A long shot for a playoff berth a month ago, the Pinecrest football team appeared to earn its way in Friday night with a rugged 20-16 victory at Hoke County.

Touchdowns by Travis Scales and Zach Strickland, coupled with a pair of field goals and two extra points by Jackson Maples accounted for the Patriot scoring. The defense did a good job of bottling up Buck star Detrez Newsome except for a 75-yard touchdown burst in the third quarter.

Bouncing back from an 0-2 start in Southeastern Conference play, the Patriots go into the postseason as the fourth seed from the Southeastern Conference. They finished the regular season 5-6 overall and in a three-way tie for third place at 2-3 with Lumberton and Purnell Swett in the league

Following Friday’s games, Patriot coach Chris Metzger participated in a drawing that resulted in Lumberton being awarded the third seed while Purnell Swett got the fifth spot. The pairings for next Friday night’s first-round games are expected to be announced today.

“We’re excited to be going to the dance and anxious to find out where we’re going,” the coach said. “It was a great job by our defense. Offensively we did enough to win. The defense in our conference really brings it.”