BENSON - Hoping to catch Southeast Raleigh at the right time, the West Johnston football team played like a squad on a mission in its final game of 2009.

However, the Wildcats couldn't muster enough offense in front of the home crowd as the formidable Bulldog defense held West to its lowest scoring output of the year in a 27-7 win last Friday night.

Southeast Raleigh snapped a two-game losing streak against Garner and Harnett Central that spoiled an 8-0 start. Saturday's N.C. High School Athletic Association playoff pairings gave the Bulldogs the No. 7 seed and a home date with Greenville Rose in the first round.

"We needed this," Southeast Raleigh coach Daniel Finn said. "Our defense played really good tonight. Our offense struggled at times, but we cranked it up when we needed to."

West Johnston's playoff hopes all but ended in the loss to Smithfield-Selma the week before, as the Wildcats put their pride on the line in what was the final game for 20 seniors. After making postseason appearances in 2007 and 2008, West's season would not allow for a shot at the school's first playoff win.

It was special teams play that helped the Bulldogs get their first points late in the second quarter when they blocked a Gustavo Gonzalez punt and earned a first down at the West 22-yard-line. After converting a third-and-13 with a 24-yard pass from Gabe Henderson to Dominique Jackson, Sean McLean scored the first of his two touchdowns on a one-yard push.

Southeast made a monumental goalline stand at the end of the half when the Wildcats converted a hook-and-ladder play with 19 seconds left on a 42-yard pass that ended with C.J. Frederick stepping out-of-bounds two yards shy of the end zone.

After a pair of incomplete passes left one second on the clock, West Johnston coach Bennett Jones went for the end zone again, but Frederick got caught up in the trenches for no gain as the half ended.

"Why not?" Jones said. "I just wanted the kids to know that I believe in them. They made a play and we didn't."

West Johnston held the lead briefly on Gonzalez's extra point after Frederick scored on a two-yard spurt on the initial drive of the second half.

The Southeast Raleigh defensive front contained an imposing array of size that included senior Daniel McCullers (6-foot-7, 378 pounds) and junior Brandon Miller (6-foot-4, 396 pounds). The Bulldogs' rush defense surrendered just 66 yards rushing on 27 attempts by West Johnston.

"They're huge up front," Jones said. "It's hard to run around them because they're so fast and it's hard to run through them because they're so big."

In his final game as a Wildcat, Frederick had 62 yards rushing to go along with 47 yards receiving.

"That's what this game was," Jones said. "They capitalized on their opportunities they got and we couldn't convert."