Warriors fall in regular season finale

By David Williams
Published in Sports on November 7, 2004 2:01 AM

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KINSTON -- Eastern Wayne High School football coach Jeff Price had the look of a man that knew something special was just out of his grasp.

"Our goal as a staff after off-season preparations was that we thought we had a team that might could go .500," Price said after his Warriors fell to Kinston 28-6 in the regular-season finale at Kinston High's home field. "Three league games before tonight ... if we could take a few plays back, we would be looking at a one-or two-loss conference record."

It has been a season of could-have-been for the Warriors, who once sat tied for the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference lead before closing out the season with three losses in their last four league games.

Eastern Wayne (4-6, 4-4) is playoff eligible and ended up in fifth place in the ECC. Its playoff fate was revealed Saturday afternoon, hoping for Price's first playoff visit in his two-year tenure at the school.

"We'll find out Saturday if we're that fortunate," Price said.

The Vikings (8-3, 6-2) ended up tied for second place in the ECC and took the No. 2 seed from the conference by virtue of wins over Charles B. Aycock and Southern Wayne.

The Vikings scored two early touchdowns as Toddie Powell and Teyon Marshall scored on short runs to cap early drives. Eastern Wayne got a drive going in the middle of the second quarter, keyed by a big reception by Riley Wilkins for a 24-yard gain on third and long from the Warrior 37-yard line. Wilkins caught a tipped, Tyler Ham pass to keep the drive alive.

Ham later found Chris Campbell for a 37-yard gain to get into scoring position. Graham blasted in from the eight to score and get back to within 14-6, which was the halftime score.

Kinston got the back-breaking play early in the fourth quarter on third-and long. Viking quarterback Jamar Carraway went deep down the left sideline and found Victor Speller for a 53-yard touchdown pass to give Kinston a 21-6 lead.

"We saw they had been trying it, and they finally hit it," said Price. "It was a great throw and a great catch."

Kinston's final score came on a three-yard plunge by Powell with three minutes to go.

Eastern Wayne threw the ball for 180 yards against Kinston as quarterbacks Zach Williams and Ham combined to hit Warrior receivers 13 times. Wilkins caught three passes for 53 yards to lead six different Eastern Wayne receivers. Al Graham, still nursing an earlier injury, led the offense on the ground with 59 yards on 18 carries.

Price said the team just could not capitalize on the opportunities they had to get the game close.

"The boys played hard," he said. "This is one of the best groups I've ever coached. I'm proud of this team."

E. Wayne 0 6 0 0 -- 6

Kinston 7 6 0 14 -- 28

First quarter

K -- Toddie Powell 2 run (Arnold kick) 2:23

Second quarter

K -- Teyon Marshall 5 run (Arnold kick) 10:10

EW -- Al Graham 8 run (kick failed) 5:42

Fourth quarter

K -- Victor Speller 53 pass from Jamar Carraway (Arnold kick) 11;15

K -- Powell 3 run (Arnold kick) 3:01

EW Kin

First downs 12 12

Rushes-yds 36-76 44-238

Pass yds 180 94

Total yards 256 332

Comp-att-int 13-40-1 3-8-0

Fumbles-lost 3-0 3-3

Penalites-yds 10-110 16-160

Punts-avg 4-32.8 5-27.4

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Eastern Wayne -- Al Graham 18-59, TD; Brad Brofft 6-16; Travis Turner 7-15; Quinn Davis 2-(-2); Tyler Ham 3- (-12). Kinston -- Teyon Marshall 29-162, TD; Toddie Powell 10-65, 2 TD; Orlando Moore 2-18; Calvin Miller 1-3; Jamar Carraway 2-(-10).

PASSING -- Eastern Wayne -- Zach Williams 7-18-74-0-1; Tyler Ham 6-22-106-0-0. Kinston -- Jamar Carraway 3-8-94-1-0.

RECEIVING -- Eastern Wayne -- Riley Wilkins 3-53; Chris Campbell 1-37; Taylor Jackson 2-35; Clint Rouse 3-28; Trey Johnson 3-21; Brian Sutton 1-6. Kinston -- Victor Speller 3-94, TD.