By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
James Newton scored his fifth and final touchdown with less than 20 seconds remaining as Western Alamance pulled out a 36-31 victory against visiting Vance County in the first round of the Class 3-A state playoffs Friday night.
Newton finished with 144 rushing yards and three catches for 64 yards as the No. 16 seed Warriors (8-3) advanced to meet the East Region’s top seed, Havelock, in the second round. Havelock (10-1) won 63-15 against Westover.
It’s Western’s first postseason victory in four seasons. No. 17 seed Vance County finished at 8-3.
Williams 49, East Wake 21: In Class 3-A, Kyrian Fuller scored on a run and a reception and threw a scoring pass, while Dan Mahan threw for two touchdowns and ran for another as the Bulldogs rolled at Burlington Memorial Stadium.
Richmond scored on a 31-yard run to open the scoring before East Wake (5-6) went up 7-6. The Bulldogs took the lead for good on Mahan’s 5-yard pass to Richmond before Mahan’s 68-yard touchdown run.
Mahan connected with Andrews Cruz for a 53-yard scoring play and then had a 50-yard TD pass to William Overby as the Bulldogs held a 35-7 halftime lead.
Amarion Richmond added a 3-yard touchdown.
Zack Powell caught Fuller’s pass for a 29-yard touchdown play in the fourth quarter.
Williams (10-1) will be home again with a matchup against No. 12 seed Jacksonville (9-1), which whipped West Carteret 54-0 in the first round.
Cape Fear 31, Southern Alamance 0: In Class 3-A at Fayetteville, the season ended for No. 20 seed Southern Alamance (7-4), which was in its first season under coach Tony McCants.
Aydin Leonard returned an interception for a touchdown among the highlights for No. 13 seed Cape Fear, which did all its scoring in the first three quarters.
Cape Fear (10-1) advanced to face Pikeville Aycock.
Pikeville Aycock 35, Eastern Alamance 9: In Class 3-A at Pikeville, the season ended for the Eagles (3-8) in their first season under coach Mitch Mitchener.
Pikeville Aycock (11-0) led 21-3 at halftime.
Southeast Alamance 56, Heide Trask 21: In Class 2-A at Haw River, the third-seeded Stallions won their first home playoff game in program history as Landon Dodson threw for four touchdowns in the first half.
Southeast (11-0) scored 14 points in every quarter, leading 28-14 at halftime.
Bubba Sims caught two of the TD passes and Logan Luang-Sy and Drew Easter had the others. D.J. Callis ran for two touchdowns, while Marquis Burnette and Ryan Dodson had the other touchdowns.
Next for the Stallions is a home game against 19th-seeded Kinston (7-4), which won 38-29 at 14th-seeded South Columbus (8-3).
The season for No. 30 seed Heide Trask (6-5) ended in Alamance County for the second year in a row after falling to Cummings last November.
SouthWest Edgecombe 40, Cummings 12: At Burlington, the No. 13 seed Cavaliers (8-3) lost their second game in a row and this one ended their season.
It marked the second year in a row that Cummings suffered a home playoff loss.
No. 20 seed SouthWest Edgecombe (6-5) will go to fourth-seeded Wallace-Rose Hill (8-3), a 27-13 winner against No. 19 seed Washington (4-7), for the second round.
Other results
In the West Region in Class 3-A, Eastern Guilford fell 49-10 at Shelby Crest to complete a 6-5 season.
In Class 1-A, Eastern Randolph improved to 11-0 by stomping Swain County 49-0.
