Gryphon Season Starts Friday

The Rocky Mount Gryphons off to their best start in half a lustrum scoring 139 points while giving up a measly 7 points.  Are the Gryphons that good or are they benefactors  on their competition having down years all at once?

There is no fault of the Gryphons that those on the schedule are not very good at the same time but to say the least Friday night we will get a real look into how good this team really is.  One clue that the Gryphons are better than the recent past is their ability to strike quickly.  If the Gryphons were winning 28-21 in all their games would we even be asking the question are they that good?

Rose has scored 138 points in three games having faced Athens Drive, Laney and Nash Central.  With the exception of Nash Central they have had quality competition and against the two 4-A teams are averaging 42 points per game.

In order for the Gryphons to win this game they will need to score at the rate they have the first three.  The defense will need to hold the Rampants to 25 or so, so that puts the offense in need of scoring a bunch of points.

Historically the Gryphons only beat Rose when Rose is down or the Gryphons  are great.  Most of the time just being a good team is not enough for Rocky Mount against Rose.  Let's look at the number that might show that history is not like the past.  Within the last 10 years Rose has dropped from 1900 students to right at 1400.  This can be attributed to South Central pulling students  as well as the other Pitt County schools getting some fringe area students that normally went to Rose.

This will be the game of the week in high school football for all schools east of Raleigh.  What do we need to look for?  If the Gryphons win look out they are loaded.  If they lose say 42-28 that would tell me as long as the Gryphons stay healthy they will be in the running for the Big East crown.  If they were to lose say 42-0 then just maybe these three wins are inflated by poor competition.

The only way to judge is play the game and to this point in the Jason Battle era at Rocky Mount this is the biggest game of his coaching career short of the two 1st round playoff games his first two years.  Regardless of the outcome Battle has the Gryphons heading in the right directions and there is still a whole season to play.