Bulldogs bite Cats in Carolina 1-A action

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 13, 2013 1:50 AM

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Goldsboro found the perfect remedy to cure its recent ills on the football field -- a victory on the strength of a stout defense.

The Cougars limited South Lenoir to 89 yards of total offense and just three first downs in a 48-7 victory before a standing-room-only Homecoming crowd at Cougar Stadium on Friday evening. It was the Eastern Carolina 2-A Conference opener for both teams.

The Devils were 0-for-8 on third-down plays.

"One of the things we worked on all week was making sure we contained the quarterback and the running backs," Goldsboro head coach Eric Reid said. "They have a good-sized line and do a good job base-blocking up front. We made sure each individual had their gap responsibility and we did a good job."

The Cougars recorded 10 tackles for loss, including three quarterback sacks, on 31 Blue Devil offensive plays. South Lenoir (1-6 overall, 0-1 ECC) didn't complete a pass and had just 21 yards of total offense in the second half.

"They had good size, but their speed on the front four was just giving us fits," first-year SL head coach Ken Grantham said. "We had to make some adjustments at halftime, but still those front four guys were pretty good. I'm impressed with them.

"We knew Goldsboro had a pretty good team and their record wasn't indicative of how good they were. We did what we can."

Goldsboro (3-4, 1-0) experienced a disconnection in its running game early, so it switched to its passing attack. Sophomore quarterback Nashir Bowden completed 8 of his first 10 passes, and threw a pair of touchdown strikes of 42 and 1 yards to Joseph Baker.

Bowden ended the night 9-of-15 for 185 yards.

Malette found his groove in the second quarter.

The senior back, who was held to minus-8 yards rushing on his first five totes, found the end zone twice. Malette cobbled out 120 yards and three TDs on 16 carries, and exited the game after a 44-yard touchdown gallop to start the second half.

"Coach Grantham did a great job scouting us," Reid said. "One of the things we had to do was change our blocking scheme up front. We had to do a combo situation to keep the outside back from creeping in on the corners, which had been an Achilles' heel the last couple of weeks.

"Once we made that adjustment, that worked for us a little bit."

Joshua Wootson added a first-half, 40-yard fumble return for a touchdown which gave the Cougars a 35-0 lead at halftime. Rayvonne Barnes replaced Malette in the backfield, and churned out 74 yards and a TD on 18 carries.