Prep football notebook: Cougars' Murphy says he 'could have played better' against Aycock

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on September 10, 2012 1:49 PM

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Despite throwing for 162 yards and two touchdowns in a 14-7 win on Friday night at Charles B. Aycock, Goldsboro quarterback Julius Murphy insisted he could have done more.

The Cougars failed to score on seven second-half possessions and converted just 1 of 8 third-down opportunities during the final two quarters.

Goldsboro (2-1 overall) managed to take nearly four valuable minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter although two penalties and lost yardage caused the drive to end exactly where it started.

The Golden Falcons got the ball back with fewer than three minutes to play and just one timeout. The Cougars recovered a fumble and erased the Golden Falcons' comeback hopes.

"I felt like I could have played better," Murphy said. "I am always going to think that way so I can push my team to do better. I left my defense on the field a little too long. I feel like after a good week of practice we can have a full game like we are capable of playing."

Room to grow

Although Eastern Wayne's defense forced four turnovers and cashed three of the miscues into valuable points, head coach Bubba Williams said his team still has plenty of work to do on that side of the ball.

The Warriors didn't defend the dive play well at all.

Greene Central running back Akeem Bynum rambled for 132 yards on 14 totes, and broke off big chunks of yardage at times.

"I think we struggled a little bit and that's some of Greene Central," Williams said. "They ran the dive play really well and we've got to get that fixed."

Save it for Friday

North Duplin had the benefit of a bye week prior to its 42-7 win over Hobbton on Friday night. The time off clearly helped the Rebels get healthy.

Going forward. head coach Hugh Martin plans to use more of the team's time during this week working on small adjustments and will not allow full contract.

"We just don't have the numbers to go out there and beat ourselves up," Martin said. "We have to take the time we do have and use it wisely, and let some of our guys with knicks and bruises get healed so they are ready to go on game day."

North Duplin plays host to Lejeune on Friday.

Job well done

Goldsboro spent two weeks preparing for C.B. Aycock's zone-read offense.

Each member of the defense was given a specific assignment and was told to trust that if those assignments were carried out the Cougars would be fine. The hard work paid off as the Cougars held the Golden Falcons to seven points and 193 yards of offense.

Aycock committed three turnovers and had nine plays that resulted in negative yardage.

Defensive struggles

Fifth-year Greene Central head coach Ken Grantham and his staff have talked this season about the team's youth on the defensive side of the ball.

Eastern Wayne exposed it Friday evening. The Warriors posted touchdowns on their first four possessions and averaged 6.33 yards per play for the game.

The Rams surrendered 16 first downs.

"For years we've had some really great defenses on the field and right now we're just struggling making tackles," Grantham said. "We've had a lot of teams in the past where our defense has made turnovers. That's part of our youth."