Eagles shut out

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, May 13, 2003

Goshen High School ended its spring football season Tuesday night with its spring game against Autaugaville.

The result was not what the Goshen coaches wanted.

"Everything that could go wrong today did," head coach Tim Brown said.

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The Eagles played three individual 15-minute periods, and Autaugaville took all three of them. The first two went to Autaugaville 14-0 and the third by the score of 20-0.

Goshen stopped Autaugaville on its first possession, but that was about the best the Eagles managed to do.

Goshen fumbled on its first possession and Autaugaville drove the ball 48 yards for the score and the 6-0 lead.

Goshen could not do anything on its next possession and after giving the ball up on a dead punt (the officials marked the ball 30 yards down field) surrendered another touchdown and a two-point conversion.

Goshen rushed for negative yards on the day and did not complete a pass in three attempts.

"We put in a whole new offense," Brown said. "It involves a lot of option and misdirection. We didn't even work on any passing at all.

"They knew that and put all their guys in the box."

Goshen's offensive line looked lost at times and Eagle quarterbacks could not even get the ball to the fullback at times because defensive linemen were already in the backfield.

"I think at times we were thinking instead of playing because we were trying to make sure we made the right play," Brown said.

The second string played the second period, but the results were not much different. Autaugaville scored on a 53-yard run and a seven yard run during the period.

The Eagle defense did manage to force its first turnover of the night in that period. Joshua McCullough intercepted a tipped pass to thwart an Autaugaville drive.

The third period was the worst for Goshen. Although Lonnie Maddox intercepted a pass, the Eagles still surrendered 20 points in the period.

Autaugaville converted a fourth-and-goal opportunity in that period on a four-yard run and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass behind the Goshen defense.

Also in that period, Goshen runner Bernard Carr went down in pain when his knee was rolled over by a defender. He was helped off the field and could not put any pressure on his leg.

"He's one of our starters," Brown said.

Autaugaville scored its final points when Judson Ricks threw an interception that Autaugaville returned for a touchdown.