
DATE: Friday, November 28, 1997             TAG: 9711280171

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   52 lines

ITS VICTORY ENDS BEACH-EASTERN'S 6-GAME WIN STREAK. SOUTHEASTERN HALTS CHARITY BOWL SKID

The Southeastern District team found the antidote for its opponents' dominance, defeating the Beach-Eastern squad 13-12 Thursday in the Joy Fund Charity Bowl.

The win stopped the Beach-Eastern team's six-game winning streak and was the Southeastern team's highest point output in three years.

``When I came out here, they said we hadn't won in . . . years,'' said Southeastern quarterback Jimmy Saunders, a 1992 Great Bridge grad and the game's MVP.

``We just had to take it to 'em.''

Saunders passed for 101 yards, completed 5 of 14 passes, ran for a touchdown and threw an interception.

The Southeastern team took the lead for good in the fourth quarter when running back Kelvin Lawrence, Oscar Smith '87, scampered in from a yard out. A pass play on the conversion failed, leaving the score 13-12.

Curtis Turner's 53-yard reception was a key play on the winning drive.

The teams exchanged possessions six times after that, culminating in a final Beach-Eastern drive with less than a minute left in the game.

Beach-Eastern quarterback Shawn Beasley, First Colonial '92, completed a 23-yard pass to three-time MVP Kevin Blanding to give their team a first down at the Southeastern 20-yard line.

But an intentional grounding penalty and two incompletions snuffed out Beach-Eastern's hopes.

``I was beginning to think we couldn't lose but I was wrong,'' said Blanding, who rushed for 86 yards on 16 carries and scored on a 2-yard run to put his team on the scoreboard with less than a minute left in the first half.

A pass play on the ensuing conversion failed.

Beasley scored on a 3-yard run to give Beach-Eastern a 12-7 lead at the end of the third quarter. But the Southeastern's eight-play, 65-yard drive on its next possession, ending in Lawrence's touchdown run, sealed the deal.

Southeastern linebacker Ray Barrow, Deep Creek '81, was named Outstanding Defender.

The Southeastern team jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter when Saunders plunged in from 1 yard out.

The score capped a short, five-play drive that followed a Beach-Eastern fumble at its own 22-yard line. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Running back Kelvin Lawrence, Oscar Smith '87, fights for yardage

for the Southeastern District squad in Thursday's Joy Fund Charity

Bowl, which was played at the Center for Effective Learning in

Virginia Beach.