Warriors Clinch Second Place In Wild Finish

                Many probably figured it would be an offensive shootout between the two teams. But how many people would have thought that a total of 104 points would be scored? That was the case in East Gaston’s 56-48 come from behind victory over Forestview.

                The Jaguars jumped out to a fast start. Colton Guthrie threw to Jared Carter who then lateraled it to Moe Neal for a 60-yard hook-and-lateral touchdown score. Dylan Disarro’s extra point kick gave Forestview a 7-0 lead. East Gaston responded. Quarterback Alex Adams hit Nick Ferens for a four-yard touchdown strike. Ivan Serrano’s extra point tied it up.

                The Jaguars struck again with an 11-yard run by Moe Neal. Following an East Gaston fumble, the Jaguars extended the lead with a Guthrie 38-yard touchdown pass to Jared Carter. Disarro’s kick for the extra point made it 21-7. The Warriors fought back, though. Tyler Spurling’s 48-yard touchdown run cut the Jaguars’ lead to 21-13. The two-point conversion try would fail however.

                The Jaguars kept pouring it on in the first half. Guthrie threw for another touchdown pass. This time it was a 69-yard deep pass to Josh Green. The defense got in on the scoring fun also. An Adams incomplete pass that was deemed a backwards pass was scooped up by Josh Freeman and returned 25 yards for a touchdown. Disarro was 5-for-5 on extra points in the first half.

                The Warriors put another score on the board before the half was over. Robert Washington Jr.’s two-yard touchdown run and Serrano’s kick cut the lead to 35-20.

                In the second half, Forestview picked up right where they left off. Moe Neal’s three-yard run and Disarro’s extra point made it a three score game at 42-20. But the Warriors went on a tear after that. Washington’s 16-yard touchdown run and three touchdown passes by Adams (two to Ferens and one to Nash Jamison) gave the Warriors a 49-42 lead. Ferens’ touchdown catches were 86 and 22 yards respectively. Jamison’s reception was from 34 yards out.

                The Jaguars did strike back in the fourth quarter with less than six minutes left with a one-yard touchdown run by Neal. The Jaguars elected to go for two, but it failed. The Jaguar defense was unable to stop the Warrior offense. Spurling’s 43-yard touchdown run and Serrano’s extra point put East Gaston up by eight. The Jaguars would need a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie it up. But it would not be as the Warriors kept them out of the end zone.

                “We definitely rallied at half-time and played as a team.” said Robert Washington, Jr. “We had a bad first half. Coach Joyce told us to keep our heads up in the second half.”

                “Sometimes the offense works off the defense and sometimes the defense works off the offense. We are a hard train to stop once we get rolling.” Washington added.

                “Huge!” Alex Adams said of the win “Team came together in the second half and we played with heart we never had before. I’ve never been part of something like this before. Best season since 2006.”

                “Wow! What a game.” said East Gaston head coach Sean Joyce “What a way to finish this regular season. It’s been a struggle at points. At points we played great. At times we struggled both offensively and defensively. This group has matured so much from what we’ve been through. I’m very proud of these young men.”

                “This is my fifth year as a head coach. This group of freshmen, they were freshmen four years ago, built in to what we’re doing. They have bought in. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve been through a lot of tough times and to be able to take all that and use that for the good to get a win tonight, it just speaks to those guys. They’ve done everything they needed to do to put themselves in a situation to be successful.”

                “Give East Gaston a lot of credit. They kept fighting.” said Forestview head coach Chris Medlin “Being up 42-20, we ought to be able to hang on and we just didn’t. That’s twice it’s happened to us, get a 21-point lead and lose it.”

History Tidbits

This is twice in three weeks the Jaguars held a 20+ point lead during the game, only to lose down the stretch. Prior to this season, that has only happened twice to Forestview. The first time was in 2002 when the Jaguars held a 28-7 lead over East Gaston. The Warriors rallied to beat the Jaguars 35-34. In 2007, Forestview held a 42-20 lead over Hunter Huss. The Jaguars blew the lead and wound up losing 55-52.

There was another time the Jaguars blew a 21 point lead. That was in 2013 in the first round of the playoffs against Jesse Carson. The Jaguars jumped out to 35-14 lead in the first half. Carson rallied to tie it up at half-time and took the lead early in the third quarter. The Jaguars did go on to win that game 63-48.

East Gaston has not beaten Forestview at home since 1998. The Warriors won 14-0. The other times the Warriors beat the Jaguars (’02, ’04, and ’06) were at Forestview.

East Gaston will host a playoff game for the first time since 2006. That was the year they were Big South 3A/2A conference co-champs with Crest. They went on to the third round of the playoffs that year, losing to West Charlotte 35-25.