Saints come marching back against C.B. Aycock

By Steve Roush
Published in Sports on November 5, 2006 2:02 AM

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DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne was down and almost out.

The Saints saw visiting Charles B. Aycock score 18 points in the final four-plus minutes of the first half -- which included 10 points in last 22 seconds -- as the Golden Falcons took a commanding 32-13 lead at halftime.

Then the Saints came marching back.

Southern Wayne (6-5, 2-3 Eastern Carolina Conference) ambushed C.B. Aycock (7-4, 2-3) in the second half by scoring five touchdowns -- including a pair of defensive scores -- as the Saints finished the regular season Friday night with a 49-38 triumph.

"It's one of the greatest comebacks I've ever been associated with," Saints coach Bob Warren said. "It was unbelievable. We played pretty decent in the first half, but we gave up some plays right there at the end that put us in a pretty big hole.

'The kids just came out in the second half made plays ... the second half was tremendous. We beat a very good Aycock team and I'm so proud of the kids."

Junior running back Tristan Bass ran for a game-high 199 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, fullback Kelvin Flow added 99 yards and a score on 19 hauls, and quarterback Jordan Williams had a pair of third-quarter rushing TDs for the Saints.

"We knew we could do it," Bass said. "We were down by a lot at halftime, but we were determined."

Flow's 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter gave the Saints their first lead of the ballgame at 35-32.

After that, the Southern Wayne defense took over.

The Saints gave up 411 yards -- including 284 in the first two quarters -- but kept the Falcons off the scoreboard for most of the second half. They held star running back Dontay Taylor to just 27 yards in the final 24 minutes after the senior had run for 149 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, plus picked off a pair of Thomas Pilkington passes and took them back for fourth-quarter scores.

Brady Wiggins ran his interception back 37 yards for a touchdown with 10:23 left in the contest to give the Saints a 42-32 lead. Armwood got his pick late in the game and sprinted 54 yards to put Southern Wayne up 49-32 with just 1:46 remaining in the contest.

"We made a couple of changes at the half," Wiggins said. "We were struggling in the first half, the whole defense struggled. Their counter had us out of position the entire first half, but we made some adjustments and we played big in the second half.

"The interception I had, that's the defensive line, it wasn't me. They put pressure on the quarterback and made him get rid of it earlier than he wanted to and I stepped in there, picked it and scored a touchdown. This was a big win for us going into the playoffs. Anytime you beat Aycock, it feels good."

Pilkington, who finished his night 11-of-22 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns, hooked up with receiver Jacob Pendleton on a 36-yard TD pass with 1:28 left, but the ensuing onside kick didn't travel the necessary 10 yards and the Saints were able to run out the clock.

"In the second half, we just didn't get it done," said Aycock coach Randy Pinkowski, whose team has now lost three ECC games in a row. "I think offensively, we may have started taking the air out of the ball a little too early there in the second half and played it a little too close to the vest. And they climbed back in it and we couldn't get it started again.

"It's late in the season, we're not real deep and I'll tell you, we're worn down, we're beat to death. We kept banging away, but we wore down. But hat's off to Southern Wayne, they did a good job. Bob stuck with what was working, we couldn't get their sweep stopped, and when we finally did, it was too late."

NOTES: Taylor, who scored touchdowns on runs of 1 and 30 yards in the first half, finished the regular season with 1,492 rushing yards and 19 TDs. ... Pilkington also scored on a 3-yard sneak at the beginning of the second quarter that gave the Falcons a 14-0 lead at the time. Through the air, Pilkington now has 1,783 yards and 19 touchdowns this season. He found receiver Michael King for a 7-yard strike with 22 seconds left before halftime for his other touchdown. ... The Falcons recovered a fumbled Southern Wayne kickoff right before the intermission, and kicker Alex Roosen booted a 31-yard field goal as time expired. ... Flow hurt his ankle after a 27-yard run early in the third quarter. He was able to return to the contest late in the period, but wasn't close to 100 percent and was held to 10 yards on seven carries after the injury. ... The Saints saw two first-half drives stall on fourth down. The first ended at the Aycock 6 and the second stalled at the Falcons 43. ... The Southern Wayne defense did not allow a first down in the third quarter.