Prep football notebook: Cougars' defense answers challenge

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on September 17, 2012 1:48 PM

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For the second week in a row Goldsboro's defense was asked to play sound assignment football against an option offense. The Cougars have answered the bell in back-to-back weeks.

Goldsboro's defense held Southern Wayne's Wing-T offense to 170 yards and zero pass completions. The Cougars' front seven controlled the line of scrimmage all night and Southern Wayne had 10 plays that resulted in negative yardage.

The Saints were 0 for 9 on third-down plays.

Goldsboro's Asunji Maddox also picked off a Southern Wayne pass.

"Our defense really accepted the challenge to come in here and shut down that Wing-T," Cougars' head coach Eric Reid said. "They really stepped up to that challenge and did a wonderful job."

Give me a PAT, please

Extra-point attempts have haunted James Kenan all year.

They were certainly a nightmare against Union. The Tigers collected seven touchdowns, but converted just two PATs.

"Extra points have been killing us all year," James Kenan head coach Ken Avent Jr. said. "We're working on it, but it just ain't happening. The snap will be bad, or the hold will be bad or the kicker will be slow. It's always one of those three things."

Give him the ball

Marcelias Sutton's 85-yard kickoff return to the house after Union scored on its opening drive sparked a run of 44 unanswered points by James Kenan on Friday evening.

Sutton added 106 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 18 carries in the absence of starter Ja'Quan Williams, whom Avent Jr. hopes to have in the lineup Friday at Hobbton. Sutton scored on runs of 13 and 4 yards in the second and third quarter, respectively.

"Marcelias is a great athlete," Avent Jr. said. "He's our go-to guy, especially since Ja'Quan is out. He had a good night ... has had four good games for us, though. He got cramped up several times, so we weren't able to use him as much as we wanted to tonight."

The Tigers owned a 331-180 edge in total offense.