SMITHFIELD - Turnovers almost always spell doom for a football team, but especially so when those turnovers are instantaneously turned into points for the opponent.

Smithfield-Selma (2-4, 1-1) committed two costly first half mistakes as opportunistic East Wake (2-4, 1-1) returned an interception and a fumble for touchdowns en route to handing the Spartans a 21-10 defeat in GNRC play.

The two defensive scores gave the Warriors an 11-point lead at the break and the deficit proved to be too much for the Spartans to overcome.

"Not taking anything from East Wake, they played hard but we gave them 14 points and that was big," said SSS coach Anthony Barbour. "We're not good enough where we can have turnovers. We gave it away tonight."

On Smithfield-Selma's first possession of the game, Quarterback Adam Driver was hit from the blindside as he threw and his first attempted pass wobbled into the secondary where Kasunn Williams corralled it and then proceeded to take all the way back for the 52-yard touchdown return.

After a Henry Johnson 32-yard field goal cut the score to 7-3, Smithfield-Selma was threatening to take the lead when Josh Snead reeled off his biggest gain of the day as his 49-yard scamper set the Spartans up nicely inside of the Warriors 30-yard line.

Two plays later, however, disaster struck as fullback Kyle Wilson was met abruptly at the line of scrimmage and had the ball jarred loose. The ball popped up into the air and fell into the arms of East Wake's Khari Jenkins and his legs did the rest of the work as he raced down the sideline 74 yards to stake the Warriors to an 11-point lead.

Josh Snead punched it in from one yard out, bringing SSS to within 14-10 with 1:21 remaining in the third quarter but the Spartans were unable to get any closer.

On an early fourth quarter drive, the Spartans were denied twice in their efforts to gain two inches. Josh Snead was turned away on third down and then Adam Driver's QB sneak on fourth down met much resistance as well from the East Wake defensive line.

The turnover on downs on Smithfield-Selma's own 36-yard line gave the Warriors a short field to work with and they again capitalized on the opportunity. Five plays later, on the four-yard line, Jamal Davis got to the corner and found pay dirt.

Snead finished the game with 164 yards on 30 carries but was forced to work for it. Due to the Spartans' difficulty in throwing the ball, East Wake put 10 and sometimes 11 men in the box to stop the run for much of the night. Outside of five rushes for good chunks of yardage (100 yards), Snead was held to 64 yards on his other 25 carries.

The Smithfield-Selma defensive unit did its part keeping the Spartans in the game giving up just the one score on nine East Wake possessions.

"It was strange that our defense played their best game of the year and we lose the football game," added Barbour. "That's how it goes sometimes. We've got to be able to put both sides of the game together."

East Wake - 7 7 0 7 - 21

Smithfield-Selma - 3 0 7 0 - 10

First Quarte r: EWK -- K. Williams 52 interception return (B. Dunn kick); SSS -- H. Johnson 32 FG. Second Quarter: EWK -- K. Jenkins 74 fumble recovery (B. Dunn kick). Third Quarter: SSS -- J. Snead 1 run (H. Johnson kick). Fourth Quarter: EWK -- J. Davis 4 run (B. Dunn kick).

Team Statistics

Smithfield-Selma:

Rushes-Yards: 45-179

Comp.-Att.-Yards: 0-8-0

Interceptions (thrown): 1

Penalties-Yards: 5-25

Fumbles-lost: 3-2

First Downs: 8

East Wake:

Rushes-Yards: 39-162

Comp.-Att.-Yards: 4-4-(-1)

Interceptions (thrown): 0

Penalties- Yards: 4-30

Fumbles-lost: 4-2

First Downs: 11

Individual Statistics:

Rushing: SSS--J. Snead 30-164, S. Smith 4-15, K. Wilson 4-14, A. Driver 3-(-8), D. Sanders 3-(-10), T. Reddick 1-4; EWK--J. Smith 12-59, M. Ingles 11-66, J. Davis 5-26, C. Pernell 4-(-19), C. Holder 2-11, C. Cosme 2-4, K. Holder 1-14, K. Jenkins 1-2, K. Williams 1-(-1).

Passing: SSS--A. Driver 0-6-0, D. Sanders 0-2-0; EWK--C. Pernell 4-4-(-1).

Receiving: SSS--; EWK--K. Williams 3-(-2), M. Ingles 1-1.