Gray's tweak has improved Warriors' offense

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on October 30, 2015 1:48 PM

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Phil Gray had a Sir Isaac Newton moment.

Only an apple didn't fall from the tree and knock him on the noggin.

Instead, Gray kicked himself -- and has been doing it for the past two weeks since he made one slight adjustment in Eastern Wayne's offensive scheme.

"We knew that Zeke (Best) was going to eventually take over the quarterback spot," Gray said. "Something hit me across the head, and told me to go ahead and make that move. Before I made the move, I called KK (Best) and asked him 'would you mind if I moved you from quarterback to running back and put Zeke at quarterback?'

"He said 'God answered my prayers'."

And the Warriors have become a dangerous offensive team heading into the final two weeks of regular-season play. Zeke is coming off consecutive 300-yard passing games, and KK's numbers are starting to increase in the run game.

EW has scored 62 total points during its last two outings compared to 57 in its previous four games combined that included 39 points in an overtime shootout win against West Carteret.

Now county rival Southern Wayne has another offensive weapon to defend tonight during its regular-season finale in Dudley. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at the Doyle Whitfield Athletic Complex.

"When I watch them on tape, they've still got athletes spread around the field that can hit the home run at any time -- both offensively and defensively," SW head coach David Lee said. "They've got athletes that if they can get the ball in their hand, can get an open space and break a tackle, they can out run everybody you've got.

"They're really, really fast at certain positions."

Lee wants to see his team duplicate its emotion and intensity it displayed a month ago against county foe Charles B. Aycock. The Saints (0-9 overall) fell behind by two touchdowns, tied the game and never let the Golden Falcons totally regain the momentum.

A shootout affair doesn't favor the Saints.

But hard-nosed play in the trenches and getting stops before the Warriors reach the second level could build some confidence in a team that's worked hard, but has produced no fruit for its labor in practice.

"Defensively, it comes down to just making tackles," Lee said. "Offensively, it comes down to execution. They're really fast on defense, too. You have to block at the point of attack, and try to get north and south and get as many yards as you can."

Manny Walker leads the Saints' offense with 821 yards of total offense, including 644 on the ground. He nearly had a "pick six" last week against South Central.

However, the Saints fumbled inside the SC 10-yard line.

Eastern Wayne (2-6) looks to snap a four-game skid and work itself into contention for one of the two 3-A playoff berths available from the Eastern Carolina 3-A/4-A Conference. The Warriors have emerged as the eastern regional runners-up each of the past two years.

"We've just got to go play hard this week," Gray said.