Goldsboro rolls past North Duplin

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 11, 2009 2:00 AM

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CALYPSO -- Big play vs. ball control.

North Duplin, for one quarter, owned the time of possession during its Carolina 1-A Conference football opener against preseason favorite Goldsboro.

But the Cougars' size, power and speed proved too much to handle. The visitors scored touchdowns on all 10 of their possessions in a 68-23 victory on an unseasonably warm, breezy Friday evening at H.E. Grubbs Field.

"We knew their backs were real good and they definitely showed it tonight," said North Duplin head coach Hugh Martin. "They're hard to get down to the ground. Their line does a good job for them up front and they're good in the open field breaking tackles.

"There were several times where we wanted to be and needed to be, but just couldn't make the play."

While the bus rolled down Highway 117 toward Calypso, third-year Goldsboro head coach Eric Reid talked with stellar backs Freddie Jones and Andre Montgomery. Each has nursed injuries this season and has been unable to get untracked in the Cougars' full-house backfield.

No worries, coach.

Jones amassed a career-best 305 yards and five touchdowns, while Montgomery supplied 218 yards and two TDs on 11 totes. Vontarius Kornegay contributed 121 yards on two TDs for the Cougars, who churned out a season-high 661 yards on the ground.

Reid's team ran just 36 rushing plays.

"I told Freddie and Andre that you've really got to set the tempo tonight, get your name back out there and they answered the call," said Reid of his leaders. "We're a running team ... can't throw

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the ball in the ocean and we got lucky on that last one (before the half) on that spread down there. The Lord was on our side.

"(Running is) our game. That young offensive line got a little confidence, fed off of it and our backs fed off of it."

North Duplin (2-5 overall, 0-1 CC) marched into Goldsboro's red zone on its first two possessions. Devon Deshields' interception stopped one Rebel drive and Nicholas Torres booted a 25-yard field goal to cap the other series.

Torres' onsides kick resulted in Alan Schilling's 8-yard touchdown run, but the Rebels went three-and-out on their next three possessions in the opening half. Schilling accounted for 275 of North Duplin's 299-yard offensive output for the game.

"Their defense saw what we were doing, how we adjusted and they changed it up on us," said Schilling. "We tried to find ways to get through it. Some things worked and some things didn't. It was difficult."

The Cougars (5-2, 1-0) grabbed a 14-10, first-quarter lead on Jones' 79-yard touchdown romp and Montgomery's 80-yard gallop. Jones added two second-quarter touchdown runs, while Corteiz Sprangle threw a 27-yard scoring strike to Chris Gray just before intermission.

"Scary," said Reid of the first quarter. "I think the week off made us rusty and we weren't executing like we should have. Once we got a good rhythm, we were able to get our stride offensively and defensively, and it worked out for us.

"I'm proud of my guys for staying focused."

Six of Goldsboro's touchdowns covered 47 or more yards.