Titans hope to build on last week's win

Credit: Bonnie Byrd/bbevent.photoreflect.com

The mood was light on the McDowell sideline as the Titans started to pull away from North Buncombe last Friday en route to their first win of the season. The Titans (1-1 MAC, 1-6 overall) visit Erwin (1-1, 4-3) tonight.

By: Marty Queen | McDowell News
Published: October 08, 2009

McDowell Titans head coach Carson Gowan liked a lot of the things his team did in last Friday's 26-6 win over North Buncombe.
One thing stood out, however.
"The thing I was most pleased with," said Gowan, "was the fact we played a team we matched up pretty well with man-for-man across the board, and we went out and played hard and won the football game. It would have been easy to go out there and fumble around, but we didn't. That's a testament to the kids."
The victory snapped a 10-game losing streak for the Titans (1-1 Mountain Athletic Conference, 1-6 overall), and was McDowell's first win at home since September 2007. It came against a struggling North Buncombe (0-2, 1-6) squad that has now dropped six in a row.
Both teams have had their problems this season, but the Titans unquestionably played a more complete game than their foes. Tailback Cameron Moore rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries, while quarterback Dakota Arrowood ran for 70 yards and two more scores. The duo combined to produce 295 of McDowell's season-high 320 yards.
Meanwhile, the defense limited North Buncombe to just 63 total yards through the first three quarters; the rest of the Blackhawks' 221 yards came late in the fourth quarter when the outcome was academic.
Gowan said McDowell would need more of those kinds of performances tonight when the Titans visit Erwin (1-1, 4-3) for the first time. The Warriors feature a high-octane offense that has produced 199 points through seven games. Erwin actually led powerful A.C. Reynolds 17-16 headed into the fourth quarter before Reynolds rallied for a 46-17 win Sept. 25. The Warriors bounced back last week, though, with a 23-0 thrashing of Enka.
"First of all, we're going to have to get the football and keep it," said Gowan. "(We will have to) be very similar to the North Buncombe game. There were a couple of times against North Buncombe where we didn't score but had long sustained drives that kept our defense off the field. And it would help if they (Erwin) would throw an interception or two or lay it on the carpet a couple of times.
"We don't want to play defense any more than we have to against Erwin or Asheville or any of these teams that can run."
And the Warriors can certainly run.
Senior running back Martese Jackson leads western North Carolina with 1,320 yards and 17 touchdowns. Meanwhile, quarterback Garrett Brown has thrown for 920 yards and five scores, and receiver Shaquan Cureton had 25 catches for 409 yards.
"Erwin is pretty good," said Gowan. "The tailback is really good, the quarterback is above average and they have a really good wide receiver and another slot receiver that's really good. They have good size on the offensive and defensive lines. And their coaching staff is a quality group. They fought tooth-and-nail with A.C. Reynolds until the last few minutes. They're a pretty solid football team."
Not surprisingly, the Warriors could provide some match-up problems for the Titans, who don't have much team speed.
"They spread you around," said Gowan. "They'll put four or five receivers out there and go to an empty backfield. They like to try and get match-ups like linebackers on wide receivers. They can cause us major troubles if we're not careful."
Kickoff is set for 7:30 in Asheville.

Titans hope to build on last week's win

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