Johnson advocates to keep bullying out of Goldsboro High

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on October 25, 2014 11:14 PM

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aetzler@newsargus.com

Bennett Johnson turned on "Good Morning America" before school one morning and saw the news.

Sayreville War Memorial High School canceled the remainder of its football season amid what was then called a bullying scandal.

There would be no homecoming game played. No senior night. No chance for a powerhouse program to make a run at a state title.

"At first I thought it was a little bit harsh," Johnson said.

But then he learned about the allegations involving hazing and sexual assault.

"I commend their superintendent because he's set the tone for the whole country really," Johnson said. "He's sending a loud message and I think a lot of people in leadership are going to see that and do the same thing if that happens in their county.

"Hopefully the whole country uses this as a wake-up call. This is a very real situation in our society right now and hopefully it's being addressed on all levels."

In a society that has often put football and winning ahead of other societal needs, Sayreville's superintendent Richard Labbe made a groundbreaking decision that cost a lot of kids a chance to make some of the best memories in their lives -- but ultimately saved some kids from having some of the worst memories of their lives inflicted on them.

"It was definitely the right call," Goldsboro receiver Joe Baker said. "They took it way too far."

Johnson looks at Baker as a leader for the Cougars. He's one of the young men responsible for not letting things like that take place either in the locker room or on Goldsboro's campus.

"Bullying is something we talk about a lot at Goldsboro High School period, not just with the football team," Baker said. "We put signs up on campus and things like that. We bring it to everyone's attention ... We don't want that type of thing taking place anywhere."

Bullying should never get to the point it got in New Jersey.

Johnson doesn't want it to even get off the ground at Goldsboro. He looks to his team captains for leadership and to be the first wall in preventing things like bullying and hazing.

"As a senior you have that responsibility to not let things like bullying happen in the locker room," Baker said. "Nobody ever did it to us when we were young guys, why should we do it to them?

"None of that stuff should ever take place because we're a family and you don't do that to family. That sort of thing does nothing but divide everyone."

The seniors have gained Johnson's trust completely, but in his first head coaching job at the high school level, he's taken his own initiatives to help curb any possibility of bullying. The varsity and junior varsity teams share different locker rooms for that purpose.

The majority of bullying happens in the locker rooms between older players and younger players. This separation makes it so there are less opportunities for bullying situations to arise.

"Hopefully it cuts down anything that could happen if something were to happen," Johnson said.

He strives to build a family atmosphere among his players and his coaches that includes everyone and involves everyone picking each other up.

That was never more present than after Goldsboro's heartbreaking 24-20 loss to Kinston on Oct. 17. The players and coaches let their heads hang for the first time all season, and players slammed doors in anger of letting a win slip out of their grasp.

But no one talked down to each other.

It was quite the contrary.

As a Goldsboro offensive lineman sat outside alone dwelling on the loss, senior running back Rayvonne Barnes walked up to him and comforted him with a pat on the shoulder.

"We win as a team, we lose as a team," Barnes told his teammate. "Let's go in the locker room and be with the team."