Kinston’s Caleb Gooding ran for 86 of his team-high 108 yards in the second half of the Vikings’ 21-0 win over Greene Central Friday. Photo by William ‘Bud’ Hardy / Neuse News

By Junious Smith III

Something had to change for Kinston.

Mired in a scoreless tie with Greene Central, the Vikings had just 36 yards offensively at halftime and Kinston coach Ryan Gieselman issued the challenge to his team.

“We had to have a trigger man,” Gieselman said. “Somebody had to go out there and pull the trigger for us offensively and up front we challenged our guys to be physical. We had to win the battle up front, we believe we can win the battle up front and we had to come out and showed that.”

The message was well-received as Kinston propelled itself to a 21-0 win on Homecoming Night Friday. The Vikings (5-4, 2-2 EC2A) took the game over in the second half, including Caleb Gooding and Will London combining for 149 yards rushing to pace the offense while a tenacious defense kept the Rams (4-4, 1-2) at bay.

“In the second half, Coach put a spark to us,” Gooding said. “It means a lot because we won for the seniors — they really needed this and we won for them.”

The Rams only had 82 yards offensively in the first half, but made it inside the Kinston 30 twice. Unfortunately for Greene Central, a fumble halted the team’s opening drive and a turnover on downs prevented a second march. Meanwhile, Kinston couldn’t reach the Greene Central 40 as both teams looked to find a spark at intermission.

Kinston wasted no time as a 10-yard run on fourth-and-6 on the opening drive by Gooding and a tough 19-yard run by Iverson Ward to the Greene Central 1 highlighted a 10-play, 50-yard sequence, capped off by Ward’s run to break the drought. After forcing a Rams’ three-and-out, the Vikings went on a nine-play, 79-yard drive as London’s 25-yard score on the end around put Kinston ahead 14.

Greene Central was stymied on offense, as Kinston allowed just one first down and 11 yards in the second half.

“My guys Walt (Simmons), Ronde (Whitfield) and James (Graham), held it down up front,” Vikings’ lineman Shykel Harvey-Grady said. “The linebackers were doing their job as always. It was just that focus for the defense, we just always wanted to go hard — we do this through the week and get paid on Friday.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to keep working and get this ring.”

Kinston put the nail in the coffin after an early fourth-quarter punt from Greene Central. The Vikings covered 88 yards in 11 plays, including a 16-yard run from London on a fourth-and-1 from the Kinston 21, to set up Mary Powell’s 14-yard touchdown.

Greene Central coach Jay Wilson said the team will go back to the drawing board in preparation for the next game.

“At practice, we’ve got to have more focus on the execution on offense and defense, and understand our roles in the game,” Wilson said. “The effort was there—we just didn’t execute in the second half and that is what killed us at the end.”

Greene Central hosts West Craven Oct. 25 while Kinston enjoys a bye week before taking on North Lenoir Nov. 1 on Senior Night.

Kinston 21, Greene Central 0

GC          0              0              0              0 — 0    

K             0              0              14           7 — 21

Third Quarter

K — Iverson Ward 1 run (Diego Patino kick), 7:24

K — Will London 25 run (Patino kick), 1:05 

Fourth Quarter

K — Mari Powell 14 run (Patino kick), 4:51

                                GC          K

First Downs        6              14

Rushes-yards     23-64     54-256

Passing                 6-15-0   2-8-1

Passing yards     29           6

Total yards          93           262

Punts-avg.          5-24.6    1-21.0

Penalties             13-107   5-48

Fumbles-lost      2-1          3-0

Individual statistics

RUSHING—Greene Central: Laquarius Murray 10-29, Jaden Tyson 5-16, Hezekiah Pagan 3-11, Cole Dawson 5-8. Kinston: Caleb Gooding 18-108, Will London 6-79, Iverson Ward 17-47, Mari Powell 1-14, Josh Holloway 3-8, Ja’Lique Rose 2-2, Calvin Holloway 7-minus 2.

PASSING—Greene Central: Dawson 6-15-0, 29. Kinston: Gooding 2-5-0, 6; Rouse 0-2-0, 0; London 0-1-1, 0.

RECEIVING—Greene Central: Pagan 3-19, Tyson 2-8, Jeremy Murray 1-2. Kinston: C. Holloway 1-4, Khari Pitts 1-2.