We saw SG last year and I thought they were a well coached team fundamentally. With that said I didn't see a lot of speed and I know the ECC has speed. That's the thing that can break you if you never see it. Same for my own team and ledford. Good well coached teams but usually don't wow you athletically.
The RB Bowden was a unique type of athlete....the reason Goldsboro won the game though was their passing....trailing 14-7 late in 2nd Quarter, they throw a 50 yard bomb from Morton to Valentine....14-14 game at the half....in 3rd Quarter, they were facing a 4th & 18 at SG 30 yard line and it might have been the exact same play call, deep ball to Valentine, this time tackled at the 1 or 2 and Rodgers scored two plays later....Bowden most definitely a beast, he had 124 at halftime and finished with 175 on 19 carries running through tackles; breaking tackles; so many yards after contact, but ultimately it was those two long passes that gave the Cougars their scoring plays...neither team did a very good job of defending the pass; it was SG's biggest passing output in many weeks at 5/9 for 78 yards, with starting QB going 4/5 for 85 in 1st half, and the one INC was a wide open WR dropping a ball that hit him in the hands for what would have been a 20+ yard gain...Goldsboro was also very physical in the trenches with their big linemen; great size up front...for the game, the total offense was close to even with 303 yds for Goldsboro and 286 for SG; have to give Goldsboro credit for making the plays they had to make, including stopping a two point conversion on the final TD of the game, that SG scored early in 4th quarter....what really boggles my mind though, is how Roanoke Rapids beat East Duplin??
