East Gaston stops Thomas Jefferson, makes history in Gaston County game of the week.
East Gaston High scored early and often in a 56-3 Friday night homecoming win over Thomas Jefferson that gives the Warriors the first 6-0 start in the school’s 52-year history.
Their previous best start came in 1978, when the school began its season 5-0 on the way to the Warriors’ first conference title and 10-win season.
Friday’s win in the Deer Park Water Gaston County game of the week improved East Gaston to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference.
“It’s big for the team, big for the school and big for the community,” Warriors coach J.T. Postell said.
The potential distraction of homecoming, a Friday afternoon pep rally and pursuing history altered East Gaston’s weekly practice protocol.
But Postell was pleased with how his team navigated everything and the results were obvious as the Warriors scored two touchdowns in each quarter.
“This week was homecoming so I wanted us to enjoy it,” Postell said. “We’re big on routine here and try to have a schedule each day. But I thought we did a pretty good job with all of that.”
East Gaston scored quickly as it needed only two plays for each of its first two scoring drives, then had 9-play, 4-play, 3-play, 8-play, 7-play and 5-play scoring drives the rest of the game that saw a running clock for the last 11 minutes of the contest.
The Warriors rolled for 490 yards total offense and limited Thomas Jefferson (1-6, 0-3) to 163 yards total offense.
Three who made a difference
East Gaston QB Trenton Sherrill: The senior 4-year standout completed 9 of 13 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns and moved within 60 yards of all-time school career passing leader Jadarian Moore. Moore had 5,102 yards passing from the 2001 to 2003 seasons and Sherrill has 5,042 from the 2021 spring season throguh this season.
East Gaston RB Isaac Brown: Rushed 11 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns.
East Gaston WR Omarion Pryor: Caught two passes for 92 yards, including an 83-yarder for the game’s second touchdown.
Worth mentioning
▪ East Gaston’s gang-tackling defense was on the field for 51 snaps since the Warriors’ offense only needed 39 snaps to score its 56 points.
Donovan Reid (8), Chase Johnson (6), Antonio Ford (6), Jayce Rowe (5) and Chase Johnson (5) had five or more solo or first-hit tackles for the Warriors and Jamarion Blair had two of the team’s four quarterback sacks.
What’s next?
East Gaston hosts Bessemer City next Friday; Thomas Jefferson visits Burns next Friday.
Scoring Summary
Thomas Jefferson 0 3 0 0 — 3
East Gaston 14 13 14 15 — 56
First quarter
EG — Trenton Sherrill 40 run (Tripp Abernathy kick)
EG — Omarion Pryor 82 pass from Sherrill (Abernathy kick)
Second quarter
TJ — Parker Marshall 32 FG
EG — Isaac Brown 1 run (Abernathy kick)
EG — Brown 25 run (Kick failed)
Third quarter
EG — Omarion McDowell 4 run (Abernathy kick)
EG — Damazia Murphy 23 pass from Sherrill (Abernathy kick)
Fourth quarter
EG — Brown 52 run (Abernathy kick)
EG — Ethan Hilderbran 13 run (John Michael Green pass from Jayce Rowe)
