Golden Falcons shut out Rosewood

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on August 18, 2012 11:08 PM

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Randy Pinkowski raved to anyone who would listen this summer about his team's depth, especially on offense.

He wasn't kidding.

Charles B. Aycock racked up 359 yards of offense on its way to a season-opening, 26-0 win against county rival Rosewood at Branch Pope Field on Friday evening.

The Golden Falcons piled up 335 yards on the ground and five different ball carriers had at least 45 yards rushing.

C.B. Aycock needed just two plays to get on the scoreboard.

Jeremy Hooks' 48-yard touchdown run gave the Golden Falcons an early 7-0 lead. Aycock threatened on its next drive but failed to convert on fourth-and-goal from the Eagles' 9-yard line.

The Golden Falcons took advantage of good field position early in the second quarter. Khaliel Owens' 25-yard run helped set up quarterback Austin Snowden's 8-yard touchdown run.

Aycock pieced together a 10-play, 73-yard drive that culminated in Snowden's 24-yard touchdown pass to Neil Clark and the Golden Falcons led 20-0 at halftime.

"We have a big group of running backs and they all do good things," Pinkowski said. "I think that is really helping us because we can put any one of them in there at any time and because we are rotating three or four guys in there, they are trying to do all they can with it because they know they are not going to get as many touches."

Aycock outgained Rosewood 233-2 in the first half and had nine first downs to the Eagles' two. Arm tackling and the inability to get off of blocks defensively haunted Rosewood throughout the first two quarters.

Hooks finished with 75 yards rushing on eight carries and Snowden added 74 yards on the ground.

"Jeremy had a lot of big runs tonight" Pinkowski said. "I think as soon as he gets more reps and gets a feel for the zone read and with his speed he can be a big factor for us. Khaliel Owens was big for us and Austin did it again with his feet."

Snowden rumbled 39 yards to the end zone on the Golden Falcons' first drive of the second half as the lead swelled to 26-0.

The Eagles' lone bright spot offensively came on a methodical 18-play drive that spanned parts of the third and fourth quarters and covered nearly 60 yards. The drive ended on quarterback Jacob Sasser's fumble deep in Aycock territory. Jamari McGowan led Rosewood's offense with 46 yards rushing.

"I think early on offensively we struggled to get into any kind of flow," Rosewood head coach Robert Britt said. "In the second half we were able to do little bit better and stay on our blocks longer and the backs were taking the right path to the hole. I think as the game went on we saw enough things tonight to build off of."

Aycock visits Wilson Hunt next Friday, while the Eagles play host to Wake Christian.