Championships Bring On The Spoils

Thirteen football players from across from North Carolina have been nominated to play in the end of the season national US Army Allstar football game. Nash County has a player nominated and the player is Sherrod Greene Linebacker from Rocky Mount High.  400 players from across the country have been put on the list and as the season goes forward and 90 players will make up the two 45 man rosters that will play in the game.

Looking back at last football season Greene was the starting fullback and starting middle linebacker the first few games last season.  It became apparent early on then Rocky Mount was loaded at running backs but linebacker was a different problem.  Coach Jason Battle  made the move putting Nick Bynum at fullback saving Greene to concentrate solely  on defense.  That move gave Greene freshness the entire game instead of going both ways the whole game.

Bynum rushed for over 1600 yards and Greene was on the way to being the linebacker that made the Gryphon defense become championship quality.  Greene had 106 solo tackles, 48 assisted tackles.  Averaged 9.6 tackles per game.  Had five sacks, caused two fumbles, recovered four, and returned two of those fumbles for touchdowns.  Even as a backup fullback averaged 5.7 yards per carry and scored five touchdowns.

Two notable tackles during the Edenton game Greene Kicked off to about the five yard line.  The returner was sailing along before Greene was the first man down the field and met the runner at the 19 yard line the ball flew up in the air when it was picked off and returned for a Gryphon touchdown.

The most important tackle all season occurred in overtime of the state championship game when South Point faced with third an goal from the eight yard line the South Point quarterback broke around the end and had a free lane to the goal line until number 44 Sherrod Greene met him at the five yard line and that was as far as he went.  The next play was the failed field goal by South Point  which set up Chase Miller's the state championship winning field goal on the Gryphons try to break the overtime tie.

Weather has dealt the baseball and softball a low blow.  The softball game of Northern Nash taking on Topsail in the third round of the state playoffs have been moved to Wednesday at 6:pm at Topsoil

Faith Christian who was hosting a third round private school playoff game against Northside Christian Academy of Charlotte has been moved to 5pm Wednesday.

Rocky Mount High school will be hosting their end of the year sports banquet Thursday night. If you are interested in going call the main office to purchase a $10 ticket. Supplies are low.  Demand for tickets has been high since the football players will be getting their championship rings during the football segment.  Dinner starts at 5pm.

Gryphons Heading Back To Football Jamboree

Whether it is the Holiday basketball tournament  at Christmas or the football jamboree there is only two ways to get invited.  The first is you are expected to be a powerhouse next year in football.  It might be the coat tails of the state championship last season in football but the Gryphons are heading back to the Highschoolot football jamboree.  The second possible reason is the players that next season will be highly recruited and the Gryphons have one of the top recruiting talents for next season and several others that are getting looks after they were seen in the playoffs.

You might remember that back in basketball state championship and the recruitment of Tashawn Mabry the Gryphons back around 2010 got the Gryphons in the Holiday Christmas tournament two years in a row.  Since then we have not had a recruit as highly valuable as Mabry and have not been invited  since.  The Christmas tournament loves to showcase highly recruited players especially if they are headed to a Triangle schools to play college ball.

There are 14 teams starting at 12:30 during the August Saturday will play another team for an hour and forty minutes.  The Gryphons will hit the field at 5:40 and they will scrimmage a foe from last  year's playoff South Johnston. The games wil be played at Cardinal Gibbons high school and don't worry we will remind you come August.

Lady Gryphons traveled to Jacksonville Monday night and anyone who follows soccer whether boys or girls know that the Cardinals are a powerhouse in soccer and they have been a thorn the the Gryphons sides for years.  So the third round Rocky Mount travels to Jacksonville and the Lady Gryphons make the trip without leading scorer Sarah Bland who was out of state.

Talk about putting yourself in a hole before the start but the Lady Gryphons got a first half goal from Katie Moss to tie the score at one at the half.  Two quick second half goals give Jacksonville the lead that they will not give up and the soccer season is over for the Lady Gryphons losing 5-1  They finish the season at 17-7.

Tuesday night the Lady Knights of Northern Nash the only Big East team still alive in softball travel to Topsail the third seed in the 3-A playoffs but they have a 23-3 record. Northern 16-5 and the sixth seed play at 6pm Tuesday.  Topsail averages eight runs a game while Northern is slightly less than eight.  Northern gives up 4.5 runs agame while Topsail is stingy on defense giving up only 1.5 runs per game.  The Lady Knights the last Nash County public school playing in any sport other than track and field have a major test at the beach.

Faith Christian continues their playoff play in the private school playoffs and since everybody else's baseball season is over this will be a game that could be a real classic game.  Faith 18-2 will host Northside Christian Academy  of Chatlotte 18-5 at 5 pm Tuesday.  Could be the last high school game of the season in the area until summer or Legion ball cranks up.

So Much Going On

There is so much going on this time of year especially when there are several teams from this area advancing into all the state playoffs there is just not enough room to keep up with it all in one day.  Here are the local results from the state Eastern  Regional Track Championship where both the Nash Central girls and the Southern Nash Boys finished third.  Here is the list of every person from Nash County who finished in the top eight in any event.

Girls:
100 Meter Hurdles-Myka Hedgepeth Nash Central 5th
100 Meters Dash- Laneeja Shepard Rocky Mount 2nd, Teyanna Dessaure Rocky Mount 7th
200 Meters Dash- Michaela Nelms Nash Central 5th
300 Meters Hurdles- Anaiya Harris Nash Central Harris Nash Central 3rd
3200 Meters run- Halie Huffman Northern Nash 7th, MacKenzie Proctor  Northern Nash 8th
400 Meter Dash- Michaela Nelms Nash Central 1st,  Brittany Beckford Rocky Mount 3rd, Carisha Leonard Nash Central 4th, Diamond Ward Southern Nash 8th
4x100 Relay- Nash Central 3rd, Rocky Mount 7th
4x200 Relay- Nash Central 2nd, Rocky Mount 5th
4x400 Relay- Nash Central 1st
4x800 Relay- Nash Central 5th
800 Meter Run- Carisha Leonard Nash Central 2nd
Discus- Keyanna Spivey Rocky Mount 4th
High Jump- Miya Spivey Nash Central 2nd, Anaiya Harris Nash Central 5th
Pole Vault- Sarah Hicks Nash Central 3rd, Myka Hedgepeth Nash Central 6th
Shot Put- Keyanna Spivey Rocky Mount 2nd, Vanessa Ward Rocky Mount 8th

Boys:
100 Meters Dash- Nadir Thompson Southern Nash 3rd
110 Meter Hurdles- D'Jahe Ruffin Nash Central 2nd, Jonathan Romero Rocky Mount 3rd, Tremain Andrews Southern Nash 6th
1600 Meter Run- Coleman Cherry Northern Nash 2nd
200 Meter Dash- Nadir Thompson Southern Nash 1st
300 Meter Hurdles- Jonathan Romero Rocky Mount 1st, Malcolm Wade Nash Central 4th, Je'Tijah Smith 7th
3200 Meter Run- Coleman Cherry Northern Nash 3rd, Jordan Richardson Northern Nash 7th
400 Meter Dash- Tyreke Mills Northern Nash 5th, Kevon Whitehead Rocky Mount 7th
4x100 Relay- Rocky Mount 5th
4x200 Relay- Rocky Mount 5th
4x400 Relay- Southern Nash 4th Nash Central
4x800 Relay- Northern Nash 7th
800 Meter Run- Stephen Whitehead Northern Nash 4th
Discus- Sherrod Greene Rocky Mount 7th
High Jump- JaClayton Freeman Rocky Mount 1St, Malcolm Wade Nash Central 5th, Isaiah Morris Rocky Mount 6th, NaJuoson Cooper Nash Central 8th
Long Jump-  Jaquay Mitchell Southern Nash 1st, Justus Locus Nash Central 4th
Shot Put- Sherrod Greene Rocky Mount 1st
Triple Jump- Jaquay Mitchell Southern Nash 1st

Regional Champions:
Girls :
400 Meter Dash- Michaela Nelms Nash Central
4x400 Relay-  Nash Central
Boys-
200 Meter Dash Nadir Thompson Southern Nash
300 Meter Hurdles- Jonathan Romero Rocky Mouth
High Jump- JaClayton Freeman Rocky Mount
Long Jump- Jaquay Mitchell Southern Nash
Shot Put- Sherrod Greene Rocky Mount
Triple Jump- Jaquay Mitchell Southern Nash
Congratulations to all the winners as they will advance to Greensboro this weekend in the state championships.

Not Enough Mirrors

You know if you are in a barber shop and they have mirrors on both walls facing each other, if you are sitting in the right spot it looks like 100 of you sitting in the chair.  Rocky Mount had one pitcher all season and mirrors every other time and tonight Triton had no trouble with the Gryphon mirrors.

Triton scored four in the first, three in the second, two in the third and another in the fourth.  Finally the Gryphons held them scoreless in the fifth but by that time Triton had all they needed to win in five innings 10-0.

The Gryphons only choice in a game like this is to score runs themselves but collecting only three hits Logan Pearce, David  Harrison and Jamar Ellis with walks the Gryphons left the bases loaded twice  but failed to cross the plate.  The Hawks pounded out 12 hits and three errors by the Gryphon defense didn't help the Gryphon cause.  The Gryphon finish the season 13-9.

Hunt got knock out in the baseball playoffs 8-5 by Orange County and Fike was eliminated by Corinith Holders 2-0.  Baseball season is over for the Big East.

There will be no third round for the Hunt Warriors in softball as they lose 11-0 to Lee County.  It took  an extra inning but the Lady  Knights of Northern Nash remain alive in the softball playoffs winning in the eighth inning 4-3.  You know any time two teams are equal and have to play more to decide a winner it is exciting but playoffs extra play is thrilling to win. The Knights play at Topsoil in the third round.

The soccer is a different story as three teams made it to the second round and all three will play in round three.  The big story is Hunt's upset of the top seed Terry Sanford.  Tied 1-1 they played two ten minute over times and two five minutes sudden death over times and we're still tie at 1.  In the shoot out Hunt wins 4-2 and advances to the third.

Fike had no trouble at all with Burlington Williams winning 8-1. They travel in round three to the third seed Corinith Holders.  Rocky Mount advances after a home win over Richlands 3-1.  The Gryphons are a 10 seed and will now have to travel to Jacksonville the two seed in Jacksonville.

The last couple of weeks big News has come across the state concerning Eastern Alamance the team that won their first 14 football games until they ran into the Gryphons. Seems they use an ineligible player through a clerical error and has forfeited the entire season.  They also had to forfeit all basketball wins four games in the first semester once the error was found.

This brings up a real question about what if's.  Suppose EA had of beaten the The Gryphons and surely the question by every team that they played the first three rounds can be asked.   Since a forfeit constitutes a win can we go play in the next round all over again.  The answer is of course no but look at what could or does happen when ever any teams mis deeds are not caught as they happen.  EA would not have been in the playoffs at all and other teams in their conference would have moved up in other brackets.  Even the Gryphons may have played the fourth playoff game at home instead of on the road.    The NCHSAA fined Eastern Alamance 19,000 dollars which was a 500 dollar fine for the ineligible player and they have to return all playoff monies which is about 18,500 dollars.

Sport Season Ends At Wesleyan

Friday was  the last sport still alive at North Carolina Wesleyan was tennis that won the USA South crown way back in the middle of April when the entire spring conference tournaments were here in Rocky Mount.

The Battling Bishops earned their way into the NCAA Div III playoffs and finally this weekend took part as the Battling Bishops met Washington and Lee on Friday and And the playoffs hopes of the Battling Bishops are over losing to W&L 5-4

Last sports season was the first time that I had ever been on the PA at any Wesleyan Sporting event and I will begin my second season starting with football on September 10th.  Boy, do they have a doozy to start off with.  Mount Union Ohio will be coming to Bishop Stadium,  Those that are familiar with Division III football knows that Mount Union is for DIII what Alabama is to DI.  They are the Giant of the division.  They are the defending National champion and have won 12 DIII titles in football.

Mount Union is the mother lode of DIII football.  There will be no reason that this game will not sell out of tickets in advance.  The Battling Bishops will go to Alliance Oh  for the return match  in 2017.
This is the home opener for the Bishops but will be their second game of the season as they open Labor Day weekend with a Trip to Stevenson University.

The 2015-2016 athletic year for Battling Bishop athletes was a very good year.  The men won the President's Cup as having the best overall sports record in the conference.  They were the men's tennis champions garnering 13 points. They collected another 11in basketball for a grand total of 51 points beating out Methodist at 49.5.  They won despite not having a cross country team.

The women finished seventh of the twelve teams in the USA South,  Women's tennis grabbed 11 points and softball 10.5 to lead the way in NCW's 39 points.  Piedmont was the women's division winner collecting 68 point during the school year.

The overall President's Cup standing adding both the men and women together the Battling Bishops finished 5th with 90 points.  They trailed the overall winner Methodist 103.5, Piedmont 99, Maryville 95 Covenant 90 which ties the Bishops.

Today in Burlington the doubles team from Rocky Mount Tyler Brice and George Shannon were beaten in the round of 16 by a team Marvin Ridge by a score of 6-2 a 7-5.

What To Look For

Rocky Mount will host a round two baseball game against Triton High Saturday night at 6pm.  The Gryphons have fought all year having one pitcher that can do it all and anytime there was two or more games hope they out hit the other team in games two and three on the week.  It is now playoff time and it is face the music time for Rocky Mount.  Every step of the way in the playoffs you face a better team and more than likely better hitting and pitching.

Up next for the Gryphons is Triton from Irwin.  They have an overall record of 15-8. They were 6-4 in conference play. They have shown power hitting nine home runs on the  season.  Their team pitching ERA is 3.21 which is excellent.  They even get a no hitter from their fourth winningest pitcher in round one.  They have shown speed stealing 63 bases which is about three steals per game.  despite being seeded 24th the Gryphons have not been given an easy road to round three.

NE Guilford brought a nice crowd with them in round one and they were very supportive of their team.  Rocky Mount's fans not to be outdone  created a true playoff atmosphere in a competitive round one game.  Rocky Mount's four runs constituted an out burst for them.  In their last four conference games the scored a 2-0 victory, a 1-0 win, a 9-1 loss in the rain at Fike  and a 1-0 victory over Hunt.  It did take nine innings to score four on Tuesday.

This season has proven that against a good pitcher Rocky Mount has struggled to score runs.  Would think that there will be no chance  for the rest of the season as long as it last that they will  face nothing but good pitching.  The Gryphon defense has again especially  the infield has been solid all year.  Senior Forest Bell who started at shortstop for two years moved to third.  He has been able to play three positions on the infield when pitching changes were needed 3rd, second and short.  Logan Pearce has been solid at short all season.  Until a cracked finger tip happened in the first conference game he had been tearing the cover off the ball.  Will Hedgepeth at second has been Mr. Reliable all season.  Jake Philbeck has solidified the infield with his play at 1st.  Just as capable at 3rd when pitching require infield changes.

This team record now stands at 13-8.  The low point on the year they were 4-6 so this team has played some very good baseball since at 9-2.  They will have to win without my coaching from the press box Saturday.  Daughter Morgan graduates from Campbell at 9am and we have a party in our back yard scheduled at four.  Praying for a Gryphon rainout.

Foster Lander of the Rocky Mount Telegram quoted in the Wednesday Paper that Pat Smith when asked about future pitching arrangements said.  I've got to go down to Venezuela or Puerto Rico and find another boy who can pitch for us.  Anyone who knows Pat knows that when he walks inside the fence and puts on his uniform number 20 he is all business.  For him that is about as funny as you will ever get.

You know Rocky Mount has a glorious past in baseball.  Right now four former players are getting paid to play baseball in almost every level of baseball.  This Week former Gryphon Thomas Berry was named the Peach Belt Desinated hitter of the year after hitting 341 on the season.  He has 13 home runs, 12doubles, 45 walks and 54 rbi.  His slugging percentage is 636 and an on base percentage of 489. He is tied as the all time Lander home run hitter with 28.  He is second all time in Lander walks 148.  This season he is fourth in the nation in walks in NCAA D II play.  This weekend  Lander is in Florence SC in the Peach Belt tournament where  9th ranked Lander hopes to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years. Two former Gryphons "Baseball" Britt Johnson as third base coach and Jim Leggett pitching coach give Lander a Gryphon flavor.    Earlier this week former Gryphon Cody Smith was named the CIAA left hander pitcher of the year for his pitching at Chowan.  Way to go Gryphons!!!

Weather A Scheduling Factor

There is an old saying that Tuesday night during the Rocky Mount-Northeast Guilford playoff baseball game that the fans got their money's worth. This game was intense from the get go. Rocky Mount's defense was better as three of the four runs Rocky Mount scored were related to poor execution by the Rams defense.  Rocky Mount blooped out eight hits while the Rams had six but they were quality hits getting a homer and three doubles which accounted for all three of their runs.  It takes more bloops that one to score unless the pitcher walks batters or the defense helps out with errors.

The Gryphons used their ace David Harrison who gave it all that he had going 7.3 innings.  There are two thoughts here.  From the press box Harrison got out a dangerous hitter in the eighth and the next few hitters were the bottom of the lineup. Coach Pat Smith either gambled that he could use his bull pen to get two outs and score in the bottom of the eighth to win and not wear out Harrison.  The other is that he was looking toward Harrison's future and didn't want to endanger his arm. 

  Forest Bell walked the only batter he faced and not being able to afford to give up anything Smith  made a change to Will Hedgepeth who got the final two outs in the eighth but the Gryphons failed to win it in their turn at bat. Hedgepeth did what players have to do when you have reached do or die time in playoffs. He pitched like a veteran instead of a second baseman.  The Gryphons rewarded Hedgepeth with a ninth inning run and a home game in the second round.  Game Two is set for 6pm Saturday night at Gryphon Stadium.

The weather forecast is not good for Thursday and Friday.  Going nine innings a team that only has one really good pitcher a second game in a week presents a real problem.  You can assume catcher Zack Keeter will get the start in game two.  He has been the best of the Gryphon's other throwers all year.  By not using Keeter in relief Tuesday and there is a thought here.  If Keeter pitches in relief he has already been behind the plate for seven innings and it is better that he pitch fresh the next time out. 

There is now a possibility that David Harrison could throw a couple of innings or more  of relief which all pitchers pitch in practice bull pen work on the middle days between starts.  If victory is to come in round two Keeter will need to pick the Gryphons up as Will Hedgepeth did on Tuesday.  Even after his performance I think there will be confidence in Smith to use Hedgepeth again if needed.

So if you are a Rocky Mount fan a Saturday game being later in the week the more David Harrison could throw more than two innings.  Don't count out if rain forces games to Monday Harrison is not on the mound from the start.  We are at the point in the season when there is no waiting till tomorrow because a loss and there is no baseball tomorrow.  The weather forecast looks better for Saturday and one thing you don't want to do is for a team to ride up I-95 only to turn around and go home because of rain.  Saturday looks like the best day for the remainder of this week. 

The Big East is off to a good start in soccer.  Hunt went on the road and beat Western Alamance 2-1.  Fike and Rocky Mount posted shutouts on Tuesday Fike 9-0 over Havelock and Rocky Mount 5-0 over Gray's Creek.  Northern is the only Big East loser dropping a 7-0 decision at Williams High in Burlington.

Softball saw two teams lose Tuesday.  Orange beat Fike 20-1 and Webb shutout Southern Nash 10-0.  Wednesday Hunt Beat Cedar Ridge 10-3and Northern Nash will host in the second round after a 8-4 victory over Western Harnett.

The Gryphons were joined by Hunt on Tuesday in baseball as a trip to Havelock was a Warrior win 6-4.  Northern Nash lost to Corinth Holders 1-0.  Fike made a trip to Southern Lee a day after Fike Coach Buck Edmonson became a father and his Golden  Demons gave him a 1-0 victory over Southern lee.

I understand that due to weather concerns the state tennis singles and doubles have been moved to a indoor facility in Greensboro.  If all four classifications are there it will be two long days for those who advance in the classification including Rocky Mount's doubles team of Tyler Brice and George Shannon.