Saints defeat Warriors in mercy-rule fashion

By Brandon Davis
Published in Sports on October 27, 2015 1:48 PM

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DUDLEY -- The Southern Wayne Saints put their heads together before Monday evening's game.

Little did they know that sophomore Shyquell Kornegay would use his head to spark excitement in the crowd and in himself. With three minutes left in the game against county rival Eastern Wayne, Kornegay headed the ball into the goal off an assist by senior Oscar Ruiz.

Kornegay's score capped a mercy-rule, 9-0 win over the Warriors. Kornegay ran to a teammate and jumped into his arms, and the Saints' fans cheered.

"We had a good conversation (last week)," Saints head coach Mario Aguilar said. "Finally, from what I've seen last week and tonight, we played as a team."

Forty-three seconds into the game, sophomore Darwin Sure scored for the Saints, and scored again with a free kick five minutes later. Sure assisted senior Ulysses Ramirez with the Saints' third goal, and Ramirez scored with three minutes remaining in the first half.

Sure put his team up by five after halftime, and assisted Ramirez with the Saints' sixth goal halfway through the second half. Senior Nathan Martinez and Kornegay each added a goal before Kornegay ended the game -- with his head.

The Warriors looked fatigued.

"We came out kind of sluggish, slow start for us," Warriors head coach Scott Summers said. "We did take a couple of days off since we last played. We lost our momentum.

"The last three games we played, we played great. And in this game, kinda started off slow, and the other team (Saints) came out with the momentum. They finished those first two goals quick, and we kinda put our heads down."

Eastern Wayne (2-13-0 overall) travel to Charles B. Aycock in the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference finale for both teams. The Saints (9-6-3, 4-5-3 ECC) are expected to earn a bid to the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, which begin Nov. 4.