Football -- Falcons grounded in opener

By David Williams
Published in Sports on August 22, 2004 2:03 AM

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CLAYTON -- Charles B. Aycock football coach Randy Pinkowski got three good things from Friday night's season-opening endowment game with Clayton.

He got a good effort for his defense, which limited the Comets' offense to 211 total yards.

He got a solid night passing from quarterback Wesley Whitley, who threw for 173 yards and led the Falcons on a critical fourth-quarter drive.

And he got a lot of game film to use in preparing his team for future games.

The only thing Pinkowski could not take back to Pikeville was a victory.

The Comets took advantage of an important fumble in the second half and caught the breaks in the waning moments of a 21-14 win against Aycock at the Comets' stadium.

"Mistakes, dropped passes, the fumble down there ... we hurt ourselves," said Pinkowski.

The biggest hurt came early in the third quarter with Aycock backed up in its own end of the field and trailing 7-0. A missed pitch on an option play rolled free, and Clayton's Cliff Edmundson dove into the end zone to gather up the loose ball for an easy touchdown and a 14-0 Comets lead.

But Aycock fought back, scoring in the late moments of the third quarter. Shonte Barnes got through the middle on a handoff with some great blocking, then cut outside and stormed down the sideline for a 50-yard touchdown run that put the Falcons back in the game at 14-7.

"Those kids play hard," said Clayton coach Gary Fowler of the Aycock effort. "I was very impressed with the way they stayed with it. When they got 14 points behind, they came right back and scored. A lot of teams would have hung it up then, and they didn't."

Aycock's defense, which had given up a touchdown drive to open the game, had stiffened and denied Clayton a chance at another score. But the Comets answered Aycock's drive with an 11-play, 79-yard series, keyed by a direct snap to halfback Monte Summerville on third-and-18 from the Comet 13-yard line. The trick play netted 53 yards and set up Chris Archer's 14-yard run for a touchdown, his second of the night.

After a swap of punts, Aycock got a chance with 2:51 to play. Quarterback Wesley Whitley made the most of it, hooking up with Spruce Lee for a 48-yard pass play to the Comet 19. Four plays later, Barnes banged it in from two yards out -- his second score of the night -- to move Aycock back within a touchdown at 21-14.

The two teams lined up for an important on-side kick, but after a mad scramble for the ball at midfield, officials ruled the ball had not traveled 10 yards and Clayton got the ball.

Aycock's defense stood tall and forced Clayton to give up the ball with 20 seconds to play. But Aycock finally fell when Whitley's last-second pass deflected off the receiver and into the hands of Anthony Squinilli to give Clayton the ball and the game.

Whitley passed for 173 yards -- nine completions in 20 attempts. The Falcons outgained the Comets 337-211 and Whitley's passing was 102 yards better than Clayton's passing total. Barnes gained 89 yards on 18 carries to lead the ground attack.

"I saw a couple things from a coach's eye," said Pinkowski. "But now, I've got great teaching film. I can sit down and show them on film what they should do against good competition. That's why you play the Beddingfields, the Claytons, and teams like that -- show you what you can do and what you can't do.

"A perfect outcome would have been a win, but to play as well as we did -- they get a cheap one off of our mistake and win by a touchdown - our kids don't have anything to hang their heads about."

Aycock will play its home opener Friday as coach Daniel Barrow brings the Rosewood Eagles to Pikeville. Pinkowski knows it won't get any easier.

"Oh, no, not playing King Barrow next week," he said with tongue-in-cheek. "The King is coming to my place. Perennially, that's one of the best coaches and one of the best teams in our area. He's going to come in and test us, just like this team did. If he wasn't good competition, we wouldn't have him on our schedule.

"All the teams we play are good quality football teams that will test us for what we have got to face in the conference."

C.B. Aycock 0 0 7 7 -- 14

Clayton 7 0 7 7 -- 21

First quarter

C -- Archer 4 run (Chambers kick) 8:31

Third quarter

C -- Edmundson fumble recovery in end zone (Chambers kick) 9:31

CBA -- Barnes 50 run (Burke kick) 1:13

Fourth quarter

C -- Archer 14 run (Chambers kick) 8:05

CBA -- Barnes 2 run (Burke kick) 1:29

Aycock Clayton

First downs 14 10

Rushes-yds 35-164 43-140

Pass yds 71 173

Total yds 211 337

Comp-att-int 7-10-0 9-20-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 4-2

Penalties-yds 8-32 7-39

Punts-avg 5-36.1 3-35.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- C.B. Aycock -- Shonte Barnes 18-89, 2 TD; Keith Cobb 12-45; Wes Whitley 4-30; Spruce Lee 1-2. Clayton -- Monte Summerville 17-76; Chris Archer 10-32, 2 TD; Brett Norris 6-21; Demeatrus Watson 7-7; Anthony Squiliilni 1-5; Jon Waters 1-0; Athan Parker 1-(-1).

PASSING -- C.B. Aycock -- Wes Whitley 9-20-1 173. Clayton -- Chris Archer 7-10-0 71..

RECEIVING -- C.B. Aycock -- Thomas Artis 4-26; Spruce Lee 2-62; Keith Cobb 1-17; Cortez Gilbert 1-11; Shonte Barnes 1-11. Clayton -- Jeff Zawicki 2-24; Anthony Squallini 2-18; Shawn Eason 1-11; Ardian Horton 1-11; Monte Summerville 1-7.