Garner clamps down on defense, defeats West Johnston football to ensure conference title share

With the calendar poised to turn to November, Garner has rediscovered its defensive presence. And what comes with good defensive play this time of year for the Trojans?

Conference championships.

Garner, ranked No. 7 in The News & Observer area, clinched a share of its fifth Greater Neuse River 4A Conference championship in six years with a 42-20 victory over 14th-ranked West Johnston at Trojan Stadium.

Garner (8-2, 5-1) could win the conference outright with a victory at Rolesville next week. If Rolesville (6-4, 4-2) beats Garner, there could be a potential four-way tie for the title. West Johnston (5-5, 4-2) and East Wake (6-4, 4-2) could end up in that quartet.

Garner’s defense accounted for half of the Trojans’ touchdowns. Gregory Harris-Bunn, Djimon Harris and Dalton Counts all returned interceptions for touchdowns as the Trojans built a 35-point lead.

“The kids are growing up; they’re coming around,” said Garner coach Thurman Leach. “West Johnston had some big plays at times, but the secondary came around with some big plays. I think the defense outscored the offense in the second half.”

The defense did in fact outscore the offense in the final two quarters, 12-6.

Garner led 14-0 at the half then went up 27-7 on an 8-yard TD pass from Brodie West to Matthew Butler with 4 minutes, 11 seconds left in the third quarter.

West drove into Trojan territory on its ensuing drive, but Counts made a leaping grap of a pass over the middle, then picked his way up the left sideline 72 yards for a 33-7 Garner lead. Two plays later, Harris ran back his third interception of the season for a touchdown.

“That’s something our defensive coaches, coach (Chuck) Profitt, coach (James) Reid and coach (Corey) Lyons, work on that with the defensive guys,” Leach said. “When those guys get their hands on the ball, we’re always thinking about taking it back and getting a score.”

After dropping its conference opener to Southeast Raleigh on Sept. 18, Garner’s defense has allowed just under 14 points a game in a five-game winning streak.

“We had the mindset before the game that we were just going to come out and dominate,” Counts said. “And that’s just what we did. We know we can get better.”

There were a total of four interception returns for touchdowns on the night. West Johnston’s Deandre Blevins had one in the final minute to account for the last TD of the game.

Collin Eaddy, Garner’s workhorse tailback, ran for 165 yards on just 17 carries and Tony Mack had 110 yards on 16 carries in the loss for a West offense that hit big yardage at times, but couldn’t finish off enough drives to threaten Garner’s lead.

Garner took a 14-0 lead into the half on 1-yard TD runs from West and Anthony Stephenson. West had a 13-play drive at the end of the first half, but a failed pass on a fake field goal attempt on fourth-and-goal from the 5 ended the Wildcats’ chance to get within a score of the Trojans entering the break.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 10:28 PM with the headline "Garner clamps down on defense, defeats West Johnston football to ensure conference title share."