Cavs fall in heroic efforts to Bears

Published | Oct 7, 2023

Moral victories don’t count for much in today’s modern sports world but the East Burke football team had several Friday night in a 28-6 against-all-odds home loss to Bunker Hill, the current leader in the Catawba Valley 2A conference standings.

Before the game began, the Cavaliers hosted their annual Pink Heals Night as all the coaches donned a pink shirt and Ray Childers Elementary School assistant principal Jordan Ferrell was the honorary coin tosser as she is currently battling breast cancer.

East Burke started sophomore Calvin Vue at the quarterback position in replacement of injured senior Asher Gebhard and threw for 89 yards on nine completions, despite throwing two costly interceptions.

Junior Cannon Morrison led the receiving core with five catches for 55 yards, including a second-quarter fourth-down conversion for 33 yards to set up East Burke’s only score of the game: a one-yard run by senior Jacob Dellinger.

Dellinger continued to carry the load of the Cavalier rushing game by only gaining 95 yards on 24 carries and still leads with approximately 177 yards per game.

The Cavaliers were also within two opportunities to tie the game in the third quarter but fell short on both tries with Zayne Newman’s 11-yard run on fourth down falling a yard short of the end zone and an interception by Vue to end a red zone drive.

The very next play for Bunker Hill broke the Cavaliers’ back scoring on a touchdown run by the length of the field to extend their lead to 21-6.

The offensive unit just couldn’t recover despite getting near midfield twice before turning the ball over.

Darren Hammons and Avery Fraley were other offensive contributors for the Cavaliers.

East Burke also had their handful of defensive standouts including Jordan Fox (12 tackles, 4 TFLs, sack, fumble recovery), Morrison (8 tackles, pass deflection), Levi Coble (7 tackles, TFL), Brady Bostain (6 tackles, TFL), Mason Robison (4 tackles, TFL), and Dellinger (INT).

The season continues on for the Cavaliers next Friday at Lincolnton looking to break through with a conference win.