Playoff picture still cloudy in ECC

By Ryan Hanchett and Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 30, 2008 1:46 PM

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The playoff picture in the Class 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference is slowly coming into focus. But 2007 league champion Southern Wayne and county rival Charles B. Aycock, a playoff qualifier last season, could be eliminated with another loss this week.

Golden Falcons head coach Randy Pinkowski had visions of his team being much more than merely competitive this season. However, Aycock is 2-7 overall and Pinkowski, now in his 10th season, has grown tired of close defeats and moral victories.

Four of Aycock's seven losses have come by 10 points or less. The Golden Falcons have either had the lead or trailed by seven points or less entering the fourth quarter in five of their seven losses.

"I think we've been competitive all year long," said Pinkowski. "I don't see any reason we won't be competitive the last two weeks. As an old football coach, I want to be more than competitive and right now this is a hard pill to swallow. Just being competitive is not what any coach wants to be."

Aycock's offense mustered just 61 yards in a 17-0 home loss to Wilson Hunt last Friday night. Pinkowski also said sophomore quarterback Craig Murdock has been shut down for the remainder of the season.

Murdock suffered a shoulder injury at Wilson Fike on Sept. 19 and missed three ballgames before returning on Oct. 17 at Kinston. With the Golden Falcons playoff hopes all but erased, Murdock has opted to rest and avoid further injury so he'll be healthy for 2009.

The quarterback duties will again fall on junior David Gurganus and senior Zack Poole. Gurganus missed the majority of last week's game after suffering a knee injury, but should be ready to go against Eastern Wayne on Friday, says Pinkowski.

"The team is familiar with David," said Pinkowski. "There are just some things we can't do with David that we can do with Craig. Defenses just load the box and try to stop the run, but we're still hammering away at it."

Eastern Wayne (5-4, 2-1 ECC) has secured a playoff spot along with league co-leaders Wilson Beddingfield and Kinston. The fourth spot is up for grabs between the Saints, Golden Falcons and Wilson Hunt.

""We are certainly going to give it everything we have out there these next two weeks," said Saints coach Bob Warren. "We haven't really talked about it yet, but we know what we have to do to put ourselves in the best position possible."

Southern Wayne (1-8, 0-3) travels to Hunt on Friday and a victory would create a fourth-place tie.

"They have a lot of athletes, and they can do some good things on the offensive side of the football," said Warren of the Warriors. "I have had the opportunity to see them once in person and on film, and I know how athletic they are."

Warren added his team must get healthy to return to the postseason.

"We have a lot of guys out right now with injuries and illness," said Warren. "We are hoping a couple of the guys who didn't practice early in the week will be back, but we'll have to wait and see."

The Saints and Golden Falcons meet in Dudley on Nov. 7. Should the two pull off victories this week, the regular-season finale will determine the respective clubs' fate.