Nitty Gritty Time!

I had an opportunity this afternoon to do the Gryphon boys soccer game with Southern Nash for TV.

Matt Moore's four goals and Justin Marsigli's three assist and a goal led the Gryphon rout, 7-1 over the Firebirds.

Tim Bishop and Ben Chavis added goals for the 12-2-1 Gryphons. The victory moves them to 6-1 in NEW 6 Conference play.

This team is loaded with five senior starters: Justin Adams, Ben Boudreau, Matt Moore, Hunter Perry and Nathan Pope. Those coming off the bench include seniors Francisco Alfaro, Zack Bullock, Ben Chavis and Kashyap Kauai.

This team has a load of experience from these seniors, but the one place where a lot of faith has been placed on a freshman is goalie Drew Gorham.

Any time a freshman plays, he must really be talented and Gorham has started the entire season for the Gryphons in goal.

His goals-against average is hovering near one per game and he had a shutout today until a Gryphon header went in the goal instead of down the field.

The Gryphons also put five underclassmen on the starting lineup with junior Justin Marsigli, then sophomores Mark Gray, Andrew Morales and Matt Williams; ninth grader Andy Martin joins Gorham in the starting lineup for the Gryphons.

First-year head coach Drew Nick shows his excitement when he talks of the possibilities of this team for the remainder of the year, the conference tournament and state playoffs.

The Gryphons have Nash Central, SouthWest Edgecombe and Fike left during the regular season. If they win all three, they will finish no worse than tied for first - depending on how Northern Nash fares rest of the way.

Northern is hosting Fike tonight and the Gryphons have Fike next week, so Fike will be a big factor in how the regular season plays out.

Thursday night, the JV Gryphons will go after their 27th straight victory at Northern, and Friday night, the varsity goes after its 22nd straight regular season win on the field.

T-minus four days and counting until Northern Nash!