Prep notebook: Rebels, Eagles combine for 600-plus yards

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on October 21, 2013 1:48 PM

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CALYPSO -- High school football is all about being able to run the football on offense and stop the run on defense. Rosewood and North Duplin each had half of that equation figured out on Friday night.

The Eagles and the Rebels combined to rush 632 yards in their Carolina 1-A Conference. Rosewood earned a 40-33 win despite allowing 360 yards rushing on defense.

"North Duplin is a good offensive team and they had our number in the first half," Rosewood head coach Robert Britt said. "We made some adjustments at halftime and I think we did a better job of slowing them down. Not really stopping them, but slowing them down."

Freshman answers call

KINSTON -- Key absences on defense caused concern for the Goldsboro High coaching staff in their most-important conference game of the season.

They found one solution -- Tyshon Bryant.

The true freshman logged one quarterback sack and helped the defense force two second-half turnovers. Bryant's tackle total wasn't available, but he did have two stops for loss yardage.

"(Tyshon) stepping in and playing like he did in the second half, he caused a lot of disruption up on that front line with him getting penetration and clogging up that backfield," Reid said. "Mike Harper does a tremendous job as our defensive coordinator putting these guys in the right place."

Goldsboro allowed just 263 yards of total offense on 58 plays and coaxed Kinston into 10 penalties. The Vikings could have broken the game open after a long punt return in the third quarter, but consecutive holding penalties negated two touchdown runs inside the Cougars' red zone.

The Cougars eventually forced a punt.

Big recognition

CALYPSO -- Quarterbacks and running backs tend to get all the headlines during high school football season. Those players touch the ball the most and have the most of the numbers reported in the statistics book.

Tyree Chavious did more than enough to earn a nod from his head coach after Rosewood's win over Carolina 1-A Conference rival North Duplin on Friday.

Chavious, a 6-foot-4 280-pound lineman, was the Eagles' standout on both sides of the football. Chavious anchored an offensive line that opened holes as the backs rolled to 270 yards. Chavious led the defense with 11 tackles and a fourced fumble.

"Tyree was all over the field tonight," Britt said. "He is so big, and he is only a junior, so we have him for another year and there is no telling how good he can be. His upside is through the roof."

Three games remain

KINSTON -- Dejected from the loss, Goldsboro High head football coach Eric Reid conceded his team might have lost its chance at winning the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference football title Friday evening.

Not necessarily.

Two key games remain on the docket -- Ayden-Grifton at Goldsboro on Friday and Kinston at Ayden-Grifton on Nov. 1. The Vikings, Cougars and Chargers -- depending on the outcomes -- could wind up tri-champions in what has been an unpredictable league.

And the preseason poll would finally make sense after a disastrous beginning for the first-year conference. The six teams combined to post a 6-30 record before ECC play kicked off two weeks ago.

Coaches picked Ayden-Grifton (2-6 overall) as the preseason favorite by the slimmest of margins. Kinston (4-4) and Goldsboro (3-5) were picked to share runner-up honors.

Anything can happen the final three weeks of regular-season play.

"I have no problem about what we will do the remaining three games," Reid said. "No disrespect to our opponents coming up, this was for the conference championship tonight and we knew this coming into the week.

"I'm proud of my guys for their effort ... the resolve of the guys who held on as long as they could. Those young guys that we had to plug in up front, just couldn't sustain (the blocks) and that was pretty much the course of the evening."