Comparisons

There is no way when we play a team and then some one else plays that same team to compare how we stack up.

You never know who is injured and who is in or not from game to game. Did they play against us but not against the next team.

So in general you can have an educated guess.

Just two weeks ago we played Fike. On this particular night we ran Fike off the field. But if we played them three straight weeks could we continue to win 52-7. I doubt it.

This week Fike has the problem of going and playing Greensboro Dudley the number # one team in the 3-AA bracket.

All year long the talk has been Dudley and Rocky Mount who is better.

Since we are in the lower A in the 3-A playoffs and Dudley in the AA we will not get a chance to find out who is better.

We both have our work cut out in our own bracket to worry about someone we will not have to play.

Despite all the what ifs, who is better? We will get a chance after this second round to compare each other. Fike travels to Dudley just like they came to Rocky Mount.

Fike will be the only team that when it is all said and done can tells us who is better. The final score may not be the best judgement as to who is best.

Sometimes a coach can look at who is more physical, faster, who give them the biggest problems.

It will not matter at all who is better if both Dudley and Rocky Mount do not win it all in both our brackets.

Then someone else can ask Am I better than Rocky Mount or Dudley?

I don't think Fike can win this game but I think it will take them a lot of points to stay in it.

My pick Dudley 49- Fike 28.

Will we be able to compare Rocky Mount and Dudley?

Only Fike will know for sure!

Round Two Matchups

The real playoffs begin this Friday. The NCHSAA plays as many games as possible to make as much money as they can so last Friday's match ups were as bad for making money as our economy is right now. Also every game failed to make expenses.

The gates should be a lot better this week even if it rains because everyone is in jeopardy of losing.

Here are the Eastern 3-A Matchups:

Eastern Alamance at Hertford County.... EA is 11-1 while HC is 10-2
They have not play any common opponents. EA is averaging 28 points per game. HC is at 45.
EA is giving up 14 while HC 18.

This game could be a shootout and after Western Alamance has handled HC the last couple of years early in playoff EA will not respect HC plus the long drive to what EA will feel like will be the middle of no where. Hertford County 42 Eastern Alamance 28

Hertford County will play Rocky Mount twice again this year.

Washington At West Craven..... Washington 8-4 West Craven 12-0

They played each other in a conference game in early October with WC winning 16-6 at Washington. WC was 7-0 in the Coastal 4-A/3-A conference while Washington was 5-2.

Washington is averaging 24 points per game while WC has lit up the scoreboard for 37 a game. Washington gives up almost 20 while WC 11.

Score won't be as close this time playing at West Craven WC 35-Washington 14

Southwest Edgecombe at Kinston SWE is 9-2 while Kinston is 10-2

Common opponents... Nash Central lost to Kinston last week at Kinston 14-6 while during conference play SWE beat Nash Central 34-21 at SWE. Kinston has played Jacksonville 28-6, Hunt 29-10 and Southern Wayne 20-0 while Rocky Mount blew out all three of those teams. SWE hung with Rocky Mount all game.

SWE is averaging 31 points per game while Kinston almost 34. Defensively SWE ia allowing 15 while Kinston is holding the defensive scores to 15.

This has been a resurgemt year for Kinston Football but the Season ends at home as the Cougars win 26-20

J F Webb @ Rocky Mount Webb is 9-3 while Rocky Mount comes in at 11-1

Webb averages 32 per contest while the Gryphons 38. Webb gives up 17 while the Gryphons only 7.

The only common foe was Northern Vance in which we played NV at NV on Oct 2nd while Webb play them at NV on Oct 10th Gryphons won 26-10 Webb lost 24-23.

John Hammetts returns to Rocky Mount and Webb may be the first team to score on Rocky Mount in first quarter this year.

However too Much defense from the Gryphons and too much offense too

Gryphons 35-Webb 14

There you have it only four days to find out how accurate this is.

What A Season

It was just six weeks ago that the ACC football world was floored by the Duke football team.

Now as we head down the final stretch of the college football season Duke is the only team in the ACC that has been eliminated from the ACC Championship game.

N C State with a 2-4 record in conference play is still alive. There has to be about 20 different combinations of teams losing before it could happen but they have not been knocked out yet.

Maryland and Miami are in the drivers seat but there hasn't been anybody yet that has been able to figure out forward from reverse.

It is looking more and more like Appalachian State will make a serious run for four straight FCS titles. Saturday in Boone App State beat Elon to clinch at least a tie for the Southern Conference title. They look as if they will be seeded either first or second in the playoffs again.

In just a few years now NCWC has established itself as a good football program in Division three football. They finished their regular season at 6-4.

I found out that the Jacksonville coaching staff made arrangements before the game Saturday night that whenever Rocky Mount scored their 35th point to go ahead and let the clock run.

There is nothing like a coach with confidence to inspire his team.

It seemed to me any spunk that Jacksonville had they lost it all once the clock did not stop.

There are a few things that concerns me about the game.

The Gryphons were soft in the middle on defense and gave up way too many yards straight ahead.

With the injury to Hiawatha Bunn our backup play is shaky at quarterback.

When Brian Goodwin got back to Rocky Mount from his baseball all-star games in Los Angeles and Chicago he was trying to make the spectacular plays every time he touch the ball.

Once he settle down and got back to playing basic football boy has he become spectacular. He has had a end -a-round touchdown and a punt return at Nash Central. Two interceptions against Fike and a Kickoff and punt return touchdown against Jacksonville.

Is there a better Athlete in North Carolina?

I doubt if he is able to return a kickoff or punt for the remainder of the playoffs unless we get it to him on a reverse. Nobody in their right mind would kick it to him now.

I know you had a good reason for not being at the game Saturday night. Rain, a gimme game but those games are over the real playoffs start Friday night.

The Gryphons face a coach who if he never won another game Friday would be the one he wants John Hammett and the Webb Warriors.

Here Comes Round Two

All eight of the eastern 3-A top seeds have advanced to round two there they will begin now playing each other.

It took Rocky Mount exactly 14 seconds to let Jacksonville know that an upset was not happening in Rocky Mount this night as Brian Goodwin took the opening kickoff 98 yards and the points were coming.

The low point of the night was that Jacksonville pretty much ran straight up the middle almost on every running play and they managed 136 yard rushing in the first half including a 55 yard run straight up the middle just before the half.

I am sure they did not go unnoticed by John Hammett the head coach of J F Webb high school who was at the game to scout.

Hammett the Former Rocky Mount high coach from 1999 to 2002 saw that he had better not kick the ball to Brian Goodwin no way no how.

The final numbers are the second lowest of the season after the Southwest Edgecombe game.

After Jacksonville missed a 33 yard field goal in the first quarter the Gryphons took all of three plays to rush 80 yards 77 coming from Marquavius Alston who had runs of 50 and 27 for a touchdown.

The second time the Gryphons had the ball on the first carry Jordan Ford went 75 yards and the game was pretty much over . At that point the #1 seeded team in the east had a 98 yard kickoff and 4 running plays of 155 yards.

Having not thrown a pass so far the next drive belonged to Collins Cuthrell as he probably had his pass of the year as a defender thought he was getting a sack but Collins shook of the tackle just enough to throw a strike to L'Var Silver who scampered into the end zone to make it 28-0

For the second week in a row the Gryphons give up a big running play for a touchdown just before the half.

On the first play of the third quarter Jacksonville fumbled and the Gryphons threw to Keith Strickland for another touchdown.

Jacksonville decide they had enough and asked for the clock to run from that point on and the second teams handle most of the rest of the game.

Just to give John Hammett plenty to look at Brian Goodwin lined up to receive a Jacksonville punt over near the Jacksonville sidelines where they had been kicking the ball all night and scooped up a punt which was more toward the center instead of the side lines and went 56 yards for the final points of the game.

The Gryphons had only 155 yards rushing for the game but that no way tells how speed killed Jacksonville tonight.

The defense played better in the second half and along with the second team held Jacksonville to no first downs and only 30 yards in the second half.

Gryphons Advance 42-7 over the Cardinals

You know last night we held back from playing due to the fact that there was a possibility of thunder and lightning and safety was our top priority.

Last night as the cheerleaders from Gray's creek were heading to their game their van was involved in a wreck about a mile from East Alamance High School.

Apparently as the driver of the van turned left into the road that runs in front of East Alamance he misjudged his turn and was about to run off the road and decided to backup when he backed up a pickup coming around a curved crashed into the back of the van killing the driver of the pickup and injuring two of the cheerleaders.

Sometimes we forget how dangerous life is and a raining Friday night was no exception.

Fike makes it a good night for the NEW-6 as they go to Asheboro and lay a whipping on Aheboro 30-14. The game was much closer than the score as it was tied at one point 14-14 in the third quarter.

The top three seeds for the NEW-6 are still alive and Nash Central fought hard until the end before losing last night.

So once again the NEW-6 according to the power ratings the #1 3-A conference in the state proved it in the first round winning three out of four games.

Safety First

Officials when making decisions to play or not to play use every available means to determine the best option for completing any sporting event.

The forecast Friday night was rain with potential for thunder storms. The Saturday forecast was rain with the system moving out of the area as Saturday night approached.

In what would have been game time last night I don't think we had any rain at all in Rocky Mount but if you have seen the news this morning the reason the game was postponed was one of those thunder storm in which the area got last night hit the Elm City area well past midnight but life has been lost.

Thunder storms especially severe ones have potential for tornadoes and the Kenly to Elm City area was hit had. At least two people are known dead as this time.

Knowing what has happen over night and we are the only eastern 3-A bracket team that did not play last night I cannot say that I can fault anyone who goes safety first.

I am sure as the school year goes on there will be decisions to be made as to is it going to snow or when do we let school out?

We have to trust the people in charge of the decisions will make the very best at the time they make them according to the information they have at the time.

Now the forecast for tonight now is just about the same as last night but the kicker is it is suppose to start clearing off as we get into Saturday night.

Whether we are a go tonight or it is put off until Monday only time will tell us that and until we actually get there tonight we won't know if it right or wrong one way or the other.

Now lets Look at what did happen:

The #2 Seed West Craven had little trouble with Bertie 45-21 and they will meet conference foe Washington a 34-25 winner over Havelock. That is twice in three weeks that Washington has beaten Havelock.

The other side of that bracket Southwest Edgecombe rumbled for a 34-20 win over South Granville and the Cougars will now face Kinston who had the biggest struggle of the night winning 14-6 over Nash Central.

Remember I told you last week that Nash Central was going to be a hard out for who ever got them in the first round and Kinston survives.

In the upper bracket Hertford County had little trouble with Eastern Wayne winning 57-13 and they will play Eastern Alamance a 26-7 winner over Grays Creek.

Now the game of interest for the Gryphons John Hammett will be returning to the RMAC for the second time this year. He brought has Warriors to the Jamboree back in August and I had them as the third best team there. They beat Beddingfield 37-18.

There were no major upsets in the 3-A state bracket but there was one of major interest for Gryphon fans as Western Alamance the team that has knocked the Gryphons out of the playoffs three straight years fell in the western bracket.

It is now up to the Gryphons to hold up their end of the bargain.

A Washout Tonight

Anyone who has looked out the window,seen a TV, listened to a radio, Looked at a radar or anyone who has a bad knee knows it's raining and looks like an all weekend affair.

Before I say anything about whether I am glad or not either way let me just say that the decision was based on safety not how many people are going to go to the game.

Who Rah for that. A decision not made because of money.

But let's be frank Gryphon fans How many of you were planning to go tonight anyway because you thought the Gryphons would win by forty and it wasn't worth your time and the rain really gives you a good excuse for not going.

I doubt whether there was going to be a thousand people at the game tonight if it was 70 degrees and the moon shining.

The game has been postpone until 7.00pm Saturday night due to the fact that tonight's forecast is calling for Thunder showers where as tomorrow night is just rain.

If the game were to be delayed while the game was going on it's no telling how long we might be there trying to get the game in so it seems reasonable tomorrow night is just better.

The is no Thunder in the forecast Saturday night so there will be no worry of making Everyone leave the facility and come back when we decide to continue the game.

There is no way that you would dare put the game off til Monday. The teams could not trade film with next Friday's opponent until the early hours of Tuesday morning so it is either Friday Night or Saturday Night.

Rembember kickoff is 7.00pm instead of 7.30 and we will go on the air at 6.30 from the command center at the RMAC.

A bonus coverage will be held tonight on am1390 as Wes and Myself will talk Gryphon football from 7.00 to 8.00 tonight. We will look back at this season and I would suspect give you a prediction or two about who we think will win the different brackets.

SEE you then....

The Football Season Starts Now

There has been a feeling with the football team this year that there was a focus on the prize over other teams and other years. It may have something to do with the seniors leading this team.

Last years team walked off the field at Western Alamance thinking about a return to the eastern finals and onward to Winston Salem and the state championship game this year.

I don't know if we could have asked for a better script for the first eleven games. A few injuries but we didn't have an injury that we can say cause us to lose a game in that regard this has been an excellent year all around.

We have come to the portion of the season and one mistake could end it all. In looking at the context of any game there is never a point when one play loses it but when you add several together the end could be quick.

This team has shown the ability to step forward when the chips were down.

Tied 10-10 at the half at Northern Vance this team dominated the second half of the game.

Fourth and one at the goal line after Southwest Edgecombe had controlled the ball for 19 plays but #20 the defense held. The offense moved the ball away from the goal line and basically won the conference championship.

Tied 7-7 in the fourth quarter against Nash Central this teamed show why they are good and put on a display of raw talent and routed the Bulldogs.

Rocky Mount every time they have been asked to make a play they have. Rocky Mount has never won a football state championship as the Gryphons. This is the best chance ever.

The soccer all conference and all region teams have been announced and Matt Moore, Andrew Morales and Hunter Perry have made the first team. Justin Adams is on the second team.

The region five all region team has Moore,Morales and Perry on that squad also.

Last night I was in the auxiliary gym for the wrestling match with Rose. Rose was the winner but things could have been interesting if the Gryphons didn't have to forfeit 3 weight classes.

Tickets for the playoff game Friday night are available at the main office at the high school. Playoff prices are $7.

The gates open at 6.00pm and you can get in at either entrance at the north end of the field.

It has become big in recent years to get rings after winning state championships. The football team watched as the baseball team got theirs at halftime of the Northern Nash game.

Within 31 days we will know whether these guys need to be measured or not.