Maiden High's Blue Devils put themselves in excellent position to make the state football playoffs by beating Bunker Hill 21-10 on Friday night in a Catawba Valley Athletic 2A game.
The Blue Devils, who beat the Bears for the 20th straight time, improved to 5-5 overall and 3-3 in league play with one game remaining (at Draughn) left in the regular season.
Bunker Hill's playoff chances were damaged with the loss. The Bears fell to 4-6, 2-4 and they close the regular season on Friday at once-beaten Bandys.
Against Bunker Hill, the Blue Devils deviated from their normal spread offense and came out in a Power I formation and with a will to run the ball more.
Maiden took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in seven plays to score on a 15-yard run by Cody Beal for a quick 7-0 advantage. The big play in the drive was a 33-yard pass from quarterback Matt Johnson to Hasan Hopper.
Matt Johnson sat out last week's game against East Burke, a 42-0 loss, after sustaining a concussion in a game against Bandys.
"We were having some trouble in the spread offense," said Maiden head coach Brian Brown. "We just weren't protecting Matt very well. We've just not been good enough to walk out on the field and win games.
"We're just trying to keep these guys out playing and getting them to understand that it's going to be hard sometimes.
"But we got it together in this one, and I was proud of them for that."
After the Blue Devils scored, the Bears drove to the Maiden 13 before the Maiden defense stepped up and got a sack from Andrew Hollar on Bears' quarterback Cameron Beard at the Maiden 20. Chris Spencer then came on and kicked a 37-yard field goal to trim the Maiden lead to 7-3.
Bunker Hill had a chance to take the lead just before the half when Beard hooked up with Mario Coulter for an apparent 81-yard TD but the play was nullified due to a holding penalty.
The Bears scored to take a 10-7 lead with three minutes, 37 seconds left in the third quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Davontaye Wilson. The big play in the drive was a 30-yard run by John Seagle.
Maiden responded quickly when Will Jenkins returned the kickoff 45 yards to the Bunker Hill 38. Three plays later, the Blue Devils scored on a 2-yard dive by Matt Johnson for a 14-10 lead. Nate Johnson, who finished with 20 carries for 100 yards, carried twice on the drive for 36 yards.
After an exchange of possessions and the end of the third quarter, Beal recovered a fumble by Cameron Beard at the Bunker Hill 14.
The Blue Devils lost four yards on the first play before Nate Johnson got loose down to the 1-yard line, setting up Matt Johnson's sneak for the TD and a 21-10 lead.
Bunker Hill's next two possessions resulted in interceptions, one by Nate Johnson and the other by Holden Cox.
Maiden took the last interception and drove to the Bears 1, where Matt Johnson took a knee and ran out the clock.
"I thought our defense played great," Brown said. "We were very concerned with their offense coming in and I thought our defensive coaches had our guys well prepared for their offense."
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