Prep football notebook

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on October 17, 2011 1:48 PM

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Block those guys

Goldsboro's three 400-pound defensive tackles -- Cain Bryant, Adrian Warren and Quanderrio Wilder -- yielded little running space Friday evening against Princeton.

The trio played a part in four quarterback sacks and Warren -- the "smallest" of the three linemen at 406 pounds -- had two third-down stops behind the line of scrimmage. In all, the Cougar defense recorded 13 tackles for loss and logged its second straight shutout of the season.

"Let me tell you something, he (Warren) is something special," said Goldsboro head coach Eric Reid. "Adrian has come a long ways and has really worked hard this summer to get some of the weight down, and we want to get some more down.

"He got some good penetration and made some nice tackles tonight for us. I hope he can keep building off of that and help us get better. We've got two more big boys I would love to bring around where he is at (right now).

"Hopefully that will motivate them to get them (all) on the same track."

Carolina dominance

Goldsboro extended its win streak to 13 games since it joined the Carolina 1-A Conference in 2009.

The Cougars, surprisingly, have posted just four shutouts in league play during that stretch -- two against Spring Creek, and one each against Rosewood and Princeton.

Keep things simple

Goldsboro (5-3 overall) ran its base offense and defense packages against the Bulldogs. Reid didn't want to reveal any new wrinkles that the coaching staff has implemented for the season-ending showdown against Ayden-Grifton.

The Cougars and state-ranked Chargers were picked to finish 1-2, respectively, in the preseason poll voted upon by the league's head coaches.

Pender gets his shot

After spending much of his high school career as a block-first fullback in the Eastern Wayne offense, Shelton Pender is making the most of his chance to tote the football.

Pender racked up 171 yards and one touchdown in Eastern Wayne's 33-16 win over county rival C.B. Aycock on Friday night.

"Shelton is a kid that runs hard and he finishes his runs to get that last little bit," Warriors head coach Bubba Williams said. "He did a good job of opening up holes for Lamar Best last season and this year he has gotten the ball more. That takes some adjustment, but I think he is doing a good job."

Back to work

Southern Wayne played one its best halves of football during the final two quarters of Friday night's 49-33 loss to South Johnston. The Saints recorded 314 of their 427 yards of total offense in the second half. Southern Wayne has lost four Eastern Carolina 3-A Conference games in a row after beginning the season 0-4. For Saints' first-year head coach David Lee, the key to stopping the losing streak begins at practice. Southern Wayne plays host to North Lenoir on Friday.

"I think it starts with taking that second half to practice on Monday," Lee said. "We have to keep playing because we love to play football and because we love to make plays and don't worry about the score."