Bruins oust Golden Falcons from postseason

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on November 13, 2005 2:01 AM

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WILSON -- After suffering its only loss of the season in a 13-12 defeat at home to archrival Wilson Hunt last Friday, Wilson Beddingfield was anxious to get back to work.

It showed.

Bruins' senior quarterback Bennett Johnson passed for a whopping, 329 yards in the first half and tossed five touchdowns to four different receivers. Behind Johnson's passing, Beddingfield stormed to a 35-0 lead at intermission on its way to a 35-14 win over Charles B. Aycock in the first round of the Class 3-A (small school) N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs.

The No. 4 seed Bruins will host No. 5 Gray's Creek in the second round next Friday in a matchup of two, 11-1 teams. Aycock, after a 2-3 finish in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference, concluded the season at 6-6 overall.

"It was a great coaching job by Tom (Nelson) and his staff ... enjoy it, because you don't have kids who can throw it and catch it like that every year," Aycock coach Randy Pinkowski said. "I think they'll go far."

After Beddingfield's Dustin Murray turned in the first of his two interceptions in the first half, Johnson cashed in two plays later with 12-yard scoring strike to Doug Barron, who finished with 76 yards on five catches with two touchdowns. Tony Arizpe's kick made it 7-0 and that score stood until the 8:35 mark of the second quarter.

From there, Johnson and the Beddingfield offense posted four touchdowns to close the first half with the signal-caller finishing the first half an efficient, 18-for-24 -- completing 10 straight to finish the half starting with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Atkinson at 8:35.

Gynorris King, Alfred Artis and Barron added touchdown catches against an Aycock defense that was on the field for a large portion of the first half. All 11 of the Bruins' first downs in the first half came through the air as they were able to overcome 75 yards in penalties before intermission -- mostly on holding and illegal procedures.

"We scored 35 and we played through them (the penalties), and that's what you've got to do," Beddingfield coach Tom Nelson said.

The Falcons' offense never got on track in the first half. Junior quarterback Thomas Pilkington was intercepted three times and had just one completion for 10 yards, while the rushing game accounted for 53 yards on 16 carries. A tough, illegal procedure penalty against Aycock negated a 23-yard pass on a fake punt from Pilkington to Tim Alston deep in Bruin territory midway through the first quarter with the score still at 7-0.

"We had that fake punt nullified, but the kids did what we asked them to do," Pinkowski said. "This is the type of team that gives us fits .. a lot of athletes and a lot of speed."

After another interception and one turnover on downs on their first two possessions of the second half, the Golden Falcons got on the board early in the fourth quarter when Cortez Gilbert charged in from 8-yards out. Zach Wright caught the two-point conversion pass from Spruce Lee to make it 33-8. The score was set up by a fumble recovery by the Aycock defense near midfield.

After the Falcons forced a punt on the Bruins' next possession, Pilkington posted key completions to Alston of 18 and 27 yards, respectively, as Aycock made it 35-14 on a 5-yard rumble by Lee at 3:31. By the end of the second half, the Falcons posted 11 first downs, after picking up just one in the first half. Beddingfield, with a number of reserves on the field, had just three first downs after intermission.

Aycock attempted on an onsides kick after Lee's score, but Beddingfield recovered and ran out the clock.

"I wish our first half had been like our second half, but I think my young guys got out in the playoff atmosphere and they didn't settle down," Pinkowski said. "We just were not clicking in the first half. I may should have tried to pull it out of the air a little sooner, but I don't think you can be one dimensional and beat them."

Pilkington finished 6-of-16 with four interceptions for 73 yards. Junior Tim Alston led the receiving corps with four catches for 52 yards. Junior Dontay Taylor led five rushers with over 25 yards with 12 carries for 53 yards.

Gilbert, a senior safety, had 11 solo tackles and one assist in his final game for Aycock. Meanwhile, junior Montez Ham had seven tackles and one assist.

All seniors; Lee, Gilbert, Taylor Beamon, Thomas Artis, Aaron Wilhelm, Desmond Summers, Matt Smith, John Setliff, Andre Reid, Shane Lozier, Brett Lancaster, Edward Jackson, Dave Elmore and Carlos Dobbins played in their final game for the Falcons.

Notes: Beddingfield defeated Aycock 48-13 just one month earlier on the same field ... The Falcons are 2-5 since 1972 in the playoffs ... Lee finished the season with 8 rushing touchdowns ... Pilkington finished with 1,643 yards with 10 touchdowns and 16 interceptions in his first year as a varsity starter.

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

Wilson Beddingfield 7 28 0 0 -- 35

First quarter

WB -- Barron 12 pass from Johnson (Arizpe kick), 9:30

Second quarter

WB -- Atkinson 13 pass from Johnson (Arizpe kick), 8:35

WB -- King 19 pass from Johnson (Arizpe kick), 3:55

WB -- A. Artis 46 pass from Johnson (Arizpe kick), 2:52

WB -- Barron 6 pass from Johnson (Arizpe kick), :06

Fourth quarter

CBA -- Gilbert 8 run (Wright pass from Lee), 8:56

CBA -- Lee 5 run (pass failed), 3:31

CBA WB

First downs 11 14

Rushes-yds. 35-178 33-99

Passing yds. 73 329

Total yds. 251 428

Att.-Comp.-Int. 16-6-4 26-19-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 2-2

Penalties-yds. 8-50 10-90

Punts-avg. 4-28 2-37

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- C.B. Aycock -- Spruce Lee 9-37, TD; Cortez Gilbert 5-32, TD; Thomas Pilkington 7-31; Dontay Taylor 12-53; Thomas Artis 2-25. Beddingfield -- Jerry Atkinson 5-9; Gynorris King 12-44; Bennett Johnson 3-(-11); Rondric Coppedge 4-29; Dahnique Eddie 2-0; Dominique Clay 4-15; Brandon Carr 3-13.

PASSING -- C.B. Aycock -- Thomas Pilkington 6-16-4 73. Beddingfield -- Bennett Johnson 19-25-0 329, 5 TD; Dahnique Eddie 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING -- C.B. Aycock -- Tim Alston 4-52; Spruce Lee 1-10; Dontay Taylor 1-11. Beddingfield -- Doug Barron 5-76, 2 TD; Gynorris King 4-63, TD; Jerry Atkinson 4-61, TD; Izel Jenkins 2-19; Dustin Murray 2-49; Alfred Artis 2-58, TD.