Gryphons Lose Again At Home

The Rocky Mount Gryphons are treading on unknown territory as they have played four home conference basketball game and now they have lost three of them as tonight Fike takes down the Gryphons 80-77.  The Warroirs Myquan Gooding led the Golden Demons with 27 as he was the leading scorer in the night.

Rocky Mount got 23 from Isaiah Alston, 16 from future Fayetteville State Bronco football player Broderick Caudle and 13 from Thomas Cooper.  Fike ups their conference record to 5-3 while Rocky Mount dips to 3-5

Tonight one of the teams tied at the top stopped the bleeding as Hunt took down Southern who continues to slide.  Hunt 59 Southern Nash 52.  Hunt continues to hold on to first upping their conference play to 5-3 and Southern who has now lost three in a row drops to 3-5.

The hottest team in the Big East is Northern Nash as they torched Nash Central 80-58 and by doing so stay in the three way tie for first. With a 5-3 record.  Northern started out the season losing their first two games  but have now won five out of six.  Nash Central falls into the three way tie  for last at  3-5.

It was a battle for third as 4-3 Fike traveled to 3-4 Rocky Mount and the Lady Gryphons have little trouble with Fike and are now tied for third at 4-4 but the Gryphons hold the tie breaker after Rocky Mount wins 62-35.

Tamara Harper threw down 25 for the Gryphons followed by 15 from Keyanna Spivey.  In a losing effort Rebecca Langley led Fike with14

The Lady Knights of Northern Nash keep on with their winning ways.  Again tonight they beat another conference foe by more than 20.  The 60-37 score  propels the Lady Knights to 19-0 on the season and 8-0 in Big East and the regular season top seed in the upcoming Big East Tournament.  Nash Central has slowly. been fading toward the bottom of the Big East and they fall to 2-6 and 11-10 overall.

Tonight in the battle of the teams with the best records they all played the teams with the worse records and for the first time this year the team with the winning records  beat the teams with the most losses.

Gryphons Fall In Third Round

Thursday night the Rocky Mount  Gryphons 29-2 wrestling team lost in the third round in Union Pines to Swansboro  43-3 by a score of 36-33. Rocky Mount finishes the duel portion of the schedule 29-3 on the year.  Fourth Round Swansboro lost to Morehead 30-25 so Morehead will play for the team title Saturday.
                                Notes on the Super Bowl

I would have to put SB 49 in top five all time.  I would also have to rate the final offensive play by the Seahawks as the biggest blunder since Jackie Smith dropped a wide open touchdown pass in the end zone that would have had the Cowboys beating Pittsburgh back in the 70's.

It was not a bad pass at all, in fact when you see the replay from the camera in the upper deck on the same side of the field.   I am sure Russell Wilson thought he had a touchdown as he is letting the ball go.  The defender played the ball about as well as any defender could or ever has.  In fact he defended the play so well even if it was caught the receiver would have been down short of the goal line with the clock running.

I find no fault in the pass itself.  I find fault in the decision to throw in the first place.  You just made five yards on a run from the six yard line with twenty seconds to play and a time out in your pocket.  Just maybe the best running back in the league to carry the ball.  If I am scare of time running out on me I surely would have run pass action making New England think is he running or not then let Russell roll with the ball making the defense decide whether to  go get Wilson or play the pass.  If the pass is covered Wilson could have tossed it in the stands and it is third down if he can't run it in..

I was pulling for the Seahawks because of three N C State players who play for the Hawks.  There is one part of the Seahawk team that I don't care one thing for and that is the mouthing off.  I do believe that the Seahawk defense thought they had the game won when with three minutes left in the third they led by 10.  Sherman got in front of a sideline camera and mouthed off which since I am old school I hate to see in any player.

I think this game is the perfect game for when the quarterback gets too much credit when they win.  Tom Brady was 37-50 in the game for 328 yards.  I charted throughout the game the length of his passes and of the 50 he attempted 40 never went ten yards beyond the line of scrimmage.  18 never went over the line of scrimmage before being caught.

The MVP from the game should have been one of those scat receivers who caught the ball three yards across the line and ran 15 yards before being tackled.  That brings up another point.  Seattle had a ten point lead and their so called best defense in football gave up two scores in the fourth quarter.  Why so many yards after the catch from those scat back receivers?

Just maybe that elbow injury from Sherman. Shoulder  from another and even one going down in the first quarter.  A knee from one who got hurt in practice on Friday.  Add all that up and the Seahawks secondary was not  as great as they are suppose to be.  Can't blame the Patriots from exposing a weakness in doing what they had to do to win.  My prediction last week was based on injuries to the Hawks secondary and to me lies the winning factor.  Not that Brady proved to be the greatest quarterback of all time as the media this week has proclaimed.

So football can be put to bed until the draft or the Combine or until you turn the TV on a sports channel.  Football is 365 days a year now.

Is It possible?

If you are one of the people who is trying to figure out who is really the best team in Big East boys basketball I have a scenario for you that could make this basketball season unreal.  Friday night all the 4-3 teams play all the 3-4 teams and there is a chance and the way this season has gone a real possibility that all six could be tied after Friday at 4-4.  All six are fighting for the playoff spots and here is where in playoffs all these 4-4 scenes hurt the league.

Playoff seeding are based on overall record when ever the top team in the conference matches up with other number one seeds.  The Big East will be the only conference where the league winner will have three conferences losses.  Remember that is as of right now and the conference winner as of right now will be lucky if they don't have four losses. So the Big East will get the worse seeding in every case.  There are six conferences in the east so the best the Big East Champions will get is a 6th seed and when you do second -third-fourth they will always be last when compared with others.  If four teams are guaranteed to be in the playoffs and the fifth place is hoping overall record gets them in  it may not happen this year.

Fike  4-3 13-5 @ Rocky Mount 3-4 10-6:  Rocky Mount torched Fike by 19 at Fike the first time around.  The Gryphons have been granted a reprieve after knocking off Hunt to get back in the playoff race.  After playing four of last five on the road get two out of last three at home.  They need to protect home court better than they have so far.

Hunt 4-3 12-8 @ Southern Nash 3-4 11-9:  Hunt has personnel issues while Southern has ball handling faults.  Southern started out well but has tailed off lately.  As close as this race is  nobody can afford a loss now because one  now may eliminate you from the playoff picture.

Nash Central 3-4 12-8 @ Northern Nash 4-3 7-11:  This game is the only 4-3 team at home.  Northern is peaking at right time while lately Nash Central has sputtered.  Northern is only team in league with losing record but they are also the hottest.   No one can afford to lose game which is all of them now.

Nash Central Girls 2-5 11-9 @ Northern Nash  7-0 18-0:  The playoffs are fading for Nash Central.  Nothing could work better for them other than whipping the BIG DOG.  Northern needs to maintain  their work ethic priming for the playoffs.

Fike 4-3 9-9 @ Rocky Mount 3-4 8-8:  This is a seedings matchup.  Third on the line.  These two are evenly match.  Could be a dog fight.

Hunt 5-2 15-5 @ Southern Nash 0-7 0-20:  Southern is at the point where you know they would like for the season to end.  That's good news for Hunt trying to hold second plus not getting  too far behind Northern just in case disaster strikes the Knights.

*** Final Note today, Look for an announcement soon on the new football coach at Nash Central.***

Rocky Mount Advances To Third Round Wrestling

Big East top seed wrestling team Rocky Mount 27-2 joined second seed Northern Nash at C B Aycock High School where both face opening matches in the first round of the playoffs.  Northern faced the host school Aycock while Rocky Mount met Havelock.

Both Big East teams win their opening round matches. Northern beats the host 40-36 while Rocky Mount beat Havelock 41-30.  This set up Rocky Mount-Northern squaring off in round two on the mats at Aycock and Rocky Mount advances to round three with a 44-33 win over Northern.

Rocky Mount will travel to Union Pines Thursday where they will take on Swansboro 43-2.

There has been a shakeup at Hunt as there has been a disciplinary action taken on one of their starters and tonight the Warriors pay the price as Rocky Mount gets revenge on a blowout loss to Hunt at Rocky Mount as the Gryphons win 57-48.  Hunt Drops their second conference game in a row and now stands 4-3 in Big East.  Rocky Mount ups their record to 3-4 and in back in playoff picture.

Northern Nash gave up an eight point lead in the fourth quarter but scored when they needed to and knocked off Southern Nash 63-61.  Northern's win ups their record to 4-3 and a tie for first in the Big East while Southern drops to 3-4 in a three way tie for last.

Fike tonight hosted Nash Central and the Golden Demons didn't act nice toward the Bulldogs as the boys action was 70-55 in favor of Fike.. Fike now jumps to 4-3 in the Big East while Nash Central drops to 3-4.  I guess you can see that there is a three way at the top with Hunt, Fike and Northern Nash at 4-3 while Rocky Mount, Southern Nash and Nash Central are 3-4  unbelievable.

Fike girls were not very nice either to the Lady Bulldogs winning 73-63.  Fike stands 4-3 in conference play while the Lady Bulldogs tumble to 2-5..  Northern leads at 7-0-Hunt stands at 5-2- Fike 4-3- Rocky Mount 3-4- Nash Central 2-5 and Southern 0-7.  The girls action looks like what a normal conference looks like as the season goes forth.  Not the boys.

Under the category of a mis-match tonight in girls basketball the undefeated Lady Knights of Northern Nash won their 18th game of the season as they hosted Southern Nash.  This was a clash of the winless and the lossless  and Northern wins by a 69-19 score. 

Rocky Mount girls lose to Hunt 41-40 and drop to 3-4 in Big east while hunt remains two games back of Northern Nash at 5-2.

Baffled At The Standings

I think everyone is mystified at ACC basketball this year and even on the local level high school basketball.  What in the world is going on?  Why is it one team can beat a powerhouse one game and lose by twenty  to a nobody the next.  On the local level why is it that nobody is dominating anybody.  Let's see if we can figure this out.

First let's look at the ACC.  Now that every network in the world carries basketball on TV every night there is no reason for a player that we will call a top 100 player just go to Duke, Carolina or Kentucky to get on TV 30 times a year.  Why, Campbell has been on two national games in January.

Yes all the major powers get three McDonalds All Americans per team but no longer is the bench full of them.  They are now going to Wofford, Davidson or to Butler and are not sitting on the bench as freshmen waiting their turn like they would if they were to go to a powerhouse. 

Use to be when the season started twelve teams had a chance to win the NCAA championship now 50 could win it.  I will use the WolfPack as an example.  They are 14-9 and yet if they get hot at the right time they could win the NCAA.  Their problem they need to win enough games just to qualify.  Even if they are hot they could lose to somebody else in the same boat as them.  So now  there is no more UCLA breezes through the regional and only has to play two teams to win the title.  That first game for everybody will be against a team that could win it all.

There is two weeks left in the high school basketball season and four teams are tied in the standings with a 3-3 record and yet only one game from being in the lead.  The most obvious of all answers is there is no team with great size as has been in the past.  Hunt the tallest is the leader but everybody in this Big East has athletes that can run, shoot and jump. 

Night in and night out every team is lining up and play themselves  because everybody looks the same.  Tuesday night's game goes down to the wire and Friday you line up against yourself again. Everybody is doing this so much playing teams equal one little lapse and you are blown out.

Miami beats Duke, then loses by twenty to Georgia Tech.  Rocky Mount crushes Fike on the road then falls twice at home.  We live in a world where because TV pours so much money into it that the ACC stretches from Miami to Chicago to Boston.  Travel and playing good teams night in and night out can be hazardous to any team.  The new bye word in college basketball should be "just get in".

There is two weeks to go and somebody in the Big East has to decide we are going to take command.  The team that wins at least three out of their last four can do it.  Should one win all four they surely will be the regular season champ.  If it is Rocky Mount that does that they could still  tie for the title.

Rocky Mount In Playoff Mode

The Rocky Mount Gryphons are experiencing what they have administered to most teams for the past two decades since I have been living in Rocky Mount.  They tended to have the upper hand, made the right decisions down the stretch and made more than their share of clutch shots when needed.  Heading into Tuesday nights trip to Hunt the Gryphons  find themselves in a win or just maybe not make the playoffs.

Trailing Hunt by two games 4-2 against 2-4 a lost would put the Gryphons at three games back with three to play in order to finish first.  The position they stand now it is almost to the point  forget first just try to make the playoffs.  Trailing four of the teams closes to them in the standing by a single game second place is feasible but a lost to Hunt puts them no closer to second, third,fourth  or fifth.

A victory over Hunt  would put the Gryphons just one game from first and with the schedule being the way it is somebody would join them in last again.  It could be at sunrise Wednesday could have three teams at 4-3 and three at 3-4 with three games to play.  The bottom line is unless the Gryphons can take down Hunt  this could be their last stand for this season.

Rocky Mount 9-6 2-4 @ Hunt 4-2 12-7:  Hunt dominated in Rocky Mount so this will be a tall task for the Gryphons.

The Girls action Rocky Mount 8-7 3-3 @ Hunt 14-5 4-2:  when the Lady Gryphons get good guard play they have a shot to beat everyone  but Northern.  Had Hunt by double digits but could not hold on at home.  Now down two games to Northern the Lady Warriors can't lose any more ground.

Nash Central 11-6 3-3 @ Fike 12-5 3-3:   The winner could be tied for first but for sure the loser could be two back with three to play.

Nash Central Girls 11-9 2-4 @ Fike 8-9 3-3:  Now that Northern leads by two games it is a sprint to the finish line for second.  NC is in fifth and if they are to be in it to the finish they need this one.

Southern Nash 11-8 3-3 @ Northern Nash 6-11 3-3:  The Firebirds romped by 18 the first time around  but right now Northern is the hottest team in the league.

Southern Nash 0-19 0-6 @ Northern Nash 17-0 6-0:   Regardless whether it's a boys team or girls this year's conference race is you can switch uniforms  and they all look the same except in this game.  Switch uniforms  in this one and Northern still wins in a Southern Uniform.

Tickled Pink

One of the facts of life about getting old is as you try to teach your children about life as they move along in life you tend to repeat stories.  People get tire of the same old stories but today I am going to rehash some of a story from my past because I am just too happy to hold back.

You have heard me say here before about my adventures as the batboy for the Ahoskie American Legion baseball team.  My time was 1963-64- 65.   During that time I saw several players past through that program that they became greater in sports or life as they continued their journey through life.

I have also told of the story that my father loved high school football and every Friday night we were following Ahoskie High or when the playoffs rolled around our conference champion of the Albemarle conference.  So we saw a lot of football through almost all of November every year as I was growing up. 

My two favorite players from Legion ball during my time were twins Freddie and Francis Combs from Winfall.  In 1962 led by quarterback Francis Combs and halfback Freddie Combs Perquimans High won State football titles in 1962 and 1963.  I remember watching Perquimans beat Havelock at the new Ficklen Stadium at ECU when only one side of the stadium was the cement stadium and the far side was bleachers.

The best my memory serves me Freddie on one play took a toss sweep around the left end and broke out in the open with only one man to beat and as that player tried to tackle him Freddie jumped right over top him and continued on for about a 70 yard touchdown.  I remember the score as 34-7 Perquimans.  I thought Freddie Combs was the fastest man alive.  Didn't have stop watches and such to tell us how fast he really was but he could scoot.

On the baseball field Freddie was the shortstop and pitcher.  He was a right good pitcher but he had a teammate by the name of Jimmy Hunter on his team so nobody noticed how good he was as a pitcher in high school.  He pitched plenty in Legion but boy could he play shortstop.

Both the Combs brothers sign with N C State and Freddie is going to be a defensive back on the football team and play baseball and Francis is going to play baseball.  Once I heard my two hero's were going to State right then and there I became a Wolfpack fan.  I had liked them all  Carolina, Duke, ECU, Wake until  the spring of 1964.

Freddie became an All American defensive back for the Pack and appeared on the Bob Hope show  when they announced the team nationwide.  He also led the nation in punt returns.  His senior baseball season he played the outfield in 1968 when the Wolfpack went to the College World Series for the first time.

Over the years about the only time I would see Freddie or Francis was at State football, basketball or baseball games.  The spring of 2013 I wrote a story about the Ahoskie Legion team championship season of 1963 and since 2013 was the 50th anniversary of that team I interviewed all those on the team for the article.  We spent a good hour talking about life back then.

Today I am tickled pink  to know that this past week Freddie Combs was announced to be one of the 2015 inductees  into the North Carolina Sports Hall Of Fame.  I almost feel like I'm going in the Hall of Fame to know one of my hero's has made it.