Team of the Week: East Bladen set to play three games in eight days
ELIZABETHTOWN, N.C. (WWAY) — East Bladen has a big game this week that might determine the Carolina Conference, but that’s the least of their worries.
The football team is about to enter an unusual stretch of needing to play three games in eight days.
Head Coach Robby Priest has seen this happen once before and says they will not sway from their normal routine.
“We fared pretty good last time,” Priest said. “It’s one game at a time anyway. Not much changes. We’re going to keep it the same as we possibly can. Might be a quick turnaround once we get to that part, but for right now we got one game this week. ”
(Photo: Will Stein/WWAY)
The Eagles found themselves in this predicament after their most recent contest against Hobbton was delayed due to weather. Down 12, East Bladen scored 14 unanswered points to take the lead in the 3rd quarter. Play will resume from that point on October 7 while still having contests and the adjacent Fridays.
The players say this is not how they wanted things to play out.
“It’s a lot of anger, honestly,” senior Dashon Campbell said. Emotions was high. We didn’t want to stop playing, honestly. After we got that groove going those last two scores, we went up. We were wanting to play. We were ready to play ball.”
(Photo: Will Stein/WWAY)
It’s a lot of football in a short time for the young athletes, but Priest has full confidence in a squad that’s living up to the program’s high standards.
“I praise that they’re a good group,” Priest said. “They’re resilient. They forget about bad stuff as soon as it happens. We’ll dwell on the good stuff and fix the bad stuff once it comes that way. We’re just focusing on North Duplin this week.”
After that road contest, the Eagles return home to finish the Hobbton game on Tuesday before facing East Columbus the following Friday.
