Monday, Aug. 30, 2010

Wildcats fall victim to rally

South Johnston wins another classic with rival West Johnston, 23-21, on a last-minute TD.

Trojan magic.

That's how the guys from South Johnston explained their hard-fought, 23-21 comeback victory over visiting county rival West Johnston on Friday night.

Veteran Trojans coach Joe Salas had obviously been planning it, and after the game he taught his team a new chant to celebrate the win.

The defensive unit says "Trojan," and then the offense responds softly with "Magic," and they repeat it as the offensive boys get louder until both sides are yelling at the tops of their lungs.

It was definitely an emotional win, as Unek Lloyd scored the winning touchdown from a yard out with 29 seconds left, following a desperation 36-yard hook-and-ladder play that set up the fateful plunge. The Wildcats didn't give up and got the ball into Trojan territory in the closing seconds, but the clock was too short for the visitors.

"I think we had three great plays to every stupid play, and I don't think we could go to No. 4 without a stupid play," said Salas, who led the Trojans (2-0) to the Eastern Regional 3-AA title last season. "We've got to fix that. But that was a great ball game, and the kids fought hard. Toughness was on our side."

The visiting team had won the previous three games in the series, with the Trojans prevailing 10-7 on the road last season.

"That was a heck of a high school football game," said first-year West mentor Randy Ragland, whose team fell to 1-1. "I don't know if there was a better game in the state of North Carolina tonight. We did a lot of things well. I told them something good and something bad was going to happen. We got down 10-0 and we fought back.

"They had an interception where we got ahead of us, and we had a turnover and fought. But our kids hung in there and fought and that's the sign of a good football team."

Lloyd led the Trojans with 103 yards on 17 carries. Michael Booker passed for 207 yards for the winners, while Justin Carroll threw for 182 for West.

"Man, it was just Trojan magic at the end like Coach said," Lloyd said. "I'm proud of my O-line for blocking the way it did tonight. I hope we do it again next week. West Johnson has a good defense, a real good defense. But we were ready for them, and hard work pays off."

South Johnston led 10-7 at halftime, on a 22-yard Aaron Hill field goal and Booker's 34-yard pass to Chris Crumity before West Johnston's Carroll hit Tyrus Colton from 26 yards out with just 19 seconds left before intermission.

West went up 13-10 on Carroll's 12-yard run midway through the third, but South responded with a 98-yard drive with Booker going in from two yards out in the closing seconds of the third.

"The guys have been working hard in the weight room and they came through in the end," Salas said. "This is an old good neighborhood rivalry. It's a big one, probably the biggest one for the kids. The old folks, it's 'Triple S' [Smithfield-Selma's Spartans], but for the kids it's always West Johnston. All three of the in-county games we play are all so emotional. They're always tight. They're always physical. You know when those games come along you've got to buckle up - the game with West is always one of the most physical nights of the year."

"We needed some big plays from our special teams tonight, and we made the big plays."

West took the lead again with 8:07 to play as Cameron Umphrey scored from five yards out and Patrick Crocker ran for the two-point conversion to make it 21-17 and set up South's late heroics.

"On the last drive - our guys had been hanging their heads a little bit," Booker said. "But really, I just wanted to win it and keep my head open for positive thoughts. We got our heads back up and came up with that last drive. The [hook and ladder] play that set up the last touchdown, it was like a dream, almost. I was praying to God that we were scoring. We knew that was our last chance. That was amazing."

Salas said his team just won the last-minute gut check.

"It was big dogs playing big there at the end," he said. "Mr. Booker just did a great job."

South takes on another non-conference county rival when it visits Clayton on Thursday night, while West's next game is at home on Friday against Fuquay-Varina.