Team Without A Rudder

Tonight the top team in the Big East took the court and their name is Hunt. deploying Three guard , small forward and a power forward Hunt out ran out shot and held on to the ball in routing Rocky Mount 86-58.

Coach Mike Gainey going with the three big men lineup were no match for the outside shooters for Hunt.  Keenon Tabron blistered the Gryphons for 29 points.  Hunt full court pressure forced  22 turnovers  most coming from the big men handling the ball at midcourt due to the fact the Gryphons are still looking for a point guard who will take charge  so the big men can get in the low post.  Just about every guard on the team got one minute to show he could bring the ball up court and none accepted the role.

Sure looks to me that Gainey will have to go back to any two big men probably Battle and King and bring Bryant off the bench.  The shooting combo of Alston and Caudle and someone to be the point guard has to be employed just for the ability to cover the outside shooters.  I believe tonight was as bad of performance as I have ever seen from A Gryphon during the Mike Gainey era.

Hunt proved tonight that their victory over 2-A powerhouse Kinston was no fluke.  Donte Battle scored 17 of His 19 in the second half and Isaiah Alston with five threes for 15.  Hunt is now tied with Southern Nash a 66-56 winners over Northern Nash.

At the opposite end of the spectrum the Lady Gryphons have veteran guards and young inside people and tonight the tall Hunt Lady Warriors jump off to a 7-0 lead.  Hunt is the tallest team in the league but the constant full court pressure turned the tide but this one went to the wire.  Carmen Richardson broke a 51-51 tie with under a minute to play and the Lady Gryphons come home winners 55-51 over Hunt.  Hunt has the size to match Northern Nash but they cannot match the athletic ability of Northern.

Hunt out rebounded Rocky Mount 44-34 with Alexis Williams hauling down 19 boards.  The quickness of the Gryphons forced 20 turnovers.  Carmen Richardson lead RM  with 21 points. T T Thomas followed with 12 but Thomas lead the defensive push. The inside players of Keyanna Spivey, Tarmara Harper, Ashley Hatfield and Tiara Hinton though small against Hunt big inside have shown to understand how to get position on defense and this girls team has proven to be a big surprise this season.  The Lady Gryphons are tied a top the Big East  with Northern who beat Southern 54-28.

Missing A Friend And Legend

Some days are better than others and Thursday turn out to be one of the others when I learned of the death of Daryl Allen long time high school football coach of Ahoskie High School and later when Murfreesboro and Ahoskie High became one.  He is the eighth all time winningest high school coach in North Carolina winning 305 while losing only 118 in his 36 year coaching career.

Allen came to Ahoskie my senior year in high school of 1970 and spent one year as an assistant to his college friend Al Vaughn who retired with two state titles at the end of the 1971 school year.  The football season of 1971 Allen became head coach and that was my first year in the radio booth as the color man for Ahoskie Football.

After following Jack Young  1947-1963 with three state titles and Vaughn's two the community opinion was Daryl Allen was to soft spoken to possibly continue the tradition of Ahoskie football.  Four times he took the Cougars and when it became HC to four state title games.  Allen coached when it took five wins to win a title and his 72 percent winning  also includes a 74 per cent playoff record.

In 1977 when I took over the play by play duties Allen allowed me access to watch game film on Sunday nights when all the coaches watched game film.  I wanted to be prepared what to expect from Ahoskie's opponent  as well as what we were going to do and Daryl Allen taught me the game of football listening him dissect game film.


I walked in his office one spring and he tells me he is going to run the Radar defense this upcoming season.  He tells me that his nose guard on defense will only be 160 pounds and from a three point stance the opposing lines will push him around.  He says the radar all 11 defensive players stand up allowing for their speed.  That year the defense gave up 36 points during the regular season.  Year by year he adapted to what his players could play not what style he knew, he knew them all and what type player it would take to play it.

I heard him only cuss twice at a practice during the 17 years  I was on the practice field and in both instances he stop practice to apologize  for his language.  He taught me there was more ways to teach football than yelling .  Over the years since moving to Rocky Mount my visits with him have been few and far between.

I feel privileged to have been able to be a part of a football program with Daryl Allen having been involved.    He surly helped me become a better broadcaster teaching me football.  Allen's funeral will be Saturday at 2pm at Ahoskie First Baptist. Daryl Allen was 76 years old.