Inspired Saints defense shuts down Cougars' vaunted rushing attack
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 25, 2010 11:11 PM
DUDLEY -- Southern Wayne ignored the window dressing and turned in its most inspiring, complete-game performance of the season before a near-capacity crowd Friday evening.
And the underdog Saints provided a delectable treat -- a resounding 16-6 victory over county rival Goldsboro High at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex.
"It's something about that blue and gold that inspires everybody," said Cougars head coach Eric Reid. "I'm trying to get these boys to understand that. When you step on the field, you're playing at another level and I don't care what their record was until you get to us.
"It's just something about that blue and gold."
Southern Wayne (2-4 overall) upended Goldsboro (2-3) for the fifth time in seven tries since 2004.
"It was a great win ... really big for us because we just took another great step toward our goal, which is to become a very good football team," said Saints head coach Bob Warren. "We haven't been able to put together a full game like we did tonight. I thought our kids played great from start to finish."
The Saints played great -- especially on defense.
They limited the Cougars' vaunted rushing attack to eight yards on just 19 carries, and surrendered 70 yards of total offense. Goldsboro misfired on two of three red-zone possessions, and ran just 39 offensive plays in the game.
Quarterback Corteiz Sprangle endured heavy pressure all evening and was sacked twice. He completed seven passes to three different receivers for 62 yards.
Southern Wayne's defense had 11 stops that resulted in zero or negative yardage.
"Our defensive line got a lot of pressure (all night) and we held him (Sprangle) down where he didn't get time to throw it," said Saints defensive end Devonte Artis. "We were prepared for them. It was a team effort, everyone stuck together, nobody got down and nobody got mad at each other.
"There was no fussing on the field."
The Saints' backfield and offensive line certainly did some "talking," too.
JaQuan Cobb rushed for 155 yards on 31 totes, and Quintae Bradshaw added 44 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Overall, Southern Wayne accumulated 287 yards on an eye-popping 67 rushes.
"We had some great blocking," said Warren. "Our whole offensive line is nothing but underclassmen. Those guys got after it along with our tight ends, who did a great job.
"Our runners ran hard."
A fumble set up Goldsboro's lone touchdown -- a five-yard scamper by Freddie Jones. Two turnovers and a crucial penalty stopped the Cougars from finding the end zone after the opening quarter.
Southern Wayne controlled the tempo in its wing-T scheme, and owned a nine-minute edge in time of possession in the first half. Quintin Smith's five-yard touchdown run tied the game and Jesus Rodriguez put his team ahead for good with a 20-yard field goal.
Bradshaw capped the Saints' scoring with a 5-yard run with 3 seconds left before halftime. Warren initially wanted to attempt a field goal, but an offsides penalty moved the ball closer to the goal line.
"We told the kids all week that the wing-T is a very disciplined offense," said Reid. "They run it well and the kids did a great job in carrying out their assignments. We didn't do a good job of carrying out our assignments for us to stop them.
"Because of that, we suffered."