North Carolina Football Association (NCFA)

The Coastal Division may be the weakest in the league,
but it may also be the most hotly contested because no
team is seen as a lock. Therefore any inner division
games are seen as important and Kinston with their
21-3 win over Rocky Mount is now sitting 2-0 in the
division.

Kinston has had trouble over the years finishing off a
good season. More than once it has seemed as though
they would win the wild card slot only to slip away in
the second half of the season. With Marcus Musson at
QB they were never able to find any real consistency,
but now they feel they have with Marion Sorenson at
the helm. He is one of two quarterbacks in league
history who managed to beat Burlington, and he did it
when he was very young. Now he shows the level of
poise that impressed the league that day at every
level of his game. The other area where Kinston has
struggled in the past was at running back with
Courtney Darby. Darby, the number 4 all time leading
rusher, was never a guy that could be depended on from
one game to the next. In fact it always seemed his
best games were in games where it didn't really
matter. Eric Debow emerged last season as a guy who
was willing to go out every game and give it all that
he had. Kinston fans immediately fell in love with
him and together with Sorenson they create a
combination that has excited the fan base to believe
the playoffs are within their grasp. They are looking
now for one of their receivers to step up their play
and Kinston may have the formula it needs to win the
division. Sorenson and Debow both lived up to
expectations in this week 3 game against Rocky Mount.
Sorenson was 19/30 for 251yds and 3TDs. Debow carried
the ball 31 times for 106yds and had another 39yds
receiving. With this kind of play the offense seems
to be on their way. We will have to talk another time
about Pat Mlot and Wilbur Mann and the scary defense
that Kinston has, but let's just say that if the
offense can find itself, then the defense will not
hold it back.

Rocky Mount is such a different story than Kinston.
Their fans love quarterback staple Stephen Caufield,
they love running back staple Dean Jonas and have
since the 2000 season. They are a team that still
remembers what it was like to be 6-0 in 2004, what it
was like to win the division, but also a team that
knows at some point you have to win again. This may
be Caufield's last hurrah at QB, it may be Jonas's
last season in the league, he's no longer a starter.
These guys would like to see their team turn things
around. This week 3 game was a big one for Rocky
Mount, who has no real standout stars, to establish
themselves as a real threat to win the division. Sad
to say it was the stars at Kinston that dominated the
day, and the Average Joes that make up Rocky Mount
were left wondering what if anything they could have
done differently. Kinston was faster, stronger,
smarter and it left many with a feeling that there was
a real difference between these two teams. It will be
hard for Caufield to rally the troops after such a
tough game, but he will have plenty of help from other
veterans such as LB Wildon Clark and FB Perry Reed.
Rocky Mount is not a team of stars, but they are
potentially a threat to anyone and so everyone will
have to play them seriously when they meet. Who knows
with just the right amount of luck Caufield and Jonas
could go out with a real bang.

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