PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry is headed to the 1AA Football State Championship for the third-straight season after winning the 2021 West Regional Final.
On April 30, the No. 2-seeded Cardinals hosted the regional final for just the second time in school history. East Surry displayed dominance in all three phases to defeat the No. 8-seeded Polk County Wolverines 41-7.
Inspired by Jerry Reed’s and Dick Feller’s 1977 hit song, the Cardinals will travel “east bound and down” to UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium on Saturday, May 8, in an attempt to “do what they say can’t be done” and repeat as 1AA State Champions.
“It’s unreal,” said East Surry coach Trent Lowman on reaching the state championship with this group of student-athletes.
“I felt like, had we played in the fall…with a normal spring and summer, everybody was saying we had a good shot. Then everything got pushed, momentum kind of died, Isaac [Washington] graduated early and then everybody kind of wrote us off a little bit. We knew that we could be good, but we knew also knew that we had a lot of work to do to get there. These guys have put in the work and here we are.”
The approach to this year’s Regional Final differed from years past. The paths taken by the 2018, 2019 and spring 2021 East Surry football teams have been very different. Varying obstacles, both on and off the field, shaped each team into a unique entity that left its mark in the history books with a variety of “first ever” accolades.
“We felt like, coming in, with this being our third year in a row would help us, and we’ve also got a little bit older of a team than them. So, we felt that we had some advantages,” Lowman said. “We put it in our players’ hands. If they wanted to win, we were gonna win. And they did it.
“Luke [Bullington], Benji [Gosnell] and a lot of those older guys that have been in this game a few times led us and made things happen.”
The Cardinals (9-1) played another complete game in which the offense, defense and special teams units all shined. Despite some shaky play at times in the first half, East came out in the second half and outscored the Wolverines 27-0.
Polk County only moved the chains three times in the second half, which was the same amount turnovers forced by East Surry that half.
East Surry’s defense held nine of its 10 opponents this season, including every class 1A opponent, to 10 or fewer points. Polk County came into Friday’s game having scored at least 20 points in each game in 2021.
The bend-don’t-break style defense that the Cardinals utilized against Pine Lake Prep in the Regional Semifinal once again paid dividends. Polk County, which averaged more than 309 yards of total offense this season, was held to a season-low 225 yards against East. This included just 94 yards rushing on 30 attempts.
“Our defense has been stout all year,” Lowman said. “We knew that was going to be the strong point for us, and they had to be strong to let our younger guys grow up on offense.”
Similar to the 2019 West Regional Final, the defense spent a lot of time on the field in the first half. East Surry’s opening drive, in which the Cardinals went 95 yards in 14 plays, last 4:44 of game time. This was more than 50% of East’s time of possession in the first half (8:48), compared to Polk County’s 15:12.
The drive concluded with a 1-yard touchdown run by senior Luke Bullington. Bullington scored three touchdowns on the night and is now tied for the third-most rushing touchdowns (20) in the state among all public school classifications. Bullington has also carried the ball 140 times without fumbling.
After forcing a turnover on downs after a 12-play 6:55 Polk County drive, East capped off its second drive with a 39-yard touchdown pass from Folger Boaz to Layton Allen. Derek Sutterby knocked down his second PAT of the evening to make it 14-0.
The Cards’ Kaleb Tilley recovered a Wolverine fumble on the next drive, but East was pushed back due to penalties and ended up punting.
Polk County’s only scoring drive of the night went 89 yards in 11 plays. After 3:13 of possession, quarterback Casey Beiler completed a 4-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Barnes to make it 14-7 going into halftime.
Polk County seemingly had momentum after ending the first half with a touchdown and receiving the second-half kickoff. The Wolverines started on the 20 after Stephen Brantley kicked his third touchback of the game. Angus Weaver ran for 1 yard on first down, then Beiler looked to pass on second down.
Beiler was picked off by Allen on the Wolverine 30-yard line. Allen took the interception to the house for his second TD of the night. Sutterby added the PAT to increase the lead to 21-7.
Polk set a season high in passing attempts when the run game was contained by East Surry. Weaver came into the Regional Final having recorded four-straight games of at least 194 yards rushing with at least two touchdowns in each game. Weaver rushed 21 times against East Surry for just 42 yards.
The Wolverines went three-and-out on their next drive, and East only needed four plays to score after Tye Needham set the Cardinals up with great field position on a punt return. Bullington punched in an 11-yard TD run, but the PAT attempt was no good.
An interception by East’s Trey Armstrong derailed the next Wolverine drive, although Polk would regain possession after intercepting Boaz on an endzone target on fourth-and-long. Polk County went on to move the chains twice before a Sutterby sack forced the Wolverines to punt.
One play later, Bullington bulldozed through defenders to score a 41-yard touchdown. The Sutterby PAT split the uprights to increase the lead to 41-7.
East Surry scored its final touchdown after a Polk County three-and-out. Allen scored his third touchdown of the game on a 22-yard pass from Boaz.
Up until the fourth quarter, East Surry hadn’t given up a rush of more than 7 yards. Gage McSwain came in and ran for 10 yards on one play, then 25 on the next. The 25-yard run, however, ended with Trey Armstrong forcing a fumble to be recovered by Cardinal teammate Tristan Harless.
East ran the clock down to 0:08 seconds before a fumble gave Polk County the final play of its season.
East Surry finished with 403 yards of total offense. Boaz completed 14-of-17 passes for 134 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Allen led the Cardinals with three receptions for 69 yards and two touchdowns. Gosnell and Harless each had three receptions, with Gosnell racking up 26 yards and Harless 13.
Carson Hawks, Colby Johnson, Jacob Lowe and Needham combined for the remaining five catches for 26 yards.
Bullington himself rushed more than Polk County’s entire team by finishing with 162 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. The Cardinals rushed 34 times as a team for 269 yards in the win.
Polk quarterback Beiler completed 12-of-22 passes for 131 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Beiler was held to 1-of-9 passing for 13 yards in the second half.
The running backs of Polk County combined for 30 carries for 94 yards rushing.
East Surry will face Tarboro (8-0) in the 1AA State Championship for the third-straight season. Just like the first two championship meetings between the Cardinals and Vikings, Tarboro comes into the state championship with an undefeated record after steamrolling its competition.
Getting back to the state championship was East Surry’s ultimate goal, and the Cardinals know they’re in for a fight come May 8, but Lowman said he wants to take time to celebrate first.
“You know, I’m going to enjoy it,” he said. “One thing we’ve preached through all this COVID mess is that you never know – you never know when you’re going to get pulled and you’re not going to get to play. So I’m going to enjoy this for now, and then we’ll get ready to go to work.”
The 1AA State Championship will kick off at noon at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium on Saturday, May 8.
Scoring
Polk County – 0, 7, 0, 0 = 7
East Surry – 7, 7, 20, 7 = 41
1Q
7:16 ESHS 7-0 – Luke Bullington 1-yard rush TD, Derek Sutterby PAT
2Q
4:42 ESHS 14-0 – Folger Boaz pass to Layton Allen 39-yard TD reception, Derek Sutterby PAT
0:24 POLK 14-7 – Casey Beiler pass to Elijah Barnes 4-yard TD reception, Matias Akers PAT
3Q
11:11 ESHS 21-7 – Layton Allen pick-6 returned 30 yards for a touchdown, Derek Sutterby PAT
8:44 ESHS 27-7 – Luke Bullington 11-yard rush TD, PAT no good
0:45 ESHS 34-7 – Luke Bullington 39-yard rush TD, Derek Sutterby PAT
4Q
9:47 ESHS 41-7 – Folger Boaz pass to Layton Allen 22-yard TD reception, Derek Sutterby PAT
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com