Pinkowski praises the efforts of his defense

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on August 31, 2011 1:47 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- Randy Pinkowski wasn't concerned with what the scoreboard said.

Charles B. Aycock's veteran head coach could not have been prouder of the way his football team played Tuesday evening. The Golden Falcons turned in a solid performance defensively in a 21-0 loss to Wilson Hunt at Hardy Talton Stadium.

A pair of first-half fumbles proved to be costly for Aycock.

Chris Mickens fumbled the game's opening kickoff and Divine Locus recovered for the Warriors. D'metrius Dew ran 27 yards on the first play from scrimmage and 18 seconds into the ballgame Hunt led 7-0.

The Golden Falcons used a variety of looks from its defensive line and stunts and blitzes from its linebackers to limit the Warriors' offense. After scoring on one play to start the game, Hunt failed to find the end zone on its following three possessions of the first half. The Warriors went just 1 for 4 on third down in the first two quarters and for 1 for 6 for the game.

Hunt also failed to convert three times on fourth down.

"You let Hunt drive for one touchdown in 48 minutes, I'm thrilled," Pinkowski said. "On defense, it eventually comes down to man-on-man, you've got to make a tackle, you've got to hit, you've got to square up on people and that's when sometimes the superior talented team can really hurt you.

"After the Rosewood game we talked about we've got to play our assignment, we've got to play our key and then we've got to run to the football with great tenacity. That's what they did tonight."

Aycock began the second quarter on offense near midfield, but a pitch from quarterback Cody Garris on third down was fumbled and Hunt's Timothy Applewhite recovered and raced 52 yards to the end zone. The Golden Falcons had 42 yards of offense in the first two quarters and trailed 14-0 at the half.

"You take the turnovers out, it's a 7-0 ballgame," Pinkowski said. "I can't ask for much more out of my kids. I'm so proud of them right now. I know if we continue to play defense like that we're going to get into some short-field situations offensively and good things are going to happen."

The Warriors took the opening drive of the second half and marched 64 yards on nine plays. Quarterback Jacob Page's 37-yard touchdown run was called back on a penalty, but Josh Joyner scored from 24 yards out four plays later. Joyner had 101 yards on 13 carries as Hunt tallied 324 yards of total offense despite having three touchdowns negated by penalties.

Aycock (0-2 overall) failed to get past the Warriors' 46-yard line offensively and finished with just 84 yards of total offense. Quarterback Austin Snowden led the Golden Falcons with 55 yards rushing on 22 carries.

The Golden Falcons travel to Greene Central on Friday.