Five Star Over Three Star

Just a couple of weeks ago while eating dinner at one of my favorite places ran into a parent who was telling me about her five star student.  I was amazed to here that her son who had made a 98 on a recent test had asked to retake it to get a higher score.  He did by the way make a 100 the next time. When I was in school as a three star student if I got 85 or better I knew I was getting about all I could get.

Debbie Yow dismissed Tom O'Brien as the head football coach of N C State on Sunday and reading between the lines she feels that State can get it's share of five star athletes who call North Carolina their home instead of watching them go out of State.  Tom O'Brien liked to recruit three stars athletes and try to mold them into fours and fives.

A five star athlete most of the time can run a forty yard dash in say 4.3 seconds. When he is having a bad day he may drop down to a 4.45.  A three star athlete just might run a 4.5 on his very best day and then on those days his  body can't get 100% he runs a 4.7.  On his worse day a five star still is better than a three star at his best.  That equates just like that five star student  bad day makes a 98 while a great day for me was above 85.

That just might explain  why N C State could beat a Florida State once in a while and turn right around and lose to Virginia the next.  The threshold of the average players is not as high as those that are great.  This might also explain why the ACC got drubbed this weekend by the SEC in every football game they played against each other.

Boston College is looking a new coach and Wake Forest has a news conference at 6pm so something is up there.  All of this talk about conference realignment and who can pay for this coach and that State is looking for a football coach early but will they have the same problem finding a coach like they did in basketball when all the big names went else where. 

What we have found out is graduating all of your senior class doesn't mean as much as 1,000 less season ticket holders.  Going to a bowl game is not what Joe Average University is looking for these days.  Where ever State goes to a Bowl game they will probably need to sell 25,000 tickets to break even and if only 12,000 go then the bowl game is a bust.  BCS games baby is where the money is and until Carolina and State can get there  8-4 and 7-5 is no longer a good football season.

A Lustrum To Remember

Next Saturday the Tarboro Vikings head to Winston Salem where they will attempt to win their fourth straight 2-A State Championship.  There is no way if you are a Tarboro Viking fan that you could ever expect that there to ever be a five year period as great as the past five. 

But do you remember that five years ago Jeff Craddock was on the hot seat.  The previous four years Tarboro had a record of just 24-22.  They had not in the previous fours scored 300 points in any one season.  In one short Lustrum Jeff Craddock has gone from hot seat to the Pent House as he is now the greatest coach in Tarboro High School history.

The Vikings will attempt Saturday to win their fourth straight State Title.  They will be shooting for their 23rd straight win.  Since the beginning of the 2008 football season Tarboro has won 72 football games and lost only five. They have not lost a home football game since September 21st 2007 when they lost to SouthWest Edgecombe 28-14. Their home winning streak has reach 44 straight games, the last two in 2007 and all 42 during this five year run to greatness.  The Vikings are 27-3 on the road during this stretch.  So far 3-1 on neutral fields where the state championships are played.  Saturday will be their 25th playoff game in five years and right now they are 23-1 just in playoff games.  25 games that is an extra two and half years of extra games added to the schedule.

They lost two years in a row to SouthWest once the Cougars returned to 2-A.  2008 the Cougars won a non-conference game and the next season Tarboro returned back to SWE and lost again in a conference game..  Two of their five losses have come from their top rival SWE.  Kinston put 54 on the Vikings in 2011 so during this five year run the Vikings are 28-2 in conference games.  Nash Central gave the Vikes their fourth loss in 2011.  The fifth loss was the State Championship game to Newton-Conover  in 2008.

Out of no where the Tarboro T has exploded during this five year run and the worse of the five they still scored 496 points  in 2009.  That's more than 200 more points than any year from 2004-2007. Should the Vikings score nine points Saturday they will hit the 600 mark for the second time in five years.

There is no doubt that Tarboro is a football town.  Over the years as other football towns have lost their identity  with County schools Tarboro is still Tarboro High.  The purple and gold reins in the city.  There are many in Tarboro and Edgecombe county out of work  but there is one thing they can say.  They sure do know how to play football in Tarboro.

Gryphons Dominant Knightdale Tournament

Last season the Lady gryphons made it all the way to the East Regional Final and the boys were the state champs.  Both have begun the 2012-13 high school basketball season taking the titles at the Knightdale 2012 Tipoff Tournament.

The Lady Gryphons won Friday night over 4-A Raleigh Enloe and tonight took on the home standing Knightdale team and for three quarters this game was up for grabs.  The Lady Gryphons finally took charge in the fourth quarter to win the championship 48-40.

Having won the most outstanding performer in the 3-A State Championship game Junior Donte Battle returns to lead the Gryphon boys who last night took down East Chapel Hill behind 34 points from Battle.  Tonight against the home team Knightdale the Gryphons shot off to a 10-0 lead but before either team got 20 Knightdale had taken the lead.
 
  Rocky Mount dominated the boards winning that battle 40 to 21.  Jaquel Bryant lead the rebounding getting 13 while Battle pulled down 11.    Rocky Mount also won the turnover game making 24 while the Gryphon defense could only cause 17.  Miss handling of the basketball kept this one within reach for a while until the Gryphons put it away early in the fourth quarter.  The biggest lead of the game came on a Knightdale turnover in which Brodrick Caudle was heading in for a snowbird layup but instead laid the ball off the top part of the backboard and Donte Battle flushed home a slam dunk to give the Gryphons a 16 point lead with four minutes to go. 

Donte Battle lead the Gryphon scoring with 23, Mason Hines 15, M J Gainey 14 and Jaquel Bryant had 11 giving the Gryphons four double digit scorers.     Final Gryphons 82- Knightdale 68

North Carolina finishes their 2012 football season beating Maryland to give Larry Fedora an eight win season in his first year in Chapel Hill.  N C State finished it's regular season with a 27-10 win over BC.  The Pack 7-5 waits now on where it will go bowling.  Heard this on the pregame show when asked about his 16 seniors playing their last game Tom O'Brien lamented that all 16 will graduate.  Two already are in graduate school 12 will graduate in December and the last two in May.  Despite how fans feel about wins and losses it would be hard to fire a coach who is graduating his team.  This senior class was Tom O'Brien's first fully recruited class at N C State.

TOO Much Vikings

The Tarboro Vikings haven't lost a home playoff game for five years now and today was not going to be the first.  Last year it seemed every game went to the wire including the State Championship.  Not this year and not tonight as South Columbus ran into a Tarboro Viking team with a goal to make it four in a row State Titles.  Tarboro did win their fifth straight East Regional 2-A title which will be their last as next year they drop down to 1-A.  The Vikings ease on to Winston Salem after they demolish South Columbus 46-0.   The Vikings play at 11am next Saturday December first in Winston against East Lincoln who tonight is up big in the fourth 31-7  in the West regional over Madison.

The news is terrible for the Big East in Greensboro.  Hunt has been no match at all for North Guilford trailing 30-0 at the half and things were not any better in the second. At this writing it is 44-0 in the fourth quarter. This is the third straight year N Guilford has taken Hunt out of the playoffs.

Tonight both Rocky Mount High boys and girls basketball teams won their opening round match in the Knightdale Basketball Tournament and both will play for the championships late Saturday afternoon. The boys beat E Chapel Hill while the girls took down Enloe.

Losing for the first time last week the Wolfpack of N C State hit the hardwood tonight  in Raleigh against  UNC-Asheville.  Pack once again plays in a daze but escapes 82-80.  Duke had a much tougher team to play in the Bahamas in VCU but the Devils survive and play in the Championship game Saturday 67-56 over VCU.

Got another basketball score for you ECU 65 Marshall 59 in double overtime.  Wait a minute that's a football score my bad.  If only their basketball team could score 65.

Earlier this week Nash Central started their high school basketball season beating SouthWest Edgecombe  in both girls and boys games.

I don't know whether you have notice this or not and even whether you care, after only winning seven games all of last season the Charlotte Bobcats are 6-5 so far this season.  They are one win short of their total of seven all of last year and they still have 70 games to get that.  They got a chance to get it unless they falter the last five months of the regular season.

Turkey Day And Football Practice

There is nothing better than a high school football game on the Friday night after Thanksgiving.  Tarboro and Hunt still enjoy the thrill and excitement of the anticipation of what just might be yet to come.  To have made it this far is reward enough but for these two teams even more accolades could come next week.

Tarboro is at home playing South Columbus a team that held the Vikings to their lowest point totals (13) in quite a while.  The main question for S Columbus can they hold down the Vikings to even anything close to that this year.  I think the answer to that question is no but I do think Tarboro could hold them to close to the 10 SC got last year. Tarboro wins their fifth straight Eastern 2-A regional 35-14 over South Columbus..Winston Salem here we come again.

There is no doubt that in the last five years in eastern 3-A football there has not been a more consistent team that the Hunt Warriors.  If you look at their regular season records and then at their playoffs there is only one team that keeps stepping on Hunts toes.  That's the NightHawks of North Guilford.  Why is it that teams can dominate every one but there is always somebody out there who is better.  Mohammad Ali had trouble with Joe Frazier.  Rocky Mount couldn't beat Western Alamance and Big East boys soccer can beat everybody but Jacksonville who by the way won the state title.

Hunt will try again to beat the Night Hawks and once again I hate to say it they will come up short.  I don't know what it is about that I-85 corridor that our area has so much trouble with but guess where N. Guilford lives.  N Guilford 32 Hunt 20.  Hunt  and Randy Raper deserve better but I don't see them getting the job done.

138 points scored by one player in a game.  I think this would be a great accomplishment if the score of the game had of been close but winning by 75 179-104 what in the world is this coach thinking.  The young man took 108 shots.  He had to shoot as soon as the ball was in  bounded or about every twenty seconds.  I wonder did the other team ever think about slowing down themselves since they got 104 points.  But I guess  when you are only down by 50 with three minutes to play they had to feel they still had a chance.

If you want to see a good Thanksgiving story go on line to WRAL.COM and look at the story of the National Guard unit just returning from Afghanistan.  The story features two small girls an their mother waiting for their daddy who arrived home yesterday.   The officer Ty Mullen wife is Leigh Mullen who was the volleyball coach at Campbell but recently resigned to be a stay at home mom and follow her husband who recently received a promotion.  It does something to your heart when you know something about the people who serve our country both at home and abroad.  Our Marine Jarrod will be with us this Thanksgiving but last year he was in Afghanistan.  Those that serve in war have a job to do while everyone else stays home to worry and keep life going.

 Have a Happy Thansgiving.  Don't eat too many collards and turkey.

College Football It's All About TV Sets

I don't know too many people unhappy with the departure of Maryland from the ACC.  I hear a lot of people crying because of the TV market Baltimore/Washington no longer has an ACC school.  Guess what folks Rutgers didn't get into the Big Ten because they are one of the premier athletic programs in the country but they are close to  New York City.  Rutgers going to the Big Ten is a bigger hit for the ACC than losing Maryland.

Heard this on the David Glenn show one day this week that the ACC is the third most viewed football conference on Saturdays following the SEC and the Big Ten.  More people watch ACC football every Saturday over the Big 12, Pac 12.

If TV sets mean everything then who will the ACC go after to fill the void of Maryland and who could possibly filled Rutgers shoes even though they never got walked in.  Louisville, U Conn, Vanderbilt, Navy, ECU  and what about UNC Charlotte.

Top candidate now would be Louisville with a city of 141,000 but here is always what TV sets look at.  The Metro area of Louisville is 1.3 million. You must remember now the quality of athletics has absolute no reason for any school joining any league only TV sets.  Second on the list U Conn, part of the Hartford,New Haven TV market the 28th biggest in the country.

When I throw this one out there don't swear until you listen to reason.  Navy an academic institution location in the Baltimore /Washington market replacing Maryland.   I know ECU fans are already sending off tweets trying to get ECU back in the ACC talk but forget it,  Greenville-New Bern -Washington only 192,000 TVs.  Yes ECU  fans   UNC Charlotte has got a truly much better chance of joining the ACC than ECU will in the next thirty years.  Charlotte a city of 751,000 and here we go with a metro area of 2.4 million.  Now I ask all of you ECU fans if you were opening a gas station where would you built one in Charlotte who has two interstate highways and 2.4 million gas tanks or Greenville with 192,000 gas tanks.

There is one more team on the wish list and that would be Vanderbilt.  They fit the ACC mode of mostly Private Colleges with a city of 605,000 and a metro 1.5 million.    Why would Vandy want to leave the SEC where they already get  a bigger TV pay check than what the ACC can offer. If we forget all the TV set mumbo jumbo the next issue is football stadiums, basketball arena's and airports.  Where does ECU fit there?  Don't feel so bad ECU  Appalachian State now that they are considering D-1 football  are seeing the pain that you are going through because they have less TV's than you.

Tarboro Has Taken On All Comers

During this historical run in which the Tarboro Vikings have won three straight 2-A football titles and finished second once they have taken on any and every body.  Case in point, during the last five years the Vikings will be playing in their 24rd playoff game.  Those 24 games  they will have played 16 different schools.  South Columbus is one of those teams that the Vikes play for the second time having beaten them on the road last year.  The other schools that they have met twice during this run of excellence is Roanoke Rapids, Pasquatank, Northside of Jacksonville,East Duplin, East Bladen and this Friday night South Columbus joins the twice list in Tarboro 24th playoff game.

South Columbus will be the second playoff team in a row that they will play who beat the team that had beat them during the regular season.  Last week Northeastern had lost during the season to Edenton but they won  at Edenton in the playoffs.  Last week South Columbus beat East Bladen who had beaten them 28-6 during the regular season at E Bladen.

South Columbus comes in with another loss at the hands of Hoggard 38-0 but for a 2-A school there in no shame in losing to Hoggard.  They have scored an average of 27 points a game and have surrendered just short of 15 per contest.  For the second year in a row South Columbus and Tarboro play for the East Region title except this season the game is in Tarboro.

If you are the Hunt Warriors fan then you need a 7-11 Big Gulp.  For the third year in a row the Warriors face North Guilford in the East 3-AA finals the first two at Hunt and Hunt could not get the job done in either.  This time they meet the Night Hawks again but this time in Greensboro.

The Hawks will be sitting in wait for the Warriors  as they have average  39 points per contest.  Here's the impressive number.  In their 13 games to date they have given up two scores only  twice and in both of those game 14 is all they gave up then.  Their defense is averaging 6 points per game.  The Warriors have got to find  a way to score points in this one.

The combined records of the four teams playing this weekend and two being either from our area or they are representing us from our conference the overall records of the four is 50-2.  Doesn't sound to me like anybody   lucked out to get to this point.  They all earned it..