Friday, November 6, 2015

Rocky Mount Survives Northern Scare

Before school ended Friday the Rocky Mount football team was rocked with the news that a JV football teammate Lavontae Brown who wore number 9  was gunned down on the streets of Rocky Mount.

Once arriving at Northern a little later than normal because the football lights at Northern would not come on until about 6:45 the Gryphons ran into maybe the best defense they faced all year. Northern went toe to toe with the Gryphons until a punt blocked by Northern and a recovery of the block in the enzone gave Northern a 6-0 half time lead.  Northern tried to fake Rocky Mount out on a reverse on a fake extra point but the Gryphons held.

The second play of the third quarter the Gryphons got a 56 yard touch down run from B J Sanders but the missed the extra point when kicker Chase  Miller slipped just about time he made contact with the ball and we had a 6-6 ball game.

It took until 11:16 of the fourth quarter before Nick Bynum scored for the Gryphons from 14 yards out and their first lead of the night at 13-6.  Just two minutes later after a botched punt gave the Gryphons the ball on the six yard line and Sherrod Green score to up the lead to 20-6.

Rocky Mount was on cruise control until a fumble gave Northern the ball at the Gryphon  46 and Knights Quarterback Christian Daniels found Raymond Bullock on a 23 yard pass with 3:25 to play.  The Knights defense stopped Rocky Mount and forced a punt and with just over two minutes to go put everyone on their feet.  Almost sacked Daniels ran 38 yards to give the home crowd hope but four incomplete passes and Rocky Mount goes unbeaten in the Big East and now wait for the bracket announcement around three pm Saturday afternoon.

Rocky Mount Academy lost at Parrott Academy 44-14 in the first round of the eight man playoffs
Other eight man scores. St David's 64 Cary Christian 24
Northeast Academy 58 Community Christian 22
Southampton 50 Lawrence Academy  0
Hunt 52 Fike 20
Tarboro 60 North Edgecombe 14
Southern Nash 56 Nash Central 19
SouthWest Edgecombe 42- Beddingfield 21
Northampton 42 Rocky Mount Prep 21


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glad RMT got the win and "survived the upset. Hard to watch. Yes NN "D" was the best that RMT faced this season but I thought the very muddy/saturated field played a huge role in the RMT runners not being able to turn the corner and make their cuts. The RMT QB passing and punting game got exposed. If RMT is forced to throw the ball more than 10 x in a play-off game then they can be in trouble. Too many missed open receivers and two very bad punts. The officials seemed to be very confused at times and loved to penalize RMT. The one block in the back on the called back RMT punt return was awful. The last throwing TD by NN on 4th and 5 also showed RMT's vulnerability in the secondary. RMT is small in the secondary and tends to get beat. If RMT faces a spread offense with a good QB and speedy, tall receiver(s) then RMT "D" could get exposed. Stopping the run is RMT "D's" strength. Lastly, reminiscent of the Middle Creek game the coaching staff's use of the game and play clock is shaky. I wonder if the coaching staff truly understands the rule of when the play and game clock starts and stops.