2012 Review The Area

Today will will look at the important events that took place in the local area that we covered on this blog.  Tomorrow we will list the events of the Gryphons in 2012.

10:  End Of Stretchlon Sports Show  It was a fixture for nearly 10 years on WHIG-TV Richard Sarmiento covering what started out with baseball but engulfed all sports of the area.  Related to the enrichment of baseball in this area Richard was one of this area's leading supporters.

9:  Faith Christian School Baseball Field Vandalized   Many hours were dedicated by many supporters of Faith to restore the baseball field and by playoff time standing behind home plate you had to be told where the vandals struck.  Great effort was made by many to restore field.

8:  Southern Nash 4x200 Relay team wins State Championship  The school year ended at Southern with  a championship.

7:  Todd Gurley: named Freshman All American  Todd Gurley made a national impact on the University of Georgia.  The Tarboro grad gained more yards than any other Georgia freshman in 32 years.

6:  Rocky Mount Legion Wins Area One  North Division.  14-1 in division and 18-6 overall Hank Jones bunch made it to the second round of the playoffs.

5:  Falls Road Girls Soccer team wins State Title  It took 20 minute of over time before Falls Road prevailed 2-1.

4:  Tarboro makes fifth Straight Trip to State Finals  Name the number of teams in the State of North Carolina that have been to five straight football state championship games this century.  The answer is only one.  The Tarboro Vikings winning three titles is five years.

3:  Northern Nash/Rocky Mount Meet in sectional Finals.  The most important girls basketball game ever between Northern Nash and Rocky Mount for the right to go to the Regional just happened to be the last basketball game ever at Rocky Mount's old gym.

2:  Five local teams play in sectional finals  Nash Central girls, Rocky Mount Prep Boys, Northern Nash Girls, Rocky Mount Girls and the Rocky Mount boys all made it to sectional finals with three making the Regional.  Rocky Mount Prep, Rocky Mount Girls and the Rocky Mount boys.

1:  Rocky Mount boys win 3-A Basketball title  Second time in three years and  the fifth title in school history.  Donte Battle won the most outstanding player and Terrill Hilliard the outstanding Gryphon.

2012 In Review

Today we will start a three part series looking back at 2012.  Today we will look at the top stories that we covered here on this blog.  Monday we will look at the top local stories  and Tuesday the top Gryphon stories of 2012.

10:Maryland leaves the ACC. Money Money Money, I think that's all that colleges think about these days.

9:  The Big East High School Conference stays the same.  One proposal had a Johnston County School Corinth Holder joining the league.  By the time the next four year realignment starts next August there still will be 6 Big east Teams. Hunt, Fike, Southern Nash, Nash Central, Northern Nash and Rocky Mount.

8:Shannon Scoval Wins USAT Aquathon National Championship.  This Green Hope student has no relative high lite from this area other than the fact she is coached by my son Brooks who is a Rocky Mount High Graduate class of 2000.

7:  Webb Simpson wins the US OPEN.  The Raleigh native won the top prize in golf

6: Lauren Doughtie wins her first professional Golf Tournament.  This is another personal note as Lauren in December qualified for the 2013 LPGA Tour in 2013.

5: Notre Dame Says yes to the ACC.  I guess this is to the ACC getting every thing from Notre Dame except football to ECU getting only football to be in Big East.

4:  Andy Griffith Death:  I don't know about you but I lost a friend when Andy died.  I never met the man but I can recite you the 149 black and white episodes of the Andy Griffith show.  Matlock and Ritz Crackers  and gospel hymns.  Somewhere or other Andy Griffith touch all of us that call North Carolina home.

3: The Penn State Sex Scandal.  I only hope we all learned from this.

2: William Friday Dead.  If there was ever anyone who loved his state an the education of their people it was Bill Friday.  So many only know him from his TV show but Bill Friday has been a part of the education of our students since before color tv.

1:  The UNC  Scandal.  I hope we have heard the last of this.  It seems every report that come out indicates that THE UNIVERSITY has more black eyes to cover up.  This is a classic example if only the truth had of been told from the beginning this story would have died long ago.  Give Larry Fedora credit.  His first team in Chapel Hill finished 8-4. 

Refocused

Last year on the way to the State 3-A basketball title the Rocky Mount Gryphons took part in the 40th anniversary of the Holiday Tournament called these days the High school OT.  The Gryphons were rolling along and gave up an 17 point lead on their way to a loss.  That team learned a lot that day about how to handle big leads.  By the time the State playoffs rolled around nobody caught the Gryphons once they hit a double digit lead.

This week in the opening game Northside Christian Academy laid a hurting on the Gryphons winning by 14.  Yesterday Nuese Christian Academy played the wrong team at the wrong time as the refocused Gryphons put 103 points on the board to work their way today  to the fifth place game of the Tobacco Road Holiday Invitational Tournament in Durham.  Freedom High from Morganton played the Gryphons today and today the Gryphons spank the 4-A Freedom 101-70.

The Gryphons finish fifth in their tournament and with the win their record is now 10-1.  They will not return to action until Wednesday night when they host Rose.  They will host Nash Central in a rematch of the Nash County Tournament Friday night as they open conference play.

Today N C State beats a decent Western  Michigan who might surprise you is in the top 40 in the RIP.  The Pack 10-2 seems poised for conference play which starts next week and Januaray 12th looms large when Duke comes to Raleigh.

Carolina got a really nice win today beating UNLV ranked 20th ahead of Carolina in the polls.  Today was one of those games that so far this season maybe would have lost this one progress being shown by theTar Heels.  The Heels have a week off before they open conference play and with today's win are 10-3.

Duke took the best shot Santa Clara could give them today but who in non conference can beat Duke at home.  The Dookies always seem to get a player every year that plays out of his mind.  That player this year is Mason Plumlee.  He just might be the player of the year in the country at least as of right now.

You know the Cincinnati-Duke Belk Bowl game just might be the best bowl game all holidays.  The next night Virginia Tech and Rutgers played and what we hope is the worse bowl game of the year.  If there is any one worse than that one God help us to endure through it. 

No Come Back Today

The Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons spotted Holly Springs a 16 point first quarter lead but today they could not make up the deficient.  Led by the little sister of N C State Forward C J Leslie Kiara burned the Lady Gryphons for 20 points to lead Holly Springs..  The Lady Gryphons also found out how life will be on those days when J'Kyra Brown just doesn't have it.  Brown was held to just 8 points as Holley Springs downs the Lady Gryphons 48-41 to take fifth place in the Mix 101.5 bracket of the Holiday Invitation Tournament played at Cary Academy.

Kelsey Daniels lead Rocky Mount with 18 points and Carmen Richardson added 11.  Even with only eight point J'Kyra still pump in 71 points in this three day tournament but I can tell you the good news.  They Lady Gryphons will not be faced again this year when Brown is double and tripled team for three straight days.  Brown simply was wore out and facing stiff competition every night Brown gas tank was simply too low. Unless weather plays a factor the most at any point for the remainder of the season that the Lady Gryphons will play two days in a row could only occur during the conference Tournament.

The Gryphon record falls to 7-4 and they will not be back in action until Wednesday January 2nd at home against Rose.  They open conference play Jan. 4th at home against Nash Central.

The boys finding themselves in the losers bracket of the Holiday Invitational in Durham squared off for the second day in a row against a private school.  Yesterday Northside Christian of Charlotte beat the Gryphons and tonight the Gryphons met Neuse Christian Of Raleigh.  The word is much better tonight as the Gryphons eclipse the century mark in defeating NCA 103-77.  They will now play in the fifth place game at 3:30 Saturday afternoon.

The Duke Blue Devils gave it about all they had in losing to Cincinnati 48-34 in the Belk Bowl.  If you didn't watch the game with 1:15 to play in a tie game Duke is knocking on the door to win only to fumble inside the five yard line.  They proceed to give up a bomb td pass and a pick six to end the game but this was Duke's game to win.

It seemed as if Cincy was surprised by how aggressive Duke came out of the gates but as time wore on Cincy was proving to be the stronger team and like every game Duke played all year they lost to the good teams and beat most of the bad ones.

Coach Cut has done a great job putting Duke football on the map again but I don't know whether Duke fans should ever expect more than this kind of year.  Wake Forest has the same problem and if you have ever wondered why they still have the same coach after three losing years it because he's getting out of the program about all the program can give.

State and Carolina in football are just over 500 every year and they have hugh booster clubs supporting them and if they can't get it done any better why should the private Universities expect more when they put less money in it.

Come Back Of The Ages

There is one thing about loser bracket games is there is no longer a big trophy waiting to win when the tournament is over.  About the only thing coaches can look forward too is the playing time their teams need to develop as it is still December and plenty of basketball ahead.  The one thing any team wants is not to get embarrassed when they are on display in a tournament like the High School OT.  Today Rocky Mount may have pulled off the biggest comeback in school history.  Now that Charles Alston is no longer here to look up such stats we can only assume.

Down 45-25 with two minutes left in the third quarter playing East Wake at Cary Academy Rocky Mount came all the way back and had a foul shot with 6.5 seconds left in regulation that could have won the game but in this case in over time will do.  The Lady Gryphons beat East Wake 61-58 in over time and now play in the fifth place game Friday at 12.30 at Cary Academy.

J'Kyra Brown scored 9 of the Gryphon 11 points the Gryphons scored  in over time  32 for the game to seal the deal.  Carmen Richardson scored 13 points and today help came in the form of Kelsy Daniels who had 12 points  most on rebound put backs.

Lady Gryphons are now 7-3 on the season.  The news is not good from Durham.  The Rocky Mount Gryphon boys have lost their first basketball game in 2012.  During the 2011/12 season they did not lose after  the New Year in fact finished the 2012 season winning 20 in a row.  They had begun the 2012/13 season winning their first eight but tonight Northside Christian Academy from Charlotte had beaten the Gryphons 70-56 snapping the Gryphons 28 games winning streak.  They are now 8-1 on this season.

I have just pulled for DUKE football about as hard as I ever have tonight in the Belk Bowl in Charlotte.  Duke fumbles twice inside the five yard line, the last one occurring with 1:15 to play and then gives up and 83 yard pass play with 44 seconds to play.  Cincy then returns a pass int for a TD and highly favored Cincinnati beats Duke 48-34.  Cincy finishes 10-3 and Duke 6-7.   

Lady Gryphons Fall

There are so many brackets in the High School OT Invitational Tournament is is hard to keep up with who is playing who.  This year the Rocky Mount High School Lady Gryphons are in the Mix 101.5 Bracket which has eight teams.

Wednesday night the Lady Gryphons matched up with Dudley High from Greensboro.  It is apparent in this one that it will be height against speed as Dudley has a six  five center.  The Gryphon speed worked in the first half but by the time the final horn had sounded the Lady Gryphons need more than two players to score as Dudley whips Rocky Mount 60-54.  J'Kyra Brown lead Rocky Mount dropping in 31 and Sophomore Carmen Richardson added 17.  This gives these two players 48 of the 54 points scored by the Lady Gryphons.  Moriah Davis lead Dudley with 17.

Now in the losers bracket the Lady Gryphons play at noon time on Thursday and they will face off against East Wake who was a 60-55 loser to Myers Park High School from Charlotte. The best the Gryphons can finish now is fifth as there will be another game on Friday.

The Boys hit the floor at Riverside High at 5:30pm today in the Tobacco Road Holiday  Invitational Tournament.  They will be playing Northside Christian Academy  from Charlotte.  This tournament is also an eight team affair and there will be three games played by the Gryphons.

Tonight Duke plays it it's first Bowl game since 1994.  They are in Charlotte for the Belk Bowl which starts at the odd hour of 6.30pm.  Since ESPN has control of all of these minor bowl games and they are trying to provide coverage of about 35 games air times of some of these games is ridiculous.  Has any body noticed several of the games so far had more people working for ESPN that people in the stands. 

That Hawaii Bowl the other night had maybe 1,500 people in view of the camera.  Teams are required to buy so many tickets and I am sure that the teams in Hawaii lost money big time to be on national TV.  Speaking of ticket sales, I understand State sold 8,200 of their 10,000 for the Music City Bowl game in Nashville against the home team Vanderbilt.  I bet Vandy nearly sells the place out being right down the street.

Rookie Of The Year

The three top rookie quarterbacks Andrew Luck, RG3 and Russell Wilson  are probably the best combo of rookie quarterbacks in NFL history.  The 2004 class only had two of the three made it to the field in 2004 Ben Rothlesburger, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers.  Rivers was three years before he got on the field full time.

There is plenty of talk of which is the best of these three prize rookies.  Andrew Luck as the number one pick by Indy is playoff bound.  If the Redskins beat Dallas Sunday they are in with RG3 and Seattle just might be the surprise team in the NFL this year with Russell Wilson.

Let's take a look at the key stats and see if we can pick who should be rookie of the year.  Passing yardage is not a factor in my selection of ROY but the first stat to look at is Touchdowns to interceptions.  Luck is 21/18, 3 is 20/5 and Wilson 25/10.  Give the edge to RG3, Wilson second and Luck third.

Yards per attempt  Luck 7 yards per try.   RG3 8.3 and Russell Wilson 7.7.  Once again RG3 takes the lead with Wilson second and Luck trailing the field.

Passing completion %  Luck  54%, RG 3 66% and Wilson 63%.  Same winner same second place and Luck trails the field.

Quiarterback rating.  Once again the same order  Luck 75.6, RG 3 104.1 and Russell Wilson 98.0

Yes there are other categories to look at including running with the ball but the same measurements come forth there too.  R G 3, Wilson and Luck.  I say the Rookie of the year in the NFL is Robert Griffin 3rd with Russell Wilson second.  I think with all the comebacks that Luck has had he seems to be the media darling.  I'll Take the Skins man in RG 3.

As far as comeback player of the year let me point out one thing that people seem to have forgotten.  Adrian Peterson rushed for 970 yards last year before his knee injury at Christmas.  To me the come back player needs to have not played at all like Peyton Manning.  Denver made the playoffs last year and won one playoff game so my choice for MVP is Adrian Peterson.  Manning as the comeback player.