KENLY, N.C. — Eastern Wayne coach Leander Oates didn’t have much to say to his Warrior team Friday night. His postgame message was focused on just enjoying the moment.

It’s pretty easy to do that when the Warriors were basking in the glory of a conference championship after a 22-6 road win over North Johnston to wrap up a 1-seed in the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs and the Neuse Six 2A Conference title.

Eastern Wayne (7-2, 4-0) scored on its first possession and was never threatened by a North Johnston (6-3, 3-1) squad that entered the night with just 28 players dressed.

Junior quarterback Izeiah Oates did his usual solid job of leading a multi-pronged Warrior spear, converting an early fourth-and-3 near midfield into a 41-yard connection with Jalen Harris to set up a 1-yard TD run by Harris two plays later.

The Panthers with backup quarterback Charlie Barnes directing the offense did drive to the Eastern 22-yard-line on its first possession but failed to convert on a fourth down from the Warrior 22-yard-line.

For the Panthers, under first-year head coach Kyle Schenk, it was a case of wrong place, wrong timing, wrong circumstances to some degree. North fell to 2-3 on the season at home. And the Panthers played without dual 1,000-yard gainer Kaleb Pone who suffered an ankle injury last week. Pone had thrown for 1,113 yards and 12 touchdowns, while rushing for 1,010 yards and another 11 touchdowns through eight games.

The loss of Pone forced Barnes, Seth Scott and Traquin Watson (who all played quarterback at some point) and several other players on the roster into different positions than usual which was compounded by the overall lack of available players on the Panther roster.

After Panthers’ senior Daniel Turner ended Eastern Wayne’s second drive of the night with the first of his two interceptions on the night, the Warriors methodically made their way down the field with Oates finding Tykel Battle on a 24-yard pass to push the lead to 12-0. A successful pass to 6-foot-6 sophomore receiver Levi Evans pushed the lead to 14-0 with 10:30 to play in the first half.

Oates covered the final 3 yards needed for another touchdown on Eastern’s next possession on a run, then threw to Charlie Thomas for a two-point conversion and a 22-0 advantage at the half.

Both teams came in on five-game winning streaks after starting the season 1-2.

North Johnston did everything it could to try to create some consistency on offense, using three different quarterbacks in the game. The Panthers were held to 125 yards of offense on the night, averaging less than three yards per play as the Warriors defense made timely stops every time it needed to until the Panthers’ last possession of the game.

That’s when North finally caught a break as Turner grabbed a 22-yard TD pass from Traquain Watson after it was tipped by an Eastern Wayne defender with 28.7 seconds to play.

Senior middle linebacker James Kornegay led the Warrior defensive effort with two and a half sacks and a trio of tackles for losses.

Eastern hasn’t allowed an opponent more than 18 points since August and has allowed Neuse Six Conference opponents just 30 points in four games. The Warriors have two shutouts in league play and two games where they gave up just six points.

North Johnston will hit the road to face rival Princeton next week with second place in the Neuse Conference up for grabs.

Eastern Wayne gets just the elixir a team would need to avoid a post-championship hangover, visiting across the railroad tracks rival Goldsboro.

BOX SCORE

EW 6 16 0 0 – 22

NJ 0 0 0 6 – 6

Scoring Summary

EW—J.Harris 1 run (pass failed); EW—T.Battle 24 pass from I.Oates (L.Evans pass from I.Oates); ES—I.Oates 3 run (C.Thomas pass from I.Oates); NJ—D.Turner 22 pass from T.Watson (pass failed)

Team Stats EW NJ

Rushing 28-133 41-92

Passing 9-20-121 3-12-33

Individual Stats

Rushing: EW—J.Whisonant 8-53, I.Oates 7-45, C.Battle 3-15, E.McLean 5-12, J.Harris 3-4, J.Kornegay 1-2; R. Faison 1-2; NJ—C.Barnes 18-33, T.Watson 9-30, S.Scott 12-27, M.Farris-Teachey 2-11.

Passing: EW—I.Oates 9-20-121-3; NJ—C.Barnes 2-11-11-1, T.Watson 1-2-22-0.

Receiving: EW—J.Harris 2-42, C.Thomas 3-20, T.Dunn Jr. 2-24, T.Smith Jr. 1-14, L.Evans 1-(-2); NJ—D.Turner 2-29, E.Willard 1-4.

Source: highschoolot.com