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East Lincoln wins 3A state football title, beating Northern Nash

joe l hughes ii, the gaston gazette
·3 min read
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RALEIGH — Relatively immune to adversity during the 2022 season, the East Lincoln football team experienced a season’s worth in the first two minutes of Saturday’s NCHSAA 3A state final.

While not accustomed to absorbing th punches, the Mustangs made due by throwing some of their own.

Tyler Mizzell had two second-quarter touchdown passes as East Lincoln overcame an early deficit and pulled away from Northern Nash on Saturday night for a 30-15 victory in the NCHSAA Class 3A state football championship at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh.

East Lincoln football (16-0) scored its first NCHSAA state title since 2014 and its third in the last 11 years by beating Northern Nash (15-1) in a battle of previously undefeated teams.

“It’s crazy, right?” East Lincoln coach David Lubowicz said following the game. “Every team sets goals, generally every year we talk about conference championships. But when I had that first conversation with (East Lincoln’s captains) I told them to set goals: win our first game, win conference, make the playoffs.

“They looked at me like I was crazy and said, ‘Coach, we want to win state.’ For them to bring that fruition is incredible. I couldn’t be more excited or proud of them.”

Mizzell was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after completing 16 of 23 passes for 146 yards and touchdown passes to Keandre Walker (five catches, 41 yards) – who received Offensive MVP honors – and Markell Clark (four catches, 41 yards). Sophomore running back Christopher Daley II also rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown.

West Virginia recruit Ben Cutter was named the team’s Defensive MVP after leading his team with 10 tackles. He contributed in other ways, however, rushing for 65 yards, catching two passes for 23 yards and averaging 41.5 yards on four punts, one of them downed inside the Northern Nash 20-yard line.

“It means everything to me, to be part of a group of kids that made it this far and won a state championship,” Cutter said. “We couldn’t have done it without our coaches, without all the offseason work we put in. We deserve this, we worked hard for it and it means everything to us.”

Kicker Chris Mileta had field goals of 34, 24 and 30 yards, along with going 3-for-3 on extra points.

Northern Nash didn’t make it easy early on, though, needing only three plays to take an early 6-0 lead. Keno Jones’ 67-yard pass to Randall King set up the quarterback’s 2-yard TD scamper.

The Knights’ lead wouldn’t last, as East Lincoln followed with 30 of the game’s final 39 points.

“That’s a great football team we played. For them to come out, smack us in the mouth like they did,” Lubowicz said. “Obviously you can attribute that to how good they’ve been coached and how well they worked and prepared for us. For our kids to respond, I think it was a really big deal.”

East Lincoln earned the 3A West title with a 14-7 win over South Point. The Mustangs are vying for their third state championship, joining 2A and 2AA titles earned in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The program also advanced to a state final in 2008, falling 24-7 to Reidsville.

As for Northern Nash, it used late-game heroics to earn the 3A East championship. Quarterback Keno Jones’ touchdown pass in the game’s final minute lifted his team past Fayetteville Seventy-First, 23-22.

East Lincoln Football State Championship Coverage

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This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: NCHSAA 3A football finals: East Lincoln pulls away vs. Northern Nash