The Warriors (2-4-1 after the win) responded to a fourth-minute goal from Central's Antonio DeLeon with just over four minutes left in regulation. Jesus Resendiz fed Johnson, who for the first time in several attempts managed to square his body to the goal and find the net to tie. Johnson, assisted by Azaam Dharma, scored again in the first of two overtime periods for the 2-1 win.

The tie came after an East Wake first half drought according to coach DeLane Hayes, who at one point suggested his team couldn't kick it in the goal if it was an open net and the group had 15 seconds to put it in.

"Sometimes you play these games and you get out and you're rusty, you know," Hayes said. "It's been since Broughton last Tuesday that we played, so it's been a while since we've been able to play at game speed."

But at the half Hayes gave what he said to be the first real disciplinary speech of the season, and said his team bought it.

"I was very proud of the resolve," he said. "They got a little fire in their belly and they didn't give up. They didn't quit - they finished the race. No matter how ugly it was, they finished the race and came out on top. This conference isn't going to be easy to win - it never is."

"Gritty" was the word the second-year coach used to describe the game. The Warriors had several opportunities, but couldn't finish on any of them for what felt like an eternity. The team wasn't concise in its passing like it has been in the past, and unlike the team it's become over the past couple years chemistry was at an all-time low. The Warriors' early play was highlighted by getting out of trouble rather than making something good happen.

Harnett Central, on the other hand, played like it had nothing to lose. The team was undefeated heading into the conference opener, and the Trojans played with confidence. To that, Hayes said he felt lucky to get out with a win.

Hayes said East Wake is still fighting winneritis - that is, being used to winning and not accepting a loss well, but more importantly the non-acceptance of falling behind when the game is not at all over.

"It goes back to the attitude of we've won, we've done something last year, and that's supposed to transpire into this year," Hayes said. "We have to scratch for everything that we get. We have to follow up on balls. We have to score the ugly goals, and sometimes the guys just don't have that fire. That's what we lacked in the first half - the fire, the heart. They (Harnett Central) had it. While we have some guys with good skills, I would take the heart over skill any day."

Like the old saying goes, "A win is a win." Hayes said it's good to be 1-0 in the conference no matter how the team got to that point.

"We have some work to do," he said. "We're going to have some film watching that we'll do and we're going to get better. We're making strides - we've just got to get into a rhythm now."

The team began the Monday/Wednesday game cycle this week.

"Hopefully they'll see if we play with some integrity and some intensity our skill will come and we'll put the ball in the back of the net. We can do some good things, we really can. We've just got to believe."