STORY: New Bern silences CBA's offense

By Ben Coley
Published in Sports on October 22, 2016 11:24 PM

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PIKEVILLE -- With the arrival of spread schemes, hurry-up modes and air-raid offenses, defense has decidedly taken a back seat among several high school teams.

The New Bern coaching staff did not get the memo.

Neither did the 11 players lining up across from C.B. Aycock's offense at Hardy Talton Stadium on Friday evening.

Relying on a tough defensive line and steady secondary, New Bern grabbed a 29-11 victory over C.B. Aycock and effectively neutralized the Golden Falcons' offense in the process.

Just two weeks ago on the very same field, CBA racked up 10 touchdowns against D.H. Conley. Against the Bears on Friday, the Golden Falcons mustered just one TD, which came late in the fourth quarter.

"They're averaging 45 points per game against quality opponents," said New Bern head coach Stephen Lovett. "Our defense came out and gave us a chance in the first half. For us to do that was pretty impressive."

Yards were hard to come by for both offenses in the first half.

There were five punts in the first 24 minutes of play -- three by CBA and two by New Bern. The lone score of the first half was a 39-yard field goal by CBA's Seth Harrison.

When New Bern missed a 32-yard field goal right before halftime, the momentum seemed to be squarely on the Golden Falcons' shoulders going into the locker room.

That energy was quickly sucked away by the Bears' Dionshay Cherry when he returned the second-half kickoff 83 yards to the end zone.

When CBA regained possession, the Golden Falcons methodically drove downfield, eventually reaching New Bern's six-yard line. Then the Bears' Elijah Emmanuel picked off CBA quarterback Jake Flowers and sprinted 95 yards to pay dirt.

"(Flowers) just threw it in a clouded area," said CBA head coach Steve Brooks. "I think he kind of just forced one or maybe that's my fault. Maybe I forced him into making a bad play."

Following the pick-six, CBA's next three drives resulted in two turnovers on down and one punt.

Meanwhile, an 11-yard rushing TD by New Bern's Donald Howard and a one-yard rushing TD by Davon Knight pushed the Bear's lead to 29-3.

But considering how well New Bern's defense was playing, the deficit might as well have been twice as large.

"They were just more physical than we were -- plain and simple," Brooks said.

Friday's game marked the first time the Golden Falcons have scored fewer than 30 points in a game this season.

Brooks, who took the blame for CBA's disappointing performance, said he will look to better prepare his team for its match against offensive juggernaut J.H. Rose next week.

"I think we were riding too high," Brooks said. "In a loss (to Conley) we scored 68 points and we probably thought we had it all figured out. And then (New Bern) came in with a game plan, and that was probably the most physical we've seen them play.

"We couldn't get off the ball, and that cost us."

AGGRESSIVE BEARS

* After beginning the season 0-4, New Bern has now reeled off four straight wins - all of them in conference play. In those four conference wins, the defense has allowed 6.25 points per game.

STOPPING GOUGH

* Caleb Gough has spent most of the 2016 season terrorizing defensive lines and bursting through the second level. On Friday, the star running back managed a meager 43 yards on 17 carries. His longest run was eight yards.

FALCONS' DEFENSE

* Lost in the shuffle may have been the performance of CBA's defense. They only gave up 14 points to New Bern's offense. It was also the first time this season that the Golden Falcons held an opponent scoreless in the first half.