The day had been blustery all day but about 5.30 a heavy mist which turned into a downpour of rain. I walked on the field about 6.15 and other than the top of the grass that was wet from the rain you could not tell that the ground was wet and inch below the top of the grass so the field was in excellent shape for tonight's opening round 3-AA playoff.
Rocky Mount scored first as on their third drive of the night. South Central looking for Alston to get the ball on a pitch wide, the Gryphons ran a trap up the middle with Jordan Ford and Ford scored from 14 yards out. Tim Bishop's extra point and the Gryphons lead at the end of the quarter 7-0.
The only score of the second quarter belonged to the Falcons as their Fullback Robinson had a two yard run for their first touchdown. Aaron Barnes blocked the extra point and Rocky Mount lead at the half 7-6.
The Gryphon's found themselves faced with a third and long deep in their own territory in the third quarter but Collins Cuthrell found Jordan Ford for a first down. It seemed to give the Gryphons life and they managed to take it for a touchdown on a Marquavis Alston Touchdown. Bishop added the extra point and the Gryphons are sitting pretty at 14-6.
Everything seemed to be going the Gryphons way but a botched defensive assignment in the Gryphon secondary and the Falcons found themselves on the two yard line where they scored a touchdown plus made a two point conversion to tie the game at 14 heading to the fourth quarter.
The Gryphons had a nice drive to the Falcon red zone but on a fourth down Tim Bishop kicked a 24 yards field goal in which he hit the right upright but sliced the ball over the goal to give the Gryphons the lead that they would never give up.
The very next Falcon drive Marcus Jones intercepted a Falcon pass at the Gryphon 40 and returned it all the way to the South Central 24. Using ball control the Gryphons took seven plays to march 24 yards but ate over three and a half minutes off the clock.
The Falcons were determined to give coach Dickie Schock ulcers as South Central drove back down the field and scored with 1.09 to play to cut the lead to 24-20.
Three onside kicks later the Gryphons finally recovered the only on sidekick that the Falcons were not offside and ran out the clock for a 24-20 hard fought victory over the South Central.
The Gryphons advance to the second round of the playoffs for the sixth year in a row. They will await the winner of number one seed South Johnston out of Four Oaks who will play East Guilford Saturday night.
There were may be 500 people in attendance tonight. If you recall last years opening round game against Jacksonville there was less than a thousand there because everyone assumed that Rocky Mount would roll over the Cardinals and they did with the clock running the entire second half.
This was the only local game played tonight as everyone else will try to play Saturday night. I suspect you will find a few members of the coaching staff in Four Oaks on Saturday night.
