NASHVILLE — SouthWest Edgecombe turned a trio of Nash Central turnovers into touchdowns to prevail in a battle of likely NCHSAA 2A eastern regional playoff contenders, 34-26, Friday night.

The Cougars (2-0), ranked sixth in the HighSchoolOT 252 area code rankings, started a string of answering every Bulldogs (1-1) challenge with a pick-six from senior Shikee Evans with 11:49 to play in the game. Evans jumped an out route and was never touched on his 60-yard run return to boost the SouthWest lead to 28-12.

But the 252’s ninth-ranked squad — Nash Central — showed their true Bulldog nature the rest of the way, answering nearly every SouthWest score with one of their own and coming within one play of forcing overtime.

The Cougars’ last score came on a converted fourth-and-goal 15-yard touchdown pass from Devion Mayo Jr. to Chance Myrick. Myrick’s crossing route alluded the Bulldog defense as he worked his way across the field to score untouched to push the lead back to 14 points with 2:43 to play.

It was one of numerous occasions where Mayo Jr., a sophomore, made a big play in the passing game right when the Cougars needed it. Mayo Jr. was an incredibly efficient 5-of-7 passing for 166 yards on the night. The 15-yard TD pass was his shortest completion of the night.

But Nash Central plugged away on its next drive with Winston Lee finding Jaaziah Jones on a 17-yard TD pass to get within eight points — at 34-26 — with 25 seconds to play. The Bulldogs then recovered the onside kick to give themselves a late chance at forcing overtime, but three incompletions and a bad snap later, the Cougars escaped Nash County with their second win of the season.

SouthWest senior running back Jhakari Lovely had his second consecutive three rushing touchdown game, scoring from 5, 4 and 2 yards in the first half to help build a 20-12 lead at the break.

Nash Central’s James Rodgers pounded his way to a 116-yard rushing night to go with four catches covering 44 yards. The Bulldogs’ Kamarian Spell returned a kick off 81 yards in the first half as well.

SouthWest Edgecombe, the 2023 Eastern Plains 2A Conference champions ran for 180 yards on the night, but no Cougar back had more than 44 yards individually (Mayo Jr. led the way). Five different runners totaled 28 yards or more on the night.

SouthWest will host Eastern Wayne next week, while Nash Central has its first road trip of the year, heading to Goldsboro.

Scoring Summary

SWE 8-12-0-14—34

NCL 6-6-0-14—26

1st Qtr.

SWE — J. Lovely 5 run (K.Singletary run)

NCL — M. Pittman 10 run (kick failed)

2nd Qtr.

SWE — J. Lovely 4 run (run failed)

SWE — J. Lovely 2 run (kick failed)

NCL — K. Spell 81 kick off return (run failed)

4th Qtr.

SWE—S.Evans 60 interception return (K.Singletary run)

NCL—J. Rodgers 1 run (J. Rodgers run)

SWE—C.Myrick 15 pass from D. Mayo Jr. (kick failed)

NCL—J.Jones 18 pass from C. Myrick (run failed)

Source: highschoolot.com