Never Give Up

Those words were never truer than yesterday in Raleigh, the Wolfpack down by 27 with ten minutes to play in the third quarter.  My guess 20,000 people looked like they were in a rush to the mall at 4am to get out of the game, then by ten minutes to go they all came back.

Early rumors are the Pack is heading to Charlotte and Carolina to DC.  There will be an official BCS Bowl selection show on Sunday night December 4th. It be the official word on where everyone goes.

North Carolina lost their first basketball game of the season last night against UNLV.  Every team has short comings and UNLV exposed Carolina to being slow.  Carolina played much better with a small guard lineup over their big lineup.  No need to fret however as everyone will lose two or more as this season unfolds.  The Runnin Rebels made 13 three pointers which will not happen every night.

How bout those Vikings of Tarboro High School.  They will make their fourth straight trip to the 2-A State Championship game.  There is one major difference this year over the past year in the finals.  The Vikings are banged up and will not be at 100% going up against Lincolnton.  Despite not being healthy the Vikings keep winning.  That brings up the point how good could this team be if they were healthy.  Go Vikes!.

If you like Rocky Mount high basketball either boys or girls this could really be a very good season for both.  Despite losing to Millbrook's 4-A girls Friday night the Lady Gryphons will not play many teams as tall as they were.  Look for both Northern Nash and Rocky Mount with shots at making the Regionals in Fayetteville in March.

The Gryphon boys  are in the Holiday tournament at Broughton  after Christmas and there is no telling what their record might be by the First of January but if both Gryphon Teams stay healthy March could be a fun time.  I have told you in the past of players that I take a liking for  and Terrell Hilliard is a great team player.  He lets the game come to him.  Last night he had a chance at one of those slam tear down the rim dunks and he just planted both feet on the ground and went straight up and after the dunk went back and played defense.   My kind of player.

Gryphons Win Tip-Off Tournament

 The Gryphons hope to play in five basketball this season and the fifth would be the 3-A playoffs.  If the fifth goes as well as the first Rocky Mount could be a main player in  getting back to a regional or further.  Rocky Mount downs East Chapel Hill 71-61 to win Tip-Off Title at Knightdale High.

M J Gainey lead the way scoring 17 points but he was also the dribbler when ECH pressed to force someone other than  the Gryphon guards  to bring the ball up court and he responded.  Terrell Hilliard once again has 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds but he had 10 rebounds  alone in the second quarter.  Donte Battle had a double-double 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Tevin Taylor added 10 point to be the only other double digit scorers.

The Wildcats would not go quietly as the Gryphons lead the entire second half from 4 to 10 points.  Every spurt by the Wildcats was answered by the Gryphons.  I going to tell you right now I like what I see from the Gryphons as they have five guards and can bring the ball up and all are playing good defense. Of course they have jumping jacks on the back line.

If you can judge a season on one game then the Lady Gryphons will have trouble with any team that has height.  Last season they lost three times to South Central who was tall but they were also quick.  Last Night Millbrook was extremely tall but no where near as quick as South Central was last season and they easily beat the Lady Gryphons by 20.  The Lady Gryphons rebounded today beating conference foe Fike by a score 75-36 .  Looking at the future the Lady Gryphons have to make outside shots to open up the inside.  Last night they didn't attempt all that many outside shots but if they can return to the sectional finals or further they must find an outside game.

J'Kyra Brown lead the way with 24 and Tia Hudgins added 12.  The Lady Gryphons take third place in the Tip-Off.  The Gryphons see the home floor for the first time Tuesday night as they host  Beddingfield in non conference action.

I am still in shock at the comeback by the Pack.  I am a person I don't care how bad the game is I stick to the end.  I am not a person who gets so disgusted that I turn the tube off or leave early.  I just want to see how bad can it really get.  State score 42 points the last 25 minutes of the game.   I  can't talk now after all the yelling I did in my living room this afternoon. Oh my.  I'm going to watch the second half all over again right now.

Carolina wins #7 on the year and you have to give the Heels credit.  Everything that has gone on there this football season they have had a good year. Do you think maybe they could do like Miami and decide not to go to a Bowl game?  You know the NCAA still has not told anyone of their decision and if Carolina is hit with a Bowl  band next year then a new coach may hesitate pending the NCAA findings.

ECU bowl hopes disappeared in overtime at Marshall.

Tarboro Does It Again

Tarboro will be heading to the State Championship 2-A football game for the fourth year in a row  as the Vikings did what they have done for the past three weeks waited to the last minute to win.  Todd Gurley scored with 53 seconds to play in the game  to give the Viking for their only lead of the night an victory 13-10 over the Stallions of South Columbus.

The Stallions shut out the  Vikings in the first half and used a blocked punt to set of their only touchdown of the game to give them a 7-0.  They added a field goal to lead 10-0 at the half.  The Viking defense shut the Stallions out in the second half forced  South Columbus to punt with around three minutes to play in the third quarter.  The snap forced the punter to go to one knee at the five yard line and being down Tarboro finally scored on a five yard drive.

Tarboro will try to sweep everyone of the Venues used by the NCHSAA  as the championship sites as they have won at UNC, Wake Forest and now will try Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh  as they will play Lincolnton a 26-0 winner over Thomasville.  Game time is 11am Saturday morning Dec 3rd.

Match ups are a big deal when you hit the playoffs.  I didn't feel like Hunt matched up very well with Northern Guilford and it came to pass  as the Nighthawks jumped to a 22-0 lead  and Hunt fought back to make it 22-13 but the Hawks added one more score to advance to the state finals 29-13 over the Hunt Warriors.  In any sport there are teams that  do things better than you do them and you hope that team is knocked out of the playoffs before you find yourself playing them.  The Warriors lose their first game of the year 29-13.

I don't know if this makes the North Edgecombe folks feel any better but Jones won tonight beating  Manteo and head to the 1-A finals.

Rocky Mount High school opened their 2011/2012 basketball season tonight in the Triangle Tip-off Tournament in Knightdale.  The Gryphons were suppose to be the Turkey dinner for the home standing 4-A Knights but the Gryphons had other ideas.  If you have seen any Gryphon team under Mike Gainey this one looks just like the rest. Runners and jumpers and tonight the Gryphons out jump and out run the Knights 83-70.

Terrell Hilliard lead the way scoring 16 followed by K J Peoples with 14.  Michael Hines added 10 then Lavon Brutus and Tabias Hilliard scored 9 a piece.The biggest lead of the game for Rocky Mount was 20 at 81-61 by then every member of the team saw action.  They play in the championship game against 4-A Millbrook Saturday night I think at 6.00pm.

If you have ever seen an old movie about castles and moats then you know unless the gate is down it is very hard to get into the castle with all that water around the moat.  Millbrook had tall trees  protecting their castle the goal and Rocky Mount was rejected time and time again trying to cross the Millbrook moat. 

Rocky Mount made only nine field goals  and was out rebounded 40-23 and were routed 59-39 in the girls portion  of the Tip-off Tournament.  They play in the first game Saturday afternoon against conference foe Fike who lost to Knightdale.

Junior J'Kyra lead the way for Rocky Mount scoring 17 and Tia Hudgins added 13.   The Lady Gryphons made 21-29 free throws to score as many as they did.  The Gryphons forced 22 Wildcat turnovers but Rocky Mount committed 18 themselves  as the rebounding height was too much for the Lady Gryphons.

Time To Give Thanks

It is believed that the Spanish that explored  the new world in 1500's took time to give thanks for the things that they had.  The first written documentation that a Thanksgiving  was held in the English Colonies was in 1609 in Jamestown Virginia.  The Pilgrim's celebrated for the first time  in 1621.  They were so thankful for what they had the celebration lasted three days.

Right in the middle of the worse conflict on American soil Abraham Lincoln signed a law in 1863 making the Fourth Thursday in November a day of celebration for what we had.  It is hard to think that during the Civil War that there was any thing to celebrate.

Despite what you might think Thanksgiving is a Religious Holiday.  It is a time to be thankful for what we have been given to survive in this world.  We are a country of I did it, look what I have done.  We are losing  the idea of being  thankful because every day our world inches ever closer to be a world  of no Thankfulness.

We have endured the last few years one of the toughest economic times the world has ever seen.  We have become a country of "You owe me".  The U S Government tells us that the poverty line has gone up.  If we look at poverty today there are not many who don't have cable TV.  There are not many that don't have a cell phone.Both cable and cell phones are luxuries.  We have lost site in this country of what is a necessity over what we want for ourselves.

We live in such luxury  that we have no idea what those people in Jamestown and Plymouth endured. There are those serving our country all over the world  that will not be home today because they are preserving  our life style  in order that we may have a day of Thanksgiving.

Take a moment today to be thankful.  Our world of full bellies and football on TV is a gift.  We all need to be Thankful.