Football -- Vikings upend Saints in Dudley

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on September 12, 2004 2:02 AM

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DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne seemed to be one-sided Friday night as the Saints lost to the visiting Kinston Vikings19-8.

"Defensively, I thought we played well enough to win," said Saints coach Bob Warren. "We just didn't execute when we had the opportunity on offense tonight."

Opportunity kept sliding away from the Saints as they turned the ball over 5 times. Those turnovers provided Kinston with some immediate returns as an interception deep in Saints' territory was returned for a touchdown and gave the Vikings a 13-0 halftime lead.

The Saints had trouble moving the ball -- gaining only 38 total yards in the first half. The Viking offense moved the ball more fluidly, gaining 164 total yards in the first half.

The second half saw some adjustment defensively for Southern Wayne (1-2, 0-1) that proved effective.

The Vikings (3-1, 1-0) had trouble moving the ball on the ground after the Saints defense moved the safety over to the weak side for run support. That move left the Saints' defensive backs in a lot of single pass coverage, but Michael Warren and Ronald Cox were up to the task as they broke up six passes in the second half.

Kinston had to settle for two field goals instead of touchdowns in the second half. The Saints' defense worked hard to even things out on the turnover issue, taking three fumbles away from Kinston, but the offense struggled to capitalize on the chances it had.

The best offensive series for the Saints was a one-play possession in which Walter Best rumbled 88 yards for their only touchdown when the Saints caught the Vikings in a defensive shift.

"We need to refocus in practice, we'll bounce back," Warren said. "There's a lot of football left to be played this season and I'm confident this football team will use this loss to energize our hunger for the rest of the season."

Southern Wayne travels to Winterville to play conference foe South Central Friday. The Vikings host West Carteret on Friday for their first home game of the season.

Kinston 0 13 0 6 -- 19

Southern Wayne 0 0 8 0 -- 8

Second Quarter

KHS -- Marshall 21 Run (Sutton Kick) 11:18

KHS -- Sherrod 10 int ret.(kick failed) 3:19

Third Quarter

SW -- Best 88 run (Flow run) 6:18

Fourth Quarter

KHS -- Sutton 27 yd FG 8:47

KHS -- Sutton 29 yd FG 5:48

KHS SW

First Downs 16 6

Rushes-yds. 48-172 32-147

Passing yards 141 36

Comp.-att.-int. 8-14-0 2-10-2

Fumbles-lost 4-3 4-3

Penalties-yds. 3-35 5-33

Punts-avg. 2-35 5-36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Kinston -- T. Marshall 47-178, TD J. Carraway 1-(-6). Southern Wayne -- Walter Best 15-141, TD; Montee Flow 3-9; Logan Porter 6-17; Derrick Lathan 6-5; Monte Kornegay 1-3.

PASSING -- Kinston -- Carraway 7-13-0 105; B. Sutton 1-1-0 36. Southern Wayne -- Logan Porter 2-10-2 36.

RECEIVING -- Kinston -- V. Speller 5-100; T. Brown 2-41; T. Marshall 1-0. Southern Wayne -- Walter Best 1-17; Montee Flow 1-19.