CAVS BREAK THROUGH: EB tops Draughn behind key interceptions, strong ground game

An eventful and emotional couple of days for the East Burke football team ended with a 12-7 victory over Draughn in the 15th installment of the “Five Miles of Wild” rivalry on Sept. 6 at Danny Williams Field in Icard.

One day after fifth-year head coach Derrick Minor unexpectedly resigned, the Cavaliers got into the win column for the first time in 2024. They also defeated the Wildcats for the second time in three years and second straight time at home to improve to 8-7 all-time against their fierce rivals.

“It means a lot,” said acting Cavs head coach Allen Wittenberg, who previously served as the head coach at Draughn in 2014 before spending two seasons as Hickory’s head coach. “It’s a big deal for our community, it’s a big deal for our kids, and with the whirlwind of events going on in the past 24-plus hours, for them to be able to buckle up and do this, I couldn't be prouder of them and of our staff. It was a lot of work, and everybody pitched in on this one.”

Following a scoreless opening quarter, EB (1-2) recorded its first offensive touchdown of the season when senior Darren Hammons capped a seven-play, 65-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring run on the first play of the second quarter. Other big gains for the Cavaliers during the series included 13-yard scampers from junior Zayne Newman and senior Caden Buff and a 10-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Carter Bennett to Newman on the play that preceded Hammons’ TD run.

“It’s good to rub off the rust, I guess,” said Hammons, who only had three carries for 26 yards in the previous two games combined before finishing with 12 carries for a game-high 83 yards against Draughn. “I haven’t been running a whole lot, and just knowing we got ahead with that touchdown, it helped give us momentum in the game and we were able to finish it out.”

The Wildcats (1-2) responded with an eight-play, 70-yard drive of their own that was kept alive by a 15-yard pass interference penalty and a 21-yard pass from Kayden Lytle to fellow senior Marshall Brinkley before ending with a 32-yard TD strike from Lytle to another 12th grader, Sterling Radabaugh, on fourth-and-8 with 8:32 remaining until halftime. After senior Cayden Roscoe added the extra point, Draughn eventually carried a 7-6 advantage into the intermission.

A 15-yard penalty also aided EB on the fourth play of the third quarter, as a Draughn player grabbed Newman’s facemask on a 2-yard loss to give the Cavs an automatic first down at the Wildcats’ 28-yard line. Seven plays later, Newman crossed the goal line from 13 yards out on fourth-and-5 to make it 12-7 in favor of EB at the 6:09 mark.

Draughn ultimately ran only two offensive plays in the third quarter, with a 1-yard run from Brinkley being followed by an interception. Lytle was picked off by EB senior Nathan Rees, and the Wildcats wouldn’t regain possession until the Cavs turned the ball over on downs at the Draughn 12 with 11:03 left in the fourth.

“Not to boast, but that pick was a big turning point in the game,” said Rees of his first career interception as a varsity player, which kept momentum on the home sideline after Newman’s TD run moments prior. “The other team’s energy went down, ours went up. You’ve just got to do your job, that’s all that matters.”

Nonetheless, Draughn put together its longest drive of the night after getting the ball back early in the final period. The two biggest plays for the Wildcats were a 20-yard run from Radabaugh and a 27-yard pass from Lytle to sophomore Cam Sidden, but after moving the ball from their own 12 to the EB 15, Lytle was picked off again, this time by senior Zac Bennett, with 5:42 to play.

Zac Bennett actually returned the aforementioned interception the length of the field for what would have been his second pick-six in as many weeks – he returned an interception 29 yards for a TD in EB’s 12-7 loss to Freedom on Aug. 30 – but a block in the back penalty brought the ball all the way back to the Cavs’ 2. 

“It was a busted play,” said Zac Bennett of his late-game interception. “I knew he (Lytle) was rolling out, I saw where his eyes went, and with just natural DB instincts, I attacked the ball. And I ran it 98 yards, but it’s no discredit to my teammates because it’s hard to take it 98 yards and there not be something happen on the back end, so credit to the guys who block. … It’s hard to do that.”

“Turnovers are momentum changers, and we won the turnover battle tonight,” added Wittenberg. “That’s always a big deal for you when you do that.”

Undaunted by the penalty, EB used the rushing duo of Hammons and Newman to chew up much of the clock, with Hammons carrying the ball five times for 61 yards down the stretch. And while the Cavs turned the ball over on downs at the Draughn 27 with 1:12 left, they did so after the Wildcats had exhausted all three of their timeouts, with EB later regaining possession with 17 seconds remaining and proceeding to run out the clock by taking a knee.

“I woke up feeling a lot on my chest just because of all that’s going on,” said Zac Bennett of his mentality in the hours leading up to the game. “And just caring for all these guys in the locker room, I tried to tell them it’s about us. It’s not about what happened yesterday, and everybody knows what happened yesterday, but it’s still about us and we’ll come out and take care of business.”

Although Hammons spearheaded EB’s rushing attack, the Cavs totaled 40 carries for 205 yards as a team. Newman added 13 carries for 65 yards, while Buff had 37 yards on nine carries.

In addition, Carter Bennett completed 9 of 15 passes for 52 yards in his second varsity start – Newman, Buff, and seniors Barger Shook and Cannon Morrison each finished with at least two receptions – and Morrison also led the defense with 11 tackles (five solo). 

Other defensive standouts for the Cavs included senior Jordan Fox (seven tackles), junior Ossie Burkeen (six tackles), Hammons (five tackles, sack), sophomore Alex Hernandez (five tackles), junior Trevor Fraley (five tackles), and sophomore Daniel Cook (four tackles, sack).

“We feel great,” said Zac Bennett of EB’s mindset heading into its bye week, which will be followed by the start of Catawba Valley 2A Conference play at Maiden on Sept. 20. “We feel like we’re one of the best defenses in the conference and we’ve just got to step up and prove that, but this is a good start. This is just the beginning, though.”

“I think being able to win sometimes is a process, and we have been knocking on that door,” added Wittenberg. “We played really, really well in a lot of ways against Christ School, we did the same thing against Freedom, so just to be able to turn the page and get a win tonight was big. We’ve got a lot of things to clean up, but … our effort has been excellent, we play hard, and that’s something we hang our hat on. To compete in our league, you better bring it every night, and we’re gonna have to. But I feel like we’re moving in a really good direction, we did some positive things tonight.”

On the other side, Lytle accounted for 138 yards of offense (102 passing, 36 rushing), but completed just 6 of 15 passes. Radabaugh was his top target with 39 yards on two catches, while Sidden (27-yard reception) and Brinkley (two catches, 22 yards) also went over the 20-yard mark. 

Brinkley also led the Wildcats with 15 carries for 52 yards, while Radabaugh had two carries for 27 yards and completed both of his pass attempts, albeit for a total of 2 yards. 

Defensively, Draughn’s biggest play was an interception by senior Connor Houston midway through the second period. However, the Wildcats hurt themselves all night with penalties, turnovers, and other miscues.

“We talked all week about how we couldn’t get behind the chains, we couldn’t give them free yards, and we did,” Draughn head coach Chris Powell said. “We shot ourselves in the foot so many times … so we have to do a better job of that across the board. But hats off to East Burke, they played a great ballgame. Coach did a great job of having those kids ready and I knew he would, that’s a great coaching staff. We’ve got to get a lot better on some things, but we’ll be OK.

“We just couldn’t get off the field early when we needed to (in the second half). We tried to put a couple drives together there late in the ballgame and it was just a little too late. But the one thing I’ll say about our kids is they could’ve laid down, they could’ve quit there in the fourth quarter … and our kids didn’t quit. That right there is something we can build off of moving forward.” 

After visiting Chase in its final nonconference contest late Thursday – the game was originally scheduled for Friday before being moved up to Thursday due to potential rainfall – Draughn begins Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference play with a trip to Owen on Sept. 20.