State Champion

Tonight in Greensboro at 8:05pm 126 pound Rocky Mount Gryphon Wilson Smith won the State Championship by beating Aydan Arroyo of North Buncombe in a decision 10-4.  Smith dominated the second period scoring six points and holding a 8-0 lead.. The Gryphon Sophomore will now join the wall of champions in the gym at Rocky Mount as he finishes his outstanding season at 53-3

Ryan Ashley 220 pounder from Southern Nash won the consolation bracket and takes home third place in the state Wrestling championships.

Hunt 15-7 the top seed from the Big East is seeded sixth will host Nash Central 13-9 27th seed Monday night to kick off the 2015 boys state championships.  The price you pay when all six teams from your conference are in the tournament some where some of the six have to square off in early games.

Northern Nash 9-12 seeded 14th the Big East #2 will be playing a home double header Monday with the girls as the boys host Southern Lee 13-9 and a 19th seed.

The Big East 3rd seed is taken by Rocky Mount 12-7 18th seed and they will hit the road traveling to Eastern Alamance 15th seed and 18-4.

Fike  15-7 22nd seed will travel as the Big East four seed to Northern Guilford 11th seed and 16-6.

Southern Nash 12-10  is in and they are the lowest seeded boys team at 28th and they have one of the shortest travels as they head to Raleigh to take on Cardinal Gibbons 16-6 and the 5th overall seed.

Northern Nash 21-0 will be seeded # 2 and don't go jumping up and down, it means nothing when comparing to the other unbeaten team Eastern Wayne all it does is protect both teams from each other until the Regional finals if both make it that far.  The will host Monday night Morehead the 31st seed and 10-12 on the season so look for a double header at Northern Monday night.

It always seems that the NCHSAA tries their best to stick it to the Big East and they have again.  Hunt 17-5 the 13th seed will host cross town rival Fike 10-12 and the 20th seed.  Hunt is the 2nd seed from Big East and Fike is the 3rd seed. Thanks NCHSAA!

Nash Central 12-10 is in as the 27th seed and travel to Havelock 14-7 and the six seed in the east.

Rocky Mount 10-9 is seeded 28th and makes the trip to Wendell to play Corinth Holders 17-5 and the sixth seed in the east.

Now would somebody try telling me how the conference 3rd seed has to play our conference #2 while our number four is seeded lower than our number five seed?  There will be a Big East basketball tournament after all.  Hunt Girls will host Fike Monday while the Hunt boys host Nash Central.

Smith Wrestles For State Title Tonight

Rocky Mount High's Wilson Smith won his 126 pound semi final match by fall and will now compete for the State Championship tonight in Greensboro.  Smith's teammate Alexander Henderson has lost in the consolation round 9-3.

Southern Nash's two wrestlers still alive for third both won their first matches and can still take third in the state in their weight class.  Clinton Whitaker 145 won his match 6-4 in a decision and in the 220 class Ryan Ashley won by fall.

Clinton  Whitaker lost his second match of the day.  Ashley in the 220 category won in a decision 6-4 while Whitaker Lost 17-9.  Whitaker finishes the State championships 2-2 and Ashley is still fight for the third spot.  He will have to win two more matches today to do so.

Ryan Ashley has won his next match by fall in the third period to advance to the championship of the consolation 220 pound bracket.  When you get in that loser bracket you wind up playing extra matches and Ashley has won again 9-8 and now has earned his way to the 3rd place match.

Smith's Made It To Final a Four

Rocky Mount sophomore Wilson Smith wrestling in the 126 pound bracket in the State championship  has won his first two matches the first by fall and his quater final match a 5-0 victory will now wrestle Saturday in the semi finals.

Rocky Mount sent four wrestlers to Greensboro and only one other wrestler is still alive but not in the championship bracket.  Alexander Henderson wrestling in the 160 pound division lost by fall in his opening match but won a 7-4 decision in the first round  in the consolation bracket.  Kenard Johnson 182 pounds lost by fall and 2-0 in overtime.  Sedrak Sheppard lost twice by fall.  Northern Nash heavy weight wrestler Jamie Williams wrestling at 285 pounds lost his opening match by fall and his final match lost a 2-1 decision.

Southern Nash sent two wrestlers to Greensboro and both won their opening matches.  Clinton Whitaker wrestling at 145 won a 16-9 decision and in this quarter final match lost an 11-6 decision.
The Firebirds 220 pound wrestler Ryan Ashley won his first match  by fall.  His second match in the quarterfinals was one of the last matches of Friday night as it didn't end until 10:55pm.  Ashley found himself down 4-0 with a minute to the end and was able to cut the final score to 5-3.

The match was as late as it was due to the fact the state championships had to wait until noon Friday because of the weather that we have had this week.  The Big East sent seven wrestlers to the state tournament and oddly enough none wrestled in the same weight bracket.

Wilson Smith is the only wrestler still alive to win his weight division 126 while Ashley, Whitaker and Henderson will be wrestling Saturday for top five spots in the state.  Team wise Rocky Mount has ten points while Southern Nash has six points after the first day of competition.

Bracketology

I was just messing around at lunch time and went on the NCHSAA.org website and you can pull up the State wrestling championships.  You can actually watch each wrestler's match as if it were on game tracker and every time there is a score or the end of a period the screen will change.  So I am watching the Gryphons Wilson Smith match and he is up 2-0 and all of a sudden his match disappears from the screen.  I then looked at matches complete and Wilson Smith the Gryphons 126 sophomore wrestler has won his first match of the day by pin but as they say in wrestling by fall at 47 seconds.  Too bad I can't just sit here and watch all our wrestlers all day.

If you think back for those of you old enough in 1990 you had never heard the word cell phone. This past 25 years our lives have changed drastically and yes with all this technology our children are smarter than we were.  They  may not be developed brain wise to understand how the world operates but they sure know how to use a computer.  Since there has hardly been any basketball what so ever this week the computer can just about tell us before the Saturday deadline what the brackets are going to be in the state basketball playoffs.

If you have been a watcher over the last several years of ESPN's bracketology first four in last four out you know  that it changes every day due to who played last night and who won and loss.  Since there has been no high school basketball this week the bracketology has not budged one bit and highschoolot.com has their brackets set and if they hold true come 2pm Saturday Monday night there will be a massive game at Northern Nash.

Bracketology says all six Big East boys  teams are in by virtue of all of their overall records.  Northern has the only losing record but by being 2nd in the Big East they are safe. Hunt the Big East champ will be seeded 6th, Northern Nash 15th and by making the top 16 both will earn home games Monday.  Rocky Mount is slotted 18, Fike 22, Nash Central25/26/27th and Southern Nash 29th.

That is a wonderful  thing that all six get in but you know like I know that there has been some match ups in the first round that for some reason the State ignores conference against conference and lets the chips fail where they may.  Now when you were looking at Northern 15th and Rocky Mount 18th Northern as the second seed from the Big East is viewed because of record as the last seeded number two team.  Rocky Mount because of record is a three seed and 18th would match Rocky Mount and Northern against each other Monday night at Northern.

Does anybody think that is fair for anybody?  I doubt it.  This weather situation we have had this week unless you practiced on Saturday February 9th you have not had a practice since Rocky Mount slaughtered Northern on the 8th.  School shutdown early Monday preventing any after school activities and there hasn't been any school since to prevent any organized practice.

Undefeated we already know Northern Girls will be at home and depending on a tie breaker they could play a 3-16 team Monday or a 10-12 team.  Can you imagine the crowd at Northern Monday night if RM/NN boys do wind up facing each other?

The rest of the Big East girls the computer is showing Hunt 13th and they just might grab Fike 20th in the first round.  Nash central is pegged by the computer 27th and Rocky Mount 28th so five teams look in for the Big East.  Northern would have home court advantage throughout the sectional and Hunt would get at least one home game.  Everybody else hits the pavement for road games Monday.  I will post as soon as I can the official bracket sometime this afternoon and we will be able to tell how accurate the bracketology computer  is to the real results.

Cameron Crazies Understood

I think if you saw the pregame prayer on ESPN when Duke honored Dean Smith you saw why sports is such a great avenue  of entertainment.  Both North Carolina and Duke coaches, players managers and team doctors all  knelt to one knee for a moment of silence for one of the greatest colleges basketball coaches of all time.  The Cameron Crazies student were in total silence for a man that not one student in the crowd ever saw coach a game against Duke.

Sports is a way to go in all out combat against another player or team that when the game ends both sides can walk away in most cases healthy ready to play another day.  While that combat is in progress you learn to respect your opponent because they can do on certain plays their objective better than you can.  All during a game each side goes back and forth winning and losing each play and then all of a sudden time runs out and the game is over.

One sides celebrates a great victory while the other side suffers a great loss.  There is always next game to help you get over the pain of a loss and for the winner he had better be on his game or the next game will be  a loss for him.

The generals in sports are the coaches.  Some generals win more battles than others.  When two great generals collide it is like a chess match moving players here and there to help your side win.  Despite how much Duke says they hate Carolina or Carolina says they hate Duke there is an understanding on both sides that both schools have  great weaponry not only for this upcoming battle but every time you have ever met.  You respect what they have, what they have had and what they will have when the next battle occurs.

Sports is the recognition  that a player or coach or team can beat me at times but at times I can beat him. In order to do what he does I know he will win battles against me and I will win some off him.  Sports is also the denial that while I am playing him I can not tell him he is beating me.  If he knows I know he is winning then he has really won while the battle rages.  I can't  let him have one second of admission by me that he is winning.  I can do that when it is over.

We as fans can be involved for one side or the other but we too must also know that we can't let my neighbor think he is winning while the game is in progress or even more the buildup leading up to the game.  I can't let him think that he knows I know he's going to win.

Wednesday both sides acknowledged at the same time that one of the great generals was a great general something we couldn't say while he was coaching because if we acknowledge he was he had us beat.  Those students ever how loud they can be understood that a giant of a man who coached for the other side needed their respect and they gave it.

You may remember I have spoke of this before when leaving Carter-Finley  after Carolina had won 17-9.  Right this second I forget the year.  The game had gone down to the wire so every fan was there to the last second.  Filing out took some time and I looked back and saw several players on both sides on one knee at mid field praying together.  I made the comment then that is what is so special about sports you could fight hard during the game but when it is over shake hands, pray together or go have a beer together.

Wednesday night was one of those moments that I was glad I got to see it but it would have been that much better to have been in the building to live it.  Then I could have been part of the 2 million people thirty years from now will say " I was there the night Duke honored Dean Smith".

Sweet Homecoming

Wednesday night was senior night at North Carolina Wesleyan College and it was also play for Kay night as NCW held their night for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.  So the men took to the court first at 5:30 hosting Methodist College and former State Champion Point guard for the Rocky Mount Gryphons Tabias  Hilliard running the controls for Methodist.

Hilliard was one of three players to score 15 points as Methodist beats NCW 80-69.  Hilliard was 6-9 shooting including 3/4 from three point land and had four assist.  Conference wise Methodist is now while  7-6 while NCW fell to 6-7 and the Battling Bishops close out their regular season Sunday at Ferrum. The conference tournament is next week.

This week highschoolot.com gave their opinion that with this being the second year in a row in which weather has played havoc with the conference tournaments it was time for all high school conferences to do away with conference tournaments.  Asking high schools to do away with their conference basketball tournaments is like asking the ACC to stop having the ACC tournament.

The bigger the ACC gets team wise now at 15 the least enjoyable it is for those who love to go to three days and seven games of basketball the way it use to be.  Now with five days  eleven games  it is hard on anybody's body.  We all know why the ACC had a tournament from the first year of the league.  The four North Carolina schools could fill up Reynolds Coliseum for three straight days and bring in plenty of loot for all conference members.  The Clemson's of the world never won a game but they got their share of the gate receipts.

High schools are the same especially in these times the conference tournament are more important than ever.  Whenever you can catch the host team being one of the very best in the tournament large crowds show up and all the money in the end is split with all members.

High school tournaments do give the underdog one last shot to redeem their season.  It is possible that the last place team or any team that feels  they have improved as the season went on and are playing their best ball of the year but are not an upper crust team can win their tournament and work their way into the state playoffs.

The ACC no longer is win to get in but now if we win a couple it might puts us in the top 68 to make the NCAA tournament.  So basketball tournaments whether it is a Thanksgiving Tournament, Christmas or end of the year conference is nothing more than a money maker.  Why don't you go ask the Glaxo Tournament at Broughton at Christmas to not have one next year and they will kick you out of the place.

Don't care where the tournament is or at what level they all make money.  You find one that doesn't and there won't be one next year.  High schools need income to support all their athletic programs and conference basketball tournaments are one of their top money makers.  The best way to make money is play about three home games during the state football playoffs.  Just go ask Tarboro how much money they made during their five years of glory.

As long as there is money to make there will be season ending conference basketball tournaments whether they effect the state playoff seeding or not.  Ask any Big East athletic director  now how are they going to support athletics next year without this years tournament money  and most will answer.  Go out to the community and beg for help. 

Schools Out Wednesday So Is Basketball

There always has to be a plan and if school had of been in session Wednesday which it is not the Fike/ Rocky Mount double header which was planned Monday and Tuesday which never came off because of the weather will not happen Wednesday either.  If it could have happened and games had of been played then the Hunt  boys and the Northern girls would have hosted Thursday's semis but of course that is off.

Every Big East team now stands on their regular season record for Saturday's NCHSAA bracket seeding.  The Boys Hunt will be the number one seed from Big East and Northern Nash will be the Number two.  Rocky Mount by winning both their games last week moves up to capture the three seed.  Everyone else is at the mercy of their overall record which should give Fike a spot.  Southern Nash and Nash Central now play the waiting game to see if their season is good enough to make the top 32 in the east.

Northern Nash girls are safe they will either be seeded one or two in the east depending on the draw with Eastern Wayne as the only unbeaten teams.  Should they get through to the Regional they should be in a bracket to play the regional final if both make it that far.  Hunt girls will be safe finishing second.  The big question of the seeding for both Fike and Rocky Mount will be in the eyes of the state who gets 3rd over the other.  Nash Central will be the team wondering if they have played their last game of the season or not.  The Lady Firebirds already know now they will not win a game this season.

I mention the other day talking about how The late Charles Alston knew every record in every sport for Rocky Mount.  Mike Gainey provided me with some dates of both Pam Gainey's 300th coaching victory and his 200th.  Tuesday sitting watching the white on the ground outside I used this blog  to look up both their records.  Since Feb 3rd 2009 Mike Gainey's Gryphons have won two state titles and a total of 129 wins and only 36 losses.  Pam is 85-34 since recording number 300 on 12-3-2010.

Knowing that this could be a magical year for Grover Battle and the Lady Knights  of Northern Nash I asked Patricia Haggerty last week if she knew Grovers over all record.  Do you know how hard it is to keep up with such records if your school doesn't have a Charles Alston doing it.