Johnson: Cougars haven't reclaimed county bragging rights, yet

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 4, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Rumor has it Goldsboro has reclaimed Wayne County in football.

Not so fast, my friend.

Southern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock haven't had their say -- yet.

Second-year Cougars head coach Bennett Johnson delivered that message before practice Monday afternoon just 48 hours after a 26-21 triumph over Eastern Wayne.

"I told the guys the truth of the matter is we don't have the county back in football," Johnson said. "We have some big games left to play, there's plenty of football ahead of us."

County rivalry game No. 2 is tonight.

The Cougars (1-1 overall) and the Saints (0-2) meet for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Cougar Stadium.

SW head coach David Lee viewed Goldsboro in person last week.

"I think Goldsboro is playing with a lot more passion than last year, lot more energy ... was impressed with their team chemistry (against Eastern Wayne," he said. "I think they have made a vast improvement from last year and look like a confident bunch right now."

The Saints have had almost two weeks to prepare for the Cougars after a season-opening loss at perennial 1-A powerhouse James Kenan. Lee's team came out of that game a little banged up and lost one player (Rikem Shephard) to a concussion, and another player (Daniel Curtis) to concussion-like symptoms.

Junior defensive back Quentin Carlton didn't play due to an unidentified illness, but will be in uniform tonight after getting cleared by the doctor earlier this week. Lee did not speculate on Carlton's playing time.

Since the loss to Kenan, the Saints have regrouped and continued to sharpen their fundamentals in practice. Lee said the offensive line has turned into a "game of musical chairs" since there are eight or nine players he can rotate into the game who have the same ability level.

Lee has tinkered with the defense -- particularly the linebackers and secondary. Goldsboro could see a completely different Saints team than the one that traveled to Warsaw on Aug. 22.

"There were positives we took from that game, but have also tried to work on mental mistakes," said Lee, whose team struggled to contain the Tigers' passing game and had crucial miscues on special teams that resulted in 21 points.

The Saints will see another good quarterback, Na'Shir Bowden, this week. The senior has thrown for 309 yards -- second-best in the county behind first-year Spring Creek signal caller Jessie Casper. Bowden completed passes to five different receivers, including touchdown strikes to Eric Bufkin (52 yards), Ronnie Tookes (6 yards) and Jacob Owens (43 yards).

Owens' catch proved to be the game winner.

But Johnson was more pleased with his defense's hunger, desire and determination. The unit forced four takeaways, including three in the fourth quarter. The last, a tipped interception from Maurice Stokes to Tookes sealed the outcome.

EW managed just 189 yards of total offense.

"I was most pleased with our tackling on defense and tenacity on that side of the ball," Johnson said. "We had a good gameplan from Coach Wilson and we executed it."