Monday, December 7, 2015

What to Expect From The South Point Red Raiders

 TICKET INFORMATION:

Tickets to the 3-A state championship game Friday Night in Kenan Stadium are on sale in the office of Rocky Mount High School for $9.  If you wait to buy at the gate  the tickets will be selling for $10.

If you are interested in riding buses, the Gryphon booster club is sponsoring buses for $25 per person.  This does not include the game ticket they must be bought separately .


Seems as if all the Gryphons have seen the entire playoffs is the so call West Coast offense passing the ball to backs in the backfield and screens to the wide outs.  If you are tired of all of that there is good news as the Red  Raiders are and option running team.  When I say running they have run for over 4400 yards this season and only 500 passing.  They have completed only 38 passes all season.

They are led by their option running quarterback number 7 Dion King who has rushed for almost 1600 yards.  Their fullback number 32 Ryland Etherton is almost at 2000 for the season. Simple offense on the option Rocky Mount  will have  to tackle the fullback on every Play.  Then play the outside looking on the quarterback keepers.  King and Etherton have made 3500 of  the Red Raiders 4400 rushing yards.

What has to impress you that just maybe the two best teams in 3-A are matched up in the finals.  South Point is 13-2 just like the Gryphons.  Their two losses are to Crest playing in the 4-A state championship game Against Rose  and Shelby playing in the 2-A finals against Kinston.  Rocky Mount  lost to Rose still playing and Middle Creek who just lost for the first time last Friday.  So these two are truly great teams as they have only lost to other great teams.

South Point is a member of the Big South 2-A/3-A.  They have won four state titles in football compared to the Gryphons 2.  They have won 12 games in a row while Rocky Mount is up to 10 in a row.  South Point is in Belmont  just south of Charlotte.  South Point and  Rocky Mount are known to each other.  They met in 2010 in Chapel Hill and Rocky Mount won the basketball title.

The Red Raiders run for 294 yards per game.  They complete only 3 of  9 passes for about 40 yards a game.  This game lies in the hands of the Gryphon defense.  If the Gryphon defensive speed can stop the run there's a good chance the Gryphons can win.  Boy won't this be a change not having to stop the short passing game.


6 comments:

Unknown said...

Simple...assignment football. We have the speed and the physicality. The big question is can they stop this Gryphon machine. You can't score without the ball.

Gryphon 86 said...

If the RMT LB Greene is healthy and the Gryphon D stacks the line and blitzes with constant pressure (like against EA) then South Point will have a hard time generating offense. I just can't see a team who runs 95% of the time can generate enough offense to score enough points against the Gryphons. South Point will try to run clock and and sustain long drives creating 3rd and 1, 4th and 1 scenarios. The conference opponents of the 2A/3A that South Point participated appears to be weak and the two non-conference losses they were dominated. As long as RMT does not get overconfident and cocky then RMT should do very well. I just don't think SP has seen a team with RMT's quickness and physicality. SP also appears to have more slender players so I would think RMT should be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. If as I expect, SP will be shocked once the game starts. Speed is hard to experience from just watching film.

Unknown said...

SP has plenty of phsicality. You don't rush for 400 a game being weak. That's going to be the issue. Can RM sustain the effort for 4 quarters when you have to tackle the fb every single time, etc. option football is built on beating a team when they get lazy for one play. That's going to be the deciding factor, but SP will absolutely bring the physicality.

Unknown said...

AA,

Assignment football is a 4 quarter game. That will be the issue I see for our team. Can we hit the fb every play and keep contain with the ends.

Option football only needs one play where a player gets lazy and they pop a 60 yard run. We have to be ready for 4th quarter. This is a far better football program than RM overall. But this year is a very special year for us. We have to be smart and not cocky with making superman tackles.

If we can get ball for 4 tries in 1st half, I think we win. If we only get it 3 times it means low scoring, and they are controlling line of scrimmage.

Our D has to be ready for lots of 3and4 plays and 4and 1/2 yard. That's option football, 3 yards and cloud of dust and then BOOM they pop off a 50 yard run.

I think our O will be fine. It's going to come down to be disciplined and tough for all 4 qt. not 2.5 quarters, cus we can't get tired and lazy in 4th. Stay strong boys! Let's bring 15k to the game!

Anonymous said...

Reading the various websites and fan comments their fans appear to be very confident with one even calling RMT "lazy" based on one Youtube video ...hmmmm???? I would not think of this RMT team as being "lazy" .... at least not the team I saw play against Eastern Alamance. SP looks slow on the D and O line and I think RMT running around the end with the speed will be hard for SP to contain. Stop the FB #32 is the key for RMT and I think the ends and LBs for RMT have the speed to contain the QB who likes to run outside. Looking at the conference schedule, scores, highlights on SP website they look thin and slow. I think RMT can break off some big plays which means the RMT D could be on the field a lot because RMT scoring fast. Some SP fans are predicting them to win by 2 -3 touchdowns. They credit their only two losses to Crest and Shelby (both 2A and 3A). RMT two losses were to 4A Middle Creek and 4A Rose. W have seen what those twoteams have done and RMT should have beaten MC by 10 ..... I just don's see SP scoring more than 14 points at most. SP fans are proud and I attribute that to their history and community support for football.

Unknown said...

We critique our team on a decent site.We run our mouth about the but non of us play the game...the kids do.Time will tell who is the better team...No useless babbling.