Hitting Somebody Else

Thursday night at Rocky Mount High school the Gryphon's hosted three other schools varsity and JV programs.  4-A West Johnston had the longest ride traveling their mailing address says Benson but they are near Willow Springs.  2A Goldsboro and Nash County and conference foe the  Firebirds of Southern Nash rounded out the fourth team.

The night started off with referee Shannon Davis led the group of refs who were also there for their preseason workouts.  Davis talked of the points of emphasis by all crews this season.  Points were   Clear and white mouth pieces are acceptable this year.  All pads must be covered.  There will be no exposed pads on any player at any time.  There will no clipping on any play.  In the past lineman could clip along the line of scrimmage but no more.  The final point of emphasis is a rule that I am glad to see.  There will be no cussing of any kind on the sidelines by players, coaches and anyone along the sidelines.

Now for the action.  Southern Nash varsity went 14 minutes on offense and 14 minutes on defense against Goldsboro.  The second segment Rocky Mount went against West Johnston.  Both Rocky Mount and Southern switched teams with  Goldsboro facing Rocky Mount and West Johnston squaring off against the Firebirds.  The third segment Rocky Mount went back against against Goldsboro.  The last half hour each team got four downs to make a first down or continue a drive until a score.  Then two more teams intermingled.

The results:  West Johnston has the best quarterback of the four.  They were big across the front and the qb could throw or take off and run very effectively.  Their front line on D was also big and hard to move.

Goldsboro: Considering they were the 2A school of the bunch they scored twice again Rocky Mount and once on Southern.  Their Defense not as good.

Southern Nash:  Big  on the offensive and defensive line.  Had several big plays on both sides of the ball.  Looks as their big question is replacing their quarterback.

Rocky Mount:  Moved the ball well while running but several pass plays were jail breaks by the defense.  Not only does Rocky Mount  need to find a replacement at quarterback but they need to find protection for the new one.

It is very hard in scrimmages to evaluate the progress of and offensive team or defensive unit  because there is so much switching in and out of players on each play.  There are several players who if they have not got enough practices in so they could not play either.

Impressions:  I thought West Johnston was very good.  Southern Nash is loaded with good athletes and Rocky Mount's defense popped some leather.

Didn't pay all that much attention to the jv's but Rocky Mount  scored a lot.

Rocky Mount will travel to Cardinal Gibbons on Saturday to play South Johnston in the
 highschoolot .com jamboree at 5:40 pm. We are now one week away from the first game of the season when they open up hosting South Granville.  Please note game time next Friday is 7pm.