Eastern Wayne can't slow down South Johnston
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 11, 2009 2:00 AM
There's no defense for size, speed and strength.
Eastern Wayne couldn't slow down visiting South Johnston in a 52-6 loss on Friday night at Little Big Horn.
It was the Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference opener for both teams.
The Trojans (6-1, 1-0 ECC)) racked up over 500 yards of offense including 301 in the first half.
Senior quarterback Pat Dunigan finished 16-for-20 through the air for 316 yards and three touchdowns. Dunningan completed eight passes that went four 20 yards or more, including all three of his touchdown passes. He also added a 1-yard run for a score in the third quarter.
The Warriors struggled to defend South Johnston's tall and speedy receivers and never managed to apply pressure on Dunnigan.
"Our problems have been with injuries and things of that nature," said Eastern Wayne head coach Guy Williams. "We just continue to get hit with the injury bug this year. We find replacement after replacement and our depth keeps going down. We had a lot of breakdowns in coverage that shouldn't have happened."
Dee Williams 8-yard touchdown run and Edgar Herrera's extra point gave the Trojans a 7-0 lead less than four minutes in.
The Warriors answered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that was capped off by Jalen Barnes 8-yard touchdown run. Bryan Castelow's extra point attempt was blocked and Eastern Wayne trailed 7-6.
Herrera's 29-yard field goal late in the first quarter began South Johnston's onslaught of 45 unanswered points. Dunningan tossed a pair of touchdown passes including a 50-yard scoring strike to Chris Crummity in the second quarter. Unik Lloyd tacked on a 2-yard touchdown run and the Trojans led 31-6 at the half.
Dunnigan added a 1-yard run for a score and a 64-yard touchdown pass to Williams in the third quarter. Trey Thompson's 41-yard pass for a score to Ronjanek Gill in the fourth quarter completed South Johnston's scoring.
Eastern Wayne (0-7, 0-1) generated offense in spurts and was led by Lamar Best's 121 yards on 21 carries.
"This is all a learning experience," said Williams. "Every half is another opportunity for us to get out and get better. I think our kids understand that. We moved the ball a little bit and we've got to work on finishing drives. We lose focus offensively sometimes and defensively too. We'll go back to work on Monday and try to continue to improve."
The Warriors visit Triton next Friday.