BRUNDIDGE – Unlike the Florida recounts in the Presidential election, the Goshen High School Eagles made sure that the outcome was swift and decisive against the cross county rival Pike County High School Bulldogs.

The Eagles didn’t need a canvassing board to total up the final tally as they took a surprisingly easy 64-43 victory over Brundidge in front of a overflowing crowd at Bulldog Gym Saturday night.

The Eagles earned their fourth win over the Bulldogs in the last five years since the series was renewed in 1998.

With the win, Goshen head coach Major Lane earned his 199th

overall victory and is only one win away from getting his 200th win in his illustrious career.

Lane, who started his coaching career as an assistant football coach at Pike County during the late 1980s, said he’s humbled about reaching the potential milestone against straughn in an area contest tonight at Eagle Gym.

"If I get to 200 or 400 wins, I’ll be thankful to God I had an opportunity to coach and reach a milestone," Lane said.

In the first quarter, the Eagles wasted very little time showing the fans why they might be one of the favorites in the state when tournament rolls around in February putting the Bulldogs away before many of the fans were settled into their seats.

With the scored tied at 2-2 just one minute into the game, the Eagles put on a scoring blitz outscoring Pike County 26-4 in the final six minutes of the opening period. The Eagles hit five three-pointers to force the Bulldogs out of their 2-3 zone as Darius Flowers and Averick Rogers each hit a pair of long range treys to give Goshen a 28-6 lead after the first eight minutes. Flowers along with sophomore Kendaris Pelton combined to score 17 points in the first quarter for the Eagles.

Lane said he liked the aggressive Goshen showed coming out of the locker room to start the game.

"We just wanted to be in an attack mode on defense and find our shots," Lane said. "We wanted to be aggressive and pressure the ball. All of the shots we took tonight we hit. We hit some tough shots and some pretty easy shots."

In the second quarter, the Eagles (3-0) kept extending their man-to-man pressure forcing several Bulldog turnovers and converting them into easy layups as Goshen maintained a comfortable 38-17 lead at the intermission. Unofficially, Goshen held a substantial 20-12 advantage on the boards. The Bulldogs were

still plagued by turnovers all throughout the first half.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs (1-4) put on a mini-spurt as they used increased full court pressure to cut the deficit to 16 points at 47-31 with four minutes remaining. The momentum started to swing toward Pike County’s direction as Pelton fouled out with 6:57 remaining in the third period.

However, the Eagles’ depth definitely came into play not showing any signs of struggling despite the loss of Pelton as they went on a 7-0 surge to take a commanding 54-31 lead going into the final stanza.

In the fourth quarter, the Eagle defense held Pike County to just 12 points as they held their third consecutive opponent to under 50 points. The Eagles finished the game out-rebounding the Bulldogs 35-27.

Lane said he was pleased overall with the rebounding and defensive effort by the Eagles.

"I thought we did a pretty good job except for the second shots they got on the free throws," Lane said. "I felt like we hit the boards pretty good, especially at the start of the game."

Despite fouling out in the third quarter, Pelton led all scorers with 20 points while grabbing 15 rebounds. Senior forward Jamar Tucker came up with his second consecutive double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Eagles. Other individual leaders included Flowers scoring 11 points, while Wesley Wright had three points.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Shermandre Jackson with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Sam Diggs was the only other Pike County player in double figures with 10 points and grabbing six rebounds. Marquez Foster finished with three points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs.