Personal foul penalty wakes up Goldsboro

By Andrew Stevens
Published in Sports on November 14, 2009 11:05 PM

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The last thing South Robeson needed to do was give sluggish Goldsboro a wake-up call.

The Mustangs' late hit penalty on quarterback Corteiz Sprangle provided the spark the Cougars needed Friday evening. Goldsboro erupted for 21 unanswered points and rolled to a 42-6 victory in the opening round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1-AA football playoffs.

"That was a big momentum builder," said Cougars head coach Eric Reid of Sprangle getting hit out of bounds. "We're a family and the kids kind of rallied around that. That kind of pumped them up and woke them up a little bit. We got lucky, because if that hadn't happened there's no telling what the outcome would have been."

Five plays after South Robeson committed the personal foul penalty, Freddie Jones scampered 15 yards for a touchdown to give Goldsboro a 21-0 lead. Vontarius Kornegay and Andre Montgomery both added touchdown runs to extend the margin to 35-0.

Montgomery finished with 183 yards on the ground and a pair of scores. The Cougars rushed for 365 yards on 44 carries.

"Andre did a wonderful job ... he's a monster," said Reid. "Freddie stepped up to the challenge in the second half and was able to help Andre kind of carry the load."

The Mustangs got on the board on Jeremy Lewis' 55-yard touchdown pass to Jarvis McIntosh in the fourth quarter.

Kornegay added a 25-yard interception return for a score to cap Goldsboro's scoring.

The second-seeded Cougars (10-2 overall) trudged through the first half with 65 yards in penalties and a pair of turnovers. Goldsboro ended the night with three lost fumbles and an interception.

"We just came out sluggish and in a funk," said Reid. "We just didn't play Cougar ball in the first half. Luckily, the defense lived up to their end of the bargain. We were able to go in at halftime and talk about it, make some changes and come out in the second half and do something.

"In order to keep going (in the playoffs) we have to clean up bonehead penalties and dropped passes."

Montgomery's 59-yard touchdown run and Sprangle's 34-yard pass to Michael Sykes for a score gave the Cougars a 14-0 advantage at the half.

South Robeson was held to minus-14 yards total offense in the first half. The Mustangs turned the ball over three times, didn't record a first down until the third quarter and finished with just 105 yards of total offense.

Edtwon Hamilton threw a pair of interceptions and 15th-seeded South Robeson (4-8) also lost a fumble. Avis Johnson finished with a team-high 36 yards rushing on 12 carries.

"They took it to us," said Mustangs head coach Chris Simpson. "We got six points on them. It was tough."