Eastern Randolph Wildcats conquer Walkertown in third round

Eastern Randolph’s James Combs carries the ball against Walkertown in the state playoffs. (Jann Ortiz / For Randolph Record)

RAMSEUR — Members of Eastern Randolph’s football didn’t care much about a flashy performance in the third round of the Class 3A state playoffs Friday night.

The Wildcats were willing to do the gritty work.

That that paid off in Eastern Randolph’s 30-14 victory against visiting Walkertown in the West Region matchup.

That’s why Burton Cates proclaimed the offensive linemen as the players of the game from the Wildcats’ perspective.

“A lot of chemistry and they really like each other,” Cates said of the mix along the line.

Running backs James Combs and Kobe Walker both scored two touchdowns for Eastern Randolph.

“Every game, we expect to do that,” offensive lineman Maddox Carson said of making a difference in the trenches. “We had the mentality at the beginning.”

The third-seeded Wildcats (10-2) will look to carry that to the fourth round for Friday night’s home clash with 10th-seeded Shelby (10-3), which knocked off second-seeded Mount Airy 41-21 in the third round.

Eastern Randolph was tripped up in the third round in two of the past three seasons, so this was a notable step.

“Let’s learn from our mistakes from last year,” Cates said.

“We hate going out in the third round,” Walker said.

Eastern Randolph got off to a strong start, recovering a short kickoff when Walkertown players didn’t grab the ball. Combs ran 24 yards for the game’s first points.

Nasir Conrad scored on a 58-yard run for sixth-seeded Walkertown (9-2) before Combs had another touchdown run. Walker ran for the two-point conversion, so it was 15-8 after the first quarter.

There were stretches of frustration for the Wildcats after that as long drives didn’t produce points, including a third-quarter fumble after reaching the Walkertown 1-yard line.

“It was us coming together and then picking it up when we had the next chance,” Combs said of Eastern Randolph’s response.

Neither team scored in the second or third quarters. But a Walkertown mistake early in the fourth quarter allowed Eastern Randolph to take over at the Wolfpack’s 4-yard line. After losing yardage, the Wildcats were in the end zone on Walker’s 6-yard run and he also tacked on a two-point conversion run.

“We had to capitalize,” Walker said.

Conrad had a 70-yard catch-and-run for Walkertown, closing the gap to 23-14 and extending the suspense with 10:01 remaining, though Zeb Meadows picked off the Wolfpack’s two-point conversion pass.

Walker tacked on the final touchdown on a 7-yard run.

As the postseason progresses, the assignments naturally become more challenging. That’s why Carson said it was important to have the right mindset.

“You can’t push everybody around,” he said. “But it was a lot better.”

Cates said solid defensive work from Aiden Goodman and Donnell Watson came at clutch times.