Turnover Battle

We walk out of games and you hear this all the time.  We didn't play well.  We forget that there is always another team on the other side of the ball and their job is to win just like ours. We hardly ever recognize how well the other team played because all we remember is the bad that we did to lose the game.  Most cases the bad was caused by the other side.

Friday night Tarboro had a bad snap on a punt in which they gave up the ball deep in their own territory at Edenton.  Yes that may have been a mistake by Tarboro.  They made up for it by blocking the extra point.  Was the block a good play by Tarboro or a bad one by Edenton?  Sometimes coaches see things that they think they can take advantage of.  Since later on Tarboro blocked another extra point I suspect that was a good play by Tarboro over bad ones by Edenton.

Tarboro fumble again at their 15 yard line in which Edenton scored.  They also fumble and one of their own players picked up the ball and raced for a score.  A bad play by the Vikes turned good.  Another bad snap on an extra point Tarboro was able to score two points when all they were doing was running for their life after a bad play.

When they added up the score Tarboro had won 28-26 because of two blocked extra points or maybe even dumb luck scoring a two point conversion after they had messed up.  The bottom line Edenton and Tarboro were even Steven on the football field an one is as good as the other. Any way you look at it the team that made the most mistakes lost or the team that made the most plays won.   It is hard to say either side didn't play well.  Just one had more points than the other.

Tarboro's scenic tour of Eastern North Carolina  which has carried them from the coast of Southeastern North Carolina and back again to the inland shore of Northeastern North Carolina.  Tarboro will get to stay home this Friday hosting South Columbus  this week's team who has to learn  the telephone area code.  Just one more game until a 70 mile ride which could be the shortest of the playoffs to Carter Finley on December 3rd.  Before that happens the Vikings must win the turnover battle or  make good things happen if they don't.

Fat And Sassy

If there ever is a coach that could figure out how to get their team up for every game Coach K from Duke is as close as they get in modern basketball or any sport for that matter.

Clemson already having clinched  a spot in the ACC Championship and they came to Raleigh to play a team that has it's moments of greatness and then their moments of down right awful.  Today the great N C State show up in the second quarter  and Clemson the seventh rated team in the land of college football looked intimidated .

Now lets look at a few facts  that seem to be common of average teams.  They have their moments of greatness, then they have moments of pure mediocre.  What all average teams have in common is when they get on a roll and win five or six games in a row they are going to also lose five or six in a row somewhere.

There was a time when Clemson was a national power but the last 25 years or so they have been one step above average.  They have had three comeback wins this years of 12 points or more which if they had of lost any of them they would be about where an average team would be.

State Carolina, East Carolina all fall in the average category.  You know another trait of an average team is they are great this week and bad the next.  Injuries effect an average team more than programs that excel every year because average teams don't have a lot of wiggle room .  An injury here  and there and they can't come up with enough healthy players to even be average.

Next week State can clinch a bowl game against one of the bottom of the barrel teams in the ACC. After this week's great performance don't count on one next week   Since Maryland has become the Oregon of dumb uniforms just maybe they will do like Clemson.  Wear some sort of concoction that have that faded blue in it like State thought that Clemson had on today.  If that happens they may go bowling.  If not another disappointing loss from and average team.

Tarboro Survives Again

 Tarboro fumbled the second half kickoff at their own 15 yard line and just like that Edenton  who trailed 21-13 at the half scored and cut the lead to 21-19.  Punting back to Edenton at their 21 yard line Edenton scored on the first played going 79 yards  and for the first time time this  playoff season the two time defending state champs found themselves down to the Aces 26-22.

Edenton stopped the dive play all third quarter so the Vikings began attacking the outside and drove  for their only second half score with their only time they had the ball in the 4th quarter and scored with 7.03 to play in the game on a five yard Todd Gurley run.  They missed the extra point to lead 28-26.

The next almost seven minutes Edenton drove down the field before the Vikings finally stopped the Aces  on a fourth down play with 29 seconds to go inside the 30 yard line to seal the deal for the Vikings.

Tarboro drove with their first attempt with the ball  and Larry Jones scored to give the Vikes a 7-0 lead. The first play of the second quarter a bad snap from center on a punt  and Tarboro turned the ball over  at the Tarboro 32 and Edenton scored but Tarboro blocked the extra point to lead 7-6.

The next time the Vikes had the ball they fumbled again but this time Ryan Hyman scoops up the loose ball and races for the End zone and Tarboro scores.  The snap on the extra point was high but the Vikes run it in for the two point conversion.  Edenton took less than two minutes to respond to cut the lead to 15-13.  Larry Jones score his second touchdown of the night for the Vikings with 29 seconds to go in the half for the 21-13 lead.

Tarboro now host their first playoff game this year the 2-A Eastern Finals as they will meet South Columbus who Shutout East Bladen 10-0.

Hunt has done something nobody else in the state has been able to do this fall  and that is beat Cardinal Gibbons in anything,.  Tonight Hunt beat Gibbons 31-17 to advance to the 3-A Eastern Finals.  This is the third straight year that the Big East has played in the Regional final and this is the second year in a row for Hunt.  They will host Northern Guilford who slaughtered previously undefeated Douglas Byrd 35-6.

North Edgecombe could not hold on to a 12-8 halftime lead and failed to score in the second half and lost 22-12 to Jones County.  Jones has won three straight playoff games beating three members of the Tar-Roanoke conference.

Duke University Soccer team advanced to the second round of the NCAA playoffs Thursday night beating Georgia  State 1-0.    Former Rocky Mount Gryphon freshman Andrew Morales was right in the thick of the lone goal scored in the game.  Morales fed a pass to a shooter who took a shot for the Blue Devils which was blocked by the Georgia State goalie but the ricochet found the foot of Blue Devil Christopher Tweed Kent who booted the lone goal of the game.

Duke now advances to the second round of the NCAA playoffs as they will travel to New Mexico.  This will only be the third time in the history of Duke soccer to play a game west of the Mississippi River.

Viking Road Show

Round three of the State 2-A playoffs continue Friday night as the homeless Vikings of Tarboro High will make their third road game of the playoffs.  They head east Down highway 64 then north on US 17 until they hit the beautiful town of Edenton.  The place of the first tea party well before the one that is famous in Boston.

The Vikes will face an Aces team that is the champion of the Northeastern Coastal Conference who beat everyone in their conference both 3-A and 2-A.  The Aces are six times state champions but that all came before 1970.  This years squad is one of their best in quite a while since the mid 80's.

If Tarboro can find a way to win again they will head in a different direction next week as they will be on the road at either East Bladen who calls E-Town home ( Elizabethtown).  You know E-Town has road signs telling you how far it is to South Carolina.  Their other choice is even worse as East Bladen is playing South Columbus which is located in Tabor City and when you drive through Tabor City the south side of town you can see South Carolina.  East Bladen is 10-2 and South Columbus is 9-3 and both are higher seeds than Tarboro. Looks like as close as Tarboro will be to home is if they make the State Championship game in Raleigh on December 3rd.

North Edgecombe will be hosting Jones County who will visit Leggett with a 8-4 record and 2-0 in the Tar Roanoke league as they have taken down two teams from the TR in the playoffs.  If North Edgecombe can survive they head east next week either to Plymouth or even further to Manteo.  Whatever happened to playing teams in you area?

Hunt who so far this fall looks as if they will be leading the Wells Fargo standings from the  the Big East when we hear for the first time the standings  after football is over will be playing the team that will be leading the state in the Wells Fargo Cup.  So far Cardinal Gibbons has won every State title that the NCHSAA offers in the fall and Hunt gets the pleasure of hosting them in football.

All three of our local teams left from the area have their work cut out for them Friday night.

Pack's A Different Team

Tonight N C State beat Princeton 60-58 which is a very unimpressive score but wait a minute.  Leslie is out, Woods get hurt the first minute and the Pack never really looked comfortable all night on offense.  The result a win for the Pack when in many of the past years they would have lost by 15.  Tonight the Wolfpack played Defense.  The new man in town has really got his troops believing in defense and tonight they won one which they would have lost in past years and when it is time to count wins to make the NCAA tournament this game will be in  the positive category instead of bad losses.

Tarheel football will be on Thursday night TV  playing Virginia Tech. in a game that I think the Heels must win. If it comes down to beating Duke to make a Bowl don't count your chickens on that one yet.

N C State football has to hope the Clemson team that is satisfied with knowing they are in the championship game will come to Raleigh Saturday fat and happy.  It probably wouldn't hurt to see if they could get Clemson to wear pale blue either.

Follow up on the high school soccer Regional final.  Jacksonville can't beat Cardinal Gibbons  any better than Hunt can't beat Jacksonville.  Cardinal Gibbons goes after their fifth State title this fall Saturday in soccer.  They beat Jax 3-1 Tuesday.

You know us folks in the media can flip flop in a minute.  Three weeks ago Tim Tebow was a bum and could not make it in the NFL.  This week he is going to change the face of the NFL.  In reality Tebow has been a hero the last couple of weeks because the Bronco's defense has kept him in the game.  If they were giving up thirty points like they were earlier this year Tebows still a bum.  Personally I like Tebow both on the field and off.  I don't think he will last however.

K Is Tops

There has never been a coach in college basketball's so called division one level to win as many games As Michael William Krzyzewski.  Tonight Duke beat Michigan State on the so called mecca of all basketball courts Madison Square Gardens.  Victory number 903 puts Coach K ahead of Bobby Knight who was there to see himself fall to #2 on the list.

There have been two things that happened to Coach K which may have made 903 occur before the night.  He spent five years in the US Army after graduating from the U S Military Academy.  You may also remember in 1995 K was having back  problems and wife "Mickie" said you get well now or quit coaching basketball so after a 9-3 start to the season K stepped aside to get well and without him the team finished the season winning only three times and losing 12.  Duke later announced that the 3-12 record would not be put on K coaching record.

Duke win makes them 3-0 on the season but I think all the talk about the record wins Duke is maybe not yet a top caliber team yet this year.  Belmont the team that almost took Duke out Friday night at home lost big to Memphis tonight.  It is however still November and a long ways to the NCAA tournament.

Tonight I was at Faith Christian as Rocky Mount Academy and Faith opened the high school basketball season.RMA took care of Faith in both games by 20 or more.  The girl's game will be seen Sunday night on the Stretchlon Sports Show and the boys will be seen on Sunday after Thanksgiving.

High school football ending a week earlier this year that leaves the 3rd round to be played this Friday instead of the Friday after Thanksgiving.  This is still the week that any team playing win or lose this week making it to the third round is very special for all teams.

All the attention that has been paid to coach K here the first week of the season but lost in all the specter is the ACC is 22-0 so far in basketball.  Last year the lower level teams were losing to teams you have never heard of but not this year.