Four-time Conference Champ

This past Saturday the individual NEW 6 wrestling championships were held at Southern Nash High School.

Francisco Alfaro won the 130-pound weight class for the Gryphons. In winning this, the Rocky Mount senior became the first Gryphon wrestler to ever win an individual championship four straight years.

The boys basketball team, fresh off their 10-point win over Northern on Friday night, hits the road Tuesday as it will meet Southern Nash with the opportunity to even its record. The Gryphons (9-10) are still hopeful for a good seeding in the basketball playoffs and Tuesday's game is a must game the Gryphons that they can't afford to lose.

The girls (14-4), on the other hand, still can go undefeated in conference play (6-0) and are looking at least one home game to start the playoffs if they can finish in first.

Tuesday's game at Southern will be part of the Coaches vs. Cancer series and a dollar per ticket will be donated just as ticket sales Friday night were against Northern.

Super Bowl reflections:

Regardless of which team you pulled for in the Super Bowl, both quarterbacks played well.

To me, Ben Roethlisberger elevated himself to that Brett Farve plateau being the winning quarterback for the second time in his career.

The Steelers are a really good fit for Big Ben. I think if he had to throw 40 times a game he wouldn't be so good. But, the Steeler defense keeps them in the game where one score is about all that's needed to come back in a game.

Big Ben has shown to be quite capable in his five years. This offseason he needs to stay away from motorcycles.

Kurt Warner is 50-50 for the Hall of Fame. He could probably use three more good years. His problem is he is not mobile at all and if he plays on a team without much blocking he will find the bench again where he has been buried the last three or four years.

The Dallas Cowboys get all the exposure, but the Pittsburgh Steelers just keep on winning. It hasn't always been that way, however. When the NFL merged with the AFL teams, the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and the Steelers left the NFC to join the AFC to balance the leagues out.

Pittsburgh, which had been a laughing stock over the years in the NFL, started winning and have had very few losing seasons since the merger.

Now its leads in Super Bowl victories with six.

Super Bowl was Super!

When it's all said and done, this Super Bowl may be the best of all time. There is no doubt it will be in the top five.

The half ended on the longest play in Super Bowl history. A 100-yard interception return by James Harrison to give the Steelers a 17-7 halftime lead - when it looked like the Cardinals were going to lead 14-10.

Then the final two minutes both teams scored touchdowns, so the lead changed twice.

The last play of the third quarter the Cardinals ran a play and had 17 seconds to go, but let the clock run out. I'm thinking down by 10, I would have tried to run one more play before the quarter ended. They needed those 17 seconds after the Steelers took the lead late.

How much does luck play in a game? Harrison would have been down short of the goal line on the interception just before the half, but the ball landed on the leg of the tackler sliding into the end zone before it hit the ground.

That touchdown is the difference in victory and defeat.

Northern Nash's J.J. Arrington was used only on kickoffs in the first half. He was nursing a knee injury. I think Ken Whisenhunt, the coach of the Cardinals, did a smart thing. Knowing that Arrington is banged up, he save him until the fourth quarter, where Arrington had two catches for 35 yards one rush for no gain. He finished up with four kick returns for 82 yards. J.J. had over 100 all-purpose yards in the grandest game of all.

I am glad that James Harrison didn't need to run 102 yards on the last play of the half. He would have not made it. He was out of gas.

Everyone who watches the Super Bowl just for the commercials saw a poor show. Boy, there were some really dumb ones. A good waste of 2.4 million every 30 seconds. I thought the best of the night was the Budweiser commercial featuring the Clydesdale talking about his great-grandfather coming to America.

If you look back at the 43 Super Bowls that have been played, there aren't many great games.

However, this one was!

Northern Nash's Big Day

Northern Nash has been on a downer in football for the past several years. There's not much to cheer about after games where victories have been concerned.

Tonight Northern Nash will watch the Super Bowl with intense pride as one of its own takes the field for the Arizona Cardinals.

J.J. Arrington, a 2001 graduate, possibly could be the first person to touch the ball in the Super Bowl if the Cardinals received the opening kickoff.

Arrington, a third down specialist and kick returner, is nursing a knee injury which happened in the NFC Championship game. It will be a game-time decision whether he plays or not. Tonight's
stage in front of the world is one of those games that if you can manage to put your pants on, you play.

Arrington will be the first Nash County player since Julius Peppers, who played in the Super Bowl for the Carolina Panthers earlier this decade.

You have to go all the way back to Jim Clack in the 70's for a Nash County player winning the Super Bowl.

I'll be pulling hard for J.J. and the Cardinals.

Yesterday's Carolina-State men's basketball game ended on a sour note with a Carolina player being tossed out of the game. The subs were mopping up for Carolina when Michael Copeland went to the basket for a fast break layup with less than five seconds to play. Ben McCauley tried to strip the ball from Copeland in a rather forceful way.

Copeland charged at McCauley and the good reaction of one of the game officials rather forcefully pushed Copeland away from any possible fisticuffs.

Copeland was tossed out of the game.

I thought it was rather odd that a player gets tossed out of a game and no technical was called.

Yesterday's announcers had preached the whole game that Carolina led the country in scoring with still 32 seconds on the time clock. In other words, fast break scoring. MCCauley took exception of Carolina trying to continue that pace ahead by 15 with less than 10 seconds to play.

There is a real fine line in sports when do you call off the dogs on both side. Carolina had just emptied the bench with less than a minute to play and State still had most of their starters in the game.

Back when I was doing football play-by-play in Ahoskie, they may have been called Hertford County by then, we were playing Beddingfield and midway through the fourth quarter HC had the subs in and on one series, Beddingfield had blitzed and HC punted on a fourth-and10. The next series on third and 10, HC threw a screen pass which got a first down to help run the clock and HC keep the ball.

Alton Britt, the legendary announcer of Wilson County football who was sitting only a couple of seats from where I was doing the game, made the comment that with the big lead, HC was trying to run up the score.

I fired back that if Beddingfield would quit blitzing then there would be no need to run plays that beat blitzes.

There comes a time in every game that all sides have to realize the game is over.

Yesterday's ending looks different depending on which color you wear.

Gryphons sweep Knights

Rocky Mount played host to Northern Nash in basketball Friday night and before the evening was over, Rocky Mount had posted four wins, including a doubleheader JV win for the boys and girls teams.

Three weeks ago tonight, the Lady Gryphons and Lady Knights played a two-point game at Northern and tonight would prove to be no different as the Lady Gryphons had to survive two free throws with less than five seconds to play to get the game to overtime.

Northern, trailing by one, had a two-shot foul making the first and missing the second to send the game to overtime.

Timely foul shooting by the Lady Gryphons in the extra period was all it took for the ladies to stay unbeaten in conference play at 6-0 as Rocky Mount won 61-53. The Gryphon girls are now 14-4 on the season.

Between varsity games, a packed house was witness to a ceremony as Rocky Mount High School paid tribute to the family of Dudley Whitley. His widow Sheila and her immediate family was in attendance. The former Gryphon coach, principal and Rocky Mount City School superintendent died recently leaving his foot prints embedded in our lives forever.

At least 1,000 tickets were sold at the door tonight for the game and one dollar per ticket will be donated to the American Cancer Society. Buckets were passed out where those in attendance could make more contributions to ACS and at halftime of the boys game, more than $400 more dollars had been donated to tonight's fundraiser. The money was donated to the ACS in the name of Whitley and RMHS.

The finale of the evening found two teams desperately needing to win a basketball game and for three quarters the lead swung back and forth with neither team able to get clear of the other.

The game was marred by a fight (two women) early in the fourth quarter in which the game was stopped while the disturbance was cleared.

Finally, early in the four quarter, the homestanding Gryphons pulled away for a 68-58 victory over the Knights. This gives the Gryphons a 2-4 conference record and a 9-10 overall record which they will try to even up Tuesday night at Southern Nash.

Security was tight during tonight's game as people who normally don't venture into the game but hang around the entrance as the game goes on were asked to disperse and were not allowed to congregate near the front entrance.

My day job during our economic stress that we are all facing in this county has become a four-way a week job here recently. Since I was home today, I was able to watch Kay Yow's funeral on WRAL TV5.

If you are one of the lucky people who worked today, I would like to invite to to go to WRAL.com and watch her funeral. They have it archived and I must warn you to have plenty of tissue with you. My wife Pat and I watched and I am not afraid to tell you I had plenty of tears.

The funeral lasted 90 minutes, but I can tell you it went by fast. Coach Yow had prerecorded a testimony which was played to all in the church and live on TV and I can tell you when ever Billy Graham dies, there is no way he will be able to speak for God the way she did today.

But, when you really think about it now that Kay has a new home in heaven, she is recruiting for God the way she loved N.C. State and loved life.

I miss you Kay.

Gryphon Football Awards

The football playoffs were still going on when Rocky Mount High School held their Fall sports awards night. The Christmas break came and so did the end of the semester. Tonight the football team took their turn finally and one of the greatest Gryphon teams in history received their due on their excellent season.

After dinner Wes Bradshaw awarded the pizza buffets won by players during our broadcast for being the players of the game.

Coach B W Holt acting as MC for the evening announced the all conference awards.

Offense: Marquavis Alston, Whit Barnes, Brandon Dennis, Nick Hahula, Torey Lee, Keith Strickland and Greg Williams

Defense: Josh Boulware, Jermaine Fields, Brian Goodwin, Nick Harrison and Chris Pittman.

The second teamers were Jarron battle, Josh Thigpen, Spencer Bell, Carter Varnell, Collins Cuthrell, Hiawatha Bunn, Jordan Ford and Dedrick Silver. L'Var silver won an award as honorable mentions all conference.

Two players had the unique honor of being named to the all conference team at two different positions. Brian Goodwin first as a defensive safety and then as the best kick returner in the league. Nick Hahula was first team fullback and also as the best kicker in the league.

Every member of the team received a plaque for winning the conference championship, the district champion, sectionals and as runner up East regional team.

Whit Barnes was honored for his election to the North Carolina Shrine bowl team. Torey Lee and Nick Hahula were announced as two Gryphon players who will play in the East-West all star game in July.

Special recognition was given to four Gryphons who have been named all state football players. Whit Barnes,Nick Hahula, Keith Strickland and Chris Pittman

Chris Pittman who was named the NEW-6 Defensive player of the year added to his hardware take on the evening.

The last four team awards for the evening were.

Offensive Player of the Year......Marquavis Alston
Defensive Player of the Year.....Chris Pittman
The Benny Smith Linemen of the Year went to two players Torey Lee and Whit Barnes.
and the Most Valuable player as voted by his teammates was Nick Hahula.

Coach Holt during his remarks about his coaching staff announce that Chris Lee who has been the JV head coach during the Holt era has been named the head coach at Louisburg high school. That will be a big hole to fill for next year.

One of the high lights of the evening was the Holt's All Gryphon Team. B W presented plaques of appreciation to Gryphon faithful who have served the Gryphons either through monetary donation, or service when call upon. I wish I could tell you that I had been smart enough to write each ones named down as he talked about them but I enjoyed listening to Holt speak about each one and plain forgot too. Maybe Charles Alston will list them on the Gryphon Grapevine because each and everyone that he presented an award to was most deserving for their faithful devotion to the Gryphon Nation.

The final conference award of the evening was presented by Chris Lee as he presented Coach B W Holt as coach of the year to a standing ovation.

The senior class presented coach Holt a picture of the seniors, as these seniors only lost two games in two seasons. It may be a while before another group is this good.

Northern will have announcement soon

Word is that the Northern Nash Knights have selected their man to be the new football coach. It's a matter of crossing the T's and dotting the I's. Expect the official word soon.

Thursday night is the Gryphon sports banquet for football. Hope you will be there to show your support.

The Northern Nash-Rocky Mount basketball games are Friday night at the RM Gym. There will be no advanced sales of tickets.

One dollar from each ticket sale will go to the American Cancer Society. This is in conjunction with a statewide event going on Friday with the NCHSAA and the American Cancer Society.

Sometimes thing just happen to fall your way. I got home tonight from church and turned on the b-ball game Duke and Wake.

Before tip-off, I channelled surfed and did not realize that WRAL-TV was carrying the Kay Yow Memorial service live. It didn't take long to forget basketball to watch the service.

My guess is about 5,000 people were there

I did not realize that as a coach representing the United States, Kay Yow's teams over the years were 21-1, including winning the 1988 Olympic gold medal.

Got back to the Wake game and saw the second half. Wake won on a layup at the buzzer. I can tell you right now, Duke, Wake and Carolina will make the Sweet 16 and further this year. I just have a feeling one of the three is going to be the NCAA champ. I am pulling for the Deacs to win their first NCAA title.

This year's best three ACC teams are reminiscence of 1974 when N.C. State, Maryland and Carolina only lost during the season to each other. At one point in 1974, the three teams were 1, 2 and 4 in the polls.

The Charlotte Bobcats are a team on the rise. Last night, they beat Kobe and the Lakers in L.A. The Lakers have only two teams in which they have losing record to. The Boston Celtics and the Charlotte Bobcats. In their five years of existance, the 'Cats are 5-4 against the Lakers.

Nash Central boys have won the NEW 6 Conference swim championship. The Gryphons finished third. Fike won the girls with the Lady Gryphons finishing fourth.

Gryphons miscues lead to downfall

With just under four minutes to play, the Rocky Mount Gryphon boys basketball team had managed to push out a five-point lead at 59-54 over Nash Central and had the ball in their Tuesday evening NEW 6 tilt.

But an ill-advised quick 3-pointer that missed turned into a 3-point basket for Nash Central. Then five straight turnovers and a lone free throw and the Gryphons still only trailed 61-60. The Gryphons were doomed as they had four straight turnovers before a final futile trey missed as Nash Central stayed unbeaten in conference play taking down the Gryphons 69-60.

Tashawn Mabry had 27 points to lead the Gryphons, but what they needed more of was some outside shooting to take the pressure off the inside game lead by senior Philip Wilkins. Once the ball went inside, the Bulldogs were triple-teaming the ball. Three-point shots were few made and far between.

The Gryphons now find themselves in a need to win their game Friday night when they host Northern Nash, a team that was riding high until two players failed to qualify to play second semester.

In the girls action, the Lady Gryphons find themselves riding high and all alone in first place after scorching the Lady Bulldogs. The best I remember, the score was 77-49.

The offense struggled for most of three quarters, but Pam Gainey's press defense took its toll on the Lady Bulldogs and once again the Lady Gryphons scored big numbers with defense.

Senior Dyonna Battle led the way with 21 points and freshman Tia Hudgins added 15. The Lady Gryphons (13-4) have gone through the first cycle of conference play and stand 5-0 in conference.

Admittance to Friday night's Northern Nash game at Rocky Mount will be first come, first served. There will be no advance sale of tickets. Three weeks ago at Northern, the gym was full by 6.15 and if that happens Friday night, they will start turning people away even if you have a Gryphon pass to get in the game. So you need to be there early.

Friday night, $1 from each ticket sold will go to the American Cancer Society as high schools around the state are taking part.

Did the PA tonight at the Nash Central-Rocky Mount games so I failed to see the Wolfpack's overtime win over Miami. Seems like they play better without my coaching anyway.

Do you realize that in college basketball this year they have been three teams that have been ranked No. 1 and all three are on Tobacco Road - Carolina, Wake and Duke?

UConn sits awaiting as Duke travels to Wake Wednesday night. If Wake wins. UConn will be No. 1 next week if it can win twice this week.

I think between Duke, Carolina and Wake, neither of them will have more than four losses by ACC tournament time.

Wouldn't be something if all three got No. 1 seeds at NCAA tournament time!