Goldsboro updends C.B. Aycock in a Friday thriller

By Justin Hayes
Published in Sports on September 9, 2017 9:34 PM

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With all due respect to the oft-used sporting phrase instant classic, Friday's matchup between Charles B. Aycock and resurgent Goldsboro High ascended a more esteemed level of sports cliche-dom.

It was one for the ages.

Equal parts an alleyway brawl between the tackles and a high-octane, string-spinning show everywhere else, the tilt featured elements of the game any viewer could appreciate.

There was brute strength, on command, visible time and again by the vicious downhill churning of Goldsboro tailback Xzavior Bowden.

There was also pace and misdirection, guided from start to finish by the gunslinging conductor's wand of CBA head coach Steve Brooks.

And there was the outcome -- a bleacher-stomping, panic-attack inspired moment if there ever was one -- which gathered and folded neatly in the dust of a single play.

Following a Michael Hemmingway touchdown that tied matters with 2:43 remaining in the contest, Brooks marched his Blues out to attempt a 2-point conversion that would have given them a 19-18 advantage and a speed-slot inroad to victory.

But the attempt, thanks to a full-speed, clad-in-navy pursuit, failed to properly materialize.

CBA sophomore Tae Jackson -- who rumbled and stumbled his way to 56 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the night -- rushed left, but was stoned at the two yard line in a good-on-good matchup with GHS defensive back Terrell Valentine.

Ball game.

Goldsboro 19, Aycock 18.

Following the final whistle, opposite ends of the emotional spectrum were not only visible in Cougar Stadium, but quite palpable.

"Old coach said one time, when your team believes in it... you do what your team says," Brooks said after his team's post-game kneel in the stadium's east end zone. "I believe in this team, and they believe in me... and to a man, they said let's go for it."

But to the victor belongs the spoils, and perhaps it's time someone start lofting praise in general direction of Goldsboro High -- who, at this point a season ago, had yet to win a game.

"Charles B. Aycock just wouldn't go away," GHS coach Elvin James said.

"They continued to fight, to fight... his team was definitely prepared. So we just had to lean on No. 12 (Bowden) and say, hey... you have to carry us."

And did he ever.

On 32 different occasions Friday evening, Bowden hauled the luggage. When it was over, his effort had spanned a mind-boggling 255 hashmarks, two touchdowns, and the universal praise of his head coach.

When asked amid a crushing throng of onlookers and well-wishers en route to his team's locker room if Bowden was, in fact, the best back east of I-95, the longtime coach didn't flinch -- not for a millisecond.

"No doubt," he offered with a smile.

Nor should there have been from anyone in attendance Friday, when markedly different schemes collided in  separate shades of blue.