By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Camden Whittemore, Sincere Thompson, and Tustin Johnson each ran for two touchdowns, and Southern Alamance’s defense had a strong second half as the Patriots beat visiting Harnett Central 42-33 in the second round of the Class 6-A state playoffs Friday night.
Southern (9-2), the No. 6 seed in the East Region, visits third-seeded Northern Nash in the third round.
Thompson gained 162 yards on 15 carries and Whittemore posted 137 yards on 12 attempts.
The Patriots never led until Johnson’s 4-yard touchdown run and Chalino Garcia’s extra-point kick put them up 21-20 in the second quarter.
They regained the lead courtesy of Thompson’s 9-yard run before halftime.
The Patriots expanded their 28-27 halftime edge on Whittemore’s 2-yard run in the third quarter. Johnson’s 3-yard run marked Southern’s final touchdown as the lead grew to 42-27.
Earlier, Thompson had a 4-yard touchdown run and Whittemore reached the end zone on a 48-yard run.
Ro’Shawn Towson scored two touchdowns for No. 11 seed Harnett Central (9-3).
Northern Nash was a 33-6 winner against No. 14 seed Westover.
Williams 35, Erwin Triton 14: The seventh-seeded Bulldogs won at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
That sends Williams (7-2) to a third-round game at second-seeded Jacksonville (8-2), a 48-7 winner against No. 15 seed Gray’s Creek.
No. 10 seed Erwin Triton finished a 10-2 season.
Class 5-A
Southeast Alamance, the top seed in the East Region, won 49-21 against No. 16 seed West Carteret in Haw River.
The Stallions (11-0) will be home vs. No. 8 seed Havelock (6-5), a 43-6 winner against ninth-seeded Rocky Mount, in the third round.
West Carteret ended a 5-7 season.
Eastern Alamance 42, Orange 21: Eastern’s Sammy Raphael ran for two touchdowns and Braxton Ballard threw for a touchdown and ran for another in Mebane.
The Eagles never trailed, but Orange was within 28-21 in the fourth quarter. Eastern outscored the Panthers 22-7 in the fourth quarter.
Eastern’s Justice Daye scored on a fumble return for the game’s first points.
Next for the seventh-seeded Eagles (8-2) is a third-round game at second-seeded Northside-Jacksonville (11-0), which took down No. 15 seed Southern Nash 43-35.
No. 10 seed Orange (7-5), under second-year coach Fitz Hessenthaler, had its season end in Alamance County for the fifth year in a row, though in 2022 and 2024 those final-game results came in regular-season games.
Croatan 42, Western Alamance 22: The fourth-seeded Cougars outlasted No. 13 seed Western in Newport.
It marked the end of season for the Warriors (6-6) under first-year coach Drew Hambright.
Croatan (10-1), which led 28-14 through three quarters, will tangle with fifth-seeded Seaforth (10-1) in the third round.
