East Webster football coach Ron Price was concerned about the speed of Northside heading into Friday night’s Class 2A playoff game.
Price had a right to be concerned. The recently consolidated Gators used a stingy defense and big-play offense to take a 42-8 win over the Wolverines on a rainy night in a game played at Coahoma Community College.
East Webster finishes the season with an 11-2 record.
Price said he was impressed with the Northside team but hated that the season ended the way it did for the Wolverines.
“They are really good,” Price said. “Physically, they just dominated us. Their defense dominated us at the line of scrimmage. We just couldn’t get anything going. And they hit some big plays on offense. They were 12-0 for a reason and had only given up 20 points all season. It’s just frustrating to finish the season like that. It hurt to lose like that. I know the kids were frustrated and there were lots of tears shed. But I think once they look back, they will be proud of what they accomplished.”
Northside got the ball to start the game and marched inside East Webster territory but that drive stalled when Jontavis Cunningham recovered a fumble for the Wolverines.
East Webster then had two three-and-outs on offense before Northside finally got loose as they scored on a 67-yard run. The try for two failed and Northside led 6-0.
After another three and out by East Webster, the Gators went 56 yards in six plays, scoring on a 1-yard run. The try for two was good and Northside led 14-0.
The Wolverines went three and out again on offense but a Parker Burleson punt pinned the Gators at their own 2. On the first play of the drive, the snap went through the quarterback’s hands and through the back of the end zone for a safety as Northside led 14-2.
The Wolverines weren’t able to capitalize on two more offensive drives but got an interception from Cunningham stopped a Northside drive.
Northside’s last score of the half came on a 60-yard interception return with 29 seconds left in the half. The try for two was good and Northside led 22-2.
“We tried several different things and offense and just couldn’t get things going,” Price said. “We saw some things we thought we could do and would have third and short and just couldn’t get first downs. They were very physical on defense. They were really good of getting us behind the chains and it was just hard to get anything going.”
East Webster got the ball to start the second half but threw an interception to start the half. The Wolverines got the ball back on an interception by Conner Shurden. But the Wolverines failed on a fake punt. From there, Northside scored on two straight drives with a 6-yard touchdown pass and a 41-yard touchdown run as the Gators led 36-2.
East Webster’s only score came in the fourth. Tyrik Pittman set up the short drive with a 51-yard kickoff return. The Wolverines then went 37 yards in five plays as Debo Patterson scored on a 5-yard run. The try for two failed as Northside led 36-8.
The Gators added a late score for the final margin.
“In the end, I’m super proud of this team for what they accomplished this season,” Price said. “We challenged our kids from the beginning of the year to take this program to the next level. Those 11 seniors did a tremendous job and did the little things right and that’s the reason we won 11 games.I’m proud of this group of kids, they put East Webster back on the map in football.”
Steven Betts was 6-of-18 passing for 30 yards and had 15 rushes for 70 yards. Debo Patterson had 54 yards rushing on six carries. Gray McCarter ha two catches for 17 yards while Pittman had one catch for 13 yards.
On defense, Ethan Roberts had 10 tackles while Cunningham had nine tackles. Caleb Massey had eight tackles while Carter Flora had six tackles. Isaac Jones, Kobe Smith and Cameron Jennings each had five tackles apiece.
