Jaguars Apply Pressure To Gryphons

They are making their 4th straight trip to the Eastern Regional in hopes of making their third trip to the State Finals.  Two of those three years the Rocky Mount Gryphons shared the stage with either the Northern Nash girls or the Lady Gryphons.  The Rocky Mount Gryphons head into their Friday night showdown with West Craven already knowing that in the 1-A division and right in Rocky Mount the Jags of Rocky Mount Prep have already earned their way into the Regional final Saturday at 2pm.  Prep made it to the Regional final last year but Rocky Mount had already earn their trip before Prep even played  their  Friday Semi  final game.

Rocky Mount doesn't  have the entire city of Rocky Mount on their side like it has been in the past.  They have to share it with Prep.  As it stands now their job to get to Raleigh is tougher as they still have to win twice while Prep is just one game away.  The Gryphons will play in Fayetteville at 7pm Friday night against West Craven a team they have played as much in the past four years as any in the Big East squad.  They know us as well as we know them which makes it seem like a conference game.

Rocky Mount baseball won today at home against Tarboro.  Senior pitcher Jeremy Johnson pitched the first four innings giving up a single hit while striking out seven and walking but a single batter.  Cody  Smith pitched the final three innings not allowing a hit  striking out five but gave away six free passes but none came home to score.  Gryphons 8- Tarboro 0  You basic one hit seven walk shutout.

The Gryphons collect eight hits lead by Andy Morris who went 2 for 2 with 2 rbi.  Trevor Hayworth had two singles with a single rbi.  Spencer Ramsey, Nick Carrier, Kalido Jackson Davis, Josh Carter all added singles.  Tarboro defense aided the Gryphon scoring committing five errors while the Gryphons had a single miscue.  Rocky Mount is now 2-2 on the season and they will be home twice next week Tuesday against Rose and Thursday against the Wildcats of Bunn.

The Lady Gryphon softball team has equaled their entire win out put from last year winning twice as they beat Tarboro 16-1.  Biggest improvement this season is the Lady Gryphon pitching as Brittany Stallings has developed into a very good pitcher and if you are going to compete in softball you have to have a pitcher first of all that can get it across the plate.  Then they have to have enough speed to strike most of the batters out.  if you have a good defense with a pitcher that can dominate then you can be really good in softball..

Tonight Florida State has beaten Virginia to move N C State into 4th place in the ACC basketball race.  They can clinch 4th by winning Saturday afternoon.  I wonder the last time State, Carolina and Duke all three finished in the top four in the ACC?

No Problem For Prep

I don't think any one who knows anything about high school basketball that has seen Rocky Mount Prep play had any thought what so ever of this game with Camden would be close.  It wasn't Rocky Mount Prep has advanced to the Regional 1-A Finals besting Camden 72-41.  They will play Saturday at 2:00pm against East Carteret who beat Pamlico 77-55  who won  in game two last night.

Camden didn't have any size to compete and even lacked the speed to play the Jags.  Saturday will be a better game but unless the Jags completely fall flat they will advance to the Championship game on Saturday March 16th.  The state championship game will not be a bed of roses but that will be determined after we know who they play if they win Saturday.

The Western Regional Wednesday night was 3-A and there is now only six teams left that can win the 3-A State Title.  Statesville beat Harding University 70-52  and the other game went  Hunter Huss's way knocking off Gastonia Ashbrook 73-57.

Jeff Filkovski has become the third football coach in North Carolina Wesleyan College history.  He arrives late and right now since division 1 signing is over all of the other players in II and III are picking where they want to play now.  I guess we will have to call him Coach  Fil.

If you have not seen it you have to go on line and see the story that TV 5 did on Lee Winstead of Nashville.  Lee is the little leaguer who was hit with the thrown  ball on the sidelines a couple of summers ago and had to have the brain operation.  He is now playing for Nash Central Middle school baseball team.  You can see the video on line at WRAL.COM.

Coach K passed Dean Smith for second place on the all time list of wins by a coach at the same school.  If K stays around he is of course 66 years old I think he will pass #1 Jim Beiheim of Syracuse.  I have a feeling as much bad mouthing Beiheim has done talking about not wanting to go to the ACC he will probably retire this year.  He is 69 years old.

Hard to believe this stat that I heard on the Raycon game last night.  Last night was the first time since 1989 that State has beaten Wake, Duke and Carolina at home all three in the same year. Just hard to believe.

Miami's Bubble has finally burst.  Last night they blew a big lead at home and lost to Georgia Tech 71-69 on a shot at the buzzer.  Duke can still tie for first if they beat Carolina Saturday night.

Today the Gryphon baseball team plays at 5pm.  If you have a schedule is shows 4pm so mark the change.  That is of course if it does rain any more.

Prep Takes The Court Tonight

The Eastern Regional basketball Tournament got under way last night in Fayetteville.  Tuesday was 4-A, tonight the 1-A, Thursday belongs to the 2-A and the 3-A is Friday.  Every division rotates year to year and the winners on Tuesday will play their regional Championship game at noon Saturday right on up to the 3-A final as the last game on Saturday.  Next year the 3-A will rotate to Tuesday.

If Prep can win the game they lost last year they would play at 2 pm Saturday looking for the right to play the West Regional Champion in Raleigh at 2:30 on March 16th in Reynolds Coliseum.  If Prep can come back to earth after beating the team that knocked them out last year on Plymouth's home court last Friday they have an excellent chance of making it to Raleigh.  They have their entire team back from last year including DeShawn Freeman who last year was on the sideline with a knee injury during the Regional.  Freeman at 6 feet eight inches is a load for any team.

Rocky Mount waits to Friday night at 7:00pm before they hit the hard wood and should they survive and beat West Craven they will have less than 24 hours to get ready for the championship game Saturday but guess what who ever they play will have less time to get ready.  The second game of the night is the first game Friday's opponent Saturday.

Regardless of the outcome for either team this week both Prep and Rocky Mount have had tremendous year only losing five games between them.  Hope we have two Rocky Mount teams playing the next two Saturdays.

Rocky Mount baseball traveled to Rose Tuesday and were in the middle of a tight game most of the way.  Spencer Ramsey pitched the first five innings and Rose lead 2-1.  However Rose scored 5 in the bottom of the 6th to win 7-1.  The Gryphons play again Thursday barring snow if we get any today or tonight.

Duke was a winner last night so they held up their end to make the Duke/ North Carolina game Saturday is the battle for the outright second place finish this year to Miami. The last RPI  standing as of Monday had Duke #1, Carolina 20# and N C State 24th.  I would think that all three are automatics in the upcoming NCAA Tournament regardless of what they do rest of the season and ACC Tournament.

Look Out Gryphon Softball Is Improved

When you had a season when you didn't even win a game like a couple of years back and you followed that up with winning only once then it will not take much to be improved.  Friday in their season opener at Tarboro the Lady Gryphons beat the Vikings 20-0.  Monday they made a visit to SouthWest Edgecombe   and the game was tied at 9-9 and it had to be stopped because of darkness.  The game will be finished  when SouthWest comes to Rocky Mount later on to finish that game and then play the regularly schedule game with the Cougars.   The Lady Gryphons play their first home game Tuesday in their new on campus field.

The baseball team is on the road Tuesday playing at Rose High School trying to improve on their 1-1 record.  If you have not been out to the baseball/softball complex at Rocky Mount High you will find that the home plates of both are back to back to each other.  All the area between the two fields is  completely cemented so you will not have to worry about ever sloshing through mud as you might have had to do in the past. There is a concession stand and bathrooms connected where you can almost watch both  games at the the same time.  Both bleachers behind home plate will hold about forty people and the backstop area between the dugouts is low enough that you can bring your folding chair and camp out between the dugouts.

The Big East schedule this year will have all conference games played together. Both Softball and baseball jv teams will play before the varsity games. So there will be an opportunity to see both varsity teams playing at the same time.  I only see one problem with the idea of softball and baseball having games at the same time.  Foul balls from the boys game just might land on the softball field.

You know we are a people of instance opinion and by early January Carolina people were in a panic that the Tar Heels just might not make the NCAA tournament this year.  Look at them now.  Just maybe the hottest team in the country.

Duke got Ryan Kelly back and he may have played the best game any player in the country has played this year.  Duke has had several games at home that they were lucky to win.  They had a ten point lead on Miami with two minutes to play Saturday and almost had to go to overtime.

Everyone keeps right on bad mouthing  N C State.  People have complained that the Pack just did win at BC and I have to ask the question who else has?  They lost at the buzzer at Maryland and Wake and once again not everyone else has played at those places any better.  My goal of the Pack finishing the season with single digit losses is still possible but they might have to win the ACC Tournament or the NCAA for that to happen.

By the way when was the last time Duke, North Carolina and N C State all three had 20 wins seasons by the end of the regular season.  There have been many years it took both the ACC Tournament and NCAA to accumulate enough wins to get to 20.

Regional Will Be Tougher for Rocky Mount Than Prep

Two teams from Rocky Mount will make the trip this week to Fayetteville.  Rocky Mount Prep it will be their second straight venture south.  Already they have disposed of the team that knocked them out last year.  Wednesday night at 7pm they will play Camden and should they win that one will meet the winner of the Wednesday 8:30 game East Carteret and Pamlico.  If I were a betting man I would give Prep better than a 75% chance of winning twice this week.  Now let me remind you any time anyone makes a prediction it is of course counting on no one getting hurt and when and if that happens all bets are off.

Rocky Mount making their fourth straight Regional and all three that have been held  in Fayetteville will be favored in their Friday night affair with West Craven.  West Craven has found it hard to advance in the state playoffs because it always seems they are in Rocky Mount's bracket and in the past three years that is not a good bracket to be placed.  That is how ever the past and an all that counts now is what happens Friday.  Standing in the way should they win Friday is Webb/Eastern Alamance and that will be no picnic.

We are looking with First Media Radio that if either team or both make it to Raleigh for the March 16th we are going to be doing every thing we can to see that our teams from Rocky Mount are covered.

Alex Knight for the second year in a row has finished second in the state in the 145 pound class in wrestling.  He was the only wrestler from this area to make the top six in each weight class.  Rocky Mount finished 12th with 34 points in the team competition and Southern Nash 51st with 12

Rocky Mount baseball won Friday night at Tarboro in extra innings 4-3.  They are now 1-1 and head to Rose Tuesday.  Their next home game at Thursday afternoon with Tarboro.

The Gryphon Cheerleading squad finished second in the Big East cheer leading championships Saturday at Southern Nash. Hunt was the winner.

Girls soccer opened their season Friday at Jacksonville and lost 5-0.  Now that girls basketball is over they will have a couple of new players added to the lineup.

Benton Moss won his third game of the season for North Carolina on Saturday pitching in a tournament in Houston Texas.  Carolina is unbeaten and ranked #1 in baseball.  Hobbs Johnson was taken out of the lineup last Sunday with an injury but he did get his regular start yesterday in Houston.  He did not make it out of the third inning  but no problem Carolina won anyway.

N C State lost opening day and has not lost since.  They won all three of their tournament games in Myrtle Beach this weekend.  Campbell has lost only once this season and they head to Raleigh Wednesday night to meet the Pack.  Just might be there for that one.

Have We Seen The Best

There were rumors going around four years ago of this 8th grade kid that  was going to basketball camps and had all the coaches woozy at what they were seeing.  There was this girl who could dribble and  shoot with the best of the boys and she was going to start  her ninth grade year at Rocky Mount.  All those hopes and dreams were dashed as while attending one of those camps she blew out her knee and had to sit an entire year.

Now a sophomore in her very first game she was timid on her knee not trusting that she could really let it all out.  Despite that she scored 13 points in her first varsity game and would average nearly 15 that year. By her junior year all the fear of a wobbly knee gone her average ballooned to 22 and by her senior year 27 per contest.

When you look at the basketball career of J'Kyra Brown points per game is not her most important stat. There is always a controversy about  the term Most Valuable player. My concept is if she wasn't there what would the team do.  We all saw what a MVP was this year that on that night at Hunt when J'Kyra went down so did the hopes of the Lady Gryphons in 2013.  During her absence or in some cases her limited court time the Gryphons not only lost that Hunt game but went down at Nash Central, Southern Nash and Fike was about to get their turn whipping up on the Gryphons until J'Kyra came in.

The last leg of her high school basketball career she had to lug this extended knee brace which will make a 4.5 runner in the forty take at least 5 seconds to maneuver.  Slower and yet still a scoring machine and surely Northern Nash will be glad to never have to play again.

But J'Kyra is not about scoring, She tries to get everyone involved in the offense but many times her team mates would say why should I shoot when we have J'Kyra can do it better?  I think she is a natural shooting guard but he is able to handle the ball well enough that she can play the point.  She is tall enough in the high school level that she can rebound with the best of them.  Up until her latest knee injury she could defend the other teams best player.

J'Kyra  is one of those players that makes everyone around her better. If the truth be told both Nash Central and Northern were better teams just because in order to compete with her they had to be better.  We as fans have had a three year run that you needed to be in the gym at tip time of the girls game to watch J'Kyra and not wait until halftime so you could be there to watch the boys.

I suspect there will be many homes games in Greenville (ECU) next year that there will be a group from Rocky Mount there just to watch J'Kyra.  The funny thing is what we have seen for three years we don't know what it could have been if she didn't have that dreaded injury as a freshman and the last month of her senior year.

There are two banners hanging in the rafters at Rocky Mount which any team that comes into gym can stare at those greats of the past.  They hang in the rafters because of what they did after they left Rocky Mount.  I think there is room for one more. I hope that as J'Kyra Brown moves on to ECU that she can get healthy and play at that level up to her potential.

You have to give credit to her parents.  J'Kyra is well rounded that team comes first, she is polite and not the center of the world off the court.  It has been a pleasure to watch this treasure both on and off the court. I mean this with all sincerity if you didn't see J'Kyra  Brown play you may have missed the the best basketball player from Rocky Mount High school since Phil Ford. See Next Year J'Kyra! 

Run Of Greatness

 Rocky Mount High's Alexander Knight lost in the state championship match at 145 pounds 4-2 in overtime to finish second today in the NCHSAA State Wrestling Championships.  It was only Knight's second lost all season

I use to have this argument with the late Charles Alston all the time.  Charles loved the fact that Rocky Mount High was a 4-A school.  He loved all those State Championship banners had 4-A Champs on them.  I told him that the only important words on any banner was State Champs and it would not matter if it said 1-A.

Rocky Mount High will be making their 4th consecutive trip to the 3-A Eastern Regional next Friday and I don't hear anyone complaining.  Mike Gainey has built this basketball program into almost Rock Star status. Just Wednesday night after winning game two Gainey loaded up his Gryphons for the trip to Northern Nash to root on the girls against the Lady Knights.  Once the Gryphon fans saw the team down at the stage end a roar erupted of excitement that the Gryphons were in the house.  Not one Northern fan booed them whether out of respect for the defending State Champs or the shock that Elvis was in the house. That Saturday night every year when the brackets come out everyone looks to see whether they are lined up in Rocky Mount's bracket.

During this four year run  to this point Rocky Mount has played 12 sectional games.  How important is winning the conference title and a really good over all record?  Rocky Mount has played 11 of those games in their own gym. The average margin of victory has been 24 points.  The very first game of this four year run against Jacksonville in 2010 was the closes 64-54.  The lone road game was in 2011 in the second game had to travel to Southern Wayne and come home with a 77-73 win.  It helps playing at home in the playoffs.

The Gryphons are 4-1 in the Regional winning both games in 2010 by a total of four points.  65-62 over Northern Guilford and 83-82 over NE Guilford in overtime.  2012 two victories by 20 and 15.  Their two State Titles 84-79 and 68-54.

After last night Rocky Mount as far as polls are concern is the top team left as the #1 team Concord fell.  Next week in Fayetteville Rocky Mount will play West Craven a team that has fallen to the Gryphons all three years heading up to next Friday.  2010 in the second round at RM the Gryphons won 94-66.  2011 in RM the sectional final 101-85 and in the Regional Semi last year 73-53.  You know the coaching staff at WC will not have any problem at all getting the Eagles focused for next Friday.  They have got to be tired of Rocky Mount and will do everything to finally beat the Gryphons.

Their lone loss in this run was in the 2011 semi's at Fayetteville to South Central 70-67.Since 2010 Rocky Mount is 18- 1 in the playoffs.  This has been a great run Mike Gainey has put together and we all hope the run continues but there is one thing about playoffs.  It can end so quickly.

Next week's games in Fayetteville will have Webb High featuring a UNC recruit playing Eastern Alamance.  Rocky Mount and West Craven.  Out west Hunter Huss of Gastonia will meet up with another Gastonia school in Ashbrook.  Statesville will play Harding University.

The Gryphons are no lock to make it to Raleigh.  They will have to be ready.  Rocky Mount now has the target on their back that Coach K at Duke and Roy at UNC always talk about.  They get the supreme effort from everyone that beats them.  The only way to counter another teams supreme effort is to play your very best.  If the Gryphons do that we all should be happy win or lose