news-record.com

GIBSONVILLE - Friday night's football game was an emotional roller-coaster for Eastern Guilford.

After remembering the fire that destroyed their school about a year ago, the Wildcats had the momentum in the first half, but Southern Guilford used two quick touchdowns in the third quarter to take control and then stripped a Wildcat runner at the goal line to protect the lead in a 28-14 victory for the Storm over the Wildcats.

"There was no big secret," said Southern Guilford coach Darryl Brown about his halftime speech. "We just challenged them to be more physical to play with more emotion."

With Southern down 7-0 at halftime, Brown's team took his words to heart by striking quick in third quarter. On Southern's second play of the half, William Graves took a handoff around the left side and cut through the Eastern defense for a 60-yard touchdown that tied the game.

After the Southern defense held the Wildcats to a three-and-out deep in their territory, Graves made them pay for a line-drive punt by scooting 37 yards untouched for another score, giving the Storm a 14-7 lead.

"I saw where they set up a nice wall and then they sealed off the punter so it was just up to me to get it into the end zone," Graves said. "We came out flat (in the first half). Coach said it was up to us and we went out and put it together in the second half."

After the team's traded touchdowns again, Southern Guilford (8-3, 4-1) was still ahead 21-14 when Eastern Guilford (5-6, 1-4) got the ball back with 7:07 to play.

The Wildcats marched quickly down the field behind the passing of quarterback Jason Davis and the running of Gerrod Herbin. It looked like Herbin would tie the game again, when he was stripped of the ball near the goal line and Southern's Chris Couch recovered.

With the victory, Southern finished second in the North State 2-A conference and will have at least two home playoff games if it wins its first game.

Eastern had hoped a victory would provide it with a home game, but now it has to hope for a decent seed.

  S. Guilford E. Guilford First downs 10 17 Rushes-yards 33-284 37-172 Passing yards 52 142 Comp-Att-Int 3-7-2 12-17-1 Punts-average 1-32 2-35 Fumbles-lost 2-1 2-1 Penalties-yards 7-51 7-48

Southern Guilford 0 0 14 14 - 28 Eastern Guilford 7 0 7 0 - 14

EG - Von Thorpe 1 run (Will Gann kick)

SG - William Graves 60 run (Spencer Grace kick)

SG - Graves 37 punt return (Grace kick)

EG - Gerrod Herbin 2 run (Gann kick)

SG - Graves 6 pass from Jason Davis (Grace kick)

SG - Scotty Wayne 73 run (Grace kick)