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ELON - With one big play after another, there was little sitting by fans during the 3-A Eastern Regional final between Western Alamance and Rocky Mount. But Western's Levon Curtis had the final big play, a 60-yard interception return, putting a punctuation mark on the Warriors' 50-36 victory.

The win sends Western Alamance (15-0) to the state 3-A finals for the fourth year in a row. This time they will face North Gaston (12-2) at 11 a.m. at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill.

Western was down 22-21 at halftime after allowing the Gryphons to score 16 unanswered points to end the second quarter.

Rocky Mount (14-1) used a counter play from their old-fashioned Wing-T offense to spring running backs for several long touchdown runs.

Western coach Hal Capps knew his defense had to change at halftime.

"They just talked about making adjustments. I didn't do a whole lot of talking," Capps said. "I just listened and made some suggestions. We just got back to more of a base defense and starting reading our keys better."

Before his defense could put the adjustments into action, Rocky Mount's Brian Goodwin returned the second-half kickoff 85 yards, putting the Gryphons ahead 29-21.

That score silenced the near-capacity crowd. But the Warriors didn't collapse. Instead, they quickly marched down the field, scoring on a 7-yard run by Curtis. A one-handed catch by Kenneth Lindsay for the 2-point conversion tied the score at 29.

It was the second spectacular catch for Lindsay, who kept a drive alive in the first half with a diving one-handed catch along the sideline.

"He's a big target, he runs well and he's got great strength," Capps said. "That young man needs to go to college because he is just an outstanding football player."

Once the defense got back on the field, it held the Gryphons to three-and-out on the next two possessions.

Each time the offense took the ball the other way for a touchdown, giving the Warriors a 43-29 lead.

Rocky Mount finally scored again with 2:56 to play and recovered an onside kick to set them up in excellent field position. But on third-an-10, Curtis jumped an out route, ran up the sideline, cut across the field and scored easily to squash any hopes of a Rocky Mount comeback.

WA - Rod Shaw 30 fumble recovery (Chris Sparks kick)

WA - Levon Curtis 36 run (Sparks kick)

RM - Marquavis Alston 69 run (conversion failed)

WA - Donald Britt 1 run (Sparks)

RM - Alston 65 run (conversion failed)

RM - Derrick Hagans 8 run (Nick Hizuata kick)

RM - Hizuata 32 FG

RM - Jacobi Jenkins 85 kickoff return (Hizuata kick)

WA - Curtis 7 run (Pass to Lindsay)

WA - Britt 2 run (Sparks kick)

WA - Britt 21 run (Sparks kick)

WA - Curtis 60 interception return (Sparks kick)

RM - Alston 5 run (Hizuata kick)