Southern Wayne knocks off Goldsboro

By David Williams
Published in Sports on October 31, 2004 2:02 AM

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DUDLEY -- Walter Best.

As in, the best running back in the area.

The Southern Wayne High School tailback can at least make a good argument for that mythical title after the season he has had, including Friday night's 21-8 win against Goldsboro at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex.

Already far and away the top yard-gainer in the area, Best added 157 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns to his stat book as Southern Wayne ended Goldsboro's season at 1-10 and 1-7 in Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference play.

The Saints (6-4, 5-2) moved into a three-way tie for second place after Kinston lost to ECC champion West Craven Friday night and Charles B. Aycock knocked off Eastern Wayne. Southern Wayne, Kinston and Aycock all have 5-2 league marks as the regular season concludes next week.

"We came out a little flat." said Goldsboro coach Maurice Jackson. "We may have been stargazing, with Walter out there. We hit him a couple of times and he bounced off and ran with it. That's what good backs are supposed to do."

Best took every opportunity he got in the opening half, scoring on the first two drives of the game. Ronald Cox stepped in front of a Treme Boone pass at midfield on the opening possession and returned it to the Goldsboro 23-yard line, setting up Best for a 23-yard run to paydirt. Best ran in the conversion for an 8-0 Saint lead.

The Saints then forced a punt on the next possession, taking over at their own 46-yard line. A 15-yard penalty helped move the ball to the Cougar 20, where Best took the handoff and cut right for a 20-yard scoring run.

Goldsboro struggled to move the ball all night against a feisty Saint defense, as Boone was sacked five times and was five-for-23 passing on the night. Goldsboro's running game netted just 60 yards against a strangling front seven for the homestanding Saints.

Best got back in action as the second quarter began, breaking though the Goldsboro line for a 66-yard gallop to the end zone and a 21-0 lead.

From there, both defenses got stingy as the Cougars began to stall Saint drives while they scrambled to get themselves moving on offense.

"They played great defense against us the last part of the second quarter and pretty much the whole second half," said Saints coach Bob Warren. "They're very aggressive and they have great athletes. We weren't able to move it as well as we would have liked to, and that's a credit to Goldsboro."

"We didn't make any adjustments in the second half on defense," said Jackson. "We got in their face a little bit and told them, "Seniors, it's your last game. You've got to fly around and make some plays,' and that's what they did."

Goldsboro got great defensive efforts from Charles Grantham, Coriante Thompson and Aaron Phifer.

David Combs led the Southern Wayne defense with 10 tackles and eight assists, while Derrick Lathan had nine tackles, seven assists and a sack; Terriel Troublefield had six tackles and nine assists; Eric Outlaw had nine tackles and nine assists; and Ronald Cox had five passes defended and seven tackles with his interception.

Southern Wayne's second-half effort was plagued with three fumbles lost.

Goldsboro got on the board with under three minutes left in the game as Boone began to click with his receivers. Boone hit on a 35-yard connection with Jacob Sykes, then a 37-yard hookup with Grantham to get to the Saint 13. From there, Boone called his own number on a bootleg into the right corner of the end zone. The score assured Goldsboro of not being shut out by any team all season.

Southern Wayne now looks forward to a big meeting with West Craven, which clinched its fourth straight ECC title Friday night. Warren is not caught up in possible home playoff games or who-finishes-where scenarios.

"All I want is for us to be playing at a high level when we get to that first playoff game," he said. "We're getting closer, and I'm pleased with where we're at. We just have to take it one step at a time."

With the bye week next week, Goldsboro's season is over. Jackson promised the Cougars will be ready for next season.

"The bar is set in Wayne County by us," he said. "Right now we have to raise it a little bit more. Now people are nipping at that bar, and we have to raise it. Ever since I first came here, it's always been that everyone wants to beat the Goldsboro Cougars. Now everybody has beaten the Cougars, and it's time to raise it back up.

"We've been going at this since March, and these guys have been out there every day. We didn't have the kind of season we wanted, but I can't be mad. The future is bright, but I'll take these guys to war anywhere."

For Warren's Saints, the future is more immediate.

"We have been playing well and I credit our kids and coaching staff," he said. "We are in a good position right now, and we need to finish out the season with a good performance against West Craven at their place to be in even better position."

Goldsboro 0 0 0 8 -- 8

Southern Wayne 14 7 0 0 -- 21

First quarter

SW -- Walter Best 23 run (Best run) 8:40

SW -- Walter Best 20 run (run fail) 4:41

Second quarter

SW -- Walter Best 66 run (Cifuentes kick) 11:03

Fourth quarter

GHS -- Treme Boone 13 run (Ingram run) 2:24

GHS SW

First downs 10 8

Rushes-yds 31-60 36-202

Pass yds 93 33

Total yds 153 235

Comp-att-int 5-32-1 2-4-0

Fumbles-lost 2-0 3-3

Penalties-yds 12-105 9-75

Punts-avg 5-32.0 3-32.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Goldsboro -- Kelvin Ingram 9-44; Aaron Phifer 10-40; Brandon Herring 1-1; Jacob Sykes 1-(-7), Charles Grantham 1-(-7); Treme Boone 9-(-13), TD; Southern Wayne -- Walter Best 19-157, 3 TD; Brian White 11-47; Montee Flow 1-4; Logan Porter 1-0; Michael Warren 3-(-3). Derrick Lathan 1-(-3).

PASSING -- Goldsboro -- Treme Boone 5-23-1-0, 93 yds. Southern Wayne -- Logan Porter 2-4-0-0, 33 yds.

RECEIVING -- Goldsboro -- Charles Grantham 2-55; Jacob Sykes 1-35; Tim Kornegay 1-11; Kelvin Ingram 1-(-8). Southern Wayne --Thomas Gainey 2-33.