The State Port Pilot
SPORTS
George
Cox
Sports editor
State champs!
West Brunswick captures 2A crown, 14-6
Trojans first team
to wear two crowns
West Brunswick is the first county high school since consolidation in
1972 to capture two state championships in the major sports. The 1975
Trojan basketballers won the state 3A title under the guidance of the late
Gary Taylor after finishing runners-up the season before.
So this year’s West Brunswick footballers with their first-ever state 2A
title, after finishing runners-up last December, have earned the school a
noteworthy distinction.
North Brunswick was the first consolidated county high school to win a
state championship in 1979 when coach William Hargrove’s girls softball
team beat Bandys twice in one afternoon to capture the state 1A-2A title en
route to an unbeaten season. Belinda Jacobs hurled the Scorpions to both
wins that day.
And coach Paul Faulk’s South Brunswick baseball team duplicated the
North Brunswick girls’ unbeaten season with one of its own in 1988 on the
way to an unbelievable 29-0 campaign in the tough Waccamaw 2A Con
ference. The Cougar state 2A titleholders were ranked fifth nationally and
had the most dominant team ever of any Brunswick County major sports
contingent.
Faulk’s club accomplished that feat without the help of a "stopper"
moundsman. "It was the best-hitting club I’ve ever seen," remarked R. J.
Powell, a 40-year veteran sports writer who covered many of New
Hanover’s teams for years. The Cougars batted around at least once and
sometimes more during many of their 29 games.
Brunswick media journey to Chapel Hill
Three of my compatriots in the media business accompanied yours truly
to Chapel HilLFriday night in preparation lowest Brunswick’s football -
championship performance on Saturday. Johnny Craig and his capable
wife, Kerri, along with Brunswick Beacon sports editor Doug Rutter,
talked sports for hours Friday night. It was one of those special times when
sports stories were exchanged by the minute.
Everyone was confident that coach Jim Brett’s Trojans were going to be
"focused and ready" to meet another unbeaten team - the Maiden Blue
Devils - in Kenan Stadium on the University of North Carolina campus.
The consensus was that this year’s Trojan edition was not as strong as
last season’s club, but with coach Jim Brett’s experience and brilliant foot
ball mind, gaps were closed and this edition had the intangibles that last
year’s club lacked.
West Brunswick’s players, particularly fullback Aaron Butler and run
ningback Steve Holmes, emphasized just how "focused" the Trojans were
on winning the game instead of just "being there". Butler was named the
Trojans’ best defensive player while Holmes, who scored two touchdowns
and gained a team-high 76 yards rushing, collected team offensive honors.
No doubt, being in the state championship game a year ago was also a
distinct advantage for the players who had hungered and thirsted for anoth
er chance to win the state championship after falling short for the second
year in a row of winning the regular season Waccamaw 2A Conference
championship.
The ability to have a team peak in the playoffs is the trademark of great
coaches at any level. Brett’s team at Tarboro made the playoffs practically
every season. Look at Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs’ December
record in the pros as well (32-10).
Cougars, Wolfpack couldn t cut mustard
Neither East Bladen’s Cougars nor Whiteville’s Wolfpack, Waccamaw
2A Conference regular season winners for the past two seasons, could cut
the mustard in the post-season playoffs, which means that starting slow and
finishing fast is the primary objective -- if the team can qualify for post
season play.
West Brunswick (11-3) started 5-3 only to come on strong at the end of
the regular season and throughout post-season play. It took first-year coach
Brett, a veteran of North Carolina sideline wars at Tarboro, over half a sea
son to get his unit clicking and they indeed peaked at playoff time on both
sides of the ball.
Most observers felt the Trojans were the best club in the Waccamaw by
the time eastern semifinals action came around. Whiteville beat Brett’s
team, 16-6, at Shallotte earlier in the year when the Trojans fumbled their
See Cox column, page 4C
Road to the title
Opponent Win-Lose Score |
Conway, S. C. L 19-14 |
South Brunswick W 35-0 |
Georgetown, S. C. W 22-0 I
WhitevUle L 6-16 |
Fairmont W 28-8 |
South Robeson W 33-8 |
West Columbus W 33-0 1
East Bladen L 8-14 I
South Brunswick W 22-0 |
South Columbus* W 47-0 |
Clinton* W 14-6 1
Farmville Central* W 41-14 1
St Pauls* W 39-14 I
Maiden* W 14-6 |
Antoine Ikard, Maiden’s powerful running back
who had gained 1,952 yards this season, gained only
107 more against West Brunswick in Chapel Hill on
Photo by Jim Harper
Saturday - not enough, as the Trojans prevailed 14*
6.
‘Defense’ is last word
in Trojans’ title chase
By George Cox
Sports Editor
The first question this writer ever
asked West Brunswick football
coach Jim Brett in a post-game in
terview brought the following
response:
"Defense wins championships."
Those prophetic words echoed in
Kenan Stadium on the University of
North Carolina campus Saturday
afternoon as Brett’s Trojans effec
tively shut down Maiden running
back Antoine Heard, North Caro
lina’s all-time leading rusher, en
route to a 14-6 state 2A
championship victory.
Heard, who rushed for 2,208 yards
this season and-<j#90 yards during
his prep career - a North Carolina
prep record -- managed to gain 107
yards against West Brunswick, but
never could break loose for a
momentum-changing gainer.
"Our objective was to stop Heard
before he got started," Brett noted in
the post-game interview. The Trojan
coaches had the defensive line and
linebackers keying on Heard with the
hope that he never would get his
strong legs into overdrive.
"We did a good job with that,"
Brett said, "and fortunately he never
got loose in our secondary. We were
trying to stack players around him
before he got there.”
BRETT
The Trojan offense, which had
steamrolled opponents throughout
the playoffs, helping the defense
with long scoring drives while keep
ing the pigskin away from
dangerous opponents, was also kept
in check by a formidable Maiden
defense.
Two costly Maiden mistakes on
offense (a bad snap on fourth down
and a partially blocked punt) gave
the West Brunswick offense golden
opportunities to score deep in Blue
Devil territory. The Trojans took ad
vantage to score touchdowns both
times on short scoring drives.
Consequently, West Brunswick’s
defense had to stay on the Held
longer than usual. But, as Brett
noted, the Trojan defense bent but
did not break.
Maiden moved the pigskin on two
long drives of 21 and 18 plays only
to come away with nothing after
losing possession on downs. That
was the ultimate difference in the
game, as indicated by veteran coach
Tom Brown of Maiden.
Brown, whose 1978 Blue Devils
captured the state championship
over Jack Holley’s Tabor City Red
Devils, said not scoring on either of
those long drives was the reason his
team didn’t take home the bacon.
"Can you imagine us being used to
taking the ball all season, scoring on
long drives and (today) coming
away with nothing?" he elaborated.
Brown said coming from behind
was no problem - not even with
4:04 left to play with his team be
hind, 14-0.
"We were down once this season
26-6 in the third quarter and we
came back to win. There were a lot
of *ifs’ of why we didn't win the
game and why we lost”
So in the end, it was defense
See ‘Defense*, next page
By George Cox
Sports Editor
CHAPEL HILL - The long and
sometimes rocky road in West
Brunswick’s quest for its first-ever
North Carolina 2A football title
ended victoriously here in Kenan
Stadium Saturday afternoon in a
hard-fought, 14-6 triumph over
Maiden, highlighted by a valiant,
strong-willed defense and op
portunistic offense.
Coach Jim Brett’s team (11-3)
defeated its third consecutive un
beaten opponent by taking ad
vantage of a bad snap and a
deflected punt to score on short
scoring drives in the Fust and fourth
quarters to put the icing on the cake
of a two-year drive to the title which
resulted in a state runnerup spot in
1991 and a 24-5 mark in 1991 and
92.
The Trojans also thwarted two
long, time-consuming drives by
Maiden in the first and third quarters
of 21 and 18 plays - a feat which
took much of the heart out of the
talented Blue Devil squad, possessor
of the state’s all-time leading prep
rusher, Antoine Heard.
While gaining 107 yards, Ikard
was contained by a swarming West
Brunswick defense which didn’t al
low him to get past the line of
scrimmage out into the open field.
West Brunswick won the coin toss
and deferred to the second half, al
lowing the Blue Devils to receive
the opening kickoff. Maiden made
one first down on its first possession
but was forced to punt from its 38
yard line.
Blue Devil junior center Brad
Boyette lifted the pigskin over his
punter’s head with West Brunswick
recovering at the Maiden 11.
Trojan fullback Aaron Butler,
voted the team’s defensive player of
the contest, then ran up the middle
for four yards to the seven before
runningback Steve Holmes, the
team’s offensive player of the game,
scooted wide left for seven yards
into the end zone with 8:38 left to
play in the first quarter. Joe Hawes
kicked the PAT and West Bruns
wick gained a lead it never relin
quished.
Maiden then took the kickoff and
ran 21 consecutive plays, beginning
at its 29 and ending on the West
Brunswick 13 where an incomplete
pass on fourth and 13 gave the
pigskin back to the Trojans with
three seconds left to play in the first
quarter.
West Brunswick ran only three
plays in the opening period and
could muster but seven in the third
period when Maiden engineered a
21-play drive from its 33 to the
West Brunswick 15, only to stall out
again.
The game remained tight at 7-0 as
the fourth quarter began with West
Brunswick starting a drive from its
21. Brett said at that point he had
decided not to attempt any trick
plays because the Maiden defense
had proved it was not going to be
fooled.
West Brunswick punted after three
plays and out (including an illegal
procedure penalty) and Maiden had
life at its 30 after a 45-yard punt by
See Champs!, next page
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