East Forsyth rolls

There's a sign on a fence at the East Forsyth parking lot that reads "1-0, 4 to go," that signifies the Eagles' win in the first round of the state football playoffs last week.

Someone is going to have to change the sign.

Christian Smith rumbled his way to 224 yards and two touchdowns, and the East Forsyth defense stood firm on several key situations to lead the Eagles to a 21-7 win over Huntersville Hopewell in the second round of the Class 4-AA playoffs.

The win improved East Forsyth to 12-1 and moves it into the third round of the playoffs next week, where it will face Richmond County.

Smith knows that means he will have to practice on Thanksgiving Day, but said he was fine with that.

"That's good, right?" Smith asked rhetorically. "I think everyone is pretty fired up about that. Everyone is buying into this, and the legend keeps growing. Now, we are all starting to feel it a little bit more. This is just the second step. We've got a few more we want to take."

With East clinging to a 14-7 lead with 7:28 to play and facing a fourth down and 1 at its own 44-yard line, Coach Todd Willert decided to roll the dice and go for it rather than punting the ball..

Willert said his decision was made easier because of an offside penalty called against Hopewell one play earlier on fourth and 6 when his punting unit was on the field. Instead, Willert called time out, and senior quarterback Danny O'Brien told him the Eagles would get the yardage they needed.

"Danny told me we could make it, and we wanted to show people that if it's fourth and short like that, we could get it," Willert said. "Obviously, that was a key sequence and we ended up getting more points as a result. I really didn't think twice about it, because I knew our defense could hold them in case we didn't make it."

O'Brien called his own number and was pushed through the middle of the line for a 2-yard gain, giving East a fresh set of downs and allowing it to chew up some more clock.

"I just told him we'd been getting all year, so why change something that isn't broken," O'Brien said. "They stacked the middle and blitzed both backers, so the initial surge wasn't too good, but the guys just pushed me through and I drove my legs for the extra yardage."

Smith carried the Eagles to two more first downs before exploding for a 34-yard touchdown run with 3:26 left that all but sealed the win.

Smith was hobbled with an ankle injury for most of the first half of the season, but knew he was capable of a big game, especially with the monstrous offensive line that East has. He had 122 yards by halftime and was on his way to 34 carries for the night.

"It's always easy to run behind ‘Carolina' (David Collins, a 6-7, 295 pound left tackle who has committed to North Carolina)," Smith added. "There always seems to be a lot of daylight on the left side."

East took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter on a 2-yard run by Smith and a 1-yard plunge by O'Brien and two extra points by Zach Boyer.

Hopewell scored on its first possession of the second half to trim the lead to 14-7. Justin Avery connected with Michael Haffner on a 42-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline on a third and 22 play that ignited the offense.

On the ensuing kickoff, Darren Walker of East Forsyth fumbled the ball at the 18-yard line, where Hopewell took over with 7:37 left in the third quarter. But a couple of mishandled snaps, a holding penalty, and a sack resulted in Hopewell turning the ball over on downs.

Hopewell drove to the East Forsyth 36 on its first series of the fourth quarter, but again turned it over on downs before the pivotal final scoring drive by East.

"I still think we were kind of sloppy," Willert said. "I don't think we will be able to get away with that stuff next week against Richmond County, or they are going to blast us. We just need to make sure we find ways to get better this week."

Hopewell 0 0 7 0 -- 7


East Forsyth 0 14 0 7 -- 21

EF--Smith 2 run (Boyer kick)

EF--O'Brien 1 run (Boyer kick)

H--Haffner 42 pass from Avery (Haffner kick)

EF--Smith 34 run (Boyer kick)

Records--East Forsyth 12-1, Huntersville Hopewell 8-