The ChampionSHIP & The Celebration

ChampionSHIP Belongs In Gryphon Land

Rocky Mount High school rode all the way to the Hill to bring home the state 3-A championship back to the MOUNT.

The Grypons jumped on the Spiders early and raced to a 22-12 lead late in the first quarter and all of a sudden Tashawn Mabry comes up gimpy and Rocky Mount lost all the MO they had going. Before the half ended Concord had trimmed the Gryphon lead to two.

Some where early in the third quarter Mabry decided pain or not it was time to go and the Gryphons went, building as much as a twelve point lead until a scrappy bunch from Concord did everything they could muster from JacQuise Moore who took game high scoring honors with 28.

Mabry who had six at the half collected 20 in the second half and 26 for the game earning the MVP of the Championship game. Mabry gathered ten rebounds and had a double double but he was joined in the double-double game by Detrail Jenkins with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Darius McKnight who earned the Eastern Champion award as the best player poured in 14 points and he was joined in double digits by Billy Young with 12.

You can not win a championship without unsung hero's and Marcus Jones, Kenyatta Bullock and Terrell Hilliard all gave us performances that we could not have won without them.

Concord wanted to make a living off the full court pressure but one of the keys stats of the game was the Gryphons committed only 15 turnovers. The smaller Spiders out rebounded the Gryphons in the first half 25-22, but it was all Gryphons in the second half winning the boards 25-12. Gryphons are State 3-A Champions 84-79 over Concord.

It is hard to tell how many folks were there tonight from Rocky Mount but my guess is 7,000. About 750 of those fans were in the gym at midnight to welcome the champs home. The NCHSAA will not allow any team to cut down the nets after their championship because there were four games there and they would have had to replace the nets at the end of every game. So the Gryphons cut down the nets at Rocky Mount High school at around 12.30am.

The clock said 12.58am when we arrived home. It is day light saving spring forward so it was actually 1.58am. I have to be at church at 8.00am so there will be no pictures tonight. Sunday afternoon we will display the Pictures Morgan took for the yearbook.

WAY TO GO GRYPHONS!!!!!!!!!! STATE CHAMPS

It's Time For The "SHIP"

I should have known. I normally rise every work day at 5.15am. I awake most mornings between 4.30 and 5.00 so I really don't need an alarm to get up. My Saturday's are the days to sleep late which might keep me in bed to 6.30 or so. But not this morning.

I'm ready to head to Chapel Hill right now, with a few side stops along the way. The Pack's ACC tournament victory near midnight last night made sleep almost impossible before 1 am. I was awake at 4.30 or so right on schedule. Breakfast is done shower is out of the way, all I need now is the car load from my house to get jumping. I have already changed out clocks so that problem will be out of the way when we get home after midnight tonight.

Win or lose tonight the team schedule is for them to get back to the gym around midnight. It would be nice if a caravan followed them home hopefully honking a victory honk. Like baseball there needs to be a crowd waiting at the gym win or lose.

Jammin 99.3 coverage will begin at 6.30 pm. Wes has a pregame chat with Mike Gainey already done that will be part of our pregame. If you are stuck somewhere in this world not in the coverage area WZAX they will be live streaming over the internet.

Time Warner will be taping the game but since the 4-A championship is going on live at the same time as ours I don't know which game will be live. More than likely the 4-A game. Some time tonight and Sunday you can go on line@ www.news14.com and see the Gryphons play.

They look a whole lot better live and in person in the Dean Dome. They need your help. If you were not planning on going, get an impulse, a spur of the moment thing. It is only 80 miles and $10. These moments only happen it seems every 28 years for basketball. If it is 28 years before they return to the big dance how old will you be then?

I will blog as soon as I get home. 1.00 am or so

Go GRYPHONS!!!!!!!

Twenty-four Hours To Go

Rocky Mount goes after its fourth basketball state championship Saturday night in Chapel Hill.

This is their first visit to the Big Dance since 1982. Concord, its opponent, just won it all in 2006 for its only title.

This game will hinge on whether we are as quick as they are. The Spiders have seven players who score nine points or more and will press all over the court. If we reasonable match up on speed team-wise, we will be all right. They don't have any height to match Mabry and Jenkins inside. Bottom line is we must protect the ball.

WZAX Jammin 99.3's coverage begins at 6.30 p.m. We will have a one-hour pregame show and will stay on through the interview process in the media room. Our thanks goes out to all those people who stepped forward to help us bring the game to you live.

We will have the team on WHIG-TV Sunday night at 8 p.m. We will show some of the game while we talk with them.

The baseball team went to the No. 3 starter today at home against Webb High School and the results were good. Jeremy Trevathan pitched five inning and got the win. Spencer Bell pitched the final two inning as the Gryphons went to 4-1 with a 10-1 victory over Webb.

All I can report to you tonight is heartbreak for the girls softball team. Leading 18-7, Tarboro scored 12 runs in the bottom of the seventh to win 19-18.

I don't know whether I will blog Saturday morning or not. It kind of depends on how fast my day starts. We have a soccer game to go to, to watch our granddaughter Madison play in Garner. Carolina plays baseball at 2 p.m and we will be in Durham to watch Brian Goodwin and Carolina play at Duke. I hope he didn't use all his hits up for the weekend tonight.

Just before I started blogging, Carolina was ahead in the bottom of the ninth 22-9. Brian was 4-for-4 with a home run and five RBI. I hope he has some hits left for me tomorrow.

I will be in the Dean Dome about 5. If I don't blog first thing Saturday, it will be after we return after midnight Saturday. I hope we will be at the gym waiting on the state champs . Midnight is their scheduled time to return to the gym. Be there, win or lose.

Morgan, who is the official Hi-Noc-Ar yearbook photographer for the state championship game, will be taking pictures and we will post them Sunday afternoon.

GOOD LUCK GRYPHONS!!!!!!!!!

Plans, Plans and More Plans

If you don't have a plan in life, you may find yourself going nowhere. WZAX Jammin 99.3 FM will be broadcasting the 3-A State Championship Saturday night from Chapel Hill. This week, after the Gryphon victory last Saturday in the East regional, at least 11 sponsors have stepped forward which will allow us (Wes Bradshaw and myself) to bring you the game from the Dean Dome.

This will be my second basketball broadcast of a state championship game from Blue Heaven. I was there in 2005 when SouthWest Edgecombe girls won the 2-A title. I have done a couple of football state title games and in baseball, a couple of state title Babe Ruth games and I have been privileged to do two Babe Ruth World Series title games in which Nash County has been involved. I don't care how many Super Bowls you do, every one of them is special and for me and Wes, doing these games are big moments in our broadcast careers.

WHIG-TV has met every requirement that TimeWarnerCable has required of them except one. They want the tape to record the Rocky Mount game in their hands at 10.a.m Saturday. Part of the problem is there will be four games for them Saturday and once they start their live feed to their Time Warner customers across the state, they don't want me banging on the the door of their truck with a tape for them to record on at 7.30 p.m. We are still working on that problem.

Mike Gainey, his coaches and players have agreed to be on the Stretchlon Sports Show Sunday night live at 8 p.m. - win or lose Saturday. Mike also told me today that they have two buses full of Gryphons heading to Chapel Hill. By the way, Rocky Mount will be the visitor in this game and will wear navy blue, so I think they want all Gryphons fans to wear navy blue Saturday night.

Those who attended the Eastern regionals, whether it was a boys game at ECU or a girls game at Rose High, know that Greenville is a really good venue for the regional. It's not too big, but just about the right size for the regional. However, there is a real possibility that Greenville will no longer host the regional.

University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina, which has been the title sponsor for the last 10 years, from what I hear is pulling out as sponsor. That's too bad. Probably the best thing to happened to eastern North Carolina in the past 30 years was ECU getting the medical school.

University Health Systems of Eastern North Carolina has branches out all over eastern North Carolina and it now owns many of the little hospitals around the East that feed into Pitt Memorial. What a better way to advertise that to sponsor something that connects the entire eastern North Carolina together. Last week, teams from Weldon, Rocky Mount, Goldsboro, Kinston and Pender County were just some of the teams that played in the regional.

If it doesn't stay in Greenville, it may very well go to Fayetteville and then. whenever we play in the regional, we will be making the long trips instead of heading just down the road as it is now. Sometimes you don't miss something until it is gone.

Baseball Wins Again.

Senior Hobbs Johnson second trip to the mound this year for Rocky Mount was a lot better than the first as Johnson pitch six solid innings leading Rocky to a 5-3 victory over Riverside. Rocky Mount's first four game have been against 4-A schools and they now stand at 3-1. Not bad considering the competition.

Johnson left the game leading 5-2 and Parker Helms pitch the seventh for the Gryphons. The third game of the week will be Friday afternoon at home against Webb High School and it will be interesting to see just how good the Gryphons are as both the aces on the staff Benton Moss and Hobbs Johnson have already pitch this week and Coach Kent Cox will be looking to find that third pitcher to help fill important spots on the staff.

Like last year the hitting is a sore spot to this point as in the first four games pitching has kept the score down. Rocky Mount has scored 4,3 and 5 in their three wins and only 2 in their lost. Hopefully 4-A pitching has something to do with the low offensive production but only time will tell us that.

Boys tennis played their first match Yesterday and lost. Today they were en route to a match when they were hit with rain and had to turn back home.

It looks like softball is in for a tough season. Tonight they lost to Southern Vance 20-0. A bright spot for the lady softball team is Prescious White the catcher. The sophomore plays like a boy (that's a compliment) behind the plate and if she can get her bat going colleges will be all over here by her senior year.

I hope my eyes did not deceive me. Morgan is the score keeper for softball and of course we have attended both home games this week and I did walk down the left field line and tried to see the girls soccer score board. It surely look like soccer beat Conley 3-1 today and if that is so they are off to a 4-0 start.

I know several fans from Rocky Mount will be stopping in Durham Saturday afternoon to watch Carolina and Duke open up the ACC baseball conference schedule. Former Gryphon Brian Goodwin after an 0-9 start in his first two plus games in right field for Carolina is hitting 340 since he got his first college hit. I think as a freshman Brian has play every inning of the 13 games Carolina has played so far. The biggest surprise for me is Mike Fox has him hitting 5th in the lineup. Sunday he even hit him in cleanup and Brian responded with a homer. As of today Brian has a 8 game hitting streak and his average is 289. You go Brian!

Seventh-inning Comeback For Baseball

It looked as if Benton Moss' six innings of two-hit baseball was going to be wasted. But a three-run seventh inning propelled the Baseball Gryphons to their second win of the season. Jeremy Trevathan pitched the bottom of the seventh to earn the save.

The baseball schedule has been shifted due to the fact the baseball team was scheduled to play Saturday afternoon at home. There is a very important game going on in Chapel Hill Saturday night in which the baseball team would like to see since they have had their own cheering section during Gryphon home basketball games.

Friday's Riverside game has been moved to Wednesday afternoon, which will now be the home opener for the Gryphons. Then Friday afternoon the Saturday game will be played. Both games start at 4 p.m. Friday's game will be against Webb High School from Oxford.

No comeback for softball as they were beaten by Farmville Central 18-1 in five innings.

I am glad to be able to announce that the State Championship basketball game will be live on the radio Saturday night on WZAX Jammin 99.3 FM. Our pregame show will start at 6.30 from Dean's Dome.

I got home from doing the Relay for Life show on Monday night and I had a voice message from Mike Pearce. Mike left me a message to tell me that Alex, his son and former Nash Central Bulldog and now a sophomore at UNC Pembroke, had the game of his college career Saturday afternoon. Alex started behind the plate and went 3-for-3 and all three hits were doubles and three RBI..

The past few years I have done radio and TV baseball games and PA announcing and there is something about baseball where there is more time before and after games to get with the families that follow their children. I have done many games that Alex has played in and his family both his parents and grandparents have followed him all over the east coast playing ball.

It is a joy for me to hear the excitement and pride that I heard in Mike's voice as I listened to the phone message. Mike, call me any time and let me know how Alex is doing. I hope the next time you call I will be able to talk live with you and not have you on Memorex.

If any of you have any thing that you want me to pass on to others I would love to do it. I hope you can tell I don't report negative stories about our young people and coaches. Call me on the phone, fax me, e-mail me or tell a friend to tell me, but I love it when I hear from you on things I haven't heard yet. Yes , I will fuss about high paid college coaches and such but our local coaches are just like me and you trying to make it pay check to pay check because they love working with our kids.

One day last week I went online to the Greensboro News and Record seeing what I might find out about last week's Regional semifinal opponent Northern Guilford. What did I see as the headline? Deloatch sinks Aggies. Michael Deloatch, formally of Northern Nash and Norfolk State, scored 37 points including the game-winning shot to beat the Aggies of North Carolina A&T. If you remember Deloatch made the ESPN top ten plays of the day in another game. Could the NBA be waiting on Michael Deloatch?