RaceJunkie
11-05-2005, 12:33 PM
Hunt rocked what promised to be Beddingfield's perfect world.
With the largest crowd, an estimated 5,000, to ever view a high school football game in Beddingfield High's stadium creating a frenzied environment, Lavell Shipman's interception at his goal line in the final 40 seconds sealed the Warriors' cardiac 13-12 triumph in the showdown for the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference championship Friday night.
Hunt not only seized the ECC championship in the first year of membership in the conference for the Warriors and Bruins but celebrated its first Wilson County title since 1999.
The ninth consecutive win propelled head coach Randy Raper's Warriors into the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs with a 10-1 record. Hunt ruled the conference at 5-0.
Dramatically denied was Beddingfield's bid for its first perfect regular season in the program's 28-year history. The Bruins, ranked an unprecedented No. 4 among the state's 3-A teams in this week's Associated Press poll, lost for the first time in 11 outings and finished the ECC runner-up at 4-1.
"I am feeling so good I can't explain it," said senior Hunt secondary performer Marcus Sauls, whose 75-yard interception return staked Hunt to a 13-6 lead late in the second quarter.
"This is a big rivalry, even bigger than playing for the state championship last year. We got nervous, but we did what we had to do."
The Warriors quelled a stirring Beddingfield comeback to conquer the Bruins for the 26th time in 30 meetings.
Senior Bennett Johnson, on a quarterback draw, plowed into the end zone from five yards out with 2:08 remaining. But junior Tony Arizpe's missed extra-point kick attempt left Hunt clinging to a 13-12 edge.
The Warriors' Larry Richardson recovered Beddingfield's onside kickoff, but the Bruins retained possession with still over a minute remaining when seniors Howard Artis and Larry Elliott led a Bruins' defensive charge that stopped the Warriors short of a first down on fourth down.
Beddingfield took over at its 43-yard line and zipped to a first down at Hunt's 18-yard line as Johnson connected to senior Alfred Artis for 13 yards, to senior Doug Barron for 16 and to senior Izel Jenkins for 10.
FULL STORY (http://www.wilsondaily.com/print/350379045192275.php)
With the largest crowd, an estimated 5,000, to ever view a high school football game in Beddingfield High's stadium creating a frenzied environment, Lavell Shipman's interception at his goal line in the final 40 seconds sealed the Warriors' cardiac 13-12 triumph in the showdown for the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference championship Friday night.
Hunt not only seized the ECC championship in the first year of membership in the conference for the Warriors and Bruins but celebrated its first Wilson County title since 1999.
The ninth consecutive win propelled head coach Randy Raper's Warriors into the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs with a 10-1 record. Hunt ruled the conference at 5-0.
Dramatically denied was Beddingfield's bid for its first perfect regular season in the program's 28-year history. The Bruins, ranked an unprecedented No. 4 among the state's 3-A teams in this week's Associated Press poll, lost for the first time in 11 outings and finished the ECC runner-up at 4-1.
"I am feeling so good I can't explain it," said senior Hunt secondary performer Marcus Sauls, whose 75-yard interception return staked Hunt to a 13-6 lead late in the second quarter.
"This is a big rivalry, even bigger than playing for the state championship last year. We got nervous, but we did what we had to do."
The Warriors quelled a stirring Beddingfield comeback to conquer the Bruins for the 26th time in 30 meetings.
Senior Bennett Johnson, on a quarterback draw, plowed into the end zone from five yards out with 2:08 remaining. But junior Tony Arizpe's missed extra-point kick attempt left Hunt clinging to a 13-12 edge.
The Warriors' Larry Richardson recovered Beddingfield's onside kickoff, but the Bruins retained possession with still over a minute remaining when seniors Howard Artis and Larry Elliott led a Bruins' defensive charge that stopped the Warriors short of a first down on fourth down.
Beddingfield took over at its 43-yard line and zipped to a first down at Hunt's 18-yard line as Johnson connected to senior Alfred Artis for 13 yards, to senior Doug Barron for 16 and to senior Izel Jenkins for 10.
FULL STORY (http://www.wilsondaily.com/print/350379045192275.php)