The Journey Is Only Part Of The Way Done.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons have played the first three weeks of the playoffs all at home and there is still two more weeks for who ever survives next week.  Simply too many games.  Just suppose you were Morehead who had played the first three on the road and if they had beat the Gryphons would have played one more before Chapel Hill.

The Gryphons displayed their entire game plan in all three.  Let's pound pound pound and see how things look in the fourth quarter.  Morehead deployed the passing game designed to give their backs the ball outside the tackle box area because of their thirty rushing attempts only ten snaps went to the backs for eight yards.  The quarterback had twenty carries for ninety yards.

Many of those tosses by the Panthers the Gryphons had men in place to make defensive plays but it was hard to stop them when many times they went for it on fourth down.  Hard to believe the stats that the Gryphons held them to 204 yards on only 29 pass attempts.  Seemed like they passed a lot more.

The trio of Gryphon backs with the most carries over the playoff  Haul have done the job which has to give the Gryphon blockers credit that on the final offensive play the Gryphons run up the middle practically untouched.  There are times when you need to loosen up eight men in the box Forest Bell was perfect passing the ball.  The Gryphons averaged 9.3 yards per play on 48 plays.  The defense held the Panthers to 302 yards on 59 plays or right at five yards per play.  Morehead wanted to control the ball and they did but they could not stop the Gryphons when their defense was on the field.

It was the largest crowd at the new school's football field.  I do have to question where the Rocky Mount band was? The Morehead crowd was their early except for their band that didn't arrive until middle of the second quarter.  The Gryphon crowd didn't get seated until the end of the first quarter.  The Panther cheerleader were the best we have seen all year.  They cheered base on what was happening and they had the crowd cheering with them.  Once the band got there they never stopped playing.

This third round game shows you how some where you have to play defense.  Morehead gave up 35 points two games in a row and they just could not score enough points to keep winning.  This was the best game I've seen in a while. The next question for the Gryphons is can they keep out scoring further foes for two more weeks?

This Monday in order to be State Champions in football the Gryphons need two wins in eleven days as the 3A championship is Friday night in Chapel Hill at 7:30pm.   Ooh so close.