Greene Central’s Jay Wilson holds the game ball from the Rams’ 8-6 win over Eastern Wayne Sept. 13, along with the team’s turnover chain. Photo by Junious Smith III / Neuse News

By Junious Smith III

SNOW HILL — It was fitting Jay Wilson’s first win as Greene Central’s head coach would come from a strong defensive effort.

The Rams were tenacious in an 8-6 victory over Eastern Wayne Sept. 13, netting Wilson a victory in his third try. Greene Central forced four turnovers and totaled nine tackles for a loss, ensuring there will not be a winless team in the Eastern Carolina Conference this season.

Wilson, a former N.C. A&T defensive back, coached as an assistant defensive coordinator at North Johnston, a defensive coordinator at Goldsboro and spent the previous two years as the Rams’ defensive backs coach. This season, Greene Central fell 29-28 to South Central in the season opener, then lost star running back Knowledge Branch for the season in a 40-21 defeat to C.B. Aycock a week later before a tremendous showing on the defensive side of the ball against the Warriors.

“It felt good to get the monkey off our backs,” Wilson said. “We were so close against South Central in the opener and then we didn’t play to our potential against Aycock. It was even sweeter to get the win with a great game from the defense.”

Among the defenders who provided a big impact was Debo Pigford, who scored in the second quarter on a fumble recovery and became the team’s first “Turnover Chain” recipient.

“It was crazy because me and Zakvil (Smith) planned it out,” Pigford said. “The center fumbled the ball, I saw the ball on the ground and I scored. It felt good to make the play and get the win for Coach Wilson.”

Michael Johnson wreaked havoc in the Eastern Wayne backfield all game, finishing with five sacks and four tackles for loss.

“I told the D-line we were going to win or lose off what they did,” Wilson said. “Coach (Cleveland) Williams put in a lot of work with the guys in terms of technique and it showed. Eastern Wayne has a dynamic quarterback and I told the guys they had to be disciplined. We were able to get to the quarterback all game and put them behind the 8-ball.”

Johnson said he was simply doing his job.

“It was about staying consistent and filling in the gaps,” Johnson said. “It felt good to be a part of this win — Coach challenged us to be more aggressive.”

As Greene Central enjoys its first win of the season, Wilson said the focus has now shifted to Friday’s home game against Farmville Central.

“We’ve got a rivalry game coming up with our neighbors up the street, so we have to tone our excitement down a bit from last week,” Wilson said. “There’s going to be a lot of energy with Farmville and we can’t get so high, but we need to maintain that same level of intensity on the field. Our goal each week is to go 2-0 — our JV team is playing (Chocowinity) Southside and we want to have another couple great games.”