High School Football Is Near

NASH COUNTY 13U Babe Ruth team has won their opening game in pool play beating Tennessee  2-0.  They play Thursday morning at 10am in round two.

August the first is just Saturday and I bet there will not be one team that waits to August 3rd to start the grind.  If they do they will already be behind.

The new man in town is Chris Lee who takes over the reins at Nash Central.  He is familiar with the area already spending time at Rocky Mount before his stint  at Louisburg done mostly to prove he could be a head coach.  He already has swayed his former coaching buddy Kent Cox to leave baseball at Rocky Mount to join him in West Rocky Mount coaching football.

You know there has always been the feeling that Northern Nash has never been the same in football since Nash Central came into being that they have all the talent now.  There is optimism  that the Bulldogs have someone in charge that will change the loser mentality.  A lighter  non conference slate doesn't hurt either.

Randy Raper returns to head the Knights of Northern Nash.  Ever since he arrived the Knights have been improving every year.  There seems to be line issues that have held back any Northern step up to the upper stratosphere of Big East football.  You know  coach K didn't become Coach K until about the fourth year.  The Knights have been competitive  under Raper.  A little more team speed would not hurt,  but Raper knows how to coach high school football and this could be an interesting year for the Knights.

Brian Foster is back for another year of football at Southern Nash.  The elder statesman of the Big East.  Foster has been at Southern so long he has lost all his hair coaching the Firebirds.  He is the only coach in the league who has been the head coach the entire run of the conference being called the Big East and NEW.
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What that proves is he so  planted in Bailey that his system works for the Firebirds.  They are in the reload mode.  Every player from middle school on knows the system and it works.  You know if you look at programs who every three years have a new coach most of the time there is no consistency in the program younger players are caught learning a new system year after year.

Jason Battle is heading into his fourth year at Rocky Mount and last year he got that playoff gorilla off his back winning his first playoff game and giving a great effort in the second before going down.  Speed should once again be an ally for the Gryphons.  The next step up the chain  of hierarchy in the Big East for the Gryphons is to get a grip on discipline both on the sidelines and on the field.
Battle has now been the head man at Rocky Mount long enough that he no longer needs to be compared to B W Holt.  No he is not BW but look at his first three years and it is easy to see as he progresses as a head coach.  Jason has won 24 games and the list is very short of coaches who  have won more in three years at Rocky Mount.

The brand new coach of Rocky Mount Academy is Terrell Hudgins.  All of the coaches in Nash County he bares the heaviest burden.  Any thing short of a third state title for the Eagles football team is a step down.  How well did the coach that followed John  Wooden  a coach that won 10 NCAA basketball title in 13 years.  Can you even name the coach that followed Wooden?

The truth for the Eagles even in winning two private school titles in a row I doubt many expected three in a row even  under B W Holt.  The program is now in the hands of young football wise Man that succeeded in every sport he took part in in high school.  Then in college left as the best pass receiver in DII history.  He has spent two years behind center  learning  under the master Holt then the last three years on his staff at RMA.  This is his first job making all the decisions.  Every coach at every level from midget to NFL started some where at one time or the other as a first time head coach.  The players will like him but only time will tell on his coaching style.

Cleaning up on left overs.  The Host Rowan County won the State  American Legion State title beating High Point Tuesday afternoon  4-3.  They were 5-0 during the tournament. They now will move on to the Southeast regional that begins next week in Asheboro NC.