Topsail can't convert late in 2-point loss to East Bladen

Elizabethtown | About the only thing separating East Bladen and Topsail on Friday night was the two point differential on the scoreboard.

The teams both pounded the ball on the ground and each had a running back go for over 150 yards. In the end, East Bladen made a few more plays and escaped with a 14-12 win in the second round of the 1AA football playoffs.

“We played hard and they played hard,” East Bladen coach Lenon Fisher said. “It was two good football teams and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”

With temperatures in the 20s and wind gusting, both coaches elected to feature their star running backs. Topsail running back Shawn Sidbury had 222 yards on 33 carries and a touchdown for the Pirates. Despite his impressive numbers, Sidbury was unable to gain two yards on a two-point conversion late in the game.

DaJour Smith had 168 yards on 30 carries and a touchdown for the Eagles.

Trailing 14-6 with less than three minutes to play, Topsail drove down the field and scored on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Dan Redinger with 36 seconds left.

Needing the two-point conversion, the Pirates went to Sidbury, but he was unable to turn the corner on a pitch and was forced out of bounds at the 1.

“We kinda keyed on (Sidbury), but still with all that up in front it’s hard to find him,” Fisher said. “We made a good play at the end and were able to stop him, but they are good football team.

“Neither team deserved to lose, but somebody had to. They have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Both teams had plenty of chances to put points on the board but failed.

East Bladen was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the one on the first series of the game. They also failed to convert a fourth down from Topsail’s 15.

“Going into the game we knew they had some bruising back and we wanted to be bend but don’t break because we really wanted to wear on them a little bit,” Topsail coach Bryan Davis said. “Their kids played on both sides of the ball, so we knew we would get to them and we had a chance down the stretch.”

The Pirates squandered some opportunities also. Quincy Gibbs fumbled on East Bladen’s 14 on Topsail’s opening drive of the game and Sidbury coughed up the ball midway through the fourth.

East Bladen’s Roger Thompson recovered and ran 45 yards up the sidelines to Topsail’s 30, but the Eagles were forced to punt, setting up the Pirates final drive.

Topsail drove down to the 6 and Sidbury carried the pile down to the 1 on fourth-and-1 to set up Redinger’s sneak.

East Bladen opened the scoring on a 2-yard run by Smith with 19 seconds remaining in the first half.

Sidbury scored on Topsail’s first possession of the second half, but Shaun Leemhuis missed the extra point.

The Eagles regained the lead on the next possession when Jamar Monroe scored from 10 yards out.

“It wasn’t that last play that cost us, we missed an extra point and then we fumble in the red zone,” Davis said.

East Bladen will play Pender, which defeated Louisburg for the second consecutive season, in the third round.