Southern Wayne head football coach Matt Hine, left, listens as offensive coordinator Tori King makes the play call during a game earlier this season. The Saints (2-0) play at Rosewood on Friday. (Rudy Coggins|mountolivetribune.com)
DUDLEY — Southern Wayne looks to place another brick in its “rebuilding the program” foundation when it travels to Rosewood Friday evening.It’s the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
Plus, the Saints are looking to defeat three county opponents in the same season for the first time since 2010. Directed by then-head coach David Lee, SW knocked off Goldsboro, Eastern Wayne and Charles B. Aycock that year.
Coming off its bye week, Southern Wayne (2-0 overall) is anxious to step back onto the gridiron.
“Practices have been pretty good,” first-year Saints head coach Matt Hine said. “We worked very hard the beginning of last week, gave them a nice long [holiday] weekend to recover a little and were back at it Monday.
“We are not healthy at all, unfortunately.”
In their previous outing, the Saints hung 56 points on Goldsboro — including two touchdowns on pick sixes (interceptions) by Tyquavious Williams and Jaylen Bowden. Those momentum-changing plays highlighted a 36-point, fourth-quarter outburst in the game.
Rosewood (0-3) looks to snap a four-game skid, which includes last year’s season-ending loss to perennial 1A powerhouse Tarboro in the east regional final.
Transfer quarterback Gio Pineda has accounted for 526 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns. Multi-sport athlete Micah Cox has been Pineda’s main target. The senior has accumulated 298 receiving yards and three TDs on 16 catches.
Spring Creek (0-3) begins a three-game road swing at winless Hobbton, while border rival North Duplin (3-0) entertains Lejeune. James Kenan (2-1) is the guest of East Bladen.
Kickoff is 7 p.m. for each contest.
Spring Creek at Hobbton
NEWTON GROVE — The Wildcats have won 11 of 16 meetings against the Gators since 2004.
Spring Creek hopes to rebound from a shutout loss to Wayne Christian a week ago. Two first-quarter fumbles hurt the Gators, who allowed the Eagles to score touchdowns on six consecutive possessions in the first half.
First-year Gators head coach Ron Wise said after the defeat that his team displays a great work ethic during practice. But that effort hasn’t translated to the field on Friday nights.
“Our focus this week is to fix our miscues and become more disciplined with our assignments,” Wise said.
Lejeune at North Duplin
CALYPSO — The gunslingin’ Devilpups look to snap an eight-game skid against the Rebels when they clash at H.E. Grubbs Field.
Junior quarterback Connor Shea threw a career- and school-record nine touchdown passes two weeks ago against Spring Creek. His effort matched the mark set by Wakefield signal caller Connor Mitch, who achieved the feat against Broughton on Oct. 12, 2019.
“Offensively, they rely on their passing game,” ND head coach Hugh Martin said. “Very few runs. They have a good quarterback and a good set of receivers. The quarterback gets rid of the ball quick and accurately.”
North Duplin (3-0) ran just 16 offensive plays in its shutout romp over Jones Senior. The Rebels also have back-to-back, two-point wins over Southside and Pinetown Northside in the back pockets.
DuJuan Armwood leads a ground attack that will match up against an eight-man front that crowds the line of scrimmage. Armwood has collected 227 yards and three TDs on 26 carries.
Quarterback Luke Kelly, a junior, has thrown and completed just two passes — both touchdown strikes to Thomas Morrisey.
James Kenan at East Bladen
BLADENBORO — James Kenan heads into its fourth non-conference tilt licking its wounds after a 35-point road loss against Whiteville a week ago.
The Tigers scored their lone touchdown off of a turnover before the Wolfpack offense responded with 42 unanswered points.
Whiteville’s defense recovered a fumble, picked off two passes and forced Kenan into three turnovers on fourth-down plays. The Tigers punted four times.
“Hopefully we’ll keep getting better on both sides of the ball,” Kenan head coach Tim Grady said. “East Bladen has talented running backs and a quick offensive line, so we’ll need to be on our ‘A’ game to get us back on track.”
The Eagles’ offensive coordinator has to scheme against slowing down Kenan junior Hassan Kornegay. The 6-foot-3 middle linebacker is averaging 17 stops a game, including a career-high 20 tackles in a shootout win over Midway.
The teams have split their last six meetings since 2006.
