Preview: Whiteville Wolfpack vs. East Duplin Panthers
The Whiteville Wolfpack will be playing in front of their home fans against the East Duplin Panthers at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Whiteville had no problem doing just that on Friday. They claimed a resounding 42-0 victory over South Granville at home. The win was nothing new for Whiteville as they're now sitting on five straight.
Meanwhile, a well-balanced attack led East Duplin over Eastern Wayne in every quarter on their way to victory on Friday. East Duplin put the hurt on Eastern Wayne with a sharp 41-18 win. Given East Duplin's advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked 88th, while Eastern Wayne is ranked 227th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Among those leading the charge was Jeremiah Judge, who rushed for 132 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 7.8 yards per carry. Zach Brown was another key contributor, throwing for 157 yards and a touchdown while completing 80% of his passes.
Whiteville's victory was their fourth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 52.5 points per game. As for East Duplin, the victory makes it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 10-1.
Whiteville took a serious blow against East Duplin when the teams last played back in November of 2022, falling 49-6. Thankfully for Whiteville, Avery Gaby (who rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns on only 12 carries, and also caught a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
