Cortney Braswell has directed from the "Learning How to Win" hymnal from the day he took over as football coach at Central before last season.
Nevermind that he inherited a program that hadn't sung much of anything while losing 14 straight games before his arrival. Braswell taught a process, and on Friday night - with the Purple Pounders' latest class of athletic hall of fame inductees on hand to witness - it was hard to miss the signs that his process is beginning to pay dividends.
Central scored its most points in 14 years while administering a complete 53-14 beatdown of East Hamilton at Pounders Stadium to improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in Region 2-4A play. The three wins are already as many as the once-proud program has notched in all but six of the past 20 seasons.
"We have found ways to lose ballgames. We only won three games last year, and to be honest any win is a big win, but this was as complete a game as we have played," Braswell said. "Not only did we have a halftime lead, but we expanded on it in the second half. Those are positive steps."
And no one has a more positive step these days than tailback Michael McGhee, who scored three more touchdowns to bring his total to 13 visits to the end zone this season. McGhee had runs of 5, 6 and 5 yards for scores to help total 166 rushing yards on 22 carries.
"I've gotten quite fond of the end zone," McGhee laughed. "Actually, though, it's not just me scoring, it's the entire team effort that gets it done."
The Pounders broke open a 7-7 tie with 28 second-quarter points, including two nonoffensive scores, which Braswell harped on as part of the process. Hunter Jones blocked a Hurricanes punt, and Arion Price came out of the pile in the end zone with it to make it 21-7.
Tracey Odom provided the other big play when he stepped in front of a goal-line pass and returned it 98 yards for the score with 45 seconds left before the half to make it 35-7.
Another sign of the fortune for the Pounders came on two other scoring plays. A bad snap that got by quarterback Jahem Jones before he corralled it resulted in a scrambling 28-yard touchdown toss to Andrew Bingham. The same receiver caught another touchdown pass from 7 yards away and finished with four receptions for 108 yards. Bingham also turned a busted play into a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jerrod Powers.
East Hamilton (1-4, 0-2) had its chances but kept messing them up. An 80-yard score was nullified on a penalty, a punt was blocked, a fumble set up Central's first touchdown drive inside the 5, and twice the Hurricanes got inside the red zone and came away with no points.
The young Hurricanes got a nice performance from Jhaden Smith, who had 17 carries for 100 yards.
and had the
80-yarder called back.
Jaren Wilcoxson and Bibbs played monster games on defense for Central, which is off next week before finishing the year with five straight Region 2-4A games.
"We won't call it a bye week, it's a work week. A fix-it week," Braswell said. "The process is slowly beginning to take hold, and the kids are starting to understand it."