total offense against Trask.

“This is the best South Brunswick team I have ever seen,” WHS head coach Mark Little said. “They have good team speed and get around the ball well on defense. Coach Walters has done a great job with that group.”

Whiteville committed five turnovers against Pender. One was inside the Pender 10 and the other inside the Pender 20 and a touchdown on either would have probably given the Pack the halftime lead.

Pender put together three long, steady scoring drives that wore down the WHS defense.

In order to bounce back this Friday, the WHS offense will need to step up its offensive production. Senior quarterback Ben Deans, senior running back Tyson Wilcox and senior receiver Nur Abdullah are again called on to carry a bulk of the load.

Seniors Josh Lennon and George Spearman head the WHS defense.

Mark Little hopes his team can come out with stronger showings than in its last two games at South Brunswick. In both 2004 and 2005, Whiteville managed to pull out wins of 21-14 and 14-7 over the Cougars, but both turned into error-filled, lackluster performances by the Wolfpack.

Red Springs (0-1, 0-6)
W. Columbus (0-2, 0-7)

Just two years ago, this was one of the most spectacular games in Southeastern North Carolina as West Columbus rallied to a 26-24 win that boosted it toward a runnerup finish in the Southeastern Conference standings.

Now, both teams are trying to endure uphill battles in the conference.

West Columbus fell victim to West Bladen 28-0 last week while Red Springs welcomed an open date.

The Vikings have played the last three weeks without standout back Travis Leggett. Leggett, a four-year starter on both offense and defense has suffered injuries to both ankles, but Viking head coach Vernon Brigman said that the Viking senior will probably be back in action Friday.

It will be Homecoming at West Columbus Friday, and the Vikings have usually played well during their homecoming games.
“Both teams really need a win,” Brigman said. “Our kids are working as hard as ever so it will be good for us to go out and get one this week.”

West Columbus put up a strong challenge against Whiteville before losing 7-0 in a non-conference game, but a week later the Vikings fell hard to South Columbus 52-0.

Red Springs, coached by Tabor City native Clay Jernigan, came into the season very young and inexperienced. In their last outing, they fell to South Robeson 34-20. The Red Devils defeated West Columbus 39-20 in last year’s meeting at Red Springs.

“Our biggest concern with Red Springs is their team speed,” Brigman said. “They have a couple of backs who can fly.”