Eastern Wayne dominates crosstown rival Goldsboro

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on August 30, 2014 11:44 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

When Dameko Artis left Goldsboro after his freshman year to attend Eastern Wayne, he caught flack from a lot of his peers.

"After I left people started talking about this and that," Artis said. "I just wanted to get out and prove them wrong. Prove my haters wrong I guess you could say."

Artis did in his final game against Goldsboro. The senior defensive back had seven tackles and returned an interception for a touchdown during the Warriors' 54-12 shellacking of the Cougars on Friday evening.

"This is a big one," Artis said. "This felt good. We played a good game, got some things to get better at. But we played good."

The Warriors dominated the Cougars all night.

Led by quarterback KK Best, Eastern Wayne had six different players find the end zone. Best rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns, and threw for 152 yards and another touchdown.

Big plays were the Warriors' MO.

They scored four times from 20 or more yards out. Best had a remarkable 71-yard touchdown run with 24 seconds left in the first half that broke Goldsboro's will. The Cougars had stopped the Warriors on two straight possessions and had a chance to get back in the game, but Best broke five tackles and turned what would have been a five-yard sack into seven points.

"That run before the half killed us," Goldsboro head coach Bennett Johnson said. "We had a chance to make a play, but we let him slip out of our grasp."

The Cougars' defense let a lot of players slip out of their grasp. They were a step slow to the ball and failed to wrap up Eastern Wayne ball carriers on plenty of occasions.

Larry Newsome ran for 114 yards on just two carries, including a 49-yard TD in which he went virtually untouched. The offensive line opened a big hole through the middle, Newsome hit quickly and bolted past the secondary.

The offensive line was a point of emphasis for Eastern Wayne, which struggled with execution in its season opener against North Lenoir.

"We were better," Eastern Wayne head coach Bubba Williams said. "I think the guys got off the ball a little bit better and opened up some holes. Still not where we want to be yet."

The Warriors still struggled on third-down plays.

Meanwhile, Goldsboro finished 3 of 11 on third-down conversions and had seven occasions where they faced more than 10 yards on third down.

"We just need to do better in every phase of the game," Johnson said. "We might need to realize we're not as good as we think we are or other people might think we are. We can't keep pumping Kool-Aid to these kids."

The Cougars' lone bright spot was running back Rayvonne Barnes, who gave the team the fast start it needed and played on an injured ankle for most of the night. He ran for 105 yards and a touchdown on the Cougars fist possession.

"We need more Rayvonnes," Johnson said. "We need more guys like that. He was out there on an injured ankle and we finally had to take him out because he was going to run right through it."

Barnes impressed the opposition, also.

"He's a good little back," Williams said. "I can certainly see why they're excited about him. He's small, but he's got good balance, he's quick. He kept coming."