James Kenan’s Tyquise Wilson (with ball) nearly breaks away from two Wallace-Rose Hill defenders during first-quarter play last Friday in Wallace. The Tigers are one win away from reaching the eastern 2A final in nearly a decade. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
WARSAW — Tim Grady’s looked at the number with a 252 area code pop up on his phone Thursday evening.
He pushed the green button.
“Hello,” he said.
The caller was Northeastern head football coach Antonio Moore.
The two spoke for a few minutes. Moore extended well wishes to the James Kenan coach heading into last week’s third-round postseason affair at arch nemesis Wallace-Rose Hill.
“He said, ‘coach, it’s hard to beat a team and twice’ and he said, ‘good luck to you,’” Grady said. “He knew that this was going to be a war tonight, but I think he knew we were very tough and we weren’t going to roll over.”
The Tigers didn’t.
Grady encouraged his staff to take a business-like approach to the game. Kenan quietly went through its pre-game warmup and played the Bulldogs toe-to-toe for 48 minutes and an extra overtime session.
“I told the coaching staff and players we’re going to go over there calm, going to be calm during pre-game, but I want you to be coiled up like a rattlesnake,” Grady told his team. “They’re all nice, calm and cool, but when it’s time to strike and I feel like that’s what they did. They came in with great composure from start to finish. They played [hard] after them all night long and they never quit.”
Zamarion Smith’s double-leg tackle stopped Wallace-Rose Hill quarterback Matthew Wells at the 2-yard line on the game-winning, two-point conversion attempt.
His heart-stopping play sealed a 14-13 thriller that is forever etched in the memories of players, coaches and fans who witnessed an instant classic unfold on Jack Holley Field inside the Thell B. Overman Athletic Complex.
Now, the 12th-seeded Tigers … yes, 12th-seeded … are the guests of top-seeded Northeastern (13-0) this Friday in eastern semifinal-round action of the 2024 NC High School Athletic Association Class 2A playoffs. Kickoff is 7 p.m. in Elizabeth City.
Kinston (9-4) travels to second-seeded Whiteville (12-1) in the other east semifinal.
“I hope when people turn on the film they say ‘oh my’ and they start losing as much sleep as I have this year playing in this conference we play in and that’s the truth,” Grady said. “You’d be surprised how many coaches have reached out and said ‘y’all got screwed.’ I didn’t get upset about it [playoff seeding].
“Yeah, I wanted to play at home. But the Lord said all things are good, we’ll just trust it and maybe it will work out to our advantage in ways that we don’t see.”
The co-East Central champ, James Kenan (12-1) faces its most daunting challenge of the season.
Northeastern features one of the state’s top quarterbacks — senior Trevaris Jones. The double-threat signal caller has thrown for 3,359 yards, rushed for 471 yards and accounted for 49 touchdowns.
Ty Saunders is his top target. He’s reeled in 46 receptions for 930 yards and visited the end zone on 15 occasions.
Winner of 12 consecutive Northeastern Athletic 2A-3A Conference crowns, the Eagles have hung 40-plus points on 12 of 13 opponents this season.
Meanwhile, the defensive unit has racked up 47 quarterback sacks and caused 29 turnovers. It’s surrendered just 109 points in 52 quarters of action.
“Northeastern is very athletic at every position,” Grady said. “Their skill players are fast, mobile and they appear to be strong, physical and explosive up front. We will need a good night of minimal mistakes and turnovers, and will need to move the ball up front.
“I hope the cold weather hinders their passing game and benefits our style of play.”
Kenan counters with an equally-effective offense that’s amassed 4,000-plus yards rushing and receiving combined this season.
Junior QB Eli Avent has thrown for 1,016 yards, rushed for nearly 300 and scored 19 touchdowns. He’s spread the wealth among 13 running backs, who each have the capability of making an explosive play at any time.
Hassan Kornegay and transfer Ty Morrisey anchor the defense. The reigning ECC defensive player-of-the-year, Kornegay has filed an eye-popping 191 tackles. Morrisey has 125 stops.
Josh Mitchell (103 tackles), David “Cito” Zeleya (107) and Cal Avent (89) have each provided numerous key stops behind the line of scrimmage.
The Tigers have recorded 20 sacks and forced 29 turnovers.
Northeastern stumbled in the fourth round a year ago. Moore’s teams emerged as state runners-up in 2008 and 2009. Meanwhile, James Kenan lost to Wallace-Rose Hill in the east regional final in 2014 and 2015.
“We are very excited to be playing football in December … blessed to be able to play,” Grady said. “So proud of the accomplishments of this team winning every major rivalry game especially with the stakes as high as they were.
“We want to send a shockwave across North Carolina.”
The Tigers aren’t finished, yet.
You may reach sports writer Rudy Coggins at prepswriter2@gmail.com or call/text 919-709-9257.
