Fike Next For Tennis

Unlike Volleyball tennis has survived to play another day. I had kitchen duty tonight at church and was unable to get by Sunset Park this afternoon but looking at the NCHSAA playoff bracket our Ladies have beaten Union Pines 5-4.

This can only mean that the match was up in the air right down to the last doubles match. This also sets up a rematch with Fike next week in the third round of the playoffs. Rocky Mount and Fike beat each other once during the season and as the #one seed will play at Sunset Park. I think that is scheduled for Tuesday.

Lindesy Thomas. Kate Gray, Addie Keeter and Caroline Nelson have all qualified for the State doubles title which will be fought for Friday and Saturday in Burlington.

Today's team victory over Union Pines is pay back for Union Pines knocking us out last year at their place. This sets up Fike and Rocky Mount for the second time in three years to meet in the third round.

My Bad, the conference tournament soccer championship is tomorrow night and yes host Hunt will be there taking on the Gryphons. This is the third meeting of the season and Hunt won both matches by two goals.

JV Football Thursday night will travel to Southern Nash.

Having a daughter that was one of the managers of the volleyball team I hope your children take part in some sort of extra curricular activity while in school. It is good for their health to get them is some sort of shape. I have watched as the playoffs developed even Morgans desire to win and play another day in the playoffs.

Sports develops the habits of working together, gives them goals to shoot for and most of all when they lose how to cope with not making your goal. I know there are those who think sports should be eliminated but, in my honest opinion if it were a requirement that every child do something outside of school our children would all be better off. Whether it is the band, Chorus or sporting team I know I did better in school knowing I needed to stay eligible.

Ooh Sooo Close

Never in the history of Rocky Mount Volleyball have they made it to the third round of the state playoffs. Tonight the Lady Gryphon can not create new history as they fall in five games to West Carteret 3-2.

Trailing 23-21 in game four and down two games to one the lady Gryphons fought back to take game four 25-23. The deciding fifth game the Lady Gryphons surge to a 14-12 lead in the game and serving for the match only to have three straight points ( hard fought all three ) go to The Patriots. Now trailing 15-14 a miss play on the return serve never crossed the net and the Patriots win the deciding fifth game 16-14 and move on to the third round.

Volley ball ends it's season at 18-5.

Soccer tonight has moved to the finals of the Big East Soccer Tournament beating Northern Nash 5-1. Justin Marsigli got a hat trick to lead the way for the Gryphons. They will play Wednesday for the tournament title at Hunt. At this writing we think they will play Hunt again but that game has not finished.

Tennis got washed out tonight in their second round match against against Union Pines. Talked with coach Barry Nethercutt at the volley ball game and Union Pines was scheduled to leave to make the trip to Rocky Mount at 11.00am. During the playoffs all travel is paid for from playoff monies and you certainly don't want to come all the way from Union Pines and have to come again tomorrow because of rain.

The decision was made at 11.00 to postpone when unfortunately as the day went by the match could have been played. They will try again tomorrow at Sunset park at 4.00pm

Saw ECU playing on ESPN Two tonight in football and reminded me that I need to pass this along to all Gryphon supporters of all former Rocky Mount players. Jacobi Jenkins made his first career catch for ECU in their game ten days ago. The red shirt freshman has appeared in three games so far for the Pirates. I will finish watching to see if he gets any more tonight.

I would like to pass along some very good comments I heard from Tarboro fans Friday night. I was told it was the best officiated game that they had ever been to at Southwest Edgecombe. They were all talking about Raymond Cobb who was the guess on Brian Bailey's "Coaches Corner: Segment . Cobb praised the Vikings on TV and predicted that Tarboro would make it back to the 2-A finals again this year. There is no doubt about it raymond Cobb is a class act as coach at SouthWest Edgecombe.

Time Change For Volleyball

Tuesdays second round volleyball match between the Lady Gryphons and West Carteret has been moved up to 5.30pm instead of 6.00pm. This has been done to accommodate WC and getting home earlier on a school night.

If the Lady Gryphons advance through the eastern bracket will will more than likely have to beat a Coastal Conference team every step of the way. They already disposed of the #3 seed White Oak, they will now face the #4 seed West Carteret. The winner of this match could very well meet South Central who has already beaten our ladies twice this season. If the Lady Gryphons are still alive D H Conley would probably be waiting. The good news is South Central if it happens would have to come to us.

The Coastal earned five spots in the playoffs and four are still alive as our victory over White Oak their only blemish.

I would think the Big East Soccer tournament has been delayed by weather, I have not heard however that it has.

Weather permitting Tuesday tennis will play at Sunset park at 4.00pm against Union Pines. This is a second round team match in the state playoffs.

Sometimes there are games that when they are over you just think, this is a team of destiny. Being down by 21 in the first half the New Orleans Saints score 22 points in the fourth quarter to take down Miami.

Brett Farve played like late last season Brett Farve and Minnesota loses for the first time. the Giants have played like the midgets the last two weeks and Peyton Manning still continues to be the best quarterback in the NFL.

Monday night football features the Deadskins. I doubt if I can take much of that. Jake Delhomne is playing like he forty five and seen his best day. Didn't they just give him a big contract in the spring?

Sometimes it does good to have a change of scenery. I suggest the Deadskins and Panthers trade quarterbacks. Delhomme for Campbell. One over the hill and one who has seen the hill yet.

Doubles Team State Bound

The Rocky Mount High school doubles team of LindsayThomas and Kate Gray swept through the competition Friday and Saturday and won the Regional crown and qualify for the State Championships coming up this Friday in Burlington.

The team of Addie Keeter and Caroline Nelson won their opening match, lost in the semifinals which prevented an all Rocky Mount finals. Keeter and Nelson won the consolation match which gives them third place in the regional.

I honestly don't know how players can switch back and forth. Tuesday the entire tennis team host Union Pines in the team portion of the playoffs. If the Lady Gryphons win then it's back to doubles in Burlington Friday for Thomas and Gray.

The first round of the volley ball playoffs are over and in order to judge the strength of your conference your #1 and #2 have to win and the Big East got that in the opening round. Hunt yesterday advanced as well as the Lady Gryphons from Thursday.

If your top two lose then it shows the conference as being weak. The lower seeds did lose but the power of the Big East is still playing. Tuesday the Lady Gryphons play host to West Carteret the upset winner in the first round . When ever your conference has more than two making it to the second round that conference is strong and the Coastal has that with Conley, South Central still playingand West Carreret.

In the short history of Volleyball at Rocky Mount they have never made it past the second round. Volleyball is controlled by the tall players on the front line which historically Rocky Mount has never been extremely tall. The ladies face a tall task the rest of the way each team left in the playoffs is tall and athletic.

Both Tennis and Volleyball are home Tuesday and they need you support to be there to watch. Very seldom does either sport have more than mamas and papas and family there to watch. They both can be very entertaining.

Save On Gas

Got home from the football game last night went on the NCHSAA web site and lo and behold West Brunswick was upset yesterday in volleyball by West Carteret. It went five games and WC won 3-2.

This means instead of the long trip to West Brunswick on Tuesday the Lady Gryphons will host West Carteret instead. As the #4 seed from the Coastal conference West Carteret is in the same league as D H Conley who is a volleyball jugernaut and South Central a team that gave Rocky Mount two of their four losses.

This will not be a easy match for the Lady Gryphons.

I tried all I could to find out the doubles scores in tennis yesterday. Right now I cannnot tell you how we did with our two doubles teams in the playoffs.

Those of you faithful listeners to our games on radio already know but we failed to get on the air last night. I felt like a player on the sidelines with an injury sitting in the press box but just watching the game, couldn't tell anybody about it.

The average daily attendance figures will be released next week for football seedings. Don't be surprised if the Gryphons are in the 3-AA this go round. The last couple of years we have been right on the edge, and with several teams dropping down to 2-A and not that many 4-A teams coming back to 3-A I suspect we will be in the larger bracket.

All might not be lost if that happens. That might keep us in opposite brackets from Hertford County, clearly the best team in the East right now.

Duke plays Maryland today in football and the odds makers have made the Blue devils the favorite. That is the first time since 1995 that Duke is the favorite in an ACC football game.

Could the umpiring be any worse in the MLB playoffs? Seems as if it would be a whole lot better if the players called themselves out like they do in the sand lots.

I don't know whether you have heard this or not but Memorial Stadium in Charlotte which host many high school games in the Charlotte area a section of bleachers has been deem unsafe and until the stadium is fixed there will be no games played there.

Independence High plays most of their biggest games there instead of their stadium which holds 4,000. The Butler -Independence game will now be played at Indy instead of 20,000 being able to watch at Memorial Stadium. In our economic times that is a major lost of revenue.

Gryphon Second Quarter Surge

Rocky Mount played their best football of the year in the second quarter scoring twenty one points and coasted to a 21-14 victory in Big East play at Fike.

Trailing 7-0 in the second quarter the Gryphon's punt rush knocked the Fike blocker into their punter and Equail Wiggins recovered in the end zone for a Gryphon touchdown. The very next series Collins Cuthrell rolled toward his left and flung the ball to Spencer Bell who held his hands outstretched and caught touchdown pass of 44 yards. The ball was thrown directly over Bell's helmet and Spencer relied on the feel of the ball in his hands to make the catch. To this point in the season this is maybe one of the top five plays of the year.

Collins Cuthrell on a fourth and goal with time running out snuck over from one yard out to give the Gryphons a 21-7 half time lead. The Gryphons failed to score in the second half but for the first time this year got the short passing game in gear and Cuthrell was 7 for ten for over a hundred yards on the night.

Fike twice in the fourth quarter tried to tie the game but the Gryphon defense had a defensive stop inside the ten and a pass interception to seal the victory. The Grypons are now 4-4 and 2-1 in Big East play.

Northern Nash who's defense had played well all year came up big tonight in scoring a touchdown and shutting out Nash Central 20-0 at Central. This breaks Northern's 13 game losing streak. Understand that Nash Central had some discipline problems and some players did not start the game but I don't care who played and when Northern beat the team that Nash Central put on the field and beat em good.

Hunt held off a determined Firebird team from Southern Nash and takes the outright lead in the Big East with a 28-20 win over Southern Nash. This sets up Rocky Mount and Southern playing for second place in the conference next Friday night at Gryphon Land.

In the game of the decade in Pinetops Southwest Edgcombe beat Tarboro 22-16 in front of what I hear may have been as many as 6,000 fans. I have heard they were 4 deep around the entire field.

Let me throw this scenario at you. SouthWest may be the conference champs and there is a good chance that they will be seeded in the big 2-A bracket. Wouldn't it be something if Tarboro made it back to the 2-A championship and Southwest made it to the Big 2-AA and both played back to back for the State titles. It could happen.

Volley Ball Only Team In The State to Advance.

The Lady Gryphon Volley ball team advanced to the second round of the state playoffs tonight beating visiting White Oak 3-0. The scores were 25-12,25-23 and 25-22. This is the only match played today any where in the state so the Lady Gryphons are the only team that has yet made it to the second round.

Round two may find the Ladies on they road as they meet the winner of West Brunswick the #one seed from the Waccamaw conference who is 17-2 on the year or West Carteret the #four seed from the Coastal conference who stands at 14-8. If WB wins then the ladies hit the road to Shallotte on Tuesday and if WC wins that match will be here in Rocky Mount.

West Brunswick has former Rocky Mount coach and Principal George Kelly as it's principal.

Friday is doubles day in the state tennis playoffs for the ladies. The Gryphon teams of Lindsey Thomas and Kate Gray and Addie Keeter and Caroline Nelson qualified last week in the conference Tennis tournament. Action begins at high noon at Barton college.

Wednesday afternoon both of the Rocky Mount cross country teams finished third in the conference championships. Daniel Hannon of the Gryphon boys finished 7th with a time of 18.07 which was good enough to garner all conference honors.

The girls had three to place in the top ten and came away as all conference performers. ZiKeena Parker finished sixth with a time of 21.30. Latoya Applewhite was right behind in seventh and she finished in 21.36. Nefertelli Thigpen finished tenth in a time of 22.37.

Soccer finished in second during the regular season and by doing so gets a bye in Mondays opening round matches in the conference tournament. They await the winner of Fike-Nash Central game on Monday.

JV football lost at home tonight to Fike 13-7. The varsity travels to Fike tomorrow night in what is now a game for highest possible seeding for the football playoffs. If the Gryphons can win their last three games they could still wind up in a three way tie for first. In order for that to happen all the stumbling blocks need to fall in place just right.

The game of the century in Edgecombe County is tomorrow night as Tarboro visits SouthWest Edgecombe. If you plan to attend that game I hope you already have a ticket and plan to walk from Pinetops to the game. That is about as close as you we be able to park. I think everyone in the county has a stake in this game. I'll take the Cougars 26-14. Whig-TV will be there taping for playback over the weekend but there will be no live radio coverage of this one.

am 1390 pregame coverage of Gryphon football begins at 7.00pm and we will have eyes and ears keeping up with both the Tarboro- SWE game and the big Big East game between Southern Nash and Hunt.