CHOCOWINITY — Behind a dominant performance from Zikajah Crawford and timely fourth-quarter stops from the defense, the Southside Seahawks managed to pull out a 20-18 win over the Spring Creek Gators on homecoming night Friday evening.

Crawford put up 18 of the Seahawks’ 20 points, and the Gators had problems containing him as he gashed them inside and out.

“He’s stepped up big for us this year,” said Southside head coach Jeff Carrow. “He’s wound up being our premiere back. Right now, he’s got the most rushing yards. But with the offense we run, it could be any back, any week, so he’s been the beneficiary here lately.”

While Crawford had the biggest day, senior running back and defensive back Joe Myers had very key plays with crucial tackles, and, most importantly, the game-winning two-point conversion.

“Joe’s a senior, we expect for him to step up,” Carrow said. “We started some other guys at running back, hoping Joe would step up. He stepped up in a case where we needed a big play.”

After Myers scored the two-point conversion in the third, the defense had to step up and stop Spring Creek’s offense multiple times.

Unlike Southside, Spring Creek’s offense had a solid passing game, headed by quarterback Landon Smothers. Southside struggled to stop Smothers and his group of receivers — headed by Jamerion Dawson, who seemed to be getting free whenever he wanted.

But when need be, the Seahawks wrangled in the Gators. After the offense failed by a foot to convert a fourth down in the fourth quarter, outside linebacker Brandon Sullivan picked up the team’s first interception and returned it 25 yards into Spring Creek’s territory.

“It was huge right there,” said Carrow. “We made a good defensive stop. We should’ve put the ball away, offensively, there at the end.”

When the offense failed again, Southside’s defense held again, and it looked to be over as the Seahawks took over with less than 60 seconds in the game. Yet, Seahawks signal caller Marshall Medlock botched the snap and the Gators took over with 44 seconds left in the game.

“That’s all us, we got to have better ball-management skills,” said Carrow. “Can’t turn the ball over at that point.”

The Seahawks defense was a little startled, especially since it seemed the Seahawks had recovered the fumble. Carrow called a timeout, settled his defense and won the game, despite giving up a few yards.

Despite the win, coach was still critical of his team after the game.

“We got to play a lot better ball,” Carrow said. “We’re beating ourselves in a lot of facets of the ball game. We just got to get better as a team.”

Carrow said his team has to cut down on the penalties, have better ball management at the end of the game, and show up on both sides of the ball. He also said he and the coaching staff must improve.

The win pushed Southside to 3-2 with a road trip to South Creek next weekend at 7 p.m.