PREP FOOTBALL: Aycock tabbed 4th overall in ECC 3A/4A coaches poll

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on August 9, 2016 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENVILLE -- Preseason predictions in the physically-demanding and brutal Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference carry all the weight of MySpace stock.

In 2016, the playing field has several potential champions.

There's New Bern, which won the 2014 state 4-A crown.

There's D.H. Conley, the reigning league title holder.

Then there's J.H. Rose, which has an eye-popping 42 seniors -- no, that's not a typo -- on its roster this season. Let's not forget the Rampants' state runner-up finish a year ago.

And the front runner is?

The seven ECC coaches called it a draw between Conley and Rose during the annual league poll conducted Monday afternoon. Each school garnered 33 points.

New Bern wound up third in the balloting with 27 points. Charles B. Aycock collected 20 points, followed by South Central (14), Eastern Wayne (12) and Southern Wayne (8).

Sharpen your ax and polish up the cannon balls.

To chop down Rose, defensive coordinators must find a way to keep senior quarterback Ryan Goodwin from finding his two returning receivers -- seniors Mydreon Vines and Caleb Edwards. The duo combined to haul in 78 passes for 1,125 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Goodwin passed for nearly 3,400 yards and 45 total TDs - most to Cornell Powell, who is now at Clemson.

"Our kids work hard, none of them are the really vocal type of kid," Rose head coach David Wojtecki said. "They're all going to work their butts off. That's a great thing. They know we're going to put the best product on the field that we possibly can to be successful.

"Some of those guys will start vying for other roles to where they can contribute to our football team."

The Vikings' ship is directed by highly-recruited junior Holton Ahlers. The 6-foot-4 quarterback accounted for 3,539 yards of total offense and 42 touchdowns a year ago.

Ahlers has two-way starter Duce Fuller and Noah Harper to help him offensively. The defense is led senior lineman Jeremy Joyner, a 280-pound recruit who logged 81 tackles and had six quarterback hurries.

"As far as the team, he's a great leader," first-year DHC head coach Nate Conner said of Ahlers. "He's kind of that energy that people always turn to him. They're going to watch his every move. He carries himself at such a high level.

"I can't say enough good things about him and you feel good about him touching the ball every time. Those guys around him feed off of that, too. He makes them better and they make him better."

Conley ran the table (6-0) in the ECC last season.

New Bern, the ECC champ in 2014 and 2015, has an extra incentive this season. Bears head coach Bobby Curlings underwent a medical procedure Monday morning at Vidant Greenville.

He hasn't attended a practice.

"I told them on the first day, if he's not there, they owe it to him to work hard in practice," NB defensive coordinator Joe Davis said. "I think practice is going well. (The) teams in the past, we've had good character guys and this kind of feels like (a good character) team.

"(The ECC) is going to be a dogfight ... no 'off' Friday nights, especially with the runs Rose and Conley made last year."

An avid college football fan, fourth-year Aycock head coach Steve Brooks breaks down the ECC into the SEC West (the 4-A schools) and the SEC East (the 3-A schools).

The Golden Falcons are picked to rule the East -- finally.

A senior-laden group, their main offensive weapons are seniors Jake Flowers, Chandler Matthews, N.C. State commit Damien Darden and Caleb Gough. Flowers threw for 2,000-plus yards in his first varsity campaign and Matthews emerged as Wayne County's leading receiver for the second straight year.

Darden, a two-way starter, hauled in his fair share of passes -- mainly in short-yardage situations or when Matthews was a decoy on a particular play. Gough changed speeds and found the seams to gain considerable yards on the ground.

"Since they were freshmen, they've (our seniors) kind of taken it upon themselves that this was going to be their year," Brooks said. "Our summer has allowed us to advance with the offense and defense more than we ever have. I'm proud of them and looking forward to Wednesday's scrimmages to see where we're at (as a team)."

After reaching the eastern 3-A regional final in 2013 and 2014, Eastern Wayne experienced an uncharacteristic four-win season in 2015. The Warriors also lost their head coach in late January.

Tavares Oates took over the program reins.

"The motivation and intensity level on the field has been there (in the preseason)," said Oates, who holds 6:30 a.m. practices. "The numbers have been pretty good and the kids are buying in. It's a change from what we've had, but it's also (built) to continue on some of the success we've been having in the past."

Southern Wayne will depend on its dynamic duo of Manny Walker and Quinton Carlton. The "do-everything" twosome became the Saints' focal points on offense and defense on a team that was riddled with injuries a year ago.