ST. PAULS — The night started so well for St. Pauls. Theophilus Setzer made two long runs to the end zone within the game’s first 10 minutes, the Bulldogs had a two-touchdown lead and looked comfortable on the field in Friday’s first-round 2A state-playoff matchup.
Then it all came to a screeching — yet methodical — halt.
East Duplin scored on all four of its second-half drives, turning a halftime deficit into a 33-13 win over St. Pauls, ending the Bulldogs’ season earlier than anyone on the home side at G.S. Kinlaw Stadium would have hoped.
“Some of the stuff that haunted us at the beginning of the season came back to haunt us tonight,” St. Pauls coach Mike Setzer said. “We went stagnant late in the second quarter and then didn’t have anything in the third quarter; that was something we dealt with in the beginning of the season, and we hadn’t seen that in a while. Hats off to East Duplin; what a good, strong football team they are. Like I said in the paper (earlier this week), most teams will give up when we get up. We’re up 13-0, and they just kind of buckled down.”