Another Week, Another Big game

One of my first duties when we have an away game on Fridays is to call the host school on Mondays.

This morning, I called Sandra Langley, athletic director at SouthWest Edgecombe, to ask permission to do the game Friday night there on the radio.

Sandra not only is one of the best girls basketball coaches ever in North Carolina, but she will do everything she can to make sure we get what we need to get on the air.

Sandra and Raymond Cobb had just finished a meeting as to the preparations for Friday night's game at SouthWest.

SouthWest has the smallest press box in the conference, although it went through a remodel last season. If several stations cover the game or TV is there to film, there is not enough space for all of us.

We are in luck this week as the WZAX's Game of the Week will be Wilson Fike vs. Nash Central. We will have the prime real estate in the press box beside former SouthWest boys basketball coach Dudley Etheridge, who is the Cougars' PA man during football season.

I would recommend anyone planning on going Friday night, be there by 6 if you want a seat on either side of the field. Any time later, you will probably have to park halfway down N.C. 43 back to Rocky Mount.

You are only as good as your next game's results and the winner this Friday night has a leg up on winning the conference championship.

The Gryphons' goal is to go undefeated the rest of the way. In the eyes of the NCHSAA, they would be 10-0 in the drawing with all the other undefeated 3-A teams for the No. 1 seed in the East.

Right now, the only two teams that are undefeated are West Craven and Eastern Alamance.

Rocky Mount does have a common opponent with both.

Rocky Mount and West Craven played Greenville Rose in Greenville. We won 36-0, while West Craven won 36-29 in Vanceboro.

For the first time since the inception of the Coastal 4-A/3A league, someone beside New Bern or Rose could win this year as Havelock has knocked off New Bern already in conference play.

Last Friday night, Eastern Alamance played at Northern Vance and had a harder time with the Vikings than we did, winning 13-7.

A team you had better start paying attention to is Western Alamance. They have lost twice on the field, but they got one of those back from a forfeit (vs. Southern Alamance) and it still has a game with Greensboro Dudley (Oct. 31).

If Rocky Mount loses Friday night, the chance of the NEW 6 getting the No. 1 seed will just about be gone if there is at least one undefeated team in the East when playoffs start on Nov 14.

A loss would be our second. We can get one, but not both back because we will played 11 games.
SouthWest will only play 10 regular season games, so they don't have a extra game to give back.

If you haven't looked yet, the forecast is for showers on Friday. Take an umbrella of course, if we play Friday night.

The forecast isn't all that bad looking, so I think we will finally play the Cougars on a Friday night for the first-time in a regular season NEW 6 contest.

Time will tell.