Prep notebook: Johnson celebrates win in huddle with team

By Staff Reports
Published in Sports on October 13, 2014 1:49 PM

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DEEP RUN -- The long wait is over.

And Bennett Johnson, for a moment, relived his high school days.

Seconds before Goldsboro broke its final huddle Friday evening, head Johnson stepped into the middle of his players.

"Helmets in the air," Johnson said as he removed his visor.

Seconds later, Johnson started bouncing around and his team followed suit as they celebrated the program's first victory, 39-12 rout of South Lenoir, with its new head coach. The scene was reminiscient of Johnson's days at Wilson Beddingfield, when he -- then a record-setting high school quarterback -- reveled in the same manner with his teammates after a big win.

Goldsboro triumphed in a conference opener for the sixth consecutive season and avoided an 0-7 start for the first time since 2006.

Slow it down

DEEP RUN -- Heading into their Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference opener against South Lenoir, Goldsboro's coaching staff conducted several "walk-through" sessions during practice.

Johnson wanted to slow the game down.

"We set up fronts, talked about where are you going to block him and how are you going to block him, and I think that really helped the offensive line," Johnson said.

The line opened holes for senior back Rayvonne Barnes, who at times looked like a waterbug darting his way between would-be Blue Devil tacklers. Barnes rambled for a season- and career-high 178 yards.

But he wasn't the only backfield runner to reap rewards.

Jayln Moore toted the pigskin just three times and broke free for touchdown runs of 44 and 41 yards. He was part of a rushing attack that amassed 283 yards.

"I don't think, I just go with the motions," said Moore, who got hemmed up at the line of scrimmage, but stepped through one tackler on the way to his second TD of the game.

"My method is when you get me down, you have to grab me by two legs. If you grab me by one leg, it's not that easy to take me down."

A new start

DEEP RUN -- What 0-6 record?

Johnson told his team to throw it out the window, but to not forget how the non-conference schedule prepared the team for its most-important part of the season -- conference play.

"Coach told us before the game, everybody is 0-0 ... we start fresh," Moore said. "He said to play this game like it's your last game we got the dub (W). We played hard even though we were 0-6 (but) we didn't give up.

"To finally get a win, it's a boost of energy."

Goldsboro plays host to Kinston on Friday.