OPENING DAY: Lightning interrupts Goldsboro's practice, but not for long

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 2, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

A lightning bolt flashed in the distance.

The air horn blew.

"What's that for?" a coach inquired.

"Lightning ... over there. Clear the field!"

"No!" shouted a Goldsboro High football player as he punched the air in disgust.

As the rain pelted the tin roof on the shelter that leads to the practice field, the Cougars headed back toward the field house. Mother Nature, for the third consecutive year, rained on Goldsboro's opening-day practice.

"I guess we're kind of getting used to that," third-year GHS head coach Bennett Johnson said of the uncooperative weather.

This time, however, Mother Nature interrupted several spirited and active efforts at every drill station set up on the rain-soaked and cleat-torn turf with Cougar Stadium as the backdrop. Pads popped loudly against the tackling dummies, footballs zipped through the air and the players constantly shouted encouragement to each other.

Johnson did notice some sluggishness.

Goldsboro had trouble staying on schedule and developing a rhythm that at times is not synonymous with the first day of practice.

"When we came out in the second half (of practice), it was beautiful outside...there was a pretty rainbow and we'll take that along with the second half of practice," Johnson said. "The second half of practice was literally much prettier on the field, too. Our practices actually matched the weather. It was ugly outside, we didn't look that good.

"We came out (for) round two, the guys got themselves together and practiced much better, much cleaner. It was very competitive and high energy, which is what we really wanted to see as coaches.

"We were really excited. I thought it was a great first day."

The varsity dominated the intra-squad scrimmage, but toward the end a few JV players started getting in some good shots.

The Cougars return 17 seniors off last year's team that logged a 5-6 worksheet and missed the postseason for the third consecutive year. Goldsboro last won a conference championship in 2012 when it participated in the Carolina 1-A Conference.

"We've got 60 to 65 guys out there this year that love football," Johnson said. "We can grill it in them all we want to be energetic and to be proud and be loud. If you don't love football, sometimes you just don't see that.

"These guys really love football."