Top regional seed ekes out first-round NC high school football playoff win | PHOTOS

The top seed in the NCHSAA football playoffs’ East region is moving on — barely.

Heritage High School of Wake Forest scored first, held unbeaten Cleveland High of Clayton off the scoreboard in two of four quarters, and turned timely turnovers into enough points to put a mighty scare into the No. 1 Rams.

It took late-game heroics from standout quarterback Jackson Byrd to lift Cleveland to a 24-21 win over Heritage, earning the Rams (11-0) a home date with No. 16 Ashley in next week’s second round.

Byrd burrowed into the end zone from a yard out in the waning seconds of the game to salvage the game for Cleveland.

Heritage (2-9) won just two games this season playing out of the Northern 4A conference, and squeaked into the playoffs on its strength of schedule, but the Huskies looked far more dangerous than their record let on in pushing Cleveland to the brink of disaster.

The Rams have made a habit of winning close games this season. They edged city rival Clayton, 37-35, a week ago to complete a perfect regular season, just one week after holding off Garner, 29-28. The Rams also earned a 35-32 Week 1 win over Hoggard of Wilmington, the No. 3 seed in the East.

Heritage jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a LaDainian Person reception and ensuing PAT less than three minutes into the game.

After the Huskies missed a field goal to go up two scores, the Rams added a field goal of their own to pull within four at 7-3.

Cleveland’s defense fed its offense in the second quarter. After an interception, the Rams marched down the field and rumbled into the end zone to take their first lead of the game. A Jackson Byrd strike to Deangelo Ruffin later in the second quarter pushed the Cleveland lead to 17-7. All was well — until it wasn’t.

The Huskies got into the turnover game late in the half to keep things close, turning a recovered fumble deep in Cleveland territory into a 29-yard Dylan Schmitt touchdown pass to close the gap to 17-14.

Schmitt found Person again in the third quarter to put the Huskies back in front, 21-17, where they stayed until the game’s final seconds, aided by a defense that forced another fumble and snagged an interception in the fourth quarter.

But Byrd went to work with little time left, completing a 43-yard pass to put Cleveland in good field position, and then bulldozing into the end zone for the winning touchdown in the waning seconds.