Southern Wayne snaps 15-game skid

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on October 17, 2009 11:07 PM

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DUDLEY -- This win had been a long time coming for Southern Wayne.

The Saints rushed for 440 yards and forced four fumbles in a 49-20 win over Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference foe North Lenoir on Friday night. The victory snapped a 15-game skid, including six consecutive defeats against ECC opponents.

"We've been getting better the whole year and to be able to get a win like this has been a long time coming," said Southern Wayne head coach Bob Warren.

JaQuan Cobb's 5-yard touchdown run and his two-point conversion gave the Saints an 8-0 lead less than three minutes into the game. Quintae Bradshaw tacked on a 5-yard score late in the first quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.

Maurice Morgan scooped up a Hawks' fumble and raced 32 yards to the end zone early in the second quarter. Luke Baird's extra point was no good and North Lenoir trailed 14-6.

After the Hawks (2-6 overall, 0-2 ECC) blocked a Saints punt, Morgan's 9-yard score trimmed the deficit to 14-12.

Cobb found the end zone from 12 yards out with just over four minutes to play in the half. Southern Wayne quarterback Quintin Smith added a 16 yard touchdown run for a 27-12 halftime advantage.

The Saints racked up 252 rushing yards in the first half.

Javonni Robinson finished the game with 148 yards and a score on 12 carries. Keenan Wynn pitched in 106 yards and Cobb had 78.

"We blocked very well and our running backs ran as hard as I've seen them run," said Warren. "We got extra yards after contact. I credit them for working hard. We've been blocking well, the key is just understanding schemes. We had some keys that made some great plays."

North Lenoir recovered a Southern Wayne fumble early in the third quarter and capitalized with Romero Arnold's 13-yard touchdown run. Arnold's two-point conversion sliced the margin to 27-20.

The Hawks wouldn't score again and finished with just 130 yards of total offense. North Lenoir committed six penalties for 60 yards, had 12 plays for negative yardage and just eight first downs.

"We're already not good at what we do right now and having penalties and things of that nature and not being on our P's and Q's and executing on offense, it just makes it that much harder," said North Lenoir head coach Calvin Sutton. "It's something I've talked to our team about a whole lot. We're not trusting what we're doing right now. For some reason we just do stuff that's out of character at the worst times. That's what's killing us right now."

Robinson, Bradshaw and Jeremy Jones each scored on the ground for the Saints in the second half.

"I'm just happy for the kids," said Warren. "They practice so hard and believe and I'm just happy to see a win like this come for them."

Southern Wayne (1-7, 1-1) travels to South Johnston next Friday, while North Lenoir visits Triton.

"The kids will believe more," said Warren. "All you have to do is come watch one of our practices and see that our kids believe in what we're doing. I think the biggest thing that will help this group is that they're really starting to understand that they can do this.

"The win has come and that's just great."