Eastern Wayne drops So. Wayne
By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 6, 2012 11:56 PM
DUDLEY -- The pre-game fireworks sent blue and gold sparks into the night-time sky over the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex on Friday evening.
It was a sign of things to come.
Once Eastern Wayne recovered from costly early-game miscues, it provided some electrifying plays of its own. Speedster Dayshawn Pridgen and bruising fullback Craig Smith supplied two touchdowns apiece in the Warriors' 46-14 thrashing of Southern Wayne.
"Same old story, we're a young group with talent, but it's a matter of playing confident and I think we did a good job with that tonight," Eastern Wayne head coach Bubba Williams said.
Hungry to break respective two-game skids, the archrivals toiled through a sloppy opening quarter. The teams combined for eight penalties and two turnovers, which resulted in an early 14-0 lead for Southern Wayne.
A fumbled snap and interception set up scoring runs of 34 and 5 yards by the Saints' Andrew Matthews just 51/2 minutes into the game. A banged-up and tape-covered Matthews churned out a hard-earned 121 yards on night, but Southern Wayne wouldn't find the end zone again.
Eastern Wayne needed just seven minutes to erase the deficit.
Deshawn Boudy's 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Mitchell Pike started a string of 46 unanswered points. Pridgen's 68-yard pass and his subsequent 60-yard fumble return gave the Warriors a 21-14 advantage just two minutes into the second quarter.
"We were struggling (early)," Pridgen said. "(The TD pass) was what we call a 'solo and go,' and he (the Saints' defender) bit on the screen. I made a move, got upfield and scored."
Pridgen's second touchdown came after teammate Terrell Downs stripped the ball from the Saints' Sinclair Fields, who had caught a 36-yard pass from Jacob Hollingsworth. Pridgen scooped up the fumble and returned it to the house.
"That was a great play by (Fields), their defender just made a better play and that's what you've got to do to win a game," Southern Wayne head coach David Lee said. "Hat's off to that guy. They got on the ball ... a huge momentum shift there.
"Once they got the momentum, we were never able to get it back offensively. They just out-physicaled us on both sides of the ball."
Indeed.
The Warriors limited the Saints to just 121 yards of total offense after the first quarter and recorded 23 plays that resulted in either zero or lost yardage. Hollingsworth was sacked four times.
Smith, who finished with 59 yards, punched in touchdowns from 3 and 16 yards out in the second half. Jamal Barrett plunged in from the three early in the fourth. Lavoris Vick completed the Warriors' incredible offensive explosion with a 58-yard, fourth-quarter TD gallop.
The teams combined for nine turnovers with five leading to touchdowns.