By Ed Phillipps
The Mount Airy News

PILOT MOUNTAIN — After surviving a stiff test from visiting Surry Central, East Surry football coach Dave Diamont showed the enthusiasm of a pall bearer after his team’s 19-14 win Friday night.

What did he think of the first conference win and staying undefeated? Or Hunter Diamont’s hard-nosed rushing display? How about a defense that limited its opponent to two scores?

“My mother one time said if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all. That’s my comment,” Diamont said.

The frisky Golden Eagles were the cause of Diamont’s ire. They came to play and Diamont, despite being fully aware of the intensity of the in-county game, said his team was not prepared.

“I take full responsibility,” he said. “We were not prepared tonight and Central knocked us off the line of scrimmage. They executed and we didn’t.

“They got right in our grill and came after us and we didn’t respond.”

However, it was the Golden Eagles who were chasing the Cardinals (5-0, 1-0 Northwest 1A/2A) for most of the game. East Surry took a 19-14 lead into the fourth quarter and both teams thwarted the other’s drives to keep it that way. Joe Reid Denny made a diving interception with less than two minutes remaining to seal the Cardinals’ victory.

For Surry Central (0-5, 0-1), it was an agonizingly close game, but still another loss.

“That’s the best we’ve played,” Golden Eagles coach Monty Southern said afterwards. After a long pause he added: “We’re still in a losing locker room. We’ve still got a lot of guys that are really disappointed.”

Hunter Diamont caused most of Central’s misery by rushing for 269 yards on 33 carries, including an 89-yard fourth quarter. He scored on runs of 48 and 20 yards and fired the Cardinals’ 10-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Hunter.

Southern pointed to senior leadership and fan support for his team’s gritty game.

“Our fans have been good even when we’re not winning,” Southern said. “I think they really cheered us on and that really lifted the guys.”

The Golden Eagles’ scores came from a Dave Wilmoth 2-yard plunge right before halftime and in the fourth when Wilmoth connected with Casey Felts for a 21-yard strike.

Central will play Mount Airy on Friday night.