Brown: Good but needs to get better

By Bill Kiser news@kannapoliscitizen.com A.L. Brown’s players and coaching staff have learned a few things through the first two games of the 2008 season. They all boil down to one simple fact — the Wonders may be good, but there’s room for them to play a lot better. Brown will need to step its game up Friday night when it goes on the road to play Mooresville in the Wonders’ final non-conference game. Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Mooresville Stadium. Brown (2-0) is coming off a 28-7 win over South Rowan — a win that was a lot closer than the final score indicated. The Raiders’ offense consistently moved the ball against the Wonders, even driving into Brown’s “red zone” (inside the 20-yard line) four times in the second half. But South didn’t get in end zone, stopped either by the Wonders’ defense or their own mistakes. “I was proud of the way our kids played,” defensive coordinator Noah Lyon said. “We made some mistakes because we’re young, but South’s offense kinda makes you do that. ... But they got inside the 20 four times, and came away with no points.” That took some of the pressure off of Brown’s offense, which got off to a slow start before going ahead 14-0 at the half on Jamill Lott’s 14-yard TD run and a 12-yard Lott-to-Colby Reid scoring pass. After B.J. Grant’s 63-yard TD catch from Blake Houston early in the third quarter threatened to swing the momentum South’s way, the Wonders snatched it back a few seconds later on T.J. Johnson’s 91-yard kickoff return. Brown added an insurance score late in the fourth quarter on Antwoine Jordan’s six-yard TD run. The Raiders “had a good plan,” offensive line coach Todd Hagler said. “We knew they had good players, and they came in and played good. “We’re going to have to be sharper on our assignments. There were several times where we had the right play ... and we didn’t execute it.” The Wonders will have to execute their plan better against the Blue Devils (0-1), who have had an extra week to prepare for Friday’s game. They were off last week. Mooresville — which lost to Brown 29-26 last year and  is 15-7 all-time against Brown — enters Friday’s game looking to bounce back from a 40-35 loss to Catawba Bandys in its Aug. 22 season opener. Offensively, the Blue Devils are led by senior running back Jjshaun Pinkston, who ran for a career-high 268 yards and four touchdowns against the Trojans. “He’s enough to worry you,” Lyon said. “They’ve also got a big, strong offensive line. Somehow we’re going to have to use our speed as an advantage against them. ... We can’t let Pinkston run north-south on us. We’ve got to make him bounce around east-west to give our guys time to get to him.” Mooresville’s defense also sports size on its front line and speed in its secondary. All that concerns Hagler, especially after the way South’s defense played against Brown last week. “They are very, very big up front ... and their linebackers run good,” Hagler said. “They’re also very fundamentally sound — they’re not going to beat themselves. ... “We’re going to have to be more physical up front and establish our dominance a little more than we did last week.”