Goldsboro shuts out Rosewood

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 6, 2012 11:57 PM

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The Cougar Den had a party atmosphere for homecoming on Friday night.

A pre-game jam session complete with DJ rang out over the speakers. Shoutouts were read over the public address system from fans to players. There was dancing and general happiness everywhere.

Oh yeah.

There was a football game, too. No. 10-ranked Goldsboro capped the celebration with a 54-0 win over Rosewood and remained unbeaten in Carolina 1-A Conference play.

"I think our coaching staff did a really good job of keeping the guys focused even with everything that was going on," Goldsboro head coach Eric Reid said. "Homecoming week is tough, there are a lot of extracurricular things to deal with but I thought we did a nice job handling that."

Goldsboro (6-1 overall, 2-0 CC) got down to business on the opening play of the game when Rasheid Malette ran the kick-off back 92 yards for a touchdown. Hunter McCoy's extra point made the score 7-0 and the Cougars never looked back.

Following a short drive by Rosewood that ended in a punt, the Cougars marched 65 yards in 10 plays for another score. Julius Murphy found Toric Best in the corner of the end zone on a 2-yard pass and pushed the score to 14-0.

Malette added a pair of rushing touchdowns in the second quarter and Murphy ended the first half with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Karon Alston. Goldsboro led 34-0 at the intermission.

"Goldsboro has athletes all over the field and they showed that they were ready to play from the opening kickoff," Rosewood head coach Robert Britt said. "There were times when I thought we did some good things defensively, but it seemed like every time we had a breakdown it went for a touchdown the other way."

Murphy put the game on ice with a 42-yard pass to Jaekwon Rhodes in the third quarter. Shawn Ham reached the end zone on the Cougars' second possession of the quarter and made the score 48-0. Asunji Maddox intercepted a Rosewood pass and returned it 75 yards for the game's final touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Murphy led the Goldsboro offense with 15 completions for 199 yards and three scores. Malette finished with 107 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 12 carries. Goldsboro finished with 366 yards of total offense.

"Julius is our leader and he was very good tonight commanding the offense," Reid said. "He was patient and took the short throws that the defense was giving him and when the deep ball was there he delivered it on target."

Jacob Sasser completed two passes for 25 yards to lead the Eagles' offense. Josh Davis added 21 yards on eight carries.

Rosewood (1-6, 0-2) travels to Spring Creek next week, while Goldsboro is the guest of Princeton.