GREENSBORO - Aaron Jones scored two touchdowns and the Western Guilford defense came up with four interceptions to lead the Hornets to a 19-0 homecoming win over the Smith Golden Eagles on Friday.
Western Guilford's defense set the tone early with back-to-back three-and-outs. And if that was not enough, they blocked both Smith punts.
"Inside guys got a push up the middle and got a piece of it," Hornets coach Chris Causey said of the second block, which resulted in a safety. "We felt like we could block a punt because they run a spread punt and they're not very deep."
After the kick, Western Guilford (4-4, 2-1) got good field position and scored four plays later on a 3-yard run by Jones.
Two of the next three Eagles drives ended in interceptions.
Smith went exclusively to the ground the next time it got the ball, but after gaining 17 yards on three consecutive plays, the Eagles opted for a reverse, which ended in a 9-yard loss and killed the drive.
With a 12-point lead at halftime, the Hornets went to a ball-control attack in the second half, running the ball 22 times.
Jones, a 6-foot, 230-pound runner/receiver who is being recruited by N.C. State and North Carolina, closed the scoring with his second touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
"Aaron's a great football player, we're going to watch him on Saturdays," Causey said. "He's got the ability to run over you and he's got great hands. He does a lot of good things. But he's complemented by a lot of other good players around him so they've got to honor them."
One of those players is Joe Turkson, who had two interceptions and also completed a 26-yard pass on a fake punt during the final scoring drive.
It looked like Smith was going to get on the scoreboard when Anthony Johnson, who had three touchdowns in last week's win over Southeast Guilford, picked off a pass in the end zone and ran it 104 yards for a score. But the play was nullified by an illegal block and the Golden Eagles (4-4, 1-2) did not threaten the rest of the game.
"They were prepared for what we do," Smith coach Rodney Brewington said. "Their guys were really up and we couldn't match their intensity tonight."
| Smith | W. Guilford | |
| First downs | 6 | 14 |
| Rushes-yards | 33-126 | 32-84 |
| Passing yards | 55 | 162 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 2-16-4 | 12-25-1 |
| Punts-average | 4-18.2 | 4-20.5 |
| Fumbles-lost | 0-0 | 1-0 |
| Penalties-yards | 14-100 | 6-35 |
| Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
| Western Guilford | 9 | 3 | 0 | 7 | - | 19 |
WG - Blocked punt for safety
WG - Aaron Jones 3 run (Cody Johnson kick)
WG - Johnson 32 FG
WG - Jones 2 run (Johnson kick)
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