Johnson, Brooks urge respective teams to play with confidence

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on September 11, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

Bennett Johnson and Steve Brooks must have secretly copied each other's motivational speech this week.

Each has told his respective team to play with confidence.

Each has stressed the importance of believing in yourself.

And each has said how critical a third victory can be in non-conference play, especially when it's against a county rival, halfway through the first month of the season.

"They're awfully athletic, play physical, play with emotion and passion over there," said Brooks, now in his third campaign at Charles B. Aycock. "They have obviously improved quite a bit from last year. They're playing with some confidence. We're going to have to play a perfect game to go over there and beat them."

Johnson feels the same about CBA.

"I think they present a big challenge, to be honest with you," said Johnson, Goldsboro's second-year head coach. "They took one on the chin against Greene Central and is a game they probably want back just like we did against Beddingfield. We both gave up too much early and it's hard to come back.

"I feel like it's going to be a tough game. It's two teams that are going to play each other hard."

The 15th installment of the series kicks off at 7 o'clock tonight inside Cougar Stadium. Aycock has won eight of the 14 meetings overall, but Goldsboro holds a 5-3 edge since 2007.

Brooks and Johnson each hope to see a repeat of last week.

Aycock junior quarterback Jake Flowers threw for 308 yards and four touchdowns -- both career highs -- in a victory over North Lenoir. Johnson complimented the signal caller's mobility, field vision and ability to dump the football instead of holding it too long.

He also noticed the Golden Falcons' defense.

"They are big and strong, they tackle well," Johnson said. "At the end of the day we have to make sure we're getting positive yards, have no hits behind the line of scrimmage, no quarterback sacks and stay ahead of the chains."

Goldsboro ran 71 offensive plays and racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense against the Saints. Johnson wants to play at that same pace against Aycock, but Brooks contends his team can change the tempo at any point in the game.

The Golden Falcons (2-1) have shown the ability to consistently run behind an offensive line that's starting to gel into a cohesive. They've opened holes for Caleb Gough, Mike Hemmingway and Tyrique Ford. Flowers has gotten plenty of protection and guided an offense that's scored 30-plus points on two occasions this season.

Aycock runs into a Goldsboro defense that played stout against Southern Wayne. The Cougars recorded two first-quarter safeties and forced two second-quarter turnovers that led to touchdowns within a 40-second stretch just before halftime.

Overall, Goldsboro had four takeaways against the Saints.

"We're going to have to play more like we did Friday," Brooks said. "We're going to have to use our game from last week as a confidence builder, believe in ourselves and our gameplan. We have to play with effort and worry about us.

"Sure, we're going to scheme against Goldsboro like we do everybody else. But, at the end of the day, we have to do our job."