Coach's comments ignite Rams

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

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By DAVIS FISHER

Courtesy Kinston Free Press

SNOW HILL -- Pasquotank head coach R. David Brinson lit the fuse that sparked a dominating performance by Greene Central.

"Their coach made some comments in the paper on Monday that we played in a weak conference, that our defense was the only thing carrying us and our offense was not very good," Greene Central head coach Jim Bob Bryant said. "That was a slap in our guys' face and they took it like that. We wanted to show them Greene Central could play some offense."

Fourth-seeded Greene Central (8-4) dominated on both sides of the ball in the Rams' 49-7 win over 13th-seeded Pasquotank in the first round of the Class 2-AA (large school) N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs on Friday.

Greene Central advances to the second round where it will face 12th-seeded Burlington Cummings (5-6) in Snow Hill at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Cummings defeated fifth-seeded Southern Vance 35-0 Friday.

"They (Cummings) have a great team," Bryant said. "They always have a bunch of athletes. They run an offense similar to ours. We are going to have to come ready to play football."

The Rams finished with 559 yards total offense -- 331 rushing and 228 passing. Defensively, Greene Central limited the Panthers to 208 total yards offense.

"Greene Central has a lot of good athletes," Brinson said. "Their kids played hard. They have a great offense and their head coach doesn't have much class."

Brinson's last comment was in reference to Bryant meeting him at midfield at the conclusion of the game with a copy of a newspaper clipping and telling him he had better be careful about "what I put in the paper."

Greene Central's defense has given up just three touchdowns in the last six weeks.

The Rams led 14-0 at halftime scoring on two of its first three possessions, and put the game away in the second half with 28 third-quarter points, scoring on each possession. In the second half, the Rams scored on five of its six possessions.

Junior starting quarterback Cameron Shelton said Brinson's comments fired up the Rams' offense.

"We took that personal," Shelton said. "We know our defense is good but we thought our offense has come on strong at the end of the season. We really took it to them tonight."

Shelton was 12-of-17 with no interceptions for 228 yards and two touchdowns.

Greene Central had 10 different players carry the ball, led by Damien Phillips with 73 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.

Harrison Walston and Dreyan Willis had 91 and 122 yards receiving respectively.

"They are two outstanding athletes," Bryant said. "We used the passing game to set up our running game and Walston and Willis played a major role in that."

Justin Tyson led the Rams' defense with nine tackles and one sack, while Brandon Sutton notched nine tackles. J.J. Thompson added six tackles and one sack, while Sims had four tackles and one interception.

Pasquotank 0 0 7 0 -- 7

Greene Central 7 7 28 7 -- 49

First quarter

GC -- Willis 18 pass from Shelton (Murray kick), 2:01

Second quarter

GC -- Sims 8 run (Murray kick), 9:14

Third quarter

GC -- Willis 66 pass from Shelton (Murray kick), 11:06

GC -- Brown 9 run (Murray kick)

GC -- Sims 43 run (Murray kick), 5:10

PHS -- 21 21 pass from 11 (kick good)

GC -- Phillips 2 run (Murray kick), 1:07

Fourth quarter

GC -- Justin Tyson 1 run (Murray kick), 7:14

PHS GC

First downs 9 15

Rushes-yds. 26-62 32-290

Passing yds. 149 230

Total yds. 211 520

Att-Comp.-Int. 21-7-1 18-12-0

Fumbles-lost -- 1-1

Penalties-yds. 4-30 7-65

Punts-avg. 5-35 2-31.5

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Greene Central -- Mike Simms 3-53, 2 TD; Damien Phillips 8-60, TD; Chris Hodges 2-45; Cameron Shelton 8-35; Justin Tyson 3-52, TD.

PASSING -- Greene Central -- Cameron Shelton 12-17-0 230, 2 TD.

RECEIVING -- Greene Central -- Harrison Walston 4-91; Dreyan Willis 5-123, 2 TD.