A Taylor-made win for CBA

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on September 24, 2006 2:16 AM

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LaGRANGE -- Dontay Taylor would not be denied.

North Lenior's mission Friday night was to stop Charles B. Aycock's feature back. The Hawks stacked the line of scrimmage with eight and nine men, and begged the unbeaten Golden Falcons to beat them through the air.

The senior still scored four touchdowns.

Taylor rushed for 129 yards on 30 carries, scored on runs of 1, 1 and 21 yards and turned a screen pass into an electrifying 47-yard touchdown as the Falcons beat the Hawks 34-20 at Wheat Swamp.

Trailing 27-6 with less than four minutes left in the contest, North Lenoir (1-4) turned a pair of turnovers into touchdowns, but Charles B. Aycock (5-0) put the game away by giving the ball to its workhorse.

With 2:20 left in the game, Taylor carried the ball five straight times, racked up 51 yards and capped off the drive with a 21-yard touchdown run that ended any hopes of a North Lenoir victory.

"They put eight, nine men in the box, they stacked it pretty well all night," Taylor said. "They were a tough team, they had been hitting me all night, and it felt good to finally break one there at the end of game.

"That last drive, man, it all came down to heart."

After watching the Hawks grab away the momentum and cut Aycock's lead to seven, Falcons coach Randy Pinkowski was impressed with the way his team stepped it up a notch and played smash-mouth football.

"We just drove the ball right down the field," Pinkowski said. "When it was time to go, it was time to go. The kids strapped it up, buckled down and punched it right down the field for a score. We stopped spreading it out, went to a Power I and just went right down the field with it."

With the triumph, the Golden Falcons are 5-0 for just the fourth time in school history and the first time since Dave Thomas' 1980 and 1981 squads accomplished the feat. Charles B. Aycock's best starts were in 1967 (under coach Dave McClenney) and 1980 as they began 9-0 both times.

"It feels good," senior quarter Thomas Pilkington said about being 5-0. "It's something that doesn't come often to people who have been around Charles B. Aycock football. It's great for us, but we really want to do it for our fans, our coaches because they put a lot effort into this and we just want to keep it going."

The Falcons were also impressive through the air against the Hawks as Pilkington was 13-of-24 passing for 202 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions.

After completions of 42, 6, and 8 yards in Aycock's second drive of the night, Pilkington got the Falcons on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter with a 1-yard sneak.

The Hawks, however, cut Aycock's lead to 7-6 as Hawks running back Parris Lee capped off a 69-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.

The Falcons responded on their next possession as Pilkington found favorite receiver Montez Ham for a 21-yard gain on a third-and-12 play, then hooked up with Taylor on a short screen two plays later as Taylor broke a tackle and raced 47 yards to paydirt to give the visitors a 14-6 lead at the half.

Ham finished with five catches for a game-high 79 yards. He also caught a 52-yard pass for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but a motion penalty negated the score.

After fumbling away the second-half kickoff and running just three plays in the third quarter, North Lenoir staged a frantic comeback in the game's waning minutes.

After Charles B. Aycock lost a fumble, a pair of completions from quarterback Andrew Manning to Kenduall Thorbs and Lee had the Hawks knocking on the door. On a second-and-goal play from the Aycock 9, Lee found the corner on a sweep to cut the Falcons lead to 27-12 with 3:17 to play.

A botched handoff gave North Lenoir the ball back at the Aycock 45 less than a minute later, and Manning immediately make the Falcons pay with a 45-yard touchdown pass to Lee.

Lee, who had 72 receiving yards, 18 rushing yards and three TDs, ran in the two-point conversion to cut the Aycock lead to 27-20.

"This is the second week in a row that we got down a lot and made a run in the fourth quarter," North Lenoir coach Wayne Jackson said. "I got to figure out what buttons it takes to mash or push to get them to give that effort all four quarters instead of just the fourth quarter."

NOTES: The Hawks play another Wayne County opponent this Friday as the Hawks travel to face Eastern Wayne (3-2) at Little Big Horn. The Falcons will host Greene Central (4-1) the same evening in a game that was postponed due to Tropical Storm Ernesto. ... There were two blocked PAT attempts on Friday night. Travis Milligan blocked one for Aycock and Thorbs had a block for North Lenoir. ... In addition to his impressive offensive stats, Taylor also had a fumble recovery on special teams. ... Defensively for Aycock, Milligan had 11 tackles, Erik Taylor had 10, Ian Calder had seven, Anthony Holder had six and Tim Umeofia had four. For North Lenoir, Marquis Kornegay had 10 tackles, Terrence Harris had eight, Kevin Hall had seven tackles and a fumble recovery, Cornelius Mills and Zack Carter had seven tackles each, and Kenyatta Hardy had a fumble recovery. ... Nick Williams led North Lenoir with 43 yards rushing on 12 carries.