Middle Creek's Britt Cherry, (38) grabs onto Southeast's Kevin Howell, (5) at John Baker Stadium in Raleigh. Photo by C.F.Ward
Nov 22, 2008
RALEIGH — Southeast Raleigh will advance to the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A state playoffs after knocking off Middle Creek Friday, 47-17.
On the first drive of the game, no one in the stands thought that the score would end up as lopsided as it did.
Southeast Raleigh faced a fourth down and 5 situation, one play after Gabe Henderson threw an incomplete pass. The Middle Creek defense put pressure on Henderson, and Brandon Aaron ran him out of bounds for a loss of eight yards.
Middle Creek took over on downs on the Southeast Raleigh 47 yard line.
The Bulldog defense stepped up as well, though. Holding the Mustangs to three-and-out, punter Matt Frongello was brought onto the field for Middle Creek, and he barely managed to get off a 19-yard punt into the frigid wind.
The two teams traded possessions once more, but when Southeast Raleigh got the ball back for a third time, they drew first blood.
Senior Kevin Howell broke a 48 yard run, and Henderson followed it up a 25 yard run of his own. Two plays later, Howell ran into the end zone from five yards out to give Southeast Raleigh the lead.
The Bulldogs never trailed Friday night, but Middle Creek did make an attempt to stay in the ball game. On the second play of the second quarter, Frongello hit a 20 yard field goal to pull Middle Creek within four.
However, Southeast Raleigh struck again moments later.
After throwing and incomplete pass on second down, Henderson found Heath Mallette for a 60 yard touchdown pass, and the extra-point by Robbie Holliday put the Bulldogs up, 14-3, with 10:55 left in the second quarter.
Middle Creek's offense couldn't get anything going all night. In fact, the Mustangs had three players rush for negative yardage Friday night.
After Frongello kicked a 12 yard punt to Southeast Raleigh, the Bulldogs took over on the Mustang 35 yard line.
Howell and C.J. Okwara led the Bulldogs on another scoring drive, and it ended with Howell running into the end zone from three yards out with just under six minutes left in the half.
Down 21-3, Middle Creek could feel the game slipping away, and the Mustangs knew they had to score before the break if they wanted to have a chance to advance to the third round of the playoffs for the first time in school history.
Middle Creek did score with 21 second left in the half, as Tre Nesbit ran in from three yards out, but Anthony Barbour was not on the sidelines Friday night, and the Mustangs didn't have enough to pull out the win.
Southeast Raleigh outscored Middle Creek 19-7 in the third quarter to solidify their win.
On the Bulldogs' first drive of the second half, Henderson hit E Smalls for a 23 yard gain through the air, and Howell set up his own 14 yard touchdown run with a 27 yard run on the prior play.
Middle Creek's deficit grew to 28-10 with just 7:11 left in the third quarter.
Less than two minutes after Howell led his team down field for a score, Garrett Leatham threw his last touchdown pass of the season to Nesbit. The score covered 48 yards, and it brought Middle Creek within 11 points, 28-17, halfway through the third quarter.
Southeast Raleigh scored 19 unanswered points to end the game, though.
Okwara scored on a five yard run, Howell broke a 55 yard score, and Jabori Balogun scored a four yard touchdown. One extra-point was blocked, though, and another hit the crossbar as it struggled through the wind.
With the convincing win, Southeast Raleigh will advance to play Hillside in the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A state playoffs. The Hornets beat cross-town rival Southern Durham on Friday night, 7-0.
Middle Creek falls to 6-7 on the season.
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