The Crusaders football team is now playing in the East regional final, which they will need a win to get to the state championship, against Clayton on Thursday. 

Clayton has beat Southeast Raleigh, D.H. Conley, New Hanover, and Cleveland and is now preparing to take on Gibbons. 

Gibbons went 4-0 in conference and is the top seed in the 7A East and is looking to win it all. After a hard fought game on Nov. 30, against Garner, the Crusaders had come up on top by winning the game 16-14. Against Garner, Gibbons was using a lot of their senior receivers.

Some of the receivers from that game include Brayden Karras who had five receptions and 76 receiving yards, Braylon Peebles with nine receptions and 77 receiving yards, Connor McGeehan with four receptions and 63 receiving yards. Connor Lindsey, the quarterback for this game, had led these players with 264 passing yards and 22 completions.

Although there had been many passing yards there was only one touchdown, that was a rush from Lindsey, most of the game was decided through field goals and that is what made Evan Windley MVP for the game. Having three field goals and one extra point, it’s what allowed Gibbons to get the win out of this game and a huge deciding factor.