Rams simply too much for Warriors

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on December 8, 2013 1:52 AM

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HAVELOCK -- Eastern Wayne practiced with the mantra "weather the storm" in preparation for its clash with No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Havelock.

The Warriors got washed away by an early swell and never recovered.

The Rams capitalized on three turnovers and claimed their third straight N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 3-A eastern championship with a 44-20 victory at Sasser Field on a breezy Friday evening.

Havelock (15-0) seeks its third consecutive state title against Concord next Saturday. Kickoff is 11 a.m. at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

"We knew there was little margin for error," Eastern Wayne head coach Bubba Williams said. "We struggled with weathering the storm a little bit."

Junior quarterback Travis Sabdo dissected the Warriors' secondary with the precision of a surgeon and guided top-seeded Havelock to touchdowns on four of its six first-half possessions. Dylan Baker capped the other two drives with field goals as the Rams built a comfortable 34-0 lead at halftime.

Sabdo concluded the night 16 of 18 for 260 yards and three touchdowns. He distributed the ball among seven different receivers. Brothers Michael and Kyran Bowman combined for 133 yards and three touchdowns on eight receptions.

"We slipped and played off some, we had some busted coverages and some bad play calls defensively in certain situations," Williams said. "It seemed like they made the right call to our bad call. They did a good job."

Sabdo's seven-yard scoring strike to Kyran Bowman capped the Rams' game-opening drive. The Warriors fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Dylan Baker booted a 26-yard field goal 10 plays later to make it 10-0.

Eastern Wayne started its first offensive possession with 50.6 seconds left in the first quarter. It ended 52 seconds later when the Rams stopped KK Best on fourth-and-inches just inside the Warriors' 45-yard line.

Havelock took over and scored again, this time on Travis Woods' 7-yard scamper with 10:40 remaining before halftime.

"I made a bad play call," Williams said. "I should probably have punted a little bit earlier to help us out, so I take the blame for that. That's no fault of the kids. They came out and fought until the end."

Havelock owned a 12-minute advantage in time of possession and limited third-seeded Eastern Wayne to three first downs and 34 yards of total offense in the opening half.

Down 44-0, the Warriors avoided the shutout with a 20-point, fourth-quarter outburst. Lavoris Vick and Chris Allen each tallied a touchdown on runs of 29 and 2 yards, respectively.

Quarterback Mitch Pike hooked up with Dayshawn Pridgen from 24 yards out around the 4-minute mark. Pike ended the night 18 of 28 for 141 yards. Eastern Wayne had 257 yards of total offense.