West Craven, Jones win playoff football games

State-ranked teams from West Craven and Jones Senior captured high school football playoff victories at home Friday night.

New Bern, a 2007 state champion, joined Havelock and Pamlico County in exiting during the N.C. High School Athletic Association's rain-plagued first round.

More coverage is at www.sunjournalsports.com and will follow in Sunday's Sun Journal.

West Craven 45, Bertie 21

VANCEBORO - The Coastal Conference champion Eagles, seeded second in Class 3-A, dispatched No. 15 seed Bertie 45-21 in Jordan Stadium.

West Craven (12-0), which was 5th among all 3-A teams in the final Associated Press poll, will host Washington next. Bertie finished 5-7.

Brett Mooring threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns, offsetting three interceptions. He completed 16 of 30 passes, hitting Justin Hardy six times for 101 yards and two scores. Erik Highsmith caught five passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.

West Craven led 24-7 after one quarter and 31-13 at halftime.

The Eagles' Jaquan Crouell scored on a 68-yard run as time expired in the third quarter. Thomas Ward picked off a Falcons' pass in the fourth quarter to help protect a 45-13 lead.

The game was delayed in the first half for more than 20 minutes due to an injury to Bertie's Darius Wesson. Wesson was taken to a hospital and his status at press time was unknown.

Fayetteville Douglas Byrd 22, New Bern 8

FAYETTEVILLE - New Bern, which won the 4-AA title last December, was toppled by host Douglas Byrd 22-8 in a 4-A matchup hosted by the No. 8 Eagles.

No. 9 New Bern (6-5-1) allowed 250 rushing yards. New Bern's offense also struggled, managing only 55 total yards.

Douglas Byrd (9-3) goes to top seed Fuquay-Varina or hosts No. 16 seed Fayetteville Terry Sanford next.

Byrd converted a Bears' turnover for first-quarter points. After a Chris Zavala interception, Byrd covered 11 yards for a touchdown capped off by a 1-yard run by Donnie Owens. Owens added a 2-point conversion to give the Eagles an 8-0 advantage.

Byrd missed three field goals in the second quarter and led 8-0 at the break.

Zavala's 20-yard touchdown scamper on the opening drive of the second half put Byrd on top 14-0.

The Bears got a needed break late in the third quarter when Tiron Guion tackled Byrd's punter at the 10-yard line. The Bears scored two plays later on sophomore quarterback Tyrell Lindsey's scrambling 9-yard run with 2:36 to play in the period.

Byrd answered with a Junior Williams' 10-yard touchdown run and Brendell Davis‘ 2-point conversion run with 7:47 remaining.

Lindsey completed four passes for 37 yards with three interceptions while being limited to 12 yards rushing. Bears running back Josh Moore gained a team-high 30 yards on the ground. Demarcus Howell caught two passes for 24 yards.

Washington 34, Washington 25

WASHINGTON - In a rematch of just two weeks ago in the Coastal Conference, No. 7 seed Washington ousted No. 10 seed Havelock 34-25 in the 3-A bracket.

The victory earned the Pam Pack (8-4) a rematch with West Craven, which won 16-6 over Washington on Oct. 10. Havelock (8-4), which was in the playoffs for the first time since 2004, got three touchdown passes from Danny Webster Jr.

Playing on a muddied turf but with no rain, Havelock took a 7-0 lead on a Mike Henderson 30-yard scoring run on the opening possession.

Washington rallied to lead 20-7 at intermission and pushed the margin to 34-13 with 9:45 to play.

The Rams pulled within 20-13 Webster's 27-yard yard scoring pass to Octavius Coates with 3:16 to play in the third quarter. Webster threw a 14-yard pass to Jarell Wallace for a touchdown with 3:20 left. Webster's 86-yard scoring pass to Alex Bell accounted for the final points with 98 seconds left.

Jones Senior 46, Lejeune 13

TRENTON - Coastal Plains Conference champion Jones Senior, the top seed in 1-A, took the measure of league rival and No. 16 seed Lejeune 46-13.

The Trojans (11-1), with an 11-game winning streak and ranked No. 6 in all of 1-A by AP, will host No. 8 Manteo, which beat No. 9 Jamesville 48-0. The Devilpups concluded 2-10.

Covair Frost, playing one day after the death of his father, threw three touchdown passes and a trio of 2-point conversions. He finished with 192 yards passing and rushed for 50 more.

Jones trailed 7-6 when Robert Williams went 23 yards for a touchdown with 5:04 to play in the half. Frost's 1-yard scoring pass on a fourth down play pushed the lead to 22-6 in the third quarter.

Codero Foy caught three passes for 121 yards for the Trojans.

Topsail 35, Pamlico 0

HAMPSTEAD - Meeting for the second time in eight days, No. 7 seed Topsail eliminated No. 10 Pamlico 35-0.

The Pirates (11-1), ranked 10th in all of 1-A by AP, will visit either No. 2 East Bladen or host No. 15 Gates County next. The Hurricanes, who lost last week's matchup 40-12, finished 6-6.

Pamlico didn't pick up a first down until the 8:23 mark in the third quarter.

The Hurricanes finished with seven first downs and only 123 yards of total offense. Maurice King paced Pamlico with 54 yards rushing. Senior Aaron Northan added 46 yards on the ground.

Pamlico junior Trevon Boone had a fourth-quarter interception.

Topsail got a 1-yard scoring run from Shawn Sidbury on its first drive. Quarterback Dan Redinger hit Nick Shewell for a 2-point conversion.

Redinger threw two touchdown passes in the final 2:29 of the first half, pushing the lead to 21-0 at the break.