Might Rain, Must Be time For Football

Seems as if every Friday night this season was on the verge of rain, just rained  or was raining at game time.  The North Carolina High School State playoffs begin for eight different divisions and two of them will feature Big East Football.

Conference Champion Hunt Undefeated and the only team to start out the playoffs with a home game will be playing host to West Brunswick.  WB is 4-6 and should not stand in the way of the Warriors to advance.  This is a 3-AA game or the larger bracket schools in the 3-A division.

Nash Central 8-2 finds themselves on the road despite their two losses to Hunt and New Bern, those two teams  have lost one time between them.  They face Gray's Creek who is not impressed by that stat as the only lost the Bears have suffered came at the hands of Unbeaten Douglas Byrd.  This game is a tossup.

Fike the only conference member in the 3-A bracket will visit West Carteret who sports a 7-3 record will the Golden Demons head into the playoffs 4-6.  The Patriots will be favored but this one will be close.

Triton of Dunn 9-1 on the year will play host to the Firebirds of Southern Nash.  7-3 Southern Nash has had trouble beating teams when they don't hold on to the ball.  When they do they can be anybody.  Triton by a little.

Tarboro feels like they have been slapped in the face.  Two time defending State Champs and this year finish second and the winner Kinston plays in the Big 2-AA.  Tarboro hits the road to East Duplin which will not be easy. I don't think the Vikes defense is good enough this year to win the title but there offense will help them win Friday.

SouthWest Edgecombe gets to face their conference champions in the opening round but why is it Kinston  is shaking in their boots over having to play SWE.  They met the first game in conference and that seems ages ago and the Cougars have gotten things together since then.  Kinston wins but not by much.

North Edgecombe begins the playoffs at home against Northampton East a team they doubled the score on in conference play.  They may do it again.

Follow up time as we didn't know the Fike outcome in their playoff soccer game last night but the Golden Demons pulled off a major upset beat North Lenoir 18-2 in a shootout.  Yes the match played two ten minute overtimes  and then the shootout.

We didn't see the score this morning but Nash Central's Tennis team did play yesterday and lost the Eastern Finals 5-4.

I like to send a belated congratulations to Wayne Daughtridge of Rocky Mount.  Last Saturday night he was inducted into the Chowan University  Sports Hall of Fame.  Daughtridge played football for the then Braves from 1964-66.

Big East soccer has an undefeated team and then the rest.  Hunt won once again tonight in the opening round of the state soccer playoffs 9-1 over C B Aycock but neither Nash County team will play again this year.

Southern Nash played Tuesday night and as the #2 seed from the Big East fell to White Oak 3-1.  We have talked all fall about the Coastal dominating the Big East in Volleyball and if you look at the recent past history they have handled the Big East in Boys soccer.  White Oak of the Coastal  whips the Big East again.  Rocky Mount headed  about as far east as you can go tonight and as a four seed fell to #1 of the Northeast Coastal Currituck 3-1.  At the time I am writing this I have no score on the Fike game but they are not favored against North Lenoir.

I have not been able to find any score on the Nash Central Cardinal Gibbons Eastern Final Tennis match which was suppose to be played today at Raleigh.  I have a feeling since Nash Central just played yesterday against Rocky Mount  that match was probably moved to Thursday but that is just me talking.  Who ever wins that match will play Charlotte Catholic who roughed up Asheville 8-1 to win West Regional.

Southern Nash's girls golf team finished 9th in the State Championships  held Monday and Tuesday at FoxFire C C in Pinehurst.  Rachel Bissette of Southern Nash lead all local golfers with a two day total of 204.  Abby Glover of Northern Nash shot 212.  Alli Martin of Rocky Mount had a 218, Casey Liles of Southern Nash shot 226, Allison Pitts of SN had a 227 and Kadijah Barfield of Northern Nash shot a two day total of 230.

Monday was the beginning of winter practice  for all those playing basketball,wrestling, indoor track outside.  That is of course if you are in any playoffs action winter sports will have to wait for a little while yet.

Nash Central Advances To East Final

The Lady Bulldog tennis team today kept their undefeated season going beating  Big East Rival Rocky Mount 5-2 to win the sectional and advance Wednesday to meet Cardinal Gibbons of Raleigh at Gibbons.  The winner of that match plays for the State Title Saturday against the winner of the Asheville-Charlotte Catholic match  which will also be played tomorrow.

The Lady Bulldogs now 18-0 will meet a Cardinal Gibbons team which will enter the match 22-5.  They beat Burlington Williams on Monday who started the match 17-1 on the season but Gibbons won 6-0.  Charlotte Catholic 19-2 host Asheville 18-3.

The boys soccer brackets have been released and the four Big East teams that made the playoffs get the soccer championships started Wednesday.  Hunt #1 in the Big East and 21-0 on the season host the #3 seed from the Eastern Carolina C B Aycock who comes in 11-7.  Southern Nash 10-8 carrying the Big East banner as the #2 seed host #3 from the Coastal  Conference White Oak 12-8 from Jacksonville .  Fike 12-7-1 the Big East #3 heads to North Lenoir who is the #2 in the Eastern Carolina and has a stout 18-2-1 record the # 4 in the Big east Rocky Mount 7-10-5 heads to Currituck to take on the #1 seed from the Northeast Coastal 10-4-1.

This is a long shot but the way the brackets fall for the Big East if all four teams win to the third round they would be matched up with each other in the third and of course the two winners in the third round would meet in the fourth round.  If the brackets can be done like that in soccer why can't football do the same?

Ok it's time to brag a little.  Last week daughter Morgan tried out for Nash County's Got Talent and has made the top 20.  They all will be doing their talents Thursday night at the Nash Arts Center in Nashville.  The top 20 go at it Thursday and they all come back Friday night and they whittle down to the top ten and they go at it gain.  There is a $1,000 first prize and since the State government has done away with the Teachers Fellows Program that might pay for one book next year in college.

There Is A New Favorite Sport Coming

I have said this here on this blog before that I think in fifty years soccer will replace football as the #1 sport in America.  Those of us that say oh that will never happen just think of this.  100 years ago I bet the people that made wood matches thought that was a great business to be in.  People had wood stoves to cook and needed matches to light it.  How about the clothes pin maker.  Everybody had to hang their clothes out to dry.

Today with the invention of the Bic lighter you can't find matches in a grocery store.  They are on one shelf right beside the five packages of clothes pins as every one practically has a dryer and don't hang clothes on the line any more.

Football's violence and with insurance getting to the point that people will not be able to let their children play football because injuries will cost so much when someone has an injury.  Soccer is already a world wide sport and America is just now getting into the World Cup Scene.

I have told you before that I have two grand children that play in the CASL league in Raleigh.  The complex at the WRAL soccer complex in North Raleigh has like 40 fields and that is just one complex.  Today I was talking with Lynn Driver Rocky Mount Athletic Supervisor about what he had going on this late in the fall that we might record some shows for the Stretchlon Sports Show.

Lynn told me a statistic about participation in the Rocky Mount rec that stunned me.  He told me that the Rec department had 500 people in baseball and 700 in soccer.  This is the second year that the soccer fields have be open and already more people in soccer than baseball?  Rocky Mount is a baseball town and to already been past by soccer is astounding to me.

Rocky Mount and Nash Central will now play round three of the State Duel Tennis Championships at 4.00pm Tuesday weather permitting at Nash Central.

The Telegram on Sunday had a great article on Colt Brake and his life a year removed from his spinal injury playing football.

Today's paper had a great article on Former Rocky Mount Cross Country State Champion Nick Winkel who is now an assistant coach for Dee Davis.  Nick was an inspiration for my son Brooks who was on the cross country team as a freshman the year Nick won the State Title.  Nick was Brooks' big brother and Nick helped mold him for his love of running and now years later it helped lead him to coach long distant running at the Olympic level.