McCray boots East back to the top of the City hill

BY PAUL LIOTTI

With one swing of his right leg, East senior Malik McRay booted the Eagles back to being the king of the hill in the city, as his point after attempt split the uprights with 1:07 giving East a 13-12 win over Wilson in a game suspended for 2 ½ weeks.

And just like that, after 2 quarters of physical, brutal football where both sides gave the other their best shots, it was over.

“I was so nervous; I was never so nervous in my life,” said McCray, who also scored the game tying TD on a nifty crossing pattern seconds before. “All I was thinking was ‘look the ball in and kick; just kick it; you got this.’ It was so much pressure, but I knew coming into this game we were going to win.”

The pressure on the kick was intensified in the moments before the snap. Just as East was about to snap the ball, the Eagles flinched for a 5-yard penalty. Then when the ball was reset, it was Wilson’s turn to jump offsides, and back went the ball to the 3 yard line.

The point after try, which is usually a footnote in the annals of boxscores, was set up moments earlier on another dramatic East strike.

First, there was a pass from Anthony Gilbert on 2^nd and 31 from its own 38 which was set up by a holding penalty and a bubble screen to Seven McGee that was completely blown up by the Wildcats.

On that 2^nd and a half-mile, Gilbert found Mike Maxwell down the left sideline, floating the pass just over the outstretched hand of Rickey Gamble Jr. who had defensed the play well. The pass play went for 43 yards and set up the Eagles at the 19. The play was originally designed to go to the left, but as he rolled out he was met with a wall of Wildcat defenders and when he spotted Maxwell he let it fly.

“When I rolled to the right I saw Mike and I knew with all the work we did in the offseason, with all the passing and catching we did then I trust him and let him go get it,” Gilbert said.

Then on the next play Gilbert didn’t waste time, finding McCray over

the middle. McCray cradled the ball as he crossed the goal line.

“I believe in our quarterback; he’s the best player on our team, without him we’re nothing,” McCray said. “I saw the open space and the linebacker slid over and I looked back at Anthony and he knew what I meant. Anthony threw it and I looked the ball right into my hands.”

That subtle look was all Gilbert needed to make the play.

“I trusted my line to give me protection and I caught (McCray’s) eye when he looked back. I know how he gets with that look and I just gave him the chance. And he made the play,” Gilbert said.

And there is a changing of the guard in the city.

Wilson, the defending Class A Sectional champion, has sat atop the city schools for a number of seasons, turning away all would-be vanquishers time and time again.

Not on this overcast, foggy, drizzling night.

“We got the city back,” East co-coach Steve Flagler said. “For the couple of years East has been on top so this feels great. The kids made plays, and that’s how we win games.”

And the playmakers needed to make plays for East. Aside from the 74-yard touchdown on the first play of the game from Gilbert to Maxwell, the 43-yard-get-out-of-the-hole pass, and 19-yard plays on the final two snaps, the Wildcats kept the Eagles grounded. Wilson, which prides itself on its defense, only allowed 71 total yards in the 40 plays in between those 3 plays.

“We had chances to make plays but we didn’t and they did,” Wilson coach Greg Mortier said. “We had a couple good drives and had a chance, to punch that ball over and make it a two score game which would have been huge. But we can’t turn the ball over against good teams.

“We needed to get that one more score, because with a team like East that has all those athletes you can’t hold them down forever,” Mortier said. “(Gilbert) made a heckuva throw. Anytime you can throw it over the top of a player like Rickey like that you know it’s a good play.”

The way the second half played out, it seemed as only one or two plays would make the difference. That one play could have been a Seven McGee 46-yard punt return he took to the house near the end of the third quarter, but that was called back due to an East penalty.

Tuesday night’s game was the completion of a game suspended at halftime on September 15.

With 7:43 left in the second and the score knotted at 6-all, play was halted as several fights broke out in the stands.  Play was halted for 55 minutes and Wilson eventually scored on the drive after play resumed to take a 12-6 lead into intermission. A few minutes after the intermission period started, an announcement was made that the game was halted and fans were instructed to leave the stadium.

And the Eagles set the stage early on. Very early in fact. On the game’s first play, Gilbert found a streaking Maxwell down the center of the field hitting him in stride 30 yards down field and Maxwell did the rest with his legs to cap a 74-yard pitch- catch-and run score. Fans were barely settled and East was up 6-0.

The Wildcats defense kept the Eagles at bay for the rest of the quarter and all throughout the second stanza until they finally broke through early in the second when Desi Floyd Jr broke free up the middle for a 25-yard run with 11:03 left in the second. After play resumed, Wilson drove the ball down the field, and the 9-play drive was capped by Floyd’s 8 yard run behind massive OG Chagal Freeman. Freeman, who is listed at 6-4 and 315 lbs, opened a gaping hole and Floyd strolled into the endzone.

Floyd was the game’s leading rusher with 195 on 30 hard-fought carries. However, the senior sat out the last 2 series of the game with an injured hand.

East	6	0	0	7	13
Wilson	0	12	0	0	12

Scoring
East	Mike Maxwell 74 pass from Anthony Gilbert (kick failed)
Wilson	Desi Floyd Jr 25 run (kick failed)
Wilson	Desi Floyd Jr 8 run (pass failed)
East	Mike Maxwell 19 pass from Anthony Gilbert (Malik McCray kick)
Rushing
East	Freddie Brock 5-29, Deljon Johnson 10-28, Seven McGee 3-13, Malik McCray 4-8, Anthony Gilbert 4-(-1)
Wilson	Desi Floyd Jr. 30-195, Rickey Gamble Jr. 3-32, Ja’hmere Jones 3-15, Deon Edwards 2-8, Tory Bradford 2-2, Drequan Bell 1-3, Nasir King Jr. 1-2
Passing
East	Anthony Gilbert 5-15-130-2-0
Wilson	Deon Edwards 12-21-71-0-0
Receiving
East	Mike Maxwell 2-117, Malik McCray 2-22, Seven McGee 1-(-9)
Wilson	Jervon Johnson 3-29, Desi Floyd Jr. 2-17, Rickey Gamble Jr. 6-15, Nasir King Jr. 1-10