HobbsDailyReport.com
BELMONT – West Iredell High’s stay in the state 2AA football playoffs was short-lived.
Top-seeded South Point made short order of the visiting Warriors on Friday night in a first-round game, winning 48-0 to earn another battle with Shelby next Friday.
No. 1 SOUTH POINT 48
No. 16 W. IREDELL 0
No. 8 Shelby (10-2) advanced Friday with a 49-20 home victory over No. 9 Newton-Conover, setting up a second battle this season with South Point next Friday in Belmont. Two weeks ago, South Point beat Shelby 35-15 in Belmont to win the Southwestern 2A title.
West Iredell — a No. 16 seed making its first playoff appearance since 2011 and first as a 2A school — finished 5-7.
Jake Alexander led South Point’s win with three rushing TDs, and the Raiders built a 35-0 lead although they had the ball for fewer than eight minutes.
Red Raiders quarterback Scottie Lee hit Ray Grier on two scoring throws.
Alexander ran for almost 160 yards to lead South Point’s running game.
West Iredell got about 150 yards of total offense from Keenan Bunch.
The Warriors, 8-26 after four seasons under head coach Monte Simmons, haven’t won a postseason game since beating High Point Andrews 29-12 in the first round in 2007.
West Iredell had missed the postseason for five straight years before finishing fourth this season in the Northwestern Foothills 2A and getting in. The Warriors had 10 straight postseason trips before the five years out string began in 2012.