Who Is Rocky Mount's Biggest Rival in Football

Nash Central High School has brought about a change in the dynamics of who is the biggest rival for Rocky Mount.

Back in the 60s, there was no bigger game than Wilson Fike and Rocky Mount. There was a time when the winner thought the next step after winning the Fike-Rocky Mount game was a state championship.

Friday night will bring back the excitement of what use to be in the series. Years ago, the winner played in the playoffs and the loser started basketball practice.

Regardless of what happens, both teams have already qualified for the playoffs ,so the games lacks the winner-take-all aspect.

I know it means a lot to Southern Nash when Rocky Mount week occurs, but Rocky Mount has dominated the series over the years.

Northern Nash has fallen on hard times in football. Northern has gone down hill right when Rocky Mount was on the upswing.

Just six years ago the roles were reversed.

To hear the Northern people tell it, Nash Central is made up of what should be Northern players.

The Nash Central -Rocky Mount series will really get serious the first time Central beats Rocky Mount (6-0 RM leads). Until then, it's all Rocky Mount.

Do you think it is coincidence that SouthWest Edgecombe started rising as soon as Raymond Cobb moved south in the county?

That also coincided with B.W. Holt arriving in Rocky Mount.

I have heard that B.W. and Raymond have already agreed to play each other in a non-conference game next year when SouthWest moves to the Eastern Plains 2-A.

There is no doubt in my mind that the best football rivalry for Rocky Mount is with SouthWest Edgecombe.

After what I saw of their JV team, I will make a prediction right now that SouthWest wins the 2-A state championship next year.

One of the reasons the conference schedule rotated this year was to not have SWE and Rocky Mount play the first conference game.

When do you want to play them next year in non-conference?

I think it is safe to say that Greenville Rose and Hertford County are on the schedule next year. So where would you schedule them? The first game of the season or the last non-conference game? Toss in a first-ever football meeting with Washington for the Gryphons, too.

Southern Wayne and Northern Vance have dropped us. So for sure, one thing we need to find two cupcakes to fill out those two games.

Not saying that this is a cupcake game, but I would like to see Tarboro back on the schedule.

Fuel being the way it is, the closer you can stay home, the better for the schools and fans.

Beddingfield has been on the schedule in the past and we must find a replacement for Hunt who we will now play us as a conference game.

So who does that leave to try to play non-conference? South Central, D.H. Conley?

When you are a power like Rocky Mount has become, no one wants to play you unless they have to in the playoff.

Sometimes the stars line up just right for a team. This year needs to be the year for Rocky Mount. A senior-dominated squad during a five-year cycle that has produced great football.

In order for the stars to line up right, we need to beat one of our greatest all-time rivals to win the conference championship.

It can be done, but winning the state title is harder when you are a lower seed.

Heads And Tails Of This Mess

I have been trying to figure out who is AA and who is A in the playoffs?

According to Rick Strunk of the NCHSAA, the 95 3-A teams they will start with the biggest and work their way down.

When they have 32 of the biggest that have qualified, then they will take the 32 smallest that qualify.

That begs the question how do you qualify?

Win four games.

Suppose there are not 64 teams in 3-A that win four games. Then they will pull from teams that win only three.

Once they have the 32 in each bracket, then they will seed them according to how they finished in their conference.

First, there are the conference champions. All champions that are undefeated go to the top of the list. If there are more than one, a drawing will be here by pulling out of the hat.

Next is conference champs with one loss, after all of those then the two-loss champs.

You say who is going to win a conference with two losses or three? It can happen if you were 1-3 in non-conference play or worse.

I remember Jim Brett led Tarboro to a 3-A state championship back in 1984 after starting out non-conference play 0-4. It can happen.

Once they are through with the 1st place teams, they follow the procedure for second on down the line until 32 teams are in.

Looking at the NEW 6, five teams have qualified.

Northern Nash is the largest school in our conference, but they will not qualify for the playoffs.
They are the 24th largest 3-A school in the state. If it had of qualified, it would have been a 3-AA.

Fike is the 40th largest. In order for it to be classified as a 3-A then 32 of the 39 schools larger than them must qualify for the playoffs. We already know one Northern Nash is not qualified, so only six other schools bigger than Fike cannot qualify to keep them out of the 3-AA.

Nash Central is next at 41st largest so they don't have any more cushion than Fike. In the past few playoffs, Nash Central has been 3-AA.

Southern Nash is 46th largest and Rocky Mount 48th. All are holding their breath waiting for 3 p.m. next Saturday when the brackets come out.

I have tried to look at all 95 3-A schools and try to come up with a number who has qualified, but I need about 24 hours and a slide rule to figure it out.

Regardless of if we are in the same bracket with West Craven or Dudley, we must win three games to get matched up with either.

First, there is this little matter with Fike Friday night. Oh yea, the conference championship.

Slow Saturday

North Carolina, State and East Carolina all off today, so I found myself watching old movies more than football on a Saturday afternoon.

If you just happen to be one of the fans in attendance today in Winston-Salem at the game between Wake and Duke, you got you money's worth.

You might also become a movie star. Today's game film footage will be used in an upcoming movie about John Abbate, a Wake Forest player who dedicated the 2006 season to his brother Luke, who was killed in a wreck.

Fans who stayed after the game were invited to be a part of the fans shots for the movie. So if you stayed you might make it in the movies.

Wake won in overtime, 33-30.

The girls cross country team ran this morning in the NCHSAA state cross country championships and Latoya Applewhite was the first Gryphon to cross the line in 53rd position.

The news is not good tonight in soccer. Burlington Williams beat the Gryphon boys soccer team 3-1 in second-round action. I have no details other than finding the score on the NCHSAA website.

Northern Nash also lost tonight in the soccer playoffs - 1-0 to Jacksonville White Oak..

The news is better for the Nash Central boys cross country team as it finished second in the 3-A state championship.

This completes all of the fall playoffs, except football,which hasn't even started yet.

I think last night's game with Nash Central shows why this year's football team is better than last year. The Gryphon defense played very well, even though they gave up more yards than in any other game all year.

When the team votes for MVP at the end of the year, I don't see how it will not be Nick Hahula.

Nick has scored 10 touchdowns (nine rushing, one receiving), kicked seven field goals, made 46 out of 49 extra points, rushed for over 300 yards, kicked two out of every three kickoffs into the end zone, and punted for a 38-yard average. He has played a few plays at linebacker, but not many and now he has thrown a pass which was good for a first down.

He should also be nominated for an Oscar in the Nash Central game because he completely fooled everyone in the stadium when it looked as if he was going to try to run for a first down on a fake punt - only to toss it to Hiawatha Bunn for a first down.

Without our passing game last night, we probably don't win.

I watched the second half on WHIG this morning as they only showed part of the game, but man did we block on both of Brian Goodwin's punt returns.

I could pick out a killer block by Carter Varnell on one and then on the TD interception return by Hiawatha Bunn, Chris Pittman laid out the Bulldog quarterback right in front of the Bulldog fans.

The entire game will be shown on replay on WHIG just as soon as the Stretchlon Sports Show is over Sunday night.

It has come down to the last game of the regular season and a victory the Gryphons makes them conference champs and a lost could result in a three-way tie.

This week is the reason for all the sweat you got from lifting weights in January. The reason for all the sprints in August in the heat.

Championship week!

Gryphons Clinch At Least a Tie

Since Nash Central has been in existence, it has been as competitive as any football team against Rocky Mount, other than SouthWest Edgecombe.

Tonight, the Bulldogs make the Gryphon sweat before the awesome speed of the Gryphons tripped Nash Central 35-7.

Any one who gets up tomorrow and looks in the paper and sees the score will say that the Gryphons didn't have any trouble, but will they ever be wrong.

The Bulldogs had the Gryphons on the ropes as the fourth quarter started tied 7-7, but a punt return that was called back lit the Gryphon fire in the fourth quarter.

Brian Goodwin fielded a punt and followed some crushing blocks all the way to the 1-yard line, but a block in the back put the Gryphons all the way back to their own 43.

The first play Collins Cuthrell caught the Bulldogs looking run and hit a wide open Keith Strickland for a 57-yard score and the flood gates were opening.

Following a three-and-out by the defense, Goodwin fielded another punt on his own 35 retreated back to about the 25 trying to get to his wall of blockers and once he got there, he had clear sailing down in front of the Gryphon faithful and just like that, the Gryphons had a 14-point lead.

Cuthrell scored his first varsity TD as the Gryphons marched right back down the field the next time they got the ball.

The final score of the game occurred late as Hiawatha Bunn intercepted a Bulldogs pass and had an escort down in front of the Bulldog bench 79 yards to paydirt.

Goodwin got the only Gryphon score in the first half on a 22-yard end around, but that play may never have happened if it weren't for Nick Hahula's fake punt that kept the drive alive.

Hahula sold the fake punt by acting like he was going to run right with the ball and then threw back to the left where Bunn was able to pick up 20 yards on a fourth-and-12.

There is a rumor going around that Hahula will be taking snaps at quarterback next week since he has a 100 percent completion percentage in his career as a passer - 1-for-1!

The Gryphons were pressed hard by Central, but when it was clutch time, the Gryphons came up with the big plays.

The Gryphons clinched a tie for the conference crown 35-7 over the Nash Central Bulldogs.

In other NEW 6 play, Fike made sure that it could still get a part in the championship by beating Southern Nash 33-14.

Over in Death Valley, Northern scored its most points this year, but they pick SouthWest Edgecombe as the team to score 28 on as the Knights fell short to the Cougars, 46-28.

The ADM's were released today and to me it looks like the Gryphons will be in the 3-A bracket.

There are 95 3-A schools and Rocky Mount is the 46th smallest. Its average daily attendance is 1210.

If you take the top 47 as the 3-AA and the next 48 as 3-A, the Gryphons will be in the 3-A bracket by the skin of their nose.

You can go on the NCHSAA website and see all the size rankings of all four classifications at www.nchsaa.org.

Northern Nash has 1,320 students followed by Fike with 1,243, then Nash Central at 1,242 fourth in size is Southern Nash at 1,217, then Rocky Mount at 1,210 and SouthWest, which will go back to 2-A next year, is at 957

When you go the the listings, they do not have a list that says 3-AA or 3-A - they are all in a row, but I don't know how we will not be the the 3-A bracket.

West Craven is now the only true undefeated team in eastern 3-A football as two unbeaten teams went down last night.

Beddingfield lost to Kinston 33-32, and Eastern Alamance fell 34-20 to Oxford Webb. Rocky Mount's forfeit that leave West Craven as the only true undefeated team.

Beddingfield loss to Kinston means it can not win its conference out right and Eastern Alamance's loss means the best it can do is tie for the title.

So it is down to West Craven and Rocky Mount for the top seeding in the east.

All Kinston has to do is win next week and Beddingfield can only be their No. 2 seed so they can't be considered for the 3-A No. 1 seed. Eastern Alamance can only tie the winner of the Webb-Northern Vance game, so there will be a drawing for their conference's No. 1 seed. If Eastern Alamance losses the draw, then it will lose out on a possible No. 1 seed in the east.

Rocky Mount must beat Fike next week or it may be in the same dilemma as Eastern Alamance and not win a draw as its conference's No. 1 seed.

A victory Friday will solve that problem.

Bumps and Bruises

The Gryphon JV football team played its last home game of the year tonight against the Bulldogs of Nash Central and pulled off a 34-6 victory.

The game seemed closer than the score as on Nash Central's first two drives of the game, it marched the ball deep into Gryphon territory only to fumble the ball away.

The Gryphons also got two other fumble recoveries as squib kicks turned into Gryphon recoveries and a very competitive game became a decisive victory.

Saturday, the girls cross country team will travel to Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, west of Winston-Salem, to run in the NCHSAA 3-A state cross country championship. It qualified for the state after finishing third in the regionals last weekend.

Tanglewood is a very hilly course and will be a tough test for all runners.

Round two of the NCHSAA 3-A soccer playoffs for the Gyphons is Saturday night at 7p.m, in Burlington. Williams High school will host the Gryphons for the second year in a row.

Last week, the Gryphon football team played with two starters out and two is the magic number again tomorrow night. Torey Lee will again be on the sidelines, but he will be joined by Marquavis Alston.

Last week, Whit Barnes was out but he is expected to play this week.

Friday will be the 10th game of the season and nagging injuries hit everyone this time of year. This is where you find out about the quality of the backups who now get their chance.

It about time for the AA and A .. ADMs to be announced. Rumors abound that the Gryphons will be in the 3-AA bracket. If you remember last year, they were, I think, the second largest in the 3-A team. So where the dividing line is this year will be close again.

I personally don't care one way or the other. If we are in the 3-A, West Craven, Beddingfield and Eastern Alamance are still all undefeated, where in the 3-AA, Ragsdale and Dudley are undefeated. But it is up in the air whether either or both will be in the west or eastern bracket.

Rocky Mount AD Mike Gainey told me tonight that Nash Central told him no one who wears any kind of costume to the game will be allowed in. Also, if you are one of those who goes out on the field to hear B.W's speeches to the team after the game - you won't tomorrow night. No one will be allowed on the field after the game.

Airtime is 7 p.m. for the AM 1390 Sports team from Nash Central. Kickoff is set for 7:30. I think we are wearing gold again.

Down the Stretch

Tuesday saw an end to the Lady Gryphon tennis team's year.

Playing Fike for the third time was the same answer as before. Fike is one of the better tennis programs in the state and Rocky Mount is just a tie-breaker away from winning.

The score was 5-1, but three of the games went to tie-breakers with Fike winning all three.

Barry Nettercutt's squad finished at 14-3 and all three losses were at the hands of Fike.

Turning to football, there are two games left to go in the regular season in the final year of the NEW 6 Conference. Right now, Rocky Mount is ahead going after their third title while SouthWest Edgecombe has one.

How important is winning the regular season? The conference winner has advanced to at least the third round every year.

There is nothing like playing high school playoff football on Thanksgiving Friday night.

(Well maybe state championship Saturday is close.)

Thanksgiving Friday is a benchmark for every team that is still playing. Rocky Mount is in the driver's seat leading the way at 3-0. It has got Nash Central and Fike left on the schedule.

If you remember back during the RM Jamboree, I said Fike was the second best team there. Nash Central already has two losses in conference and can't afford any more.

The road to the conference crown is full of pot holes that the Gryphons need to dodge.

SouthWest has already played three home games against the three best teams: Fike, Rocky Mount and Nash Central.

One conference loss is all they can stand if they want a share of the title. They have road games at Southern Nash and Northern Nash remaining.

Fike has Southern Nash and Rocky Mount left. They are the fly in the soup for if they win out, there is a possible three-way tie in the works.

Nash Central needs to win out. They already have two forfeits to deal with, so another loss they will be seeded well down the list and more than likely catch a high seed even in the first round.

It has Rocky Mount and Northern Nash left.

Southern Nash, if it could find an offense to go with its defense, it could be and are trouble for every body.

Fike and Northern is the way the Firebirds finish.

Northern Nash looks to improve and there is no better way than to beat somebody.

SWE and Southern Nash are their choices for a possible victory.

Rocky Mount has control of its own destiny. A loss and it may come down to the luck of the draw.

Just got off the phone with Wes Bradshaw who tells me he just got the word from Whit Barnes that he has been chosen for the Shrine Bowl.

Way to go Whit!

A Hat Trick For Matt Moore

The Gryphon boys soccer team had to play a home game away from home tonight.

The Gryphons moved over to the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex to open up the NCHSAA 3-A soccer playoffs. You would say first of all this has to be a great thing playing at the stadium over playing on the soccer field at the high school.

But, this is the first time a soccer game has been play at the RMAC all year. So there was no real home-field advantage for the Gryphons.

The football field has a crown. Their field on Nash street is flat.

The football field is not as wide as a soccer field, so the sidelines for the football players is actually in play during the soccer game.

This means there is a strip of the playing surface on both side of the field near the sidelines that are not in very good shape after football players have stood on it for eight football games this year.

Now, after telling you all those bad things about having to play tonight at the RMAC, Northern Guilford will be the one complaining as the Gryphons took advantage of all those disadvantages to whip the Nighthawks 5-1.

Senoir Matt Moore got season goals No. 27, 28 and 29 to power the Gryphons on to the second round.

Not far behind on the scoring parade was Justin Marsigli who scored twice himself.

Matt Williams, Marsigi and Justin Adams pitched in assists for the Gryphons.

Coach Drew Nick cleared the bench with 7.10 to play in the game saving the starters for a Saturday match with more than likely Burlington Willams, the team that knocked the Gryphons out of the playoffs last year.

Freshman goal tender Drew Gorham held on to his one goal allowed per game stopping four NG shots.

This could possible be the last home game for the soccer team, but with a victory on Saturday and some other teams losing, there is hope another home contest this year.

By the way, the game was played at the RMAC to be able to play under the lights.

I went by football practice today and was in head trainer Bernie Capps' office and heard the basketball tryouts going on. Basketball starts in about three weeks.