The Union Grove Wolverines of Region 2 traveled south to the MAC to take on the Eagles in Round I of the state AAAAA playoffs. Union Grove finished in third place in Region 2 and the Eagles were the #2 seed from Region 1.

After forcing the Wolverines to punt on their opening possession, the Eagles took over on their own 46 yard line. After an incomplete pass on first down, senior Xavier Bacon sprinted down the right sideline all the way for a 54 yard touchdown to ignite the Northside crowd on a damp Friday night. Devon Pike’s PAT made the score 7-0 in Northside’s favor with 8:48 left in the first quarter. The Eagle defense forced another Wolverine punt, and the Eagles went on an 8 play / 58 yard drive that ended with Bacon running in from 4 yards out. Pike again added the PAT to put the Eagles ahead 14-0 with 3:39 left in the opening quarter.

The Wolverines were not about to give in to the quick Eagle start. The Union Grove defense started stacking the line to slow down the Eagle rushing attack and then picked off a pass to thwart another Northside scoring drive. An exchange of punts gave the Wolverines great field position at the Northside 33 yard line and nine plays later they were in the endzone to cut Northside’s lead to 14-7 with 3:17 left before halftime.

On the opening drive of the second half (7 plays / 59 yards), the Eagles tacked 3 more points on the scoreboard when Devon Pike connected on a 33 yard field goal to push the score to 17-7 with 8:35 left in the third quarter. The Eagle defense began to really tighten up as they limited Union Grove to 22 yards rushing in the second half, and the Eagles put the finishing touches on the game when Bacon again rushed into the endzone from 1 yard out with 3:22 left in the game and Pike’s PAT made the final score 24-7.
The Eagles now travel to Kingsland to take on the number one seed from Region 2 – the Camden Co. Wildcats.