Eastern Alamance falls in overtime to Jacksonville in fourth round of state playoffs
MEBANE — Javontae Poteat’s fumble recovery with 23 seconds remaining in regulation set the Eastern Alamance offense up at the Jacksonville 22-yard line in a tied game.
At that point in time, Eagles coach John Kirby figured his offense would do what it’s done all season long — put the ball in the end zone. Doing so would’ve given the top-seeded Eagles a victory.
“When they fumbled down here, and we had a shot, I'm thinking to myself game's over,” Kirby said. “They made plays when they had to and we didn’t.”
The Eagles failed to find the end zone and the game went into overtime.
Joey Teixeira’s fourth-down rush from the 2 in the first segment of overtime was stuffed by the Jacksonville defense. Then, on Jacksonville’s first play of its overtime possession, Damon June barreled into the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown to give the visiting Cardinals a 27-21 victory in the NCHSAA Class 3-A fourth-round state playoff game.
“They just called a good play and it was a play that needed to be called for them,” Eagles senior linebacker Will Burnette said. “We played a heck of a game on defense. They just got the better play in overtime.”
The No. 13 seed Cardinals (11-2), who won their second straight state playoff game in overtime, will play at Greenville Rose in the East regional final next week.
The loss ended a streak of 10 consecutive victories for Eastern Alamance.
“This group is a special group,” Kirby said of his team. “I mean, they went through COVID. They went through a spring that was kind of crazy. And they battled, they've worked together. This group’s a close-knit group. It's what makes coaching fun. Not every day that you have a group of seniors like this group of seniors. You didn't want it to end for them.”
Damon June scored three rushing touchdowns and Christian Constant returned a fumble about 50 yards for a touchdown for Jacksonville.
Hunter Douglas and Kasen McCawley connected for two touchdown passes in the first quarter to give the top-seeded Eagles (10-2) a 14-0 lead. But, the Eagles offense struggled for much of the remainder of the game with a pair of inopportune fumbles that ended promising offensive drives.
“We turned the ball over more than we have all year long,” Kirby said. “You can't do that in a game of this situation.”
Teixeira scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter to push the Eagles’ advantage to 21-7.
June answered with a 14-yard rushing score shortly before halftime to cut Eastern Alamance’s lead to 21-14 at the break.
The Eagles defense continued to get stops, with both McCawley and Jake Libbey recovering fumbles and Carter Stallings recording an interception while at other times getting big third- and fourth-down stops.
“I’m tremendously proud of my defensive line. We’ve got Jamar Burton, who’s the senior, he’s the leader of that line.” Burnette said. “Even the underclassmen, they were able to make calls and read plays that I’ve never seen defensive linemen make before. I’m extremely proud of them. I’m extremely proud of our defensive backs and our secondary; they were able to stop the pass whenever it needed to be stopped. Especially proud of my brother Joey (Teixeira), best linebacker I’ll ever play with and I believe that.”
Ultimately, the Cardinals offense found a way to get in the end zone, as June proved difficult to bring to the ground.
“He’s a big running back, hard to bring down,” Kirby said. “and they put it in his hands.”
Douglas, whose status was up in the air earlier in the week after suffering a separated non-throwing shoulder in the third round, finished with 243 passing yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions on 21-for-34 passing.
“Very proud of Hunter,” Kirby said. “He came in (with a) shoulder injury, hurt and I thought he played really well.”
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
This article originally appeared on Times-News: Eastern Alamance falls in overtime to Jacksonville in fourth round of state playoffs
