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McLEANSVILLE - It was a night of chills and thrills at Bill Bookout Stadium in a 28-14 Western Alamance victory that was sure to stoke the rivalry with Northeast Guilford.

A surprise onside kick. A halfback option pass for a TD. A quarterback persevering on one good leg, driving his team on a 17-play scoring drive. And on and on.

Then came the chilly postgame exchange between coaches after Western Alamance (8-0 overall, 3-0 Triad 3-A) chose a play-action pass over a kneel-down while protecting a touchdown lead in the final two minutes.

The second-and-six pass from Northeast's 29 with 1:40 left - with the Rams out of timeouts - put the game away. Northeast (5-2, 1-1) had loaded defenders in the box, leaving slot receiver Kenneth Lindsay uncovered. Quarterback Donald Britt hit Lindsay for the easy score.

Northeast coach Tommy Pursley lit into Warriors coach Hal Capps and his staff afterward, calling it a "low-class" play call.

"That last touchdown was 100 percent, completely unnecessary," Pursley said. "Kneel twice and the game's over."

Capps disagreed, noting that Northeast would have gotten the ball back had Britt taken a knee.

"If I take a knee, that's 25 seconds," Capps said. "If I take another knee, that's 25 seconds. Now they've got 50 seconds. I can't down that ball. Then he decided not to cover the receivers."

Capps, who has led his team to three straight state title games, apparently thought it was third down, not second, which might have made a difference in his late-game strategy. Either way, he shouldn't be expecting a Christmas card from the Pursley household this year.

Pursley started a freshman at quarterback in last week's victory at Southern Alamance after veteran Kendall Bratcher suffered a sprained left knee to go along with a high ankle sprain, and Pursley had said Bratcher wouldn't start against Northeast. He was true to his word. Fullback Tyler Woods (26 carries, 101 yards) took a direct snap in an otherwise empty backfield on the Rams' first offensive play.

Bratcher then took the field, and on his second snap, tried to burn Western deep on a play-action pass. But it was dropped. It worked the second time, though. Bratcher hit wide-open halfback Trevor Bush on a 62-yard touchdown pass that tied the game at 7-7.

Britt scored on the 18th play of the ensuing drive. And after the Warriors recovered the onside kick that followed, halfback Levon Curtis found Lindsay open on a fade to the right corner for a 21-7 lead.

Bratcher got one touchdown back by capping a grind-it-out 17-play drive with a 3-yard score just before halftime.

"He looked half-speed at best and did a great job half-speed," Pursley said. "If he had been full speed, that could've made a difference."

The Warriors kept the advantage by hitting Northeast with just about everything in its arsenal and by making some big defensive stands, even after losing two linebackers to injury.

Britt ran for 120 yards and threw for 121. Curtis accounted for 122 yards, including 77 rushing. But his 100-yard kickoff return was negated by a block in the back, and his huge gain on a fake punt was called back because of holding.

Contact Jeff Carlton at 373-7065 or jcarlton@news-record.com

W. Alamance NE Guilford First downs 22 12 Rushes-yards 41-230 42-175 Passing yards 140 72 Comp-Att-Int 10-16-1 2-6-0 Punts-average 0-0 2-31.0 Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-0 Penalties-yards 6-55 6-62

Western Alamance 7 14 0 7 - 28 Northeast Guilford 7 7 0 0 - 14

WA - Levon Curtis 5 run (Orlando Sellars kick)

NE - Trevor Bush 62 pass from Kendall Bratcher (Zach Moore kick)

WA - Donald Britt 1 run (Sellars kick)

WA - Kenneth Lindsay 19 pass from Curtis (Sellars kick)

NE - Bratcher 3 run (Moore kick)

WA - Lindsay 29 pass from Britt (Sellars kick)