Webb over Eastern Alamance
By RANDY CAPPS
Dispatch Sports Editor
OXFORD — In 48 minutes of football on Saturday night, J.F. Webb changed the course of the 2007 high school football season for three different teams.
When Antwan Thorpe hit Kewone Harris on a four-yard touchdown pass with 48 seconds left, Webb took down Eastern Alamance, 20-16, in a Mid-State 3A clash. The result creates a three-way tie between the Warriors (7-3, 3-1), Eastern Alamance (8-2, 3-1) and South Granville (6-3, 2-1) with a week to go in the regular season.
“We have an opportunity to play for a conference championship next week,” Webb coach John Hammett said. “That’s all we can control. We can’t control the draw. We can’t control how Eastern and South (Granville) do.”
The one thing the Warriors had absolute control over Saturday night on its Senior Night was the football, with drives of 16, 13 and 15 plays during the course of the night. Still, it would be quick strikes that would play a role in the outcome.
Webb got things started in the first quarter when Thorpe hooked up with LaBarren Burwell on a fade route for a 28-yard touchdown pass and, after a Clay Brummitt extra point, a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles evened the score with time running out in the opening period when quarterback Jordan Carter scored on an one-yard keeper. Nick Dixon’s point-after try was good, and the game was tied.
Dixon would put the visitors on top midway through the second with a 28-yard field goal, but Webb took over on the next drive and kept the ball for 16 plays and 5:24 seconds before failing to convert on a fourth and long play deep inside Eagle territory. That kept the score 10-7, Eastern, at the half.
Webb held Eastern to open the third quarter, and then went on the march again, this time to the Eagle 12-yard line. The drive stalled, however, and Brummitt’s 28-yard field goal attempt drifted wide right, ending the scoring chance.
After holding the ball for most of the night, the Warriors finally busted a big play midway through the third quarter. Thorpe took a shotgun snap, faked a handoff to Rockie Lewis, and started running through the heart of the Eagle defense.
And no one came close.
Thorpe (20 carries, 166 yards) raced 63 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, and Brummitt’s kick made it 14-10.
Eastern Alamance answered with some big plays of its own as Elliott Powell broke free for a 46-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and Carter tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Eric Hester three plays later. The snap was bobbled on the extra point attempt, and it was 16-14, Eagles.
Webb took over on its own 31 with 5:50 remaining and proceeded to go on another epic march.
It took 15 plays, including a clutch fourth-down conversion pass from Thorpe to William Alston, and all but 48 seconds of the clock for Webb to move the ball down field, finally breaking Eastern’s back with a four-yard connection from Thorpe to Kewone Harris to re-take the lead. The snap was off on the point-after try, leaving the tally at 20-16.
“He’s a tremendous person and a tremendous player,” Hammett said of his junior quarterback. “He just understands games. The play we scored on was a play we ran at Catawba 25 times. I can’t tell you how many games we won in the seven-on-seven we won on that play. It kind of makes you feel good when the things you spend so much time on in the summer is the thing you use to win you a conference championship game.”
Eastern had one last shot to avoid the upset, but Carter lost the handle on the ball just inside Webb territory, and Harris was there to recover the fumble to seal the win.
Up next for the Warriors is a road game against Northern Vance where a win for the Warriors will assure a share of the league title.
“Northern Vance has a tremendous football team,” Hammett said. “They may have the best defense in the conference. They just fumbled a lot and had some real bad punting game problems. I will predict that it will be like last year. They won’t fumble. They won’t have punting problems and it will be a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire game.”
Dispatch Sports Editor
OXFORD — In 48 minutes of football on Saturday night, J.F. Webb changed the course of the 2007 high school football season for three different teams.
When Antwan Thorpe hit Kewone Harris on a four-yard touchdown pass with 48 seconds left, Webb took down Eastern Alamance, 20-16, in a Mid-State 3A clash. The result creates a three-way tie between the Warriors (7-3, 3-1), Eastern Alamance (8-2, 3-1) and South Granville (6-3, 2-1) with a week to go in the regular season.
“We have an opportunity to play for a conference championship next week,” Webb coach John Hammett said. “That’s all we can control. We can’t control the draw. We can’t control how Eastern and South (Granville) do.”
The one thing the Warriors had absolute control over Saturday night on its Senior Night was the football, with drives of 16, 13 and 15 plays during the course of the night. Still, it would be quick strikes that would play a role in the outcome.
Webb got things started in the first quarter when Thorpe hooked up with LaBarren Burwell on a fade route for a 28-yard touchdown pass and, after a Clay Brummitt extra point, a 7-0 lead.
The Eagles evened the score with time running out in the opening period when quarterback Jordan Carter scored on an one-yard keeper. Nick Dixon’s point-after try was good, and the game was tied.
Dixon would put the visitors on top midway through the second with a 28-yard field goal, but Webb took over on the next drive and kept the ball for 16 plays and 5:24 seconds before failing to convert on a fourth and long play deep inside Eagle territory. That kept the score 10-7, Eastern, at the half.
Webb held Eastern to open the third quarter, and then went on the march again, this time to the Eagle 12-yard line. The drive stalled, however, and Brummitt’s 28-yard field goal attempt drifted wide right, ending the scoring chance.
After holding the ball for most of the night, the Warriors finally busted a big play midway through the third quarter. Thorpe took a shotgun snap, faked a handoff to Rockie Lewis, and started running through the heart of the Eagle defense.
And no one came close.
Thorpe (20 carries, 166 yards) raced 63 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, and Brummitt’s kick made it 14-10.
Eastern Alamance answered with some big plays of its own as Elliott Powell broke free for a 46-yard return on the ensuing kickoff, and Carter tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to Eric Hester three plays later. The snap was bobbled on the extra point attempt, and it was 16-14, Eagles.
Webb took over on its own 31 with 5:50 remaining and proceeded to go on another epic march.
It took 15 plays, including a clutch fourth-down conversion pass from Thorpe to William Alston, and all but 48 seconds of the clock for Webb to move the ball down field, finally breaking Eastern’s back with a four-yard connection from Thorpe to Kewone Harris to re-take the lead. The snap was off on the point-after try, leaving the tally at 20-16.
“He’s a tremendous person and a tremendous player,” Hammett said of his junior quarterback. “He just understands games. The play we scored on was a play we ran at Catawba 25 times. I can’t tell you how many games we won in the seven-on-seven we won on that play. It kind of makes you feel good when the things you spend so much time on in the summer is the thing you use to win you a conference championship game.”
Eastern had one last shot to avoid the upset, but Carter lost the handle on the ball just inside Webb territory, and Harris was there to recover the fumble to seal the win.
Up next for the Warriors is a road game against Northern Vance where a win for the Warriors will assure a share of the league title.
“Northern Vance has a tremendous football team,” Hammett said. “They may have the best defense in the conference. They just fumbled a lot and had some real bad punting game problems. I will predict that it will be like last year. They won’t fumble. They won’t have punting problems and it will be a hard-fought, down-to-the-wire game.”
posted by Randy Capps at 11:39 PM
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