Here Comes Round Two

All eight of the eastern 3-A top seeds have advanced to round two there they will begin now playing each other.

It took Rocky Mount exactly 14 seconds to let Jacksonville know that an upset was not happening in Rocky Mount this night as Brian Goodwin took the opening kickoff 98 yards and the points were coming.

The low point of the night was that Jacksonville pretty much ran straight up the middle almost on every running play and they managed 136 yard rushing in the first half including a 55 yard run straight up the middle just before the half.

I am sure they did not go unnoticed by John Hammett the head coach of J F Webb high school who was at the game to scout.

Hammett the Former Rocky Mount high coach from 1999 to 2002 saw that he had better not kick the ball to Brian Goodwin no way no how.

The final numbers are the second lowest of the season after the Southwest Edgecombe game.

After Jacksonville missed a 33 yard field goal in the first quarter the Gryphons took all of three plays to rush 80 yards 77 coming from Marquavius Alston who had runs of 50 and 27 for a touchdown.

The second time the Gryphons had the ball on the first carry Jordan Ford went 75 yards and the game was pretty much over . At that point the #1 seeded team in the east had a 98 yard kickoff and 4 running plays of 155 yards.

Having not thrown a pass so far the next drive belonged to Collins Cuthrell as he probably had his pass of the year as a defender thought he was getting a sack but Collins shook of the tackle just enough to throw a strike to L'Var Silver who scampered into the end zone to make it 28-0

For the second week in a row the Gryphons give up a big running play for a touchdown just before the half.

On the first play of the third quarter Jacksonville fumbled and the Gryphons threw to Keith Strickland for another touchdown.

Jacksonville decide they had enough and asked for the clock to run from that point on and the second teams handle most of the rest of the game.

Just to give John Hammett plenty to look at Brian Goodwin lined up to receive a Jacksonville punt over near the Jacksonville sidelines where they had been kicking the ball all night and scooped up a punt which was more toward the center instead of the side lines and went 56 yards for the final points of the game.

The Gryphons had only 155 yards rushing for the game but that no way tells how speed killed Jacksonville tonight.

The defense played better in the second half and along with the second team held Jacksonville to no first downs and only 30 yards in the second half.

Gryphons Advance 42-7 over the Cardinals

You know last night we held back from playing due to the fact that there was a possibility of thunder and lightning and safety was our top priority.

Last night as the cheerleaders from Gray's creek were heading to their game their van was involved in a wreck about a mile from East Alamance High School.

Apparently as the driver of the van turned left into the road that runs in front of East Alamance he misjudged his turn and was about to run off the road and decided to backup when he backed up a pickup coming around a curved crashed into the back of the van killing the driver of the pickup and injuring two of the cheerleaders.

Sometimes we forget how dangerous life is and a raining Friday night was no exception.

Fike makes it a good night for the NEW-6 as they go to Asheboro and lay a whipping on Aheboro 30-14. The game was much closer than the score as it was tied at one point 14-14 in the third quarter.

The top three seeds for the NEW-6 are still alive and Nash Central fought hard until the end before losing last night.

So once again the NEW-6 according to the power ratings the #1 3-A conference in the state proved it in the first round winning three out of four games.

Safety First

Officials when making decisions to play or not to play use every available means to determine the best option for completing any sporting event.

The forecast Friday night was rain with potential for thunder storms. The Saturday forecast was rain with the system moving out of the area as Saturday night approached.

In what would have been game time last night I don't think we had any rain at all in Rocky Mount but if you have seen the news this morning the reason the game was postponed was one of those thunder storm in which the area got last night hit the Elm City area well past midnight but life has been lost.

Thunder storms especially severe ones have potential for tornadoes and the Kenly to Elm City area was hit had. At least two people are known dead as this time.

Knowing what has happen over night and we are the only eastern 3-A bracket team that did not play last night I cannot say that I can fault anyone who goes safety first.

I am sure as the school year goes on there will be decisions to be made as to is it going to snow or when do we let school out?

We have to trust the people in charge of the decisions will make the very best at the time they make them according to the information they have at the time.

Now the forecast for tonight now is just about the same as last night but the kicker is it is suppose to start clearing off as we get into Saturday night.

Whether we are a go tonight or it is put off until Monday only time will tell us that and until we actually get there tonight we won't know if it right or wrong one way or the other.

Now lets Look at what did happen:

The #2 Seed West Craven had little trouble with Bertie 45-21 and they will meet conference foe Washington a 34-25 winner over Havelock. That is twice in three weeks that Washington has beaten Havelock.

The other side of that bracket Southwest Edgecombe rumbled for a 34-20 win over South Granville and the Cougars will now face Kinston who had the biggest struggle of the night winning 14-6 over Nash Central.

Remember I told you last week that Nash Central was going to be a hard out for who ever got them in the first round and Kinston survives.

In the upper bracket Hertford County had little trouble with Eastern Wayne winning 57-13 and they will play Eastern Alamance a 26-7 winner over Grays Creek.

Now the game of interest for the Gryphons John Hammett will be returning to the RMAC for the second time this year. He brought has Warriors to the Jamboree back in August and I had them as the third best team there. They beat Beddingfield 37-18.

There were no major upsets in the 3-A state bracket but there was one of major interest for Gryphon fans as Western Alamance the team that has knocked the Gryphons out of the playoffs three straight years fell in the western bracket.

It is now up to the Gryphons to hold up their end of the bargain.