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GREENSBORO — Despite giving up a lot of points, Smith coach Rodney Brewington said his team did not have a letdown against Southeast Guilford after a big win over Dudley the week before.

Instead, Brewington praised the Falcons for not giving up during the Eagles’ 41-30 win on Friday night.

With the victory, Smith improved to 7-0 and 2-0 in the Metro 4-A conference.

“Those guys (Southeast) are a very good 4-A football team and they came prepared to win,” Brewington said. “These are 14, 15, and 16-year olds and sometimes the emotional stuff will get to them, but they played through it. I’m very proud of my team for being resilient tonight.”

That resiliency showed when the Eagles fell behind after a blocked punt led to a Southeast touchdown and an 8-7 lead.

Smith took its next possession and went 65 yards. Quarterback Jeff Sims found Dushonte McCoy for an 11-yard touchdown to finish the drive giving the Eagles a 14-8 lead.

They would never surrender the lead again.

Southeast Guilford fumbled on its next possession and Smith took advantage of that miscue.

On the first play after recovering the fumble, Sims threw a deep pass to Codie Davis. The ball was tipped by defensive back Jamal Petty, but Davis came up with the pass and sprinted to the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown and a 21-8 Smith lead.

“We made a lot of mistakes,” said Southeast Guilford coach Fritz Hessenthaler. “When you make a lot of mistakes against a very athletic team, it’s hard to win. But we were mentally tough and we stuck with it.”

The biggest play of the first half came on Smith’s next possession.

Southeast Guilford stopped the Eagles deep in their own territory and Smith dropped back to punt. But the punter, Davis, threw the ball deep to Mike Millner, who avoided one defender at the 40-yard line and raced to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown play, giving the Eagles a 27-16 halftime lead.

“Our punter was our quarterback last year,” Brewington said. “He knows to look and see and if the defense is laying off the receiver, he will throw it. I told him that it doesn’t matter where we are on the field, if he sees it to go for it.”

The Eagles’ resiliency showed up one more time when they were leading 35-30 with less than five minutes to play.

On a third-and-two, Elijah Jordan ripped off a 29-yard touchdown run to put the game away.

“We have to get better in all facets of the game,” said Hessenthaler. “If your not an improving football team every game of the season, then you aren’t going to succeed.”

S – Elijah Jordan 1 run (Julio Roman kick)

SE – Phillip Petty 3 run (Michael Fields run)

S – Dushonte McCoy 11 pass from Jeff Sims (Roman kick)

S – Codie Davis 43 pass from Sims (Roman kick)

SE – Brent Frazier 25 pass from William Greene (Fields run)

S – Mike Millner 75 pass from Davis (pass fail)

SE – Fields 2 run (pass fail)

S – Eric Ebron 66 pass from Sims (Jordan run)

SE – Fields 12 run (Petty run) S – Jordan 29 run (kick fail)