Eastern Wayne holds on against Greene Central
By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on September 12, 2010 1:50 AM
Adapt and adjust.
Eastern Wayne overcame a slow start and persevered through a game full of penalties. Greene Central appeared to lose its focus and was still searching for it on the way to the bus following the game.
The Warriors scored 21 points in the second quarter and held on for a 29-21 victory Friday evening at Little Big Horn.
The two teams combined for 260 yards in penalties.
Brandon Suit's 74-yard touchdown pass to Kevonta Speight on Greene Central's second offensive play of the game gave the Rams a 7-0 lead.
Brandon Williams' 15-yard touchdown run on fourth down tied the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter.
Rasheem Shackleford's 15-yard touchdown run with nearly five minutes gone in the second quarter gave Greene Central a 14-7 edge.
Tykwan Days returned the ensuing kickoff to the Rams' 5-yard line. Lamar Best found the end zone on the next play and Kyle Sasser's extra point tied the game at 14-14.
The Warriors' offense began to click in the second quarter and Best's 5-yard scored with fewer than four minutes to play in the first half gave Eastern Wayne a 21-14 advantage.
Best finished with 166 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 31 carries and 183 yards of total offense. The multi-talented senior has gained 100 yards or more on the ground in three of his first four contests and has close to 600 yards of offense for the season.
"He's a heck of an athlete," said Warriors' head coach Bubba Williams. "He can take over a game at times offensively and defensively."
Greene Central ended the night with 20 penalties totaling 170 yards. The Rams converted just two of 11 third downs.
"I don't feel like we ever got in a flow on offense because of the penalties," said Rams' head coach Ken Grantham. "Whatever the reason is we can't shoot ourselves in the foot. I think we have a lot of potential. We've got to execute and we've got to handle adversity better than what we did tonight and come back next week and hopefully we'll do better."
Eastern Wayne's 65-yard drive culminated in quarterback Avner Clark's 10-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter. Sasser's extra point was no good and the Warriors led 27-14.
Chris Andrews' blocked punt in the end zone resulted in a safety and Eastern Wayne went ahead 29-14. Suit's 2-yard run with just over four minutes left trimmed the margin to 29-21 and ended a stretch of roughly 27 minutes in which Greene Central went without scoring.
Greene Central took possession on their own 16 yard line with two minutes left but failed to pick up a first down.
Eastern Wayne (2-2 overall) visits West Craven on Friday night with the opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time this season. The Rams (1-3) entertain North Lenoir.
"Last week I felt like we should have been able to play with New Hanover a little bit better, but I think we were on a high," said Williams. "Now we've just got to come back Monday and get ready to work. That's senior leadership and after going through last year they've got to learn how to win and come back ready to go to work again."