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GREENSBORO — It was senior night at Northwest Guilford, and while Alex and Austin Pauley provided big plays on defense, it was a sophomore who stole the show.

Running back Reid Baxter ran for 135 yards and three second-half touchdowns to lead the Vikings to 35-28 victory over East Forsyth.

With the win, Northwest Guilford (8-3, 5-1) was assured of at least a second-place finish in the Piedmont Triad 4-A conference. Because Ragsdale lost to Glenn, the Vikings could still win the conference depending on the outcome of the Tigers’ game next week against High Point Central.

Northwest Guilford finished its regular season and its only conference loss was to Ragsdale.

“Once we got it going, we couldn’t be stopped,” Baxter said. “The line stepped up and we did what we had to do to get the win. I wanted to do this for my senior teammates and for everything that was going on this week.”

It was an emotional week at Northwest Guilford after sophomore lacrosse player Chase Bunting died after a skateboarding accident. All the players wore his lacrosse jersey number in his honor and there was a moment of silence before the game.

“After a tragedy like that, the adults don’t know how to handle and the kids certainly don’t know how to handle it,’ said Northwest Guilford coach Joe Woodruff. “I just told them to do what we do best and that is to go out there and play good football. In my 20-some years of coaching this is the proudest I have been. The kids really stepped up.”

After East Forsyth (5-5, 2-3) tied the score at 28 with 8:09 left in the game, the Eagles got the ball back again when the Vikings went three-and-out. But Austin Pauley stepped in front of a short pass from Eagles quarterback Erick Smith and Northwest Guilford had new life at the East Forsyth 11.

Two players later, Baxter ran it into the end zone for the game-wining score with 3:54 to play.

Another sophomore, defensive back Kevin Parrish, finished it off with his second interception of the game and the Vikings began to celebrate.

“I was just doing what I was coached to do,” Pauley said. “We have a chance to have a home game in the playoffs for the first time and I didn’t want to waste that. We all worked together to make this happen.”

The Vikings made the first big play of the game when Austin Pauley blocked a punt near the East Forsyth goal line. The ball rolled into the end zone where Alex Pauley recovered it for a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

 NWG—Alex Pauley recovered blocked punt (Garrett Stuart kick)

EF—Ray McCloud 57 run (Chad Hollandsworth kick)

EF—Amon Giles 3 run (Hollandsworth kick)

NWG—Matt Pawlowski 1 run (Stuart kick)

NWG—Reid Baxter 60 run  (Stuart kick)

EF—Erick Smith 1 run  (kick blocked)

NWG—Reid Baxter 23 run (Stuart kick)

EF—Smith 1 run  (Smith run)

NWG—Baxter 1 run  (Stuart kick)