College Football Front and Center In Rocky Mount

The next two Saturday's Bishop Stadium will present college football as it has never been.  This Saturday September 10th at 12:30 the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan College will host the defending Division Three national champions The University of Mount Union from Alliance Ohio.

This will be the season opener for Mount Union while the Battling Bishops lost their opener this past Friday night at Stevenson University so this is the home opener for the Bishops.  Mount Union has won 12 national championships in division three football.  They at one time in their history won 22 straight conference crowns.  They own the longest winning streak in division three history when they won 55 straight games.  They even topped that by winning 56 in a row so they own the two longest winning streaks ever in division three.

This is Alabama of Division Three coming to our place to play football.  There may never be a team to appear in Rocky Mount the caliber of the Purple Raiders ever again.  I realize there is a game in Greenville that is important to many in Eastern North Carolina but there is no reason that Bishop Stadium is not standing room only for this game.  This is for North Carolina Wesleyan football the event of he century.

One week later at 4pm on September 17th the 19th annual Down East Viking  Clasic is back in town. This has become an event.  Since this game is sponsored by the city of Rocky Mount you have to have a parking pass to set up cookers in the parking area and you can expect them to be sold out.

Extra seats have been brought in for years now to accommodate the over flow crowds.  If you just ride by the Stadium on Saturday morning campers and tents will dot the area for the all day celebrations that will be part of the game.

This year Morehouse College and all male school from Atlanta will provide Elizabeth City State their competition.  Morehouse will come further that any other team ever to play in the Classic.  We already know from ticket sales this one is near a sellout.  The next two weekends will be very special for the city of Rocky Mount.  Tickets are still available for the NCW/Mount Union game. Why not be a part of history.

Now the saga of the Tarboro Viking/Northern Nash football game.  The threat of Tropical Storm Hermine had many high school football games moved to Thursday to beat the rain and wind.  This having been a Holiday Weekend makes for High school Monday night football unlikely.  Northern stuck to their guns to play Friday but by late afternoon it would prove impossible.

So now when do you make up this game? Many high school games across eastern North Carolina will be made up Tuesday.  The game has been reschedule for Monday night September 12th.  Look what both teams will go through now.

Tarboro plays at Franklinton this Friday September 9th.  They will travel to Northern Nash on Monday September 12th and four days later travel to Southern Nash.  This Friday Northern Nash will inspect Tropical Storm damage with a trip to Laney in Wilmington the 9th.  Host Tarboro Monday the 12th and travel to Goldsboro the 16th

Three games in eight days.  The Vikings it will be three road games.  Northern Nash because the trip to Laney will travel more miles than Tarboro despite having one of the three games at home.  Somewhere someone has dropped the ball to allow this to happen.  Is it safe for players playing three games in eight days?  Football is a game of bumps and bruises and recovery time is needed.  That is one reason football only plays one game per week instead of two like all other sports. Seems to me the only safe option is play Tuesday the 5th and again the 9th.  The only other option would be cancel the game altogether.