Paul Durham, Sports Editor

First draft at realignment could impact Eastern Plains Conference

2011-12-01T22:33:00.003-05:00

The N.C. High School Athletic Association has unveiled its first attempt at conference realignment for the four-year period beginning in the fall of 2013.

Before I comment further on this scenario, let me say that the process usually involves several steps and won't be finalized until May, 2012. Let's hope that changes are made because the first draft means big changes for the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference. The EPC currently has Beddingfield, Greene Central, Farmville Central, Kinston, North Pitt, SouthWest Edgecombe and Tarboro as members. But Tarboro is destined for the 1-A ranks so the Vikings will likely join what is now the 1-A Tar-Roanoke Conference and be North Edgecombe's main rival.

The biggest change, however, involves sending Greene Central and Kinston to a new conference with Ayden-Grifton, Goldsboro, Midway, North Lenoir and South Lenoir. The four remaining EPC schools — Beddingfield, North Pitt, Farmville Central and SW Edgecombe — would be joined by Cleveland, North Johnston and Washington. However, now it appears that Cleveland will remain a 3-A school, per an announcement by the NCHSAA on Friday, so that would probably mean North Johnston wouldn't be shunted off to the EPC without a nearby rival.

If that happens, I don't see Greene Central leaving the EPC. My guess is that there will be a lot of lobbying from Snow Hill to keep the Rams in the conference they've belonged since anyone can remember.

The 3-A Big East Conference will not be broken up but will likely add Corinth Holders. Given that Corinth Holders is about 17 miles from Southern Nash, that seems like it will stick. I've been told by sources close to Corinth Holders that would be preferable to joining the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference, which will look mostly the same with Charles B. Aycock, Eastern Wayne, Southern Wayne, South Johnston and Triton being joined by Smithfield-Selma. Cleveland would be likely to go either back to the ECC or the Big East.

The NCHSAA is trying to do away with split conferences and, as far as eastern North Carolina goes, the classification changes of some schools will help. Bertie and Hertford County will be legitimate 2-A schools and the Northeastern Coastal Conference will no longer be a 2-A/3-A league and just a 2-A one. In Pitt County, South Central and D.H. Conley will move up to the 4-A ranks and join Rose and New Bern. However, the first draft shows Clayton and West Johnston in that league which would mean a lot of travel, especially the grueling Clayton-to-New Bern trek.

There's sure to be lots more discussion on realignment as the game of musical chairs begins. Please add your perspective below because there's no end to the possibilities.

Friday's battle will come down to basics

2011-11-24T08:42:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

I got to bed around 2 a.m. (about my normal time) after making four pumpkin pies and putting the turkey in a bag of brine solution for an overnight bath. The pumpkin pies were made from one of the pumpkins my son got on his preschool, pre-Halloween field trip to a local farm. It's the first time I've ever made pumpkin from a real pumpkin but I figured it was time to get back to basics.

Keeping that mind, that's what I think Friday's N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA Eastern football championship will come down to. Defending state champion Northern Guilford conveys an image of flash and dash with speed as a major component of its spread offense. But the truth is, the Nighthawks will, if not pound you to death, certainly slash and slice you up behind the capable of legs of junior running back TJ Logan and senior quarterback Daniel Downing.

When Northern Guilford beat Hunt 28-20 in the 2010 3-AA Eastern final, the Nighthawks passing game was as much of a reason as their ground attack. But this season the Nighthawks have run for an average of 264 yards per game and passed for just 70.6 yards per outing. Contrast that to Hunt's 233.4 per-game rushing average and 70.4 passing average and you see two teams who are very much alike.

In speaking with my contacts in Greensboro, I've learned the perception of the 2011 Nighthawks is they might not be as good as last year. That translates into Northern Guilford has less talent; understandable since half its 2010 starting quarterback duo, Rocco Scarfone, is at East Carolina while Shrine Bowl receiver Maurice Harris plays for California.

That assertion could be made about Hunt, which lost Tyrell Vinson, Caleb Driver, Spencer Miller and a host of other members of the class of 2011. But here's the thing: The Warriors lost a considerable amount of talent but, in my opinion, they are a better team this year. They've showed that with 13 straight wins that included a few downright Houdini-like escapes. That's a sign of a mature team who understands there are endless possibilities when figuring out a way to win.

So if Hunt can lose talent but end up better, who's to say Northern Guilford isn't in the same boat? After all, the Nighthawks have had an impressive 12-game winning streak including last week's 35-6 destruction of previously unbeaten and host Fayetteville Byrd.

If these two teams are as closely matched as I think (and they were pretty close last year), then this is what's going to happen. Friday's outcome is going to come down to the basics: taking care of the football, limiting penalties and mental blunders and making tackles. Not tackles 10-15 yards beyond the line of scrimmage but hit-'em-at-the-line-and-wrap-'em-up tackles.

Hunt's been good enough to overcome its mistakes in recent games but the Warriors better hope that if they do make mistakes, and I mostly mean turnovers and penalties, they make them when they least hurt. Ditto that for Northern Guilford.

I realize just about everything I've just typed here has a major "Duh!" factor. Those components I listed are the keys to just about any game for any football team. But more than anything else, I believe Friday's game won't come down to speed, experience, who wants it more, destiny or any of countless other reasons one can find. It's this simple: Don't screw up and make tackles.

Can't get any more basic than that. Now, does anyone know how to make turkey gravy?

Seems like old times in the 3-AA final four

2011-11-19T03:33:00.003-05:00

The N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA final four is set and it's 2010 all over again. Northern Guilford will travel east to face Hunt in the Eastern final while Shelby Crest heads over to Charlotte Catholic in the Western final.

Last season the lower seeds — Northern Guilford and Crest — prevailed and played a memorable state final under the lights in Raleigh's Carter-Finley Stadium. The Nighthawks won 21-20 after Crest's Shine Bowl kicker Trever Austin missed a potential game-tying extra point with seconds to play — the only one Austin missed all season.

In the 2010 semifinals, Mideast fifth-seeded Northern Guilford built a 28-7 halftime lead at East top-seeded Hunt then held on for a 28-20 win while Crest, the West No. 3, blasted Midwest No. 2 Charlotte Catholic 31-10.

Right now it's hard to say how Friday (which will be Black Friday for two teams) is going to turn out but I have to think Catholic and Northern Guilford are the early favorites. The winners will meet in the 3-AA championship game Friday (that's right, Friday), Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in UNC's Kenan Stadium.
VIKING QUEST
On a side note, the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference still has its top two teams alive as Kinston slipped past Bunn 47-46 in overtime in the 2-AA East final Friday night while two-time defending 2-A champion Tarboro eked by Edenton Holmes 28-26 in the 2-A East final. The EPC champion Vikings of Kinston host perennial power Reidsville on Friday while the Vikings of Tarboro visit South Columbus.

Should private schools be in the NCHSAA?

2011-11-17T20:38:00.005-05:00

Friday night Hunt will host Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons in the first meeting on the gridiron between the schools. It will also be the third round of N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA playoffs.

Gibbons just joined the NCHSAA in 2005 after being admitted as a private school. Previously, Gibbons was a member of the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association. Two other private schools, Charlotte Catholic and Kernersville Bishop McGuiness, are NCHSAA members and have done quite well, like Gibbons.

Which begs the seasonal question: Is it fair for private schools, with no district boundaries, to compete against public schools? I've heard plenty of public school coaches say it's not and I'm split on the issue. It's not a matter of recruiting, which is forbidden by the NCHSAA and the NCISAA but happens within both organizations. I do think not having district boundaries gives private schools an edge. Of course, private school students have to pay to attend those schools since scholarships — at least full ones — are also prohibited.

Here's a good solution that has been advocated for some time: Let the private schools join the NCHSAA but put them all in the 4-A classification. After all, a student population drawn from a specific area isn't quite the same as one drawn from one without boundaries. Besides, given the success enjoyed by Gibbons, Charlotte Catholic and McGuiness, I'm sure all three could compete and succeed at the 4-A level.

And as an aside to that, I'd like to see private schools and public schools play each other more consistently, especially here in Wilson where it's non-existent.

Big week ahead for both sets of unbeaten Warriors

2011-11-12T01:44:00.003-05:00

Hunt's thrilling triple-overtime, come-from-behind 37-31 defeat of Nash Central in Friday's N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA football playoffs put it where no Warriors edition has ever been: 12-0.

Hunt will shoot for lucky 13 next Friday against Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons, which knocked off Triton 25-15 in the second round. Curiously, the Hunt boys soccer team may face Cardinal Gibbons this week as well. If the Warriors win at Jacksonville on Saturday night and Gibbons gets past Northern Guilford, the Crusaders will host the Warriors, also unbeaten, in the 3-A Eastern final, probably Wednesday. Of course, beating Jacksonville would be a tall order for Hunt, which has been ousted by the Cardinals the last five seasons.

Another football victory for Hunt will send the Warriors back to the 3-AA Eastern final, which they lost to Northern Guilford 28-20 last season. The defending 3-AA champion Nighthawks visit unbeaten Fayetteville Douglas Byrd in the Mideast bracket final Friday. Twenty-eight years ago, the Warriors, with current head coach Randy Raper in his second season as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator Stevie Hinnant as a Skoal-dipping, 150-pound middle linebacker, hosted Byrd in the 4-A Eastern final the day after Thanksgiving. Byrd, coached by former Fike coach Bob Paroli and with such future NFL players as Donnell Woolford and Brad Edwards, spotted the Warriors seven points before going onto a 35-14 win.

How to build a basketball arena in 8 days

2011-11-11T12:35:00.002-05:00

Here's a really cool time-lapse video of the stands and basketball court being constructed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson, where later today top-ranked North Carolina and Michigan State will tip off the season in San Diego.

The video was shot by Mass Communication Specialist First Class Lowell Whitman.

We've got some local folks at the game today and next week I hope to have a story on their experiences at this unique event helping to celebrate Veterans Day.

If you know a vet, give him or her five for helping keep us alive.

High school football playoffs are here and so are my predictions

2011-11-03T02:09:00.002-04:00

The high school football playoffs are here and I've decided it's time to revive my tradition of explaining my picks as seen in the weekly Football Forecast in The Wilson Times. Wait a minute ... is it still a tradition if it takes a year-long break? Ah, never mind, I'm here now, right?

West Brunswick at Hunt: The Warriors went 10-0 in the regular season and this is not the time for their first loss. The Trojans have the only losing record in the East bracket, or pod if you will, and shouldn't provide much resistance to the Warriors, who are hungry to follow last year's 3-AA Eastern final appearance. That path will be much harder this time around for Hunt, which will see either Nash Central or Gray's Creek next week in Warrior Stadium. Nash Central gave Hunt all it could handle two weeks ago and a second trip to Wilson might prove fruitful for the Bulldogs. Gray's Creek is also formidable, losing just once and by only six points to unbeaten Douglas Byrd. Hunt 38, West Craven 12

Interesting sidenote to a potential Hunt-Gray's Creek matchup: You think Gray's Creek fans will remind Hunt head coach Randy Raper of his peacemaking role in the girls soccer fight in the playoffs a few years ago?

Fike at West Carteret: The Golden Demons, by virtue of record and seeding, are considered the underdogs here. But let's face it, the Patriots are sputtering down the stretch and the reason for that is they finally played some good teams. West Carteret's first five games were against opposition with a combined 21-32 record. The Golden Demons, on the other hand, faced teams in their first five games that went 39-13, including unbeaten Jacksonville Northside and Hunt. Fike 27, West Carteret 16

Southern Nash at Triton: Wow! What a powerhouse first-round matchup. The Firebirds are arguably two plays from being 9-1, just like the Hawks, who won the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference title. Talk about grind-it-out, smashmouth football, these teams should put on a trench war that will, as these affairs always do, come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. Because the Firebirds have shown a tendency to hurt themselves in that regard, I've got to take Triton — but not by much. Triton 28, Southern Nash 26

SW Edgecombe at Kinston: Cougars head coach Raymond Cobb credits his team's second-half showing in its 40-12 loss at home to Kinston during the regular season as the impetus for the Cougars' turnaround from an 0-4 start, including the loss to the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference Vikings. Clearly, this isn't the same SWE team Kinston saw in mid-September and while I won't be surprised to hear Coach Cobb calling me Friday night to report a winning score, I can't, in good faith, go against the top seed playing at home in the first round. Especially when said No. 1 seed has C.J. Bradshaw at quarterback. The Cougars keep it interesting for a spell but Kinston's got too much of everything. And that's just enough. No miracle for SouthWest. Kinston 40, SW Edgecombe 27

North Johnston at Roanoke Rapids: These two teams got in a shootout in the Roanoke Valley a few weeks ago and the Yellow Jackets made out with a 55-40 win after building a big lead courtesy of Panthers turnovers. A road win is certainly within NoJo's capability but I'm sticking with recent tradition, which says when North Johnston and Roanoke Rapids play football, the Jackets win. Roanoke Rapids 34, North Johnston 20

Greene Central at Jacksonville Northside: Rams coach Kenneth Grantham and Monarchs mentor Bob Eason are buddies, played football together at Greene Central, went to ECU together. But don't expect Eason to show much sentimentality other than to not run up the score. Had the Rams not had personnel issues during the season, they might be 7-3 or 8-2 and hosting a game instead of 5-5 at the No. 1 seed. But that's not where they are and Friday probably won't be pleasant for Greene Central. Northside 52, Greene Central 14

Hunt's high-scoring O'Brien commits to UNC

2011-11-02T14:39:00.004-04:00

NOTE: Corrected version with accurate season goals total.

Hunt forward Eric O'Brien has made a verbal commitment to the University of North Carolina men's soccer program. Because Eric is just a junior, he hasn't been officially offered by UNC but he's decided he wants to be a Tar Heel, and become possibly the first Wilson County player to sign a soccer scholarship from Carolina.

O'Brien currently has 55 goals on the season, which isn't what I reported earlier today. One of the four goals O'Brien was credited with in Tuesday's 9-1 playoff win against Charles B. Aycock was actually put in the net by junior Craig Edwards.

Sooo, the 55 goals still has him ninth on the single-season scoring list of N.C. High School Athletic Association players. O'Brien probably has no chance to catch Michael Richardson, who scored 92 goals for Surry Central in 2002, a year after finding the net 87 times. But the third-highest total of 66, belonging to Eastern Alamance's Matt Smith in 2003, is reachable. Certainly if the Warriors, who will play West Craven at home in the second round of the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs Thursday night, play at least three more games (which would match their furthest playoff foray), O'Brien should be able to land in the top five. He would need nine goals to do that.

By my count, Hunt has 152 goals this season, leaving the Warriors eight goals shy of the 10th-highest single-season total in NCHSAA history, done in 2002 by, of course, Surry Central.

Hunt gets top seed in 3-AA Eastern region

2011-10-29T14:27:00.003-04:00

The NCHSAA has released unofficial brackets for its 1-A and 3-A football playoffs. The 2-A and 4-A should be up soon. All of these are subject to final review and recent history indicates some changes will be made.

But for now, here's what it means for area teams. Unbeaten Hunt, the No. 1 seed in the 3-AA East region and East bracket, will host West Brunswick (4-6) in the first round. If the Warriors win, they'll play the winner between No. 5 Nash Central (8-2) and No. 4 Gray's Creek (9-1) in the next round. Hunt has the homefield advantage all the way to the 3-AA Eastern final if it keeps winning.

Southern Nash (7-3), No. 7 in the East, visits No. 2 Triton (9-1) in the first round. No. 3 Cardinal Gibbons (9-1) and No. 6 D.H. Conley (7-3) are in the other half of the bracket.

In the 3-A East, Fike (4-6) got the No. 5 seed and will visit No. 4 West Carteret (7-3). The winner gets No. 1 Havelock (10-0), unless the Rams stumble against No. 8 Hertford County (4-6) in the first round.

The rest of the 3-A East bracket is No. 7 Washington (4-5) and No. 2 Currituck County (7-3) and No. 6 Jacksonville White Oak (5-5) at No. 3 South Brunswick (7-3).

My take is that the 3-AA East is very tough. Hunt won't have a cakewalk this time, not that they did last fall but the Warriors weren't seriously tested until the third round. They'll get all they want in the second round with either Nash Central or Gray's Creek. And down at the bottom of the Mideast bracket as the No. 2 seed is defending 3-AA champion Northern Guilford, which ended Hunt's run in Wilson last December.

Fike has a good chance to win a playoff game but the Golden Demons will have a major chore in taking down Havelock, coached by former Greene Central head coach Jim Bob Bryant. Still, if Fike ends up 1-1 in the postseason and 5-7 on the year, that's not too shabby considering they just went 4-18 the past two seasons.

NCHSAA releases ADMs Friday morning

2011-10-28T14:28:00.003-04:00

The N.C. High School Athletic Association released its Average Daily Membership (ADM) numbers for each school Friday morning.

Now we have a slightly clearer idea as to what team goes where before the official football playoff brackets are unveiled sometime Saturday.

The ADMs for the eight teams in The Wilson Times readership are are as follows;

Beddingfield - 869
C.B. Aycock - 1,130
Fike - 1,140
Greene Central - 809
Hunt - 1,317
North Johnston - 715
Southern Nash - 1,261
SouthWest Edgecombe - 897

What this tells me is that Hunt and Southern Nash are certainly going to be in the 3-AA field again while Fike, which has dropped its ADM every year since 2006 when it peaked at 1,340, will probably go to 3-A. Beddingfield, if the Bruins make the playoffs, will play in the 2-AA bracket along with SouthWest Edgecombe while Greene Central is going to be very close to the 2-A/2-AA cut. North Johnston is definitely in the 2-A bracket.

Back to Fike, which is the smallest school in the Big East Conference, has 13 less than Rocky Mount. The good news for the Golden Demons is the 3-A East doesn't seem to be nearly as tough as the 3-AA East, which will include Hunt, Southern Nash, Nash Central, Triton, D.H. Conley and probably South Johnston. If the Demons beat Hunt tonight, they will more than likely get a first-round playoff game at home.

Game 6 was one for the ages

2011-10-28T01:02:00.004-04:00

As a 10-year-old in 1975, I sat up late watching Game 6 of the World Series, lights off in the living room, hoping my mom or dad wouldn't get up and make me go to bed before it was over. I remember Bernie Carbo hitting that pinch-hit three-run homer in the eighth inning and Carlton Fisk's homer in the 11th winning it for the Red Sox.

As a 46-year-old in 2011, I'm still up after witnessing what I believe to be the greatest World Series game in my lifetime. David Freese is the new Carlton Fisk after his 11th inning solo blast to center gave the Cardinals an amazing 10-9 win over the Rangers, who were a strike away from their first world championship not once, but twice!

Tonight had it all — critical errors, clutch hits, great defense, questionable managerial decisions, heroes and goats. Would have been nice to see Josh Hamilton hit the Series-winning homer but it wasn't in the Cards. Sorry.

One more thing. Nelson Cruz, you've got to make that catch!

Redskins the latest team to offer Brown a tryout

2011-10-09T00:23:00.003-04:00

Like many college graduates pounding the pavement searching for a job these days, Everette Brown keeps plugging away and hoping to land with another NFL team.

The Beddingfield High graduate was cut by the Carolina Panthers just before the season (the same Panthers who made the former Florida State All-American defensive end their top draft pick in 2009). Most recently Brown was reported by Aaron Wilson of scout.com to have worked out with the Washington Redskins. That makes at least four teams — New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and Detroit Lions being the other three — that have given Brown a tryout. Of course, tryouts of free agents are held each Tuesday in the NFL so that doesn't mean the Redskins are about to offer Brown a contract.

But considering Washington is the second-closest NFL city to Wilson, it'd be nice to see Brown wearing the burgundy and gold.

O'Brien on track to shatter his own scoring mark

2011-10-06T01:44:00.002-04:00

Hunt junior Eric O'Brien is on pace to break his own single-season scoring record for the Warriors. After a hat trick in Wednesday night's 10-1 win at Northern Nash, O'Brien has 42 goals, seven shy of the mark he set last fall. With four regular-season matches remaining, O'Brien has a great chance to hit 50 before the postseason begins. If the 3-A Big East Conference holds a postseason tournament this year, O'Brien will have at least one more, if not two chances before the state 3-A playoffs begin.

By the way, the N.C. High School Athletic Association record is 92, set by Surry Central's Michael Richardson in 2001, breaking his own mark of 87 set the year before. O'Brien won't come close to either of those numbers but if he gets to 53, he'll be in the top 10 all-time single-season goal scorers in NCHSAA boys soccer.

If the 14-0 Warriors clinch the Big East's top seed, they should be able to get to the fourth round again, where they will most likely encounter Jacksonville for the fifth straight year. The Cardinals defeated Hunt on penalty kicks in the fourth round last season. The good news for Hunt this time is the Cardinals might not be as strong whereas the Warriors seem better than they were a year ago. If Hunt wins, Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons lurks as the potential winner of the "lower" bracket. Gibbons currently is ranked No. 1 in the state in the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A poll, one ahead of Hunt.

NCPreps.com - And then there was 31!!

2011-10-05T03:05:00.004-04:00

NCPreps.com - And then there was 31!!

Still not sure why Hunt doesn't get enough votes to be ranked in The Associated Press 3-A top 10. The Warriors were one of the last eight 3-A teams standing last season so it's not like they've come out of nowhere. At 6-0, Hunt is one of 31 remaining unbeaten teams in the state. The Warriors are going to have a tough time maintaining that perfection with games remaining against Rocky Mount, Southern Nash, Nash Central and suddenly surprising Fike.

The Big East has pretty much lived up to its preseason hype with Hunt, Southern Nash and Nash Central, which has taken the role that Northern Nash had last year, off to a combined 16-2 start. Rocky Mount and Fike are clearly better than they were last year and only Northern is struggling, but still capable of playing anybody tough.

I've felt all along that the Oct. 14 showdown between the Warriors and Firebirds at Hunt would most likely settle the conference championship. But with Southern stumbling at Fike in OT on Monday night and Nash Central dealing a decisive defeat to host Rocky Mount, it might be the Bulldogs who pull off the surprise. And Nash Central, under both Kenneth Grantham and current head coach Kevin Crudup, has always been a tough nut to crack. You just can't ever overlook the Bulldogs.

Meanwhile the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference race is getting pretty interesting with the apparent resurgence of SouthWest Edgecombe. There are some key matchups this Friday with the Cougars visiting a capable North Pitt squad and Tarboro traveling to Kinston for what could be the conference championship game.

Beddingfield is at Farmville Central in another "blast for last." If the Bruins don't beat the winless Jaguars, Beddingfield might not win another game. What has happened on Old Stantonsburg Road? For one, the Bruins running game has been, well, atrocious. I'm not sure if the blame is to fall on the ball carrriers, the blockers or the play calling but if you can't run the ball, you won't win. And the Bruins are finding out that age-old axiom has never been more true. The good news for head coach Tyrone Johnson (if this season doesn't kill him) is many of the Bruins should be back next season and, if they take heed of the lessons being conducted this fall, they could be pretty good in 2012.

Bruins' Speight verbals to ECU

2011-09-20T02:27:00.002-04:00

Beddingfield High senior defensive end Reece Speight gave his verbal commitment to East Carolina University last week. If Reece does become a Pirate, he will be the first Bruins to ink with an FBS program since Everette Brown signed with Florida State in 2005.

Brown gets workout with Titans

2011-09-13T16:50:00.002-04:00

Former Carolina Panthers defensive end Everette Brown had a workout this week with the Tennessee Titans but hasn't been signed, as of Tuesday afternoon.

Brown, the Panthers' top pick in the 2009 NFL draft, was an All-American at Florida State after graduation from Beddingfield High. Carolina, under new head coach Ron Rivera, waived Brown a few days before the season began last week.

Familiar names on college football rosters

2011-08-25T01:17:00.004-04:00

Several former area players are on Atlantic Coast Conference football rosters this fall. The list includes freshman Qwen Ballard, a walk-on at N.C. State who played at Hunt. Also, former SouthWest Edgecombe running back Jerome Dupree is with the Wolfpack.

North Carolina has 2011 Charles B. Aycock graduate Jarrod James on the offensive line while Kwamaine Battle, the 2006 Wilson Times Ironman of the Year, is a redshirt-senior defensive lineman at Virginia Tech. Battle redshirted last season after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the Hokies' second game last fall.

Also, former Fike standout defensive tackle Leroy Vick is at East Carolina but will redshirt this season after a knee injury incurred in the Pirates first spring scrimmage. Vick earned National Junior College Athletic Association preseason All-America acclaim last fall at Georgia Military and enrolled at ECU in January.

Best of the Decade voting heats up

2010-04-30T00:26:00.004-04:00

With less than 24 hours until voting ends for the Best of the Decade contest, the action has heated up considerably.

Perhaps it was due to the voting results no longer being visible for the final three days of the contest but more than 30,000 votes were cast Thursday, the single biggest day of voting in the nearly three weeks since the contest began.

Although I'm not at liberty to discuss specifics, I will say there are major new developments in the race for Player and Coach of the Year. The next 23 1/2 hours are going to be very interesting!

Griffith, Raging Wolves begin season

2010-04-21T01:22:00.002-04:00

The Carolina Raging Wolves kicked off their 2010 Women's Football Alliance season with a 42-36 loss at the Tampa Bay Pirates on Saturday. It was not only the Raging Wolves' season opener but their first game ever.

Danielle Griffith, a Fike High product and a student at UNC Pembroke, registered a tackle for the Raging Wolves.

The Raging Wolves take on the Central Florida Anarchy this Saturday at 7 p.m. in their home opener at St. Pauls High School in St. Pauls.

Rountree's recruitment heating up

2010-04-15T23:39:00.002-04:00

The pursuit of Beddingfield High junior basketball player Aaron Rountree is beginning to heat up.

The 6-foot-7 wing for will hold a workout at the school Tuesday with coaches from N.C. State, Virginia, Elon and Virginia Commonwealth present, Bruins head coach Jeremy Howard said. Rountree is a talent-in-progress but certainly showed a lot of it this past season when he averaged 10.1 points and 8.8 rebounds.

Rountree was an integral performer on a talented Beddingfield that might just be the team to beat in not only the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference but also the 2-A Eastern region as well next year. Returning with Rountree are fellow Wilson Times All-Area selections 6-7 junior X-Keem Jones and junior playmaker Daquan Langston.

Expected a lot of attention focused on Rountree and the Bruins next winter.

Best voters of the decade

2010-04-14T02:59:00.003-04:00

In approximately six days there have been nearly 20,000 votes cast on this Web site for the player, coach and team of the decade. With more than two weeks left to vote, it seems a given the vote count will top the 100,000 mark.

Color me impressed, Wilson County high school sports fans.

Kyle Pittman's day on

2010-04-14T02:37:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to Kyle Pittman of Hunt High School, who was presented with WRAL-TV's "Extra Effort Award" by the legendary Tom Suiter on Tuesday.

Kyle was a standout on the football field in the fall and has been a standout behind the plate for the Warriors baseball team this spring. But mostly, he's been a star in the classroom since he came to Hunt.

Make sure you watch all the way to the end of the segment because the WRAL cameraman takes one for the team. Positioned behind the mound to get some good shots of Kyle throwing the ball to second base, the cameraman (whose name I do not have) caught one of Kyle's strong tosses atop his noggin. The poor fellow was knocked out and required emergency medical attention but, as you can see on the WRAL segment, he is OK now.

Considering all that happened to Kyle on Tuesday, one might think he might not be completely focused when the Warriors hit the field at Southern Nash for a 3-A Big East Conference game Tuesday night. One might be wrong if one thought that.

All Kyle did Tuesday night in Hunt's 24-1 win was hit three home runs, including — get this — two grand slams in the same inning! And he did it off a pretty good pitcher in Kyle Shields, who started for the Wilson American Legion team last summer and has signed with NCAA Division II upper-echelon program Francis Marion (S.C.) University.

On the night, Pittman finished with 10 RBIs — one short of a state record — as he went 4 for 5, including a double. Inexplicably, he struck out in his first at-bat. The two grannies in the same inning and game tied a state record, the former held by five other players including Southern Nash assistant coach Ricky Howard who accomplished the feat with the Firebirds in 2002.

Short of Anthony Atkinson scoring 10 points in 45 seconds and nearly single-handedly winning the Div. II national championship for the Barton College men's basketball team in 2007, Pittman's day ranks as the best I've heard of a Wilson County athlete have in my six years on the job.

Jeffers earns Extra Effort Award from WRAL-TV

2010-03-23T00:25:00.004-04:00

Congratulations to Greenfield School senior Jeremy Jeffers, who was recently honored by WRAL-TV and Tom Suiter as "The Extra Effort Award" winner.

Nice work to slip a few pages of The Wilson Times in the clip!

Nygard helps PCC to lofty ranking

2010-03-17T22:53:00.003-04:00

Former Hunt High and Wilson American Legion Post 13 baseball pitcher Justin Nygard is having a pretty good sophomore season at Pitt Community College.

Nygard is 5-0 and has helped the Bulldogs to the No. 6 ranking in the National Junior College Athletic Association poll.

On Wednesday, Nygard was featured as WITN Channel 7's Player of the Week.

Rocky Mount, Kinston finish the jobs

2010-03-14T11:03:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to boys basketball teams from Rocky Mount and Kinston which won N.C. High School Athletic Association championships on Saturday.

The Gryphons defeated Concord 84-79 in the 3-A final in the Smith Center in Chapel Hill while Kinston pounded West Caldwell 51-29 in Raleigh's Reynolds Coliseum. It was Rocky Mount's fourth NCHSAA title and first since 1982 when George McClain led the Gryphons to the 4-A crown. Kinston (28-4) won its second state championship in three years, having won the 2008 3-A title, and seventh NCHSAA crown overall.

Interesting, Beddingfield handed Rocky Mount one of its three losses (the others came to Fike and Nash Central) and came within a basket of beating Kinston during their Eastern Plains Conference regular-season meeting in Wilson. Of course, the Vikings won that one and three others against the Bruins, who also lost to the Gryphons once.

Goldsboro, the remaining third of eastern basketball royalty, lost the 1-A final to Monroe 62-46 but it was still a great season for the Cougars under first-year head coach Patrick Reynell, who had been the assistant boys coach at Charles B. Aycock for a number of years.

Do something if you can

2010-01-20T02:11:00.003-05:00

After another hectic night at the office, tracking down the results of all the area high school basketball games and getting a five-page section out on deadline, I drove home listening to BBC Radio as I usually do.

Following the blather about the Massachusetts Senate race and what it means, there was a segment of interviews with Haiti earthquake survivors. One man said he lost five members of his family — all of them — when his house collapsed in the suburbs of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. He seemed so casual when confirming to the interviewer that his whole family was gone, buried in the rubble, that it was surreal listening to him. But this man's bigger problem was that he had very little food and water in the eight days since the earthquake hit last Tuesday.

I can't imagine what I would be like if my wife and son were killed in a disaster and I survived. I can't imagine what it would be like if I had to endure that and then try to keep myself alive amid what surely must be the most hellish place on earth right now. Life as many Haitians knew it — which was never that great anyway considering the country has long been considered the poorest on the planet — just got immeasurably worse. Suddenly the $419 power bill I got in the mail today (thanks, Wilson Energy!) seemed trite considering I'm sitting here typing this in a warm house with a warm bed waiting.

To whatever god you pray or even if you don't have a god, say a prayer for these folks in Haiti. Or even better, actually do something to help answer their prayers. I just went to the Web site for Doctors Without Borders and made a small donation. I wish I could do more but I can do that.

CBA boys ranked 9th

2010-01-19T10:29:00.002-05:00

The latest NCPreps.com high school basketball polls are out and Charles B. Aycock is listed ninth in the 3-A boys rankings.

That's quite a feat for the Golden Falcons, who at 13-1 have reeled off 12 straight victories after losing to Hunt in their second game. It was just a few years ago that Aycock endured a winless season and now David West has the Falcons among the best 3-A teams in the state.

Aycock has a deep team but two Falcons are attracting the attention of a lot of collegiate recruiters. Brandon Winford, a 6-foot-7 junior, has been contacted by many major NCAA Division I programs such as N.C. State and Georgetown while senior Isaac Ryals has some Div. I suitors as well as many Div. II schools in the region.

Aycock is the only team in The Wilson Times readership area that is ranked but Kinston is the No. 1 2-A boys team while Rocky Mount is fifth in the 3-A boys poll.

UNC alumni game set for Feb. 12

2010-01-13T01:03:00.002-05:00

If you're a North Carolina basketball fan then you probably want to make plans to be in Chapel Hill on Friday, Feb. 12 for the program's "Celebration of a Century" alumni game.

Three former Tar Heels who were U.S. Olympic team members — Bobby Jones, Walter Davis and J.R. Reid — have committed to play in the game, which is part of the program's year-long celebration of its 100th anniversary. Also on hand will be members of UNC's 1993 national championship team: Eric Montross, George Lynch, Brian Reese, Kevin Salvadori, Matt Wenstrom and Serge Zwikker. That's right, all four of the 7-footers from that team will be on hand. Also, Pete Chilcutt and Scott Williams, who were members of NBA championship teams in Houston and Chicago, respectively, are scheduled to play.

Besides the game, which should be interesting considering the ages of most of the players, there will be video tributes to UNC basketball history, interviews with selected former players and a post-game tribute to former head coach Dean Smith.

Tickets for the game are $10 and can be obtained at www.TarHeelBlue.com or by calling the ticket office at 919-962-2296. But hurry, because more than 17,000 tickets have already been sold and the Dean Dome holds less than 22,000.

Time to move on for Christmas and college football

2010-01-07T23:16:00.002-05:00

Is it just me or are there a lot of private homes and businesses with Christmas decorations still up? There seem to be more than a few homes and businesses still sprouting holy wreaths, plastic Santas and those weird animated wire reindeer.

Now I'm not one of these people who arises early on Dec. 26 to take down every last stitch of yuletide decor but, growing up, we always adhered to the policy that by New Year's Day, it was time to move on.

I hold that philosophy when it comes to college football as well. I'm sitting here on Jan. 7 watching the BCS "national championship" game and that's just wrong just like the Super Bowl in February or the World Series in November or, for that matter, high school football games in the middle of August. Everything wants to overstay its welcome these days.

Here's the drill: you finish up college football on Jan. 1, except for the all-star games which nobody cares about anyway. Then you deal with January's dismal weather by focusing on college basketball and the NFL playoffs, which should wrap up neatly by the end of the month. Then February, the focus on college hoops intensifies but, at the same time, you have spring training to offer the eternal hope that it will be warm again real soon.

By March, it's all college basketball, which concludes just as it's time to start playing baseball, just like the way just before it hit the ground and exploded, the Road Runner would step out of a phone booth Wile E. Coyote had pushed off a cliff. It's seamless.

I can't get into NBA and NHL playoffs when they're still going on after Memorial Day. I used to but I just can't do it anymore. Sports are about seasonal rhythms for me. Just like that old song by The Byrds (which I think was taken from a Bible verse) : "To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven."

Right now, it's time to watch the ending of a game I very nearly turned the channel on an hour ago. The Legend of Garrett Gilbert (or is it Gilbert Garrett?) is about to be written.

Change in D.C.? Not really

2010-01-07T03:47:00.002-05:00

Mike Shanahan is the latest NFL coach to take Daniel Snyder's money and try to turn his dismal Washington Redskins into the winner they once were.

Shanahan, who won two Super Bowls as the head coach of the Denver Broncos in the 1990s, was fired by Denver after missing the playoffs for the third straight year following the 2008 season. He fits Snyder's mold of having a past resume of greatness but I see no reason to believe he will fare any better than the other six guys who have had the job since Snyder bought the team in 1999.

From Norv Turner to Terry Robiskie to Marty Schottenheimer to Steve Spurrier to Joe Gibbs.2 to Jim Zorn, they have all failed to put the Redskins back in the Super Bowl where they practically lived in the 1980s. Shanahan will be no different. Hey, I know this time the Skins have a real general manager in Bruce Allen and not Vinny Cerrato, who Snyder finally dumped. But Cerrato wasn't the problem and neither were any of those coaches (except maybe Zorn).

The problem is Snyder and is insistence on throwing money at whatever free agent he thinks will be a good player. The Redskins are notoriously overpaid and when people collect a greater wage than even they think they're worth, they don't produce like they do when they're hungry.

I grew up a Redskins fan. They were the first team I ever liked, mainly because they had a player whose last name I thought was "Hamburger," which seemed tré cool to a 7-year-old in 1973. (It was really Chris Hanburger, who played collegiately at North Carolina but so what?). I've followed them through thick and thin but over the past 5 years, I just can't get excited anymore. Once Gibbs, who is the greatest NFL coach in my lifetime (that's right, Bill Walsh had Joe Montana; Gibbs had Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien!) failed in his second coming in D.C., I knew that Snyder was the problem.

The sad thing about Snyder is that we are roughly the same age and he grew up a Skins fan, too. So I'm sure most of his formative experiences as a sports fan are similar to mine. I remember standing on the field in Candlestick Park back in December of 1999, shortly after Snyder became the owner. I had a field pass from the San Francisco 49ers office and was hanging out watching the teams warm up. At the time, I was not a Norv Turner fan at all and hoped Snyder would get rid of him. I watched Snyder making his rounds, chatting with various coaches and official-looking men and wondered if I should just go up to him, shake his hand and explain that we were both Skins fans since we started school and implore him to not let our team turn into one of the league's laughing stocks.

But I didn't do it and now if I had the chance to speak to Snyder directly, I'd let him know the past decade of failure lies squarely at his feet. But I have to believe he understands that now. Still, I don't expect the Redskins to go back to the Super Bowl until Snyder's association with the franchise is completely severed and that's not going to happen until he's dead or runs out of money.

Good luck, Shannie. You're going to need it!

Hesmer lands on collegiate all-decade team

2010-01-05T01:46:00.002-05:00

Wilson native William Hesmer was recently honored with inclusion on the College Soccer News All-Decade Team as the second-team goalkeeper. The former Wake Forest University star was joined by three other Demon Deacons on the elite squad, including first-teamers Marcus Tracy and Corben Bone.

Hesmer, a Hunt High graduate and current goalkeeper for the Columbus Crew of MLS, was the second-team goalkeeper. He was twice named as an All-American at Wake, where his save percentage (.802) and goals against average (0.82) is among the top five all-time.

Jeffers impresses at GSK

2010-01-01T07:49:00.002-05:00

Greenfield School senior Jeremy Jeffers earned the attention and respect of noted high school basketball observer Bob Gibbons at the GlaxoSmithKline Holiday Invitational at Raleigh Broughton High this week, reports Tim Stevens of the News & Observer.

Jeffers, who has signed with Drake University, averaged 15 points per game in the GSK, in which the Knights went 1-2.

Stevens quotes Gibbons as saying, "He is a guy that a lot of teams missed on. (Drake head coach and former N.C. State assistant) Mark Phelps came back into his old stomping grounds and has got an outstanding player."

Despite what Davis says, Heels can't be excited

2009-12-07T00:54:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you just have to wonder if what you read coming from someone's lips is the truth. Now, I'm not about to suggest North Carolina head football coach Butch Davis is anything less than an honest, upstanding fellow but a quote from Davis caught my eye in The Associated Press story Sunday on his team accepting a bid to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte.

Davis was quoted in the AP story: “Our players are excited to continue their season and play so close to home. We had tremendous fan support at the game in 2008 and we will need that again this year against an outstanding Pittsburgh team.”

The Tar Heels will play in the Meineke Bowl for the second straight year as they make their third consecutive trip to the game in Charlotte, called the Continental Tire Bowl in 2004 when UNC made its first appearance. The Heels have lost both previous meetings and it was my understanding, after speaking with the father of a player from The Wilson Times readership area, the UNC players did not want to return to Charlotte. After all, it's hardly a reward to play in a bowl less than 100 miles away in the same state in cold weather.

North Carolina might have gone to the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., to play Kentucky but when the Gator Bowl decided to give Florida State and its retiring head coach Bobby Bowden the spot it would typically hand to the ACC runner-up, in this year's case, Clemson. That pushed Clemson to the Music City Bowl and UNC was facing either the Emerald Bowl or the Meineke Bowl. The Emerald Bowl in San Francisco chose Boston College to play Southern California.

Now I know the thinking in Chapel Hill is that there will be lots of fans in Charlotte and travel expenses are much lower than going to San Francisco. But I wonder if the UNC players think playing in Charlotte against Pittsburgh (another team that lost to N.C. State) is better than spending a few days in one of the world's most scenic cities and facing one of college football's most storied programs.

But hey, the Heels can only blame themselves as losses to Virginia and State put them in this situation, along with Bowden's retirement. I just wonder if Davis' statement was a typical public relations put-a-good-spin-on-it utterance or if the Carolina players really are happy going back to Charlotte. Or maybe they've just fooled him.

Firebirds not favored — again

2009-12-04T00:06:00.002-05:00

Southern Nash isn't expected to win at South Johnston on Friday night by Drew Pasteur and his fantastic computer but that's OK because he hasn't projected the Firebirds as a winner since the first round.

Southern Nash is a two-point underdog in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA East Regional championship. Pasteur is coming off his worst week of the season when he got just 65.6 percent (21-11) of his picks correct with just 10 of those coming within a touchdown of his projected margin of victory.

Before the playoffs began, Southern Nash came in at 30-to-1 odds to win the East Regional while South Johnston was listed 11 to 1. Hunt and Gray's Creek, both of whom were beaten by the Firebirds, were 5 to 1.

But Southern Nash head coach Brian Foster and his players are probably more than OK being the underdog yet again.

Southern Nash, Anson County defy the odds

2009-12-03T13:49:00.004-05:00

If Southern Nash beats South Johnston in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-AA East Regional football championship, the No. 11-seeded Firebirds would become just the fourth team seeded 10th or higher to reach a regional final in the eight seasons the NCHSAA has been seeding playoff brackets.

Or the Firebirds could be the fifth team to do it.

Anson County, which visits Belmont South Point for the 3-AA West crown Friday, is a No. 12 seed. This is the first time in NCHSAA playoff seeding history that two seeds higher than 10 could meet for the state championship.

There have been 13 teams seeded 10th or higher to make it to a regional final. Thanks to the diligent work of NCHSAA Associate Executive Director Rick Strunk, I am able to tell you those lucky 13 are:

• 2001, 1-AA No. 10 Gates County (lost to No. 1 Wallace-Rose Hill 42-24 )
• 2003, 3-A No. 11 Northeast Guilford (beat No. West Craven 35-27)
• 2003, 3-AA No. 10 High Point Central (lost to No. 4 Shelby Crest 14-6)
• 2005, 4-AA No. 12 Charlotte Myers Park (lost to No. 2 Charlotte Independence 48-14)
• 2006, 1-AA No. 10 Mount Airy (lost to No. 1 Thomasville 35-7)
• 2006, 2-A No. 10 Clinton (lost to No. 1 Jacksonville Northside 25-0)
• 2006, 3-AA No. 14 Northwest Cabarrus (lost to No. 1 Charlotte Catholic)
• 2006, 4-AA No. 11 Durham Riverside (beat No. 1 Garner 15-13)
• 2007, 2-A No. 10 East Lincoln (lost to No. 5 Lincolnton 21-13)
• 2007, 4-AA No. 10 Charlotte Independence (beat No. 1 West Charlotte)
• 2008, 4-A No. 11 South Mecklenburg (lost to No. 8 Fayetteville Seventy-First 27-6)
• 2009, 3-AA No. 11 Southern Nash (plays No. 1 South Johnston)
• 2009, 3-AA No. 12 Anson County (plays No. 7 Belmont South Point)

So it was 3-A Northeast Guilford in 2003, 4-AA Riverside in 2006 and 4-AA Independence in 2007 to defy the odds and get to a state championship game but, alas, none of them brought home a trophy.

The Firebirds (11-3) have to face No. 1 South Johnston (13-1) which is a natural progession since they've defeated No. 6 Triton (8-4), No. 3 Hunt (8-4) and No. 2 Hope Mills Gray's Creek (12-2). Anson County (10-4) knocked off No. 5 Waxhaw Marvin Ridge (9-2), No. 13 Shelby Crest (7-5) and No. 1 Northern Guilford (12-2) to get to No. 7 South Point (12-2).

It's entirely possible the 3-AA bracket is where NCHSAA underdog history is made this fall and it's all up to Southern Nash and Anson County to make it.

Bowden's retirement means ACC bowl shakeup

2009-12-03T00:24:00.003-05:00

Bobby Bowden's announcement that he is retiring as Florida State University's football coach after 34 seasons looks to have repercussions throughout the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Bowden said Tuesday he will step down after the Seminoles' bowl game and that's where it gets sticky. Stewart Verney of The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area reported Wednesday the Gator Bowl is courting FSU but not with the blessing of the ACC.

The Gator Bowl wants FSU because it will be the legendary Bowden's last game but that means the Gator won't take the loser of the ACC title game Saturday between Georgia Tech and Clemson, which it is not contractually obligated to do, Verney reports.

The ACC wants FSU in the Champs Sports Bowl and if that doesn't happen, the ensuing shakeup might move North Carolina out of the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., where the Tar Heels are reported to be going. That means the Tar Heels could either go back to the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte or the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco. My guess is the UNC players would prefer to munch on sourdough bread as they take in the gorgeous views of San Francisco Bay from a cable car instead of playing for the second time in three years in Charlotte, which isn't much different from a regular-season game.

The players don't make the final decision on what bowl bid a team accepts. There's way too much money at stake for that to happen. Carolina will play in a bowl game, if invited, and it could mean the Meineke. But if it is, and I'm not a betting man, I'd wager on the Tar Heels' opponent that day.

Third round bedevils Cougars again

2009-11-28T01:21:00.002-05:00

SouthWest Edgecombe is going to win a state football championship one year but it won't be this year. The Cougars found the third round to be the stumbling block for the third time in four years as they lost to Reidsville 22-20 on Friday night.

There's not much shame in this outcome since the Rams are the two-time defending N.C. High School Athletic Association 2-AA state champions, have now won 46 straight games and are the overwhelming favorite to win their 18th state title now that they've gotten past their biggest obstacle — the Cougars.

Friday's game was everything you'd expect from a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup. The Rams came in with a reputation for offensive explosiveness, leading the state with 669 points scored. The Cougars had gotten to the third round with a withering ball-control offense. Both teams did what they did, when they weren't being stopped by defenses equal to the task.

But the part that will haunt Cougars fans and head coach Raymond Cobb is the way it ended. After SouthWest answered the Rams' third touchdown with one of their own, they failed to tack on the two-point conversion. After the onside kick attempt was recovered by the Rams, the Cougars defense rose to the challenge and forced a punt.

SouthWest got the ball with just under two minutes to play and no timeouts. The Cougars quickly moved the ball inside the Rams' 30-yard line and, on first down, quarterback Chris Ellerbe spiked it. After a second-down pass went awry, Ellerbe took a shot at Javelle Jenkins in the end zone but the pass was long.

Fourth-and-10 at the 27 with 12 seconds left. The Cougars, admittedly not a passing team but effective through the air this drive, had one more option. Cobb sent Ellerbe on to try a 37-yard field goal which was dicey since Ellerbe hadn't really kicked any field goals all year and the field was a mushy mess.

But it all became moot when the snap was low and holder Pierce Sturgill was tackled by Reidsville's Steve Williams before he could pitch to Ellerbe.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who will second-guess that decision to go for a field goal in that situation but a coach has to do what he thinks is right in a situation. Cobb's record as one of the best coaches around speaks for itself so whatever criticism comes his way has to be taken in stride.

The Cougars knew they'd have to beat Reidsville to win the state championship, whether it was the third round, the first round or the last round. It didn't happen but it shouldn't sully what has been yet another great season in Pinetops.

Pasteur likes the Cougars this week but I'm not so sure

2009-11-26T01:05:00.004-05:00

Even though his accuracy rate dipped a bit last week, Drew Pasteur of The Fantastic 50 predicts good things for at least one area team in the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs.

Pasteur projects SouthWest Edgecombe as a two-point winner over two-time defending state champion Reidsville in Friday's 2-AA East semifinals mega-clash in Pinetops but he thinks Southern Nash falls by seven at Hope Mills Gray's Creek in the 3-AA East semis.

Pasteur thinks the 2-AA East championship will be an all-Eastern Plains Conference affair with Kinston beating Pittsboro Northwood by five. He also has Tarboro advancing to the 2-A East final for the second straight year with a predicted 18-point win over Whiteville but Edgecombe County's third team, North Edgecombe, is a 10-point underdog at Jones Senior.

Pasteur says he went 51-15 (77.3 percent) picking winners last week, a drop from an all-time high of 89.4 percent (118-14) in the first round of the playoffs the previous week.

In the four high school games on this week's Football Forecast, I've only got one difference with Pasteur. I like Kinston upsetting Pittsboro Northwood in the 2-AA bracket, although it would be an upset only from the perspective of seeding, and I think Fayetteville Douglas Byrd will end South Johnston's season.

I also think Southern Nash won't get past Gray's Creek, although like last week, I thought long and hard about taking the Firebirds who are good enough to win again. I just have a hard time taking a visiting team with a penchant for fumbling.

Where Pasteur's computer and I differ are in the game many feel is the de facto 2-AA state title game. I've thought all season that SouthWest Edgecombe has had a state championship-caliber team but we know Reidsville is just that, having won the last two 2-AA crowns as well as 45 straight games. The Cougars can win this one but they'll need to play errorless football, obviously, and just as importantly get off to a good start. However, Reidsville is explosive offensively and even if SWE is winning in the final minute, if the Rams have the ball, they can pull it out. So I have to go with Reidsville by less than a touchdown.

My picks are more in line with The Massey Ratings, which project Reidsville as a 34-24 winner, Southern Nash a 26-17 loser, Byrd a 27-19 winner and Kinston over Northwood by a 23-16 final.

Prince gets A for Extra Effort

2009-11-23T15:23:00.003-05:00

Congratulations to Mary-Katherine Price, the recipient of this week's Extra Effort Award from WRAL-TV.

As one of the best high school girls tennis players in the state and the No. 1 student in her senior class at Fike, Mary-Katherine is truly the embodiment of the term "student-athlete."

Check out the video at WRAL.com, it's even got Lee Matthews in it!

West Rowan's Parks sets new state rushing record

2009-11-23T14:58:00.002-05:00

Who knew that the North Carolina high school career rushing record is 10,253 yards?

Well, there's no need to remember that figure for long because it's sure to keep climbing as newly minted record-holder K.P. Parks of West Rowan will have at least one more chance to further it Friday night. Parks, who has committed to the University of Virginia, eclipsed the mark set by former Jamestown Ragsdale and current N.C. State player Toney Baker. Parks did it with 244 yards and three touchdowns in West Rowan's 38-0 bombardment of R-S Central in the second round of the state 3-A playoffs.

It was the 27th straight win for the defending champion Falcons, who have been ranked No. 1 all season.

Gardner-Webb's McNair should start Monday vs. Tar Heels

2009-11-23T00:38:00.002-05:00

Greenfield School product Brian McNair is expected to be in the starting lineup Monday night for the Gardner-Webb men's basketball team when the Bulldogs visit the defending national champion North Carolina Tar Heels.

McNair, a three-time Wilson Times All-Area selection, should get the start, Greenfield head coach Rob Salter said Sunday night. McNair, who wears No. 24, has started one of the Bulldogs (3-0) three games and is averaging 6.0 point, 5.0 assists and 1.3 rebounds in 20.3 minutes of action per game.

The game will be televised by Fox Sports South and will tip off at 7:30 p.m.

SouthWest vs. Reidsville is a reality

2009-11-21T23:16:00.004-05:00

For the second time this season the eyes of the state 2-A football world will be on Pinetops as SouthWest Edgecombe secured the homefield for Friday's showdown with Reidsville with Saturday night's 28-0 defeat of Jacksonville Northside.

This will be the third time in four years the Cougars have reached the third round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs, having made it in the 3-A playoffs in 2006 and last year. Now in the 2-AA bracket, SouthWest faces the opponent it knew it would have to go through to win a state title ever since the season began.

Reidsville comes in with two straight state 2-AA titles and 45 straight wins, the third-longest streak in state history. The Rams score in bunches and are loaded with athletes and, as importantly, the confidence that comes with the success associated with winning four state titles since 1972.

The Cougars, on the other hand, haven't been as dominant as during midseason but played extremely well in beating a tough Northside team.

SouthWest's strength as been its decimating ground attack, often aimed at the heart of the opposing defense. The Cougars have averaged 8 yards per carry in their wishbone offense and junior quarterback Chris Ellerbe is a capable passer when they've needed him to be.

The Cougars defense has bent often but rarely broken and may be a bit underrated.

The biggest advantage SouthWest has going into Friday's game, besides the homefield, is its tough schedule. The Cougars have beaten Tarboro and Kinston, both Eastern Plains Conference rivals still alive in the third round. They also knocked off 3-A foes Hunt and Rocky Mount with ease during the season. Reidsville's schedule was far from a cakewalk and the Rams only had one game with less than 40 points scored. But only four of their regular-season foes had winning records whereas eight of the Cougars' opponents had winning marks.

In any event, Friday's game is sure to be a big-time football game and the crowd might be bigger than the estimated 5,000 spectators who were on hand to see the Cougars beat Tarboro in October.

If you're going, get there early, very early.

Congratulations to new boys soccer state champions

2009-11-21T23:08:00.002-05:00

The N.C. High School Athletic Association has crowned four new boys soccer champions with 1-A Hendersonville, 2-A Shelby and 3-A Waxhaw Marvin Ridge winning titles Saturday to join Greensboro Page, which captured the 4-A title Friday.

Marvin Ridge downed 3-A East champion Chapel Hill 2-1 in sudden-death overtime Saturday. The Tigers reached the final by giving No. 1 seed Jacksonville its first loss in 29 matches with a 2-1 overtime win Friday in a match that began Wednesday. The Tigers and Cardinals battled to a 1-1 tie in a downpour Wednesday night but the game officials decided the field was unplayable for overtime. So the teams reconvened Friday night at nearby Dixon High to play the decisive OT period.

Firebirds find footing while Warriors wonder what happened

2009-11-21T02:08:00.007-05:00

As I stepped carefully onto the field in Warrior Stadium Friday night following Hunt's state 3-AA playoff game against Southern Nash my mind wandered ever so briefly back to early August.

I milled outside the clubhouse waiting for practice to begin so I could shoot some photographs and I couldn't help but notice the stadium field was a pristine green, shimmering in the summer heat as it awaited its 32nd season. Fast forward to around 10 o'clock Friday night and the once green and robust turf was in shambles, much like Hunt's season.

The Warriors never could seem to find the traction on their own field that the Firebirds did as they slogged out a 20-10 victory to end Hunt's season in the second round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs. Southern Nash churned out 285 tough yards in the mud while the Warriors never got their offense in gear.

Maybe it was the fact Hunt kept going to the passing game which produced next to nothing. Sophomore quarterback Jacob Page, usually sure-handed and strong-armed, seemed bewildered by the marshmallow-like surface, caused by days of rain as he struggled to plant his feet for his deliveries. Meanwhile Hunt receivers seemed to be running through molasses as they just couldn't get to Page's throws. Only one of the 12 Hunt passing attempts was caught by a Warrior, Travoris Lofton, and for just 3 yards. The last pass Page threw was snagged by a Firebird, Luke Mercer, and it all but finished off the Warriors.

A fumble also killed a promising fourth-quarter drive for the Warriors right after Southern Nash had taken a 14-10 lead. But rather than try to dissect what Hunt did wrong, let's look at what the Firebirds did right. Even though they fell short of their quota of 2.5 fumbles, both turnovers they had hurt the Firebirds. The first ended the opening drive in Hunt territory and the Warriors turned it into a quick six points, courtesy of Jazzy Kirby's 62-yard run after taking an option pitch from fill-in quarterbackTyrell Vinson.

The other Southern Nash turnover came on a squib kickoff by Harry Lamm following Kirby's TD that Kyle Pittman recovered near midfield. Hunt got a field goal from Lamm out of that.

But that was it. Even Southern Nash's 66 yards on 10 penalties, including two drives that were absolutely killed by yellow flags, didn't keep the Firebirds from winning. I was impressed by them early in the season after back-to-back wins against Beddingfield and Bunn and I was not surprised that they beat Hunt Friday night.

They believe in themselves and they believe in head coach Brian Foster and his staff and good things have happened for them.

Madness in my method

2009-11-19T03:16:00.002-05:00

In a much less scientific manner than Drew Pasteur and his computer (see below), I came up with my picks for this week's Football Forecast.

Keep in mind that some of my picks are made with regard to how I think the other forecasters on the panel are going to pick. Because I'm in next-to-last place with only two more weeks assured (the Forecast ends when the last area high school team exits the playoffs), I had to mix it up a bit.

So I went against the board, or most of them, in taking C.B. Aycock at Hope Mills Gray's Creek. But I also did it because I have a hunch the Golden Falcons are going to play a little longer.

I did go with the flow on picking Hunt over Southern Nash but, as I did during the regular season, I nearly convinced myself to take the Firebirds. After all, Southern Nash has had just as good a season as Hunt, except for the Warriors' 28-20 win at home last month. But I just can't get over the Firebirds' 2.5 turnovers per game, especially when the field in Warrior Stadium is probably going to be wet Friday night.

I did take Rocky Mount over South Johnston for two reasons: No. 1, the Trojans didn't impress me all that much when I saw Fike nearly beat them in Wilson six weeks ago and, No. 2, the Gryphons have had a bad season — by their recent standards — but as Fike head coach Kim Brown said, 'They ain't a bad team."

I took Kinston over East Duplin because I'm just a sucker for those Eastern Plains Conference teams. The Vikings are a tough bunch and maybe East Duplin didn't face that kind of competition during the season and is the No. 1 seed only because the folks at the NCHSAA drew it out of a hat.

I like SouthWest Edgecombe to take care of business this week against a tough Jacksonville Northside team but the Cougars better click it up a few notches if they survive and get Reidsville in Pinetops the day after Thanksgiving. Those Rams are tough, tough, tough.

Don't ask me why I picked the way I did on the college games. I've been terrible all season but I'm rolling the dice again on Arizona over Oregon and Cal over Stanford. I'll admit that in my 11 years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I took sides and never once rooted for the Cardinal. Go Bears!

Pasteur releases second-round predictions

2009-11-19T03:01:00.002-05:00

Drew Pasteur released his updated Fantastic 50 along with second-round picks for the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs.

To get straight to the point, he has 3-AA East No. 3 seed Hunt beating No. 11 Southern Nash by seven points to set up a third-round meeting with No. 2 Hope Mills Gray's Creek, which Pasteur projects as a five-point victor over C.B. Aycock.

Pasteur also has No. 1 South Johnston edging No. 9 Rocky Mount by a point and No. 12 Fayetteville Byrd toppling No. 5 West Brunswick by four.

In the 2-AA East, No. 2 SouthWest Edgecombe is a 20-point favorite over No. 7 Jacksonville Northside while No. 3 Reidsville is laying 28 points on Bunn. He also has No. 1 East Duplin slipping past Kinston by a point.

Pasteur touts his first-round performance as his best week ever, coming in at 118-14 (89.4 percent) and on the season, he's at 81.4 percent. Not too shabby.

But like with any tournament predictions, Pasteur had some early bracket busters. The most notable was his 3-AA runner-up Fayetteville Westover going down to Byrd in the first round. Another 3-AA quarterfinalist, Northeast Guilford, also went by the wayside to Shelby Crest in the first round.

The 3-AA had four wrong picks in the first round, by far the worst showing for him in any bracket. However, in each of the other seven classifications all of Pasteur's final eight are alive.

He does have SWE and Tarboro winning the 2-AA and 2-A state crowns, respectively, and Hunt exiting to Gray's Creek in the third round.

Richardson, Jeffers earn McDonald's All-America team nominations

2009-11-17T14:22:00.002-05:00

Greenfield School seniors Brian Richardson and Jeremy Jeffers were named as nominees to the prestigious McDonald's All-America high school boys basketball team, Knights head coach Rob Salter reported Tuesday morning.

Richardson, who has signed with the University of South Carolina, and Drake University signee Jeffers become the third and fourth players in Greenfield hoops history to achievement a McD's nomination. Last year, Brian McNair, now a freshman at Gardner-Webb University, was selected while Anthony Atkinson was the first. Atkinson, you may recall, led Barton College to the NCAA Division II championship in 2007 and is now a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Neither McNair nor Atkinson made the final cut of the McD's roster but just to be nominated is a big deal so congratulations are in order for Richardson and Jeffers!

High school playoffs starting to take shape

2009-11-16T23:35:00.002-05:00

Looking ahead to Friday's second-round games in the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs, Southern Nash visits Hunt for the second time in a month.

The Warriors took advantage of the Firebirds' mistakes to pull out a 28-20 victory on homecoming. But that was with junior Caleb Bass and his 158 rushing yards. I expect Friday's rematch to be real war and it might come down to the final minutes.

The winner of this game takes on the survivor of the Charles B. Aycock-Hope Mills Gray's Creek game. Gray's Creek holds the seeding advantage while CBA would travel to Hunt and host Southern Nash.

In the top half of the bracket, Rocky Mount visits 3-AA East top-seed South Johnston and Fayetteville Byrd travels to West Brunswick.

SouthWest Edgecombe, which was shaky in its 2-AA opener against West Stanley on Saturday night, hosts a solid Jacksonville Northside team. The Cougars might have gotten caught looking ahead in Saturday's 16-6 win against a decided underdog in West Stanly and it'll be tough for SWE to not do the same this week with a potential date with two-time defending state champion Reidsville looming. Meanwhile, 2-AA East No. 1 seed East Duplin hosts Kinston Friday with the winner getting the Pittsboro Northwood-South Granville victor in the East semifinals.

Lane guides Abbey to conference titles in return to coaching

2009-11-16T20:28:00.004-05:00

Congratulations are in order for Wilson native Robert Lane who guided the Belmont Abbey College women's soccer team to the Conference Carolinas regular-season and tournament championships in his first season as head coach.

For those who don't know Lane, he was an all-state player at Hunt High in the late 1990s, earning a selection to the East-West All-Star Game. He played two years at Barton College then moved onto the NCAA Division I ranks at East Carolina University.

Lane returned to Barton as an assistant under then head coach Gary Hall in 2005 before taking a job at Montreat College in January, 2006. But before he had coached a game there, Lane moved onto Coker College Hartsville, S.C., where he coached the men's team for three seasons. His last season at Coker in 2008, produced the best record by the Cobras in a decade at 7-12-2.

Lane was married to the former Neeley Rentz of Hartsville in March, 2008, and the newlyweds planned to relocate to Charlotte where he would work in private business. But the chance to coach again came last August when Lane took the job at the Abbey, where he could work without having to leave the the Charlotte area.

The Crusaders finished the season 14-6 after a 5-0 loss to Armstrong Atlantic (Ga.) in the first round of the NCAA Div. II playoffs.

Hunt falls at Jacksonville 5-0

2009-11-16T20:06:00.004-05:00

I have some not-so-good news from Jacksonville where the Hunt High boys soccer team was defeated 5-0 in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A East semifinals.

The Warriors, ranked No. 5 in the state, finished 22-2-1 while the Cardinals, top-ranked and unbeaten through 28 matches, steams into the East final against the winner of the Chapel Hill-Cardinal Gibbons semifinal. Still no score from that one.

UPDATE at 9 p.m.: Looks like Jacksonville will get Chapel Hill in the East final as the Tiger eliminated Cardinal Gibbons 4-3.

In Erwin, Southern Nash trails Triton 7-6 at the start of the third quarter in their NCHSAA 3-AA football playoff opener. Will have updates later.

UPDATE at 9 p.m.: Southern Nash leads Triton 20-7 with about 3:30 to play in the game.

Still a good deal

2009-11-16T19:37:00.005-05:00

The announcement today that most online content provided by The Wilson Times at its Web site, wilsontimes.com, would be available through subscription only is sure to be met with discontent.

Naturally, people used to getting something for free aren't happy when all of a sudden they have to pay for it. But therein lies the problem. Newspapers began giving away content online several years ago under the notion that, in time, increased Web readership would drive up online advertising revenue and subsidize digital content the same way it does in print.

But folks, it ain't working. Internet advertising brings in a fraction that print does and the online readership, which has grown, undermines print advertising because people are reading the news on the Web site and not in print. In short, newspapers are basically giving away their core product and I don't know of many businesses that can do that and sustain themselves.

The next option is no newspaper, in print or online. No local news, no obituaries, no wedding announcements, no high school football reports, no district court results, no comics, no classified ads, no nothing. I believe that newspapers are not going to fade away because I think people still want the news in their community and you won't find news about Wilson anywhere but The Wilson Times. And I might be biased, but $10 a month for a paper in your driveway and full Web access is a pretty good deal.

Hopefully, this decision, like many painful ones in recent months, will help ensure the survival of this newspaper so Wilsonians and those in the surrounding communities won't lose their source for local news.

Because this space, along with other blogs at wilsontimes.com and other online features will continue to be free, I want to step up my game, so to speak, and provide more content. Look for daily entries that might not always be just about local sports. Also look for score updates, which I will provide as best I can.

Hopefully, readers of this blog will become more involved with comments and discussions on the local sports scene because here, you still don't have to pay to play!

Hunt, SWE, CBA postpone playoff openers

2009-11-12T16:33:00.003-05:00

Hunt has postponed its state 3-AA football playoff opener against Burlington Williams until 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Warriors assistant coach and athletic director Stevie Hinnant said Thursday.

Hinnant said if there is more rain Thursday night or Friday, the game could be pushed back until Monday. Hunt now has to deal with the absence of its place-kicker Harry Lamm and punter Will Jacobs, both of whom will be in Jacksonville for Hunt's boys soccer fourth-round playoff match on Saturday night.

SouthWest Edgecombe also moved its 2-AA playoff opener against West Stanly from Friday to Saturday at 7 p.m.

UPDATED at 9:25 p.m.: Charles B. Aycock's 3-AA opener at Hillsborough Orange will now be played at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Beddingfield's 2-AA game at Reidsville along with Southern Nash at Erwin Triton in a 3-AA matchup are still on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Check Wilsontimes.com for more information later Thursday or in Friday's print edition of The Wilson Times.

Pasteur says double titles for Edgecombe County

2009-11-12T01:50:00.003-05:00

Drew Pasteur of Fantastic 50 fame has put up his weekly rankings along with some extra goodies for the first week of the N.C. High School Athletic Association football playoffs.

In his championship odds, Pasteur lists SouthWest Edgecombe (which is the No. 8 team in the Fantastic 50) as an 8 to 5 favorite to win the 2-AA state title.Two-time defending champion Reidsville comes in at 7 to 2 while the Rams' first-round opponent, Beddingfield, is an 8,000 to 1 longshot. SouthWest's first-round foe, West Stanley, comes in at 500,000 to 1.

Hunt, the No. 3 seed in the 3-AA East bracket, is a 17 to 1 shot to win the state crown, the fifth-best odds. The Warriors are listed as 5 to 1 to win the East. Southern Nash is 130 to 1 to win the state 3-AA title and 30 to 1 to win the East. Charles B. Aycock is 60 to 1 to win the state 3-AA championship and 13 to 1 to win the East.

Tarboro is an 8 to 5 favorite to win the 2-A state championship a year after falling in the 2-A final. If Pasteur is correct, Edgecombe County would be home to two state champions.

Pasteur's computer played the entire playoffs and here are the bracket predictions.

He has Hunt beating Burlington Williams by 21 in the first round as well as Aycock downing Hillsborough Orange by 13 and Southern Nash winning by one at Triton. Hunt then will beat Southern Nash by eight in the second round (interesting because the Warriors beat the Firebirds 28-20 three weeks ago) and Aycock losing by five to Gray's Creek. Hunt is forecast to lose by a point to Gray's Creek in the East semifinals.

In the 2-AA bracket, SWE will steamroll West Stanly by 39 in the first round and Reidsville will knock off Beddingfield by 28. He's got SWE beating Jacksonville Northside by 24 in the next round to set up a showdown with Reidsville, a 28-point victor over Bunn. Then the Cougars will end Reidsville's 44-game winning streak by five points in the third round before beating Eastern Plains Conference rival Kinston by 16 in the East final. SouthWest will down Newton-Conover by 11 for its first state championship.

In the other classifications, Pasteur picks Matthews Butler over Fayetteville Jack Britt by 18 in the 4-AA final; Jamestown Ragsdale by 10 over Harnett Central in the 4-A title game; Northern Guilford by eight over Fayetteville Westover in the 3-AA championship; West Rowan by a point over Hertford County to win the 3-A crown; Tarboro beating Winston-Salem Carver by 10 in the 2-A finale; Monroe by five against Southwest Onslow in the 1-AA championship and Mount Airy to repeat as 1-A king by 13 over Wallace-Rose Hill.

Keeping up with Pasteur's predictions (he's gotten 81 percent correct on the season) will make the playoffs all the more fun for me.

There's some long drives for some teams Friday night

2009-11-12T01:08:00.005-05:00

Our friend in New Bern, Alan Wooten, who must know more about Farmville Central football than anyone alive or dead, brings us this tidbit about 2-A Eastern Plains Conference teams in the football playoffs.

Alan points out that of the six playoff games involving EPC teams, will involve approximately 1,500 miles of round-trip travel. The distances are Alan's but since he's such a great stat man I'm sure they are correct. The longest drive will belong to West Stanly which must travel 191 miles to Pinetops to play SouthWest Edgecombe for a 382-mile round trip..

The other distances, one-way, are Kinston at High Point Andrews (171 miles), Farmville Central at Whiteville (150 miles), Tarboro at Croatan (111 miles) and Beddingfield at Reidsville (127 miles).

The Farmville Central-Whiteville winner will get the winner of the Burlington Cummings-First Flight matchup. Cummings will travel 258 miles (512 round trip) to Kill Devil Hills to play the Nighthawks.

But those distances are piddly compared to those some of the teams in the 1-A bracket will have to travel Friday. Alleghany will drive 225 miles to play at Hobbton. North Duplin faces a 369-mile trip to Cherokee but the longest drive of all goes to Hayesville, which has to go 390 miles to get to its first-round opponent Princeton.

Talk about a looooooong ride home if you don't win.

DeRatt makes mark for 4-A champion Rampants

2009-11-12T00:59:00.003-05:00

Greenville Rose completed an undefeated season by winning the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A volleyball championship last weekend. The Rampants (25-0) defeated Charlotte Ardrey Kell in four games for their second straight state title.

Junior Jamie DeRatt, who transferred from Beddingfield at the start of the year, had 10 kills, 10 blocks and two digs in the final for Rose. She wasn't named Most Valuable Player as that went to teammate Emily Neideffer, who stated in Kent Wheeless' North Carolina iHigh.com article, she thought the award would have gone to DeRatt.

DeRatt certainly made an impact at Rose on the volleyball court. Now I wonder how the Rampants girls soccer team will be in the spring with DeRatt.

Worst display of sportsmanship ever

2009-11-07T23:10:00.004-05:00

If you're someone who gets upset when sportsmanship isn't on display all the time, don't click on this link.

This is a YouTube clip of an ESPN Sportscenter piece of Thursday's Mountain West Conference women's soccer tournament semifinals match between New Mexico and BYU. New Mexico's Elizabeth Lambert gets caught on camera doing several things which should have earned her an immediate ejection, however by far the worst, is when she yanks BYU's Kassidy Shumway to the ground — violently — by her ponytail.

Lambert goes way over the edge of decency with her actions. Since then UNM has suspended her and she has offered a contrite apology, which she should but she also should not have ever pulled anything like that.

The most amazing part of it is that only one yellow card was issued in the match, one against Lambert for tripping a player in the box. What were the refs doing? Texting their buddies? Chatting with fans? They definitely weren't watching the game.

NCHSAA football pairings are out

2009-11-07T21:36:00.003-05:00

The N.C. High School Athletic Association released its football playoff brackets this afternoon and here's where everyone will be Friday night.

In the 3-AA bracket, Big East Conference champion Hunt will host Burlington Williams while Southern Nash visits Erwin Triton and Charles B. Aycock is the guest of Hillsborough Orange.

In the 2-AA field, SouthWest Edgecombe, the East No. 2 seed, welcomes West Stanly and Beddingfield hits the road to play two-time defending state champion Reidsville.

Potential second-round matchups are Southern Nash at Hunt; Aycock at Gray's Creek, Jacksonville Northside at SWE and Beddingfield (if the Bruins shock the world) at Bunn.

Pasteur puts up his projected playoff brackets

2009-11-05T21:41:00.002-05:00

A lot of questions are going to be answered by Saturday afternoon regarding the N.C. High School Athletic Association state football playoffs. Actually, many of those will be answered by Friday night.

But, just for fun and maybe a bit more, here are Drew Pasteur's projected playoff brackets. Of course, those brackets are based on this week's picks generated by Pasteur's computer, which produces the Fantastic 50, which currently has SouthWest Edgecombe as No. 8 in the state in all four classifications.

Pasteur also has a list of "bubble" teams and those he feels are already in.. Greene Central and North Johnston, he says, need help even with wins Friday night.

But let's go back to his bracket projections since that's what we're all interested in. Pasteur has all the area 3-A teams in the 3-AA bracket, which does not contain state-ranked No. 2 Hertford or Havelock.

Hunt is the East No. 3 seed (behind No. 1 Gray's Creek and No. 2 Triton) and the Warriors are slated to play Burlington Williams in the first round. Hunt's potential second-round foe would be either No. 6 Fayetteville Westover or — Southern Nash, the 11th seed.

Charles B. Aycock is the No. 9 seed and would meet No. 8 Chapel Hill in the first round with Gray's Creek or No. 16 Western Harnett next. Rocky Mount is No. 7 and will get No. 10 South Central in the first round.

In the 2-AA East bracket, SouthWest Edgecombe is No. 3 (behind No. 1 East Duplin and No. 2 Reidsville) and will play Eastern Plains Conference rival and 12th seed Beddingfield in the first round. Winner would get the Bunn-Richlands winner. Kinston, at No. 9, would meet High Point Andrews in the first round with the winner playing East Duplin or No. 16 Saint Pauls.

Warriors last area team standing in soccer playoffs

2009-11-05T21:02:00.003-05:00

It seemed like the high school fall sports playoffs just started and now they're quickly wrapping up for area teams — except football, of course, which begins its postseason next week.

All the independent and Christian school playoffs are done (and congratulations to the Greenfield boys soccer team and Wilson Christian volleyball team for doing what they seem to do each fall — win a state championship.) For this area, volleyball is over and boys soccer, after just one round, is down to Hunt, which should be around for a couple more rounds.

The Warriors, ranked fifth in 3-A for much of the season, haven't been challenged for much of the season. They might find one Saturday against Jacksonville White Oak or in a potential third-round matchup against South Johnston. But Hunt should be able to get to the fourth round where it will truly have its work cut out against No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Jacksonville, assuming the Cardinals are upset before then. This could be one of head coach Dave Miller's best team.

West Carteret head coach Ben Emmons, whose team plays in the Coastal Conference with Jacksonville, told me after Hunt's 5-0 win Wednesday night the Warriors backs will have to figure out Jacksonville's dazzling scheme in the front third of the field.

But no matter what, anyone who wants to win the state 3-A boys soccer championship has known for at least two months it will probably have to beat Jacksonville to get there. So if the Warriors have to do it in the fourth round rather than the East final or the state championship, that's when it going to have to get done. But that matchup, should it materialize, will be in Jacksonville as the Coastal has seeding priority over the Big East Conference.

Wilson's Crumpler to be on ESPN2 boxing Wednesday night

2009-11-01T23:22:00.003-05:00

Skip Crumpler, the boxing director at Reid Street Community Center, will be in the corner of Jacksonville's Johnnie Edwards who will take on Jason Litzau in a super-featherweight 10-round bout televised by ESPN2 from Camp Lejeune.

Crumpler will serve as the cut man for Edwards, a Jacksonville resident known as "The Lumberjack", who is 15-4-1 with eight knockouts. Litzau, "The American Boy," hails from St. Paul, Minn., and is 25-2.

The bout is part of a three-fight card, including an eight-round welterweight clash between Francisco Figueroa of The Bronx, N.Y., and Raleigh's Rashad Holloway.

The matches start at 8 p.m.

A look at boys soccer first-round possibilities

2009-10-29T23:06:00.003-04:00

Here's a look at some probable N.C. High School Athletic Association first-round playoff matchups for our area high school boys soccer team based on the NCHSAA Web site pairings and the conference standings at EurosportScoreboard.com.

In the 3-A ranks, Big East Conference regular-season and tournament champion Hunt, ranked No. 5 in the state, should draw Coastal No. 3 D.H. Conley while Fike, No. 4 from the Big East, will visit Eastern Carolina Conference champion South Johnston. The Warriors' potential second-round foe should be either No. 4 Coastal Jacksonville White Oak or Waccamaw king West Brunswick. If Fike wins, it'll travel to the winner of the Northeastern Coastal No. 1 Currituck-Coastal No. 2 West Carteret match.

In a pretty interesting matchup, Charles B. Aycock, the ECC runner-up, looks to be the guest of Big East No. 2 Rocky Mount in the first round.

In the 2-A East bracket, Beddingfield, the No. 4 seed from the Eastern Plains Conference, should travel to Northeastern Coastal No. 1 Kill Devil Hills First Flight. Had the Bruins beaten Farmville Central in the EPC tournament final this week, they'd likely travel to Waccamaw No. 2 East Bladen.

Greene Central, No. 3 from the EPC, seems to be heading to East Central champion Swansboro. North Johnston, the Northern Carolina runner-up, should get Carolina 9 No. 3 Durham School for the Arts.

The first round kicks off Monday!

Fike girls cross country No. 10 in 3-A rankings

2009-10-29T21:49:00.002-04:00

The Fike girls cross-country team is ranked in the top 10 among state 3-A squads in the NCRunners.com state coaches poll for the third straight week. The Golden Demons remained in the 10th spot.

In Saturday's N.C. High School Athletic Association 3-A East Regional meet, the Fike girls will be bidding for their first trip to the 3-A state meet as a team since 2007. They also went in 2004 but the Fike boys haven't been since 1984, the last time both Fike teams made the trip.

Triangle Tip-Off showcases potential rising star in coaching ranks

2009-10-29T16:38:00.007-04:00

Boy, a few days of flu-like symptoms and a sick toddler can make you feel as though the world is passing you by. But I'm feeling much better today and ready to catch up on all fronts.

I was shocked to see Beddingfield bow out in the second round of the state 2-A volleyball playoffs. The Bruins ran into a tough Swansboro team but I thought they might have gone a little deeper. The anticipated third meeting between the Bruins and their Eastern Plains Conference archrival Farmville Central fizzled as the Jaguars fell to Elizabeth City Northeastern in the second round.

But there will be a third-round playoff meeting of conference rivals as Fike heads to Rocky Mount in Tuesday's state 3-A girls dual-team tennis quarterfinals match.

Moving outside the area and high school sports scene, I had a spy (really a personal stringer in former Hunt baseball teammate and current Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau V.P. of Sports Marketing Scott Dupree) at the Triangle Tip-Off Luncheon today at the Durham Sheraton Imperial Hotel featuring the men's basketball coaches from North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State and N.C. Central.

Despite having two hall-of-fame coaches there, the star of the show turned out to be Central's LeVelle Moton, who finished his playing career at the school as its third all-time leading scorer. Moton was the head coach at Raleigh Sanderson High School before joining the NCCU staff in 2007.

Moton, a member of N.C. Central Athletic Hall of Fame, kept them in stitches with a series of one-liners. He reportedly is the cousin of former North Carolina star Donald Williams and has made a name for himself as the personal summertime coach for many NBA stars.

Moton quipped that there may be some hall-of-famers and legends there, but he's the only coach here who's undefeated.

To which his first opponent, Roy Williams of North Carolina, responded that he sure as heck hoped Moton can't make that statement after his first game.

Keep an eye on Moton because he may be coaching in the Atlantic Coast Conference before long.

We also have a report of Williams and Mike Krzyzewski sitting on a couch and chatting like old friends, which probably isn't all that surprising. We'd like to think they go home and throw darts at photos of one another but there's a lot of mutual respect and admiration there.

"Function" facts abound

2009-10-22T00:36:00.004-04:00

Thanks to the efforts of Charles Alston and the gracious help provided by Jimmy Tillman and Jim Brett, I have put together a look at the 31-year-old football rivalry between SouthWest Edgecombe and Tarboro high schools.

The Edgecombe County rivals meet for the 33rd time Friday in Pinetops, the much-acclaimed "Function at the Junction" (a term coined in the early 1980s by former Tarboro Daily Southerner Sports Editor Mitch Evans) will boast the first pairing between teams ranked in the top 3 in the state.

But it's hardly the first big meeting in this quintessentially eastern North Carolina backyard brawl. The series began in 1978 when SouthWest Edgecombe, a new school formed from the student populations of South Edgecombe and West Edgecombe (hence, the capital W!), took a 62-0 drubbing at the hands of its established neighbor. That was the Vikings' biggest win in the series while the Cougars' came with a 23-6 win in 1985.

The schools didn't play again until 1982 with the next year beginning a stretch in which they met twice a year — once in the regular season and once in the state 3-A playoffs — in four of five seasons. The Cougars won both 1983 meetings; Tarboro won twice in 1987 and they split in 1984 and 1985 with Tarboro getting the playoff win in '84 and SWE in '85.

Tillman, who coached the Cougars from 1979 to 1990, remembers the meetings from that era as both teams being ranked each time. But Brett, the Tarboro head coach from 1975-1991, doesn't think there was ever a time the Vikings and Cougars met when both were ranked so highly.

"I doubt it," Brett said.

Besides the first game, Tarboro has two other shutouts with the latest being a 42-0 whitewashing in 2003. SouthWest's 18-0 win in 2005 was its only shutout. That was also current Cougars head coach Raymond Cobb's first of four straight wins against Tarboro.

SouthWest, which lost to Tarboro in Cobb's first season after coming over from North Edgecombe where he won two state 1-A titles, handed the Vikings their only loss (13-7) last season before Tarboro lost in the state 2-A championship to Newton-Conover.

There has never been an overtime game in the series which is a distinct possibility Friday night.

If you're going, get there early because "The Junction" (of Highway 43 and Wiggins Lake Road) isn't set up for parking for 4,000 which is what the crowd could easily be.

Gillette, one of 'top venues' to host US Youth Soccer kickoff events

2009-10-18T20:55:00.002-04:00

Gillette Athletic Complex will again be the site of a major US Youth Soccer event as the top Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 National League boys teams in the country will converge in Wilson for a kickoff tournament Dec. 10-13.

There will be Girls U15, U16 and U17 games played in College Station, Texas. Both kickoff events are being held near the sites of the NCAA Division I men's and women's championships in order to bring the youth players more exposure to college coaches.

There was a press release on the US Youth Soccer Web site which states: " Over the course of the 2009-2010 season, the League will play at top venues across the country including games at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex (Fla.), Bettye Wilson Fields (Nev.), and Wilson Gillette Soccer Complex (N.C.)."

Not that we didn't know Gillette was a pretty awesome venue already but it's always nice to read someone else say it.

Bass and Cuthrell separated at birth?

2009-10-14T00:35:00.005-04:00

It's a good thing they'll wear different uniforms, numbers and helmets on the field Friday night because fans (and parents) might have a hard time telling Hunt running back Caleb Bass, above right, and Rocky Mount quarterback Collins Cuthrell, below right, apart.

The pair bear an eerie resemblance to one another. So much so that Charles Alston, our good friend in Rocky Mount, reports Cuthrell's mother, Dawn, did a double take when seeing Bass' picture on The Wilson Times Web site earlier this season.

One thing is for sure, each player will have to play well for his team to win Friday's 3-A Big East Conference showdown. Cuthrell, a senior, is the Big East's leading passer with 481 yards and two TDs. Bass, a junior, leads the league in rushing with 957 yards and 10 TDs.

Hesmer, Crew eyeing repeat

2009-10-13T01:22:00.002-04:00

William Hesmer and the Columbus Crew are looking good in their bid to repeat as Major League Soccer champions. The Crew leads the MLS with 49 points and a 13-5-10 record as the season winds down.

Meanwhile, Wilson native Hesmer, a Hunt High and Wake Forest University graduate, is still ranked among the top MLS goalkeepers. The 27-year-old is ranked third in the league with a 0.94 goals against average. Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch reports in his "Crew Review" this is the first time Hesmer's GAA has dipped below 1.00.

Hesmer has seven shutouts, tied for fourth-best in MLS, but he has played significantly less minutes (1,620) than other goalkeeping stat leaders due to an early season back injury.

Volleyball rankings located but something is amiss

2009-10-08T21:03:00.004-04:00

I finally found the N.C. high school volleyball rankings . Although no criteria is given and some of the records posted for teams in the poll can't be correct

There are no schools from The Wilson Times readership area in the overall top 25 in the state but several are ranked in their respective classifications.

Beddingfield is No. 11 in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 2-A poll and Hunt is 22nd in the 3-A poll.

Of utmost curiosity is the N.C. Christian School Association 3-A poll which doesn't list five-time defending champion Wilson Christian at all!

So take these for what they're worth.

Warriors No. 5 in NCSCA 3-A poll

2009-10-07T02:25:00.003-04:00

The Hunt boys soccer team keeps climbing the 3-A rankings in the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association poll.

The Warriors (11-1-1) are No. 5 while 3-A Big East Conference rival Rocky Mount (13-1-2) remains at No. 12. Hunt's former 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference nemesis Charles B. Aycock (11-1-1) debuted at No. 15 this week.

Hunt has a big game at Northern Nash Wednesday night. The Knights, which fell 3-1 to Rocky Mount Monday, were 5-1 losers to the Warriors in Wilson last month but Northern Nash was without five starters in that game, head coach Joe McCarthy told me. I will be at Wednesday's showdown in Red Oak.

Those are the only teams in The Wilson Times readership area that are ranked but Tarboro is No. 6 in the 2-A poll.

Football rankings for week 7

2009-10-07T02:11:00.002-04:00

SouthWest Edgecombe slid a bit in Drew Pasteur's Fantastic 50 high school football rankings as the Cougars moved down two notches to No. 7 but remained the top 2-A team.

No other teams in The Wilson Times readership area are ranked in the Fantastic 50 or in the top 15 in their respective classifications. But here are Pasteur's computerized predictions for this week: Southern Nash (5-1, 3A) by 13 (82%) at Fike (2-4, 3A); #7 Southwest Edgecombe (7-0, 2A) by 28 (98%) vs Beddingfield (5-2, 2A); Hunt (3-3, 3A) by 26 (97%) at Northern Nash (0-6, 3A); #18 Tarboro (6-0, 2A) by 29 (98%) vs Greene Central (3-4, 2A); Aycock (6-0, 3A) by 33 (99%) at North Lenoir (2-4, 3A).

The Massey Ratings have SWE No. 15 overall and second in the 2-A poll which has Beddingfield is 27th, Greene Central 48th and North Johnston 79th out of 97 teams.

In the Massey 3-A poll, Aycock is 19th, Southern Nash 28th, Hunt 36th and Fike 64th out of 95 teams.

Demons drop, Gryphons rise in 3-A tennis poll

2009-10-07T01:59:00.003-04:00

Fike 6-3 loss at home to Rocky Mount last Thursday not only cost the Golden Demons the 3-A Big East Conference girls tennis championship outright, it also cost them a spot in the state 3-A rankings.

In the poll released Tuesday by the N.C. High School Tennis Coaches Association, Fike dropped two spots to No. 6 while the Gryphons vaulted from sixth to fifth with one more vote than the Demons. Hang on, these teams could very well play one another again as they have met in the N.C. High School Athletic Association playoffs the past two years.

In the 2-A poll, Greene Central remained No. 2 behind Salisbury.

Here's the whole thing and thanks to Greene Central's Donald Clark for e-mailing me the poll each week!

Week Seven Regular Season-

4-A
Team Points
1. Charlotte Myers Park 50
2. East Chapel Hill 45
3. Greensboro Grimsley 38
4. Raleigh Broughton 35
5. Green Hope 25
6. Wilmington Hoggard 23
7. Winston Salem Reynolds 18
8. Greenville Rose 15
9. T.C. Roberson 14
10. Charlotte Providence 3
Others receiving votes: Pinecrest (2), Riverside (2).

3-A
Team Points
1 Charlotte Catholic 80
2 Cardinal Gibbons 71
3. Chapel Hill 58
4. Burlington Williams 44
5. Rocky Mount 41
6. Wilson Fike 40 
7. Weddington 28
8. Asheville 24
9. Marvin Ridge 19
10. Franklin 18
Others receiving votes: Ledford (6), Union Pines (5), Concord (2), St. Stephens (2).

2-A
Team Points
1 Salisbury 69
2 Greene Central 64
3 Tarboro 49
4 Edenton Holmes 47
5 Shelby 41
6 East Duplin 31
7 North Lincoln 28
8 Maiden 20
9 Brevard 19
10 Topsail 9

Others receiving votes: Northwood (2).

1-A
Team Points
1 School of Science and Math 48
2 Mount Airy 45
3 Raleigh Charter School 38
4 Bishop McGuiness 33
5 East Montgomery 31
6 North Stokes 29
7 Gray Stone Day 16
East Surry 16
9 Elkin 11
10 East Wilkes 6
Others receiving votes: North Rowan (2).

Bailess, Flowers, Murphy to be enshrined at Barton

2009-10-06T00:25:00.004-04:00

The Barton College Athletic Hall of Fame will hold its annual induction ceremony in just a few weeks and this year's class has some clout as it coincides with the college's celebration of 100 years of athletics.

Todd Bailess, Class of '99, headlines the quartet that will gain entry into the hall. The former Bulldogs soccer great was the first athlete in school history to be named conference male athlete of the year and was also the Lady Bulldogs soccer coach after graduation.

Will Flowers, Class of '76, was a standout baseball player at the school, then named Atlantic Christian College. The Wilson native has been head baseball coach at Fike High School for 28 years and won the state 3-A championship in 1999.

Teasha Murphy, Class of '96, is the all-time leading scorer in Barton women's basketball history and was a two-time conference player of the year.
Allen Searson, Class of '75, was a former basketball standout.

As part of Barton Homecoming weekend, the induction ceremony and banquet will be held Friday, Oct. 23, at Kennedy Recreation and Intramural Center beginning at 8 p.m. There will a memorabilia display celebrating the 100 years of intercollegiate athletics.

Fike girls cross country No. 8 in 3-A rankings

2009-10-03T15:46:00.002-04:00

The third NCRunners.com coaches poll has been released and the Fike girls cross country team is ranked No. 8 in the state among 3-A teams.

That's a testament to the work the Golden Demons have done this year as they seem to be headed for another team berth in the state 3-A meet in Clemmons later this month.

Massey Ratings confusing but fun

2009-10-01T02:50:00.003-04:00

Just as we have Drew Pasteur and his fantastic computer producing the weekly Fantastic 50, here are theMassey Ratings, which combines ratings on schedule, offense, defense and power. But there's no explanation of how those things are rated which is probably just as well since math was never my best subject.

One cool thing about this site is its Matchups feature, where you plug in two teams and it spits out a final score. I put in Fike vs. Hunt and the computer said Hunt 23, Fike 14. I guess the Warriors' 48-0 in week 2 isn't part of the equation.

Anyway, in the rankings by classification, Charles B. Aycock is No. 16 in 3-A, Rocky Mount is 19th and Southern Nash is No. 20, Hunt is 35th and Fike is 61st.

In 2-A, SouthWest is No. 3, Tarboro is No. 4 and Kinston is No. 5. Beddingfield is 22nd, Greene Central is 53rd and North Johnston is 83rd, spots lower than the team it beat 15-0 last week — Warren County.

Fike holding at No. 4 in 3-A girls tennis poll

2009-09-30T14:35:00.004-04:00

The latest N.C. High School Tennis Association girls rankings are out and Fike remains at No. 4 in the 3-A poll with Big East Conference rival Rocky Mount at No. 6. The Golden Demons and Gryphons have a showdown Thursday at Fike, which won the first meeting 7-2 in Rocky Mount.

Also, in the 2-A rankings, Greene Central remains No. 2 and Eastern Plains Conference rival Tarboro lurks at No. 5.

The complete rankings are below.

North Carolina State Women’s Tennis Polls
Sponsored by the North Carolina High School Tennis Coaches Association
nchighschooltennis.pbworks.com
Week Six Regular Season-Published 9/30/09

4-A
Team Points
1. Charlotte Myers Park 50
2. East Chapel Hill 43
3. Greensboro Grimsley 39
4. Raleigh Broughton 36
5. Green Hope 31
6. Wilmington Hoggard 22
7. Greenville Rose 17
T.C. Roberson 17
9. Winston Salem R.J Reynolds 10
10. Pinecrest 5
Others receiving votes: Charlotte Providence (4), Durham Riverside (1).

3-A
Team Points
1 Charlotte Catholic 70
2 Chapel Hill 62
3. Cardinal Gibbons 53
4. Wilson Fike 48
5. Burlington Williams 39
6. Rocky Mount 29 7. Weddington 21
8. Asheville 20
9. Marvin Ridge 15
10. Franklin 10
Others receiving votes: Ledford (6), Concord (6), Union Pines (3).

2-A
Team Points
1 Salisbury 69
2 Greene Central 64
3 Edenton Holmes 51
4 Shelby 49
5 Tarboro 42
6 East Duplin 32
7 North Lincoln 27
8 Brevard 19
9 Maiden 17
10 Topsail 12

Others receiving votes: Northwood (2), Forest Hills (1).

1-A
Team Points
1 North Carolina School of Science and Math 49
2 Mount Airy 43
3 Raleigh Charter School 39
4 East Montgomery 32
Bishop McGuiness 32
6 North Stokes 30
7 Gray Stone Day 17
East Surry 17
9 Elkin 11
10 East Wilkes 4
Others receiving votes: North Rowan (1).

Turn football videos into cash

2009-09-30T14:27:00.003-04:00

State Farm Insurance has created a fun way for high schools nationwide to compete for some much-needed cash.

"Friday Night Feats" is an online video contest sponsored by the insurance company to to find the most exciting high school football plays this season. Videos should be uploaded to YouTube.com and then submitted to fridaynightfeats.com.

Judging criteria will be athleticism, impact of the play and creativity for the video, including a title and short description of the play.

The grand prize is $15,000 with $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. There will also be 50 $2,500 prizes awarded.

Cougars keep gaining in Fantastic 50

2009-09-30T01:42:00.003-04:00

It's poll time again and by that I mean Drew Pasteur's NC Fantastic 50.

After another big win, SouthWest Edgecombe moves to No. 5 the 50 and to the top of the 2-A rankings, displacing Reidsville.

There are no other area teams in the Fantastic 50 but Charles B. Aycock has climbed to 15th in the 3-A poll.

Pasteur (or his computer) lists Beddingfield at No. 35 Kinston as the ninth-best matchup this week. The Bruins are 17-point underdogs to the Vikings, coming off their first loss at SWE last week.

In other predictions of games involving area teams, Fike is a 4-point underdog at home against South Johnston; unbeaten Southern Nash is an 18-point favorite at Nash Central in a non-conference matchup of 3-A Big East Conference foes; North Johnston is a 29-point underdog at 2-A Northern Carolina Conference rival Bunn; Greene Central is favored by 6 at North Pitt and SouthWest is a 32-point favorite as it shoots for its sixth-straight win against host Farmville Central.

I should add that Pasteur was 144-30 (82.8 percent) last week and is 808-218 (78.8 percent) on the season picking winners. Pretty, pretty, pretty good.

Hunt-Rocky Mount soccer rivalry gets a bit too heated

2009-09-24T01:35:00.007-04:00

The Rocky Mount-Wilson high school soccer rivalry seems to have taken on an extra layer with Wednesday night's match between Rocky Mount and Hunt.

Unfortunately, it's not a good one.

In the last four years in the now defunct 3-A NEW 6 Conference, Rocky Mount and Fike were archrivals in girls and boys soccer. There were some spirited games, at times with extracurricular activities spurring the rivalry. Former Gryphons coach Patrick Sensiba, a fiery leader, made it often clear that Fike was the team in Rocky Mount's sights. And Fike, which enjoyed quite a bit of success in the NEW 6, seemed to relish the role of the Gryphons' antagonist.

But when Sensiba departed following the 2007-08 school year, he was succeeded by Drew Nick, who spent one year at Hunt, which was then in the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference. Nick left Hunt somewhat reluctantly because he wasn't offered a teaching job at the school.

Now the Warriors are in the 3-A Big East Conference, along with Fike, Rocky Mount and the rest of the former NEW 6 schools. Because many current Warriors played for Nick, a natural rivalry has developed. Factor in the status of Hunt and Rocky Mount as state-ranked teams and Fike falling off a bit this year, it makes sense that the Warriors and Gryphons would have some intense matches this season. Fueling the fire is the fact that many Hunt and Rocky Mount players compete together on the same travel soccer teams.

That certainly was the case Wednesday night as Hunt won an emotion-charged 3-1 decision in which two yellow cards (by my count) were handed out to each team. Unfortunately for the Warriors, both their yellows went to high-scoring senior forward Aaron White who will have to sit out two games following his ejection.

CORRECTION: Since White's red card was the result of two yellows, he was merely disqualified from Wednesday's match and will not have to serve further suspension.

But the most disappointing part of Wednesday's match came early in the second half when White was taken down by Rocky Mount's Justin Hartney in the box. White was awarded a penalty kick which he converted for a 3-0 Hunt lead. However, Warriors head coach Trent Dorough took exception to what he thought was Nick yelling to players to "take him out," meaning White.

Dorough, usually a mild-mannered coach, was incensed enough to complain to the officials who conferred with Nick at midfield. Nick denied the claim even though all the Warriors on the bench raised their hands when Dorough asked if they heard him say it.

I must admit I didn't hear Nick say that but I wasn't listening intently. I will say that having known Nick in his time at Hunt, I would be very surprised if he intended for his players to cause injury to a former player. That just does not compute to me.

After the match, Nick was intent on telling his side of the story.

"If I could comment, I would never and have never had one of my kids take another player out," he said. "So the accusations from the coach on the other side are totally false and he should apologize. Not for nothing, he’s created bad blood between us."

Dorough didn't refer to the situation directly in his postgame remarks but did point to questionable officiating. (White wasn't even sent off the field following his first yellow card.)

"I hate we got out of our game, I hate what happened on the sidelines," Dorough said. "I just hate the way the game was officiated. The whole game was just a brawl; it wasn’t a soccer match. It wasn’t fun ... It wasn’t the way I like to play."

It wasn't fun for me either since I know and like both coaches and think the intensity of the match probably led to the situation. Hopefully the rematch at Rocky Mount won't be about this situation because these are two pretty good soccer teams and they put on a good show Wednesday night.

Especially the goalkeepers, Hunt junior Will Jacobs and Rocky Mount sophomore Drew Gorham. No official statistics were kept but both keepers made some spectacular saves as well as boomed punts to keep the opposing offenses off-balance.

Gorham, by the way, played for the Wilson Youth Soccer Association '93 Explosion Blue which included Hunt's Sam Hoeferkamp, among others.

Reynell takes Goldsboro boys basketball job

2009-09-23T02:09:00.005-04:00

Just a word of congratulations to Patrick Reynell, who is leaving Charles B. Aycock to become the new varsity boys basketball coach at Goldsboro High.

Reynell has served as David West's assistant at CBA for the last five seasons. Goldsboro and CBA have had a good rivalry for a long time, especially on the basketball court and now it should be a lot friendlier.

Certainly Reynell will have a lot to work with at Goldsboro which won the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference last season and is now in the 1-A Carolina Conference, having taken North Johnston's place.

I will miss Patrick calling in CBA game reports, which he was as apt to do as West, who I'm sure will miss his trusted assistant.

Reynell's wife, Carrie, will remain at Aycock where she coaches the varsity girls basketball team and is a softball assistant coach, having played that at Barton College. They are the proud parents of an 8-month-old little girl.

Fantastic 50 for week 6

2009-09-23T01:57:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't bookmarked it yet, Drew Pasteur's Fantastic 50 is up for another week of rankings and predictions.

SouthWest Edgecombe (5-0) climbed higher to the No. 6 spot statewide in the Fantastic 50 while the Cougars remain No. 2 in the 2-A poll behind Reidsville (5-0). SouthWest is the only area team ranked in the Fantastic 50 or in the classification polls.

But the Cougars get yet another test, probably their toughest yet, Friday when Kinston (5-0), at No. 23 overall and fifth in 2-A, comes to call in both squads' Eastern Plains Conference opener. Pasteur ranks that as the top matchup in the state this week. He lists Hunt (3-2) at Charles B. Aycock (5-0) as the ninth-best game in the state.

For my money, Greene Central at Beddingfield, another EPC brawl, is just as interesting. For that matter, and for entirely different reasons, Fike hosting Eastern Wayne also intrigues.

For the record, Pasteur likes Aycock by 8, Beddingfield by 10, Fike by 15 and SWE by 10. He went 134-31 (81.2 percent) and is 663-189 (77.8 percent) on the season picking straight winners. On the year, he (and his computer) have come within seven points of the predicted margin 32.7 percent of the time and within three points 18 percent of the time. And he's nailed it dead on 23 times or 2.7 percent of the time.

Richardson to South Carolina

2009-09-21T14:35:00.002-04:00

Greenfield School senior Brian Richardson has given his verbal commitment to the University of South Carolina, making him the second Wilson basketball standout to become a Gamecock. Jamie Watson, who thrilled Fike fans in the 1990s, also played at South Carolina before a brief NBA tour of duty with the Utah Jazz.

Richardson and Knights teammate Jeremy Jeffers, who committed to Drake University last week, will be able to sign letters of intent during the early signing period from Nov. 11-18.

Two more Greenfield seniors, Darian Cahill and Jarred Hinton, are also expected to sign basketball scholarship offers but neither has made a decision.

Jeffers commits to Drake; Richardson likes South Carolina, Alabama

2009-09-17T21:32:00.004-04:00

On the recruiting trail, I have word from Greenfield boys basketball head coach that 6-foot-6 senior Jeremy Jeffers has given a verbal commitment to Drake University.

Jeffers will make it official during the early signing period from Nov. 11 to Nov. 18. He had been recruited by a number of schools, including South Carolina and Harvard.

Brian Richardson, the Knights' other highly regarded 6-6 senior, is said to be narrowing his field down with South Carolina and Alabama among his frontrunners. Two more seniors, Darian Cahill and Jarred Hinton, also have decisions to make but both are considering Barton College.

Radford vs. Radford: who gets your vote?

2009-09-17T02:19:00.003-04:00

Brothers Chris and Brian Radford made their marks at kickers for the Hunt High football team and both went on to play at the University of Richmond.

Well, now both brothers are on the ballot for the All-UR Stadium Team and you can vote for them as well as other Richmond players at each position. The school is building a new stadium and this is the last year for UR Stadium, formerly called City Stadium. As a season-long celebration, the university is holding an online contest to select its All-UR Stadium team.

Brian, now a senior at Richmond, was a big part of the Spiders' national championship season last year while older brother Chris was an all-conference punter. I'm told by their dad, Mike Radford, they will have a hard time beating former Washington Redskin great Mike Bragg (he of the single-bar helmet in the 1970s), who played at Richmond in the mid-1960s.

But you can help by visiting the Web site and casting a vote for your favorite Radford punter. The punter ballot is only up this week but you can vote as often as you want.

Cougars climbing the Fantastic 50

2009-09-17T02:00:00.002-04:00

With its unexpected 42-8 thrashing of Hunt last week, SouthWest Edgecombe has climbed 11 spots in Drew Pasteur's NC Fantastic 50. The Cougars are now No. 9 in the statewide, computer-generated rankings.

SouthWest moved into the No. 2 spot in the 2-A poll behind Reidsville while Tarboro, the Cougars' archnemesis and 2-A Eastern Plains Conference mate, stayed at No. 3. Another EPC team, Kinston, is No. 5.

SouthWest might move into the top 5 in the Fantastic 50 next week if it can win at Rocky Mount Friday night. The Gryphons were ranked No. 8 in the 50 last week but tumbled to 47th after then-48th Hertford County, now 15th, pummeled them 41-20.

Pasteur is predicting the Cougars to win by 11. He picked them to beat Hunt by 5 last week but also had Rocky Mount beating Hertford.

Closer to home, Hunt is an 8-point favorite over Beddingfield, Aycock is giving 19 to Fike, Greene Central is laying 17 to North Lenoir, North Johnston by 14 over Rosewood and, in a battle of unbeaten teams, South Granville is favored by 6 over Southern Nash.

Hanson, Fike girls get state recognition

2009-09-17T01:49:00.004-04:00

The Fike girls cross country team isn't ranked but the Golden Demons did pick up some votes in the NCRunners.com cross country 3-A poll this week.

Chapel Hill, back in the 3-A ranks, is the top girls team. The only other team in the East Region that is ranked or received votes is West Carteret.

In the 3-A boys poll, Nash Central is listed No. 7 with Chapel Hill again at the top. The West Carteret boys received some votes.

Fike junior Beth Hanson's time of 19 minutes, 20 seconds in the inaugural 3-A Big East Conference meet at Gillette Athletic Park last week put her at No. 19 on the second Triangle Honor Roll. Hanson's time was a personal record but she's well behind the top time which belongs to Raleigh Ravenscroft's Wesley Frazier in 17:05.3.

Hanson does have the best time in the 3-A ranks, but there are no listings of any Chapel Hill runners so I don't know how comprehensive this list is. It did contain one glaring error as the site mistakenly lists Hanson's school as "Wilson Hunt." I'll bet the Warriors would love to have her since there are only four girls currently on the roster.

Warriors take a week off, move up in the polls

2009-09-17T01:42:00.003-04:00

A week (or has it been a month?) off for the Hunt boys soccer team hasn't hurt the Warriors in the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association 3-A rankings.

Hunt (6-1-1) has moved into the No. 7 spot despite not having played since a 10-0 spanking of Southern Wayne on Sept. 9. That was Hunt's only game since winning 10-0 at Southern Wayne on Sept. 2. The Warriors kick off 3-A Big East Conference play Monday at home against Northern Nash then welcome No. 10 Rocky Mount (9-0-2) Tuesday.

Charles B. Aycock (7-1-1) is getting votes but the Golden Falcons remain outside the top 15 in the 3-A poll.

No other team in The Wilson Times readership area is ranked.

Rams, Demons high in girls tennis rankings

2009-09-17T01:32:00.002-04:00

The latest N.C. High School Tennis Coaches Association rankings are out and Fike has slipped to No. 4 this week while 3-A Big East Conference rival Rocky Mount inched up to fifth. I guess that poll was voted on before the Golden Demons handed the Gryphons a 7-2 defeat in Rocky Mount Tuesday.

In the 2-A poll, Greene Central is holding firm at No. 2 behind Salisbury.

Here's the rankings for all four N.C. High School Athletic Association classifications.

4-A
Team Points
1. Charlotte Myers Park                50
2. East Chapel Hill                        42
3. Greensboro Grimsley                41
4. Raleigh Broughton                    36
5. Green Hope                               29
6. Wilmington Hoggard                20
7. Greenville Rose 17
8. Winston Salem R.J Reynolds 14
9. T.C. Roberson                         12
10. Charlotte Providence 9
Others receiving votes: Pinecrest (3).

3-A
Team Points
1. Charlotte Catholic                     60
2. Chapel Hill 49
3. Cardinal Gibbons 42
4. Wilson Fike 39
5. Rocky Mount 34
6. Burlington Williams 33 
7. Weddington 30
8. Asheville 16
9. Eastern Wayne 7
10. Franklin 6
Others receiving votes: Ledford (4), Union Pines (4), Patton (3), Marvin Ridge (2), McMichael (1)

2-A
Team Points
1 Salisbury 69
2 Greene Central 64
3 Shelby 59
4 Edenton Holmes 54
5 Tarboro 49
6 East Duplin 30
7 North Lincoln 27
8 Brevard 21
9 Maiden 17
10 Topsail 9

Others receiving votes: Forest Hills (3), Northwood (2), East Lincoln (2)

1-A
Team Points
1 N.C. School of Science and Math   49
2 Raleigh Charter School 40
3 Bishop McGuniess 38
4 Mount Airy 36
5 East Montgomery 32
6 North Stokes 30
7 East Surry 19
8 Gray Stone Day 15
9 Elkin 11
10 East Wilkes 2
Others receiving votes: Hendersonville (1), Spring Creek (1), Alleghany (1)

Interesting week 4 in high school football season

2009-09-12T15:22:00.002-04:00

I have to say Friday night's meeting of Hunt and SouthWest Edgecombe was an eye-opener. I don't think anyone expected the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference Cougars to manhandle the 3-A Big East Conference Warriors the way they did in SWE's 42-8 win.

Hunt did a credible job on offense but three straight first-half drives into SWE territory ended with turnovers. On the flip side, the Cougars offense barely gave their defense time to rest, scoring on drives of three plays, five plays and six plays for a total of 237 yards, 22 points and 5 minutes, 44 seconds.

Cougars junior fullback Quandre Pittman looked like a man out there, dragging Warriors just as big as he is at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds. Even when the Warriors went 4-8 last year, they rarely if ever looked as outclassed as they did at times in the first half Friday night. It was, as one Hunt bystander said on the sideline: "Embarrassing."

But the Warriors needn't be embarrassed. After all, SouthWest Edgecombe entered the contest ranked No. 20 among all state teams by Drew Pasteur in his Fantastic 50. The Warriors, ranked 47th, were five-point underdogs. Granted, Pasteur's rankings took a hit Friday when No. 8 Rocky Mount was slapped down 41-21 by No. 48 Hertford County but the Fantastic 50 does a good job of assessing talent. Probably better than The Associated Press, whose voters like myself really don't get to see that many teams around the state.

The Cougars will visit Rocky Mount Friday and a win there should surely put them among the top 2-A teams in the state and maybe even near the top of the EPC if Tarboro gives up another touchdown to go along with the one the Vikings surrendered Friday night. Seriously, the Vikings and Cougars could probably dominate a lot of 3-A leagues but they're still not assured of winning every other EPC meeting, not with Kinston and Beddingfield in the league.

Hunt better get its head up quickly because it has to play at Beddingfield Friday night and that's always a tough one for the Warriors, who with Rocky Mount's surprising loss, might still be a good bet to win the Big East. Unless Southern Nash keeps chugging along and so far, the Firebirds show little sign of slowing down.

We're a month into the season and already I can see a dozen or more subplots starting to develop!

Congratulations to Charles Davis

2009-09-11T01:03:00.002-04:00

Charles Davis, the veteran Charles B. Aycock High athletic director and varsity baseball coach, has been named one of eight statewide winners of the N.C. High School Athletic Association's Homer Thompson Sportsmanship Award.

The award goes to "coaches who make a difference" and is named for the late Winston-Salem Parkland High coach and member of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame. The winners were chosen by a special committee based on nominations from the NCHSAA membership. Each school had the chance to nominate one coach. Davis represents Region 2. The other winners are Marie Lewis of Greenville Rose, Region 1; Art Medlin of South Johnston, Region 3; Paul Hodges of Lumberton, Region 4; Steven Davis, Greensboro Dudley, Region 5; Chris Norman of Shelby, Region 6; David Craft of Hickory, Region 7 and Robert Strong of Hendersonville, Region 8.

Davis, who is in his 20th year at CBA, is also in the Mount Olive College Athletic Hall of Fame. He guided the Golden Falcons to the 2007 state 3-A baseball championship and has sent a number of players into the collegiate and professional ranks. Besides all that, he's one of the most professional athletic directors I know and about one of the best guys anyone will ever meet.

He's due to receive the honor in a couple of weeks at the regional meeting.

I know Charles would never pick up the phone and tell a newspaper he won an award so I hope he doesn't mind me telling everyone that he did and deserves it.

First Fantastic 50 is out

2009-09-11T00:54:00.002-04:00

Drew Pasteur has released his first Fantastic 50 high school football rankings of the 2009 season.

SouthWest Edgecombe is the highest-ranked area team at No. 20 while the Cougars' opponent Friday night, Hunt, is No. 47. Other teams of interest are No. 10 Rocky Mount and No. 12 Tarboro.

In the 3-A poll, Rocky Mount is second behind West Rowan while Hunt is 12th. In the 2-A rankings, Tarboro is third, SWE is fourth and Kinston is ninth. Reidsville is No. 1 and Newton-Conover is second.

Pasteur's computer says SouthWest will beat Hunt by five points. It also has Fike by 12 over Beddingfield, Princeton by 14 over North Johnston, Southern Nash by 13 over Roanoke Rapids, Goldsboro by 1 over C.B. Aycock and Greene Central by 8 over Eastern Wayne.

That computer went 140-31 (81.9 percent) picking all games in the state last week.

Week 4 has to be better than Week 3

2009-09-11T00:09:00.003-04:00

After a dubious 7-5 performance last week on the Football Forecast, I'd at least like to explain my thinking before this week's disaster hits. The first weekend of the college season left me wishing we just stuck with high school football hereabouts. Now the Panthers enter the fray and I'm completely lost.

But, the show must go on and so, here goes my reasoning.

SW EDGECOMBE at HUNT — There's no doubt this is a tough pick either way but I'm going with the home team which has already been tested once. The 3-A Warriors beat a decent 4-A team in Holly Springs last week and the 2-A Cougars haven't seen anyone who can stay within five touchdowns of them. Hunt 22, SW Edgecombe 15

BEDDINGFIELD at FIKE — The Golden Demons have had two weeks to ponder the 48-0 thrashing they suffered at the hands of Hunt while the Bruins are thinking about their first loss at Southern Nash last Friday. Fike is rested but the Demons are very young and the Bruins are explosive enough to be problematic for a team trying to find its footing. Beddingfield 30, Fike 12

PRINCETON at NORTH JOHNSTON — Princeton is off to a 3-0 start under veteran head coach Russell Williamson, a Rock Ridge High School graduate, but old habits die hard. North Johnston head coach Tom Nelson, who played football at Hunt when Williamson was an assistant there, has been there for three of the Panthers' five straight defeats of the Bulldogs. North Johnston 40, Princeton 26

EASTERN WAYNE at GREENE CENTRAL — Winless Eastern Wayne was picked to finish ahead of unbeaten Charles B. Aycock in the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference but I don't see that happening now. Greene Central is also 0-3 but that's by a combined 12 points. The Rams get in the win column this Friday. Greene Central 27, Eastern Wayne 16

SOUTHERN NASH at ROANOKE RAPIDS — The Firebirds have won all three games in the comfort of home but they've also done it without some key performers. Even if offensive starters Trendell Lynch and Phillip Dobbins don't play this week, Roanoke Rapids' 2-1 record doesn't impress me. Southern Nash 23, Roanoke Rapids 16

C.B. AYCOCK at GOLDSBORO — The Golden Falcons have surprised me a little with their 3-0 start. I don't have much insight into this particular Goldsboro team but the Cougars, now in the 1-A Carolina Conference (gosh, remember when Goldsboro was a 4-A Eastern Conference power?) are usually tough. Aycock barely beat Greene Central last week. I think CBA comes back to earth Friday. Goldsboro 28, C.B. Aycock 24

NORTH CAROLINA at CONNECTICUT — If this were women's basketball, I might take UConn. Heck, if this were men's basketball, I might take UConn. Even if Skip Holtz were still coaching the Huskies, I'd consider UConn. But none of that is happening. North Carolina 41, Connecticut 14

STANFORD at WAKE FOREST — You know, the Demon Deacons really let me down losing to Baylor (the Duke of Texas) last week so why should I believe they can beat the Duke of the West this week? Wake might better wait for the real Duke to show up. Oh wait, that won't happen until the last game of the season. Stanford 28, Wake Forest 24

DUKE at ARMY — The Blue Devils are just going to have to show me they can win some games before I pick them to win on the road against a team that handily won its opener. Army 31, Duke 21

MURRAY STATE at N.C. STATE — Come on, State. Murray State? Really? Really? OK, the Racers did win 66-10 in their opener last week ... but it was against Kentucky Wesleyan, which is not an FCS school, it's a Division II school. N.C. State 45, Murray State 10

EAST CAROLINA at WEST VIRGINIA — The Pirates got a lot of mileage out of beating the Mountaineers last season. This time, ECU isn't going to sneak up on West Virginia, which is no longer a Top 5 team, or even a Top 25 team. The Pirates can be pretty good this season and, even though this is a non-conference game, they will have to win it to show they're for real. East Carolina 24, West Virginia 21

EAGLES at PANTHERS — It would be easy to take Philadelphia, which had a lot of momentum at the end of last season. Especially since the Panthers didn't win a preseason game and had a lot of injuries to deal with throughout training camp. But many of those injured players are ready and this is the real season and the Panthers are at home and the Eagles won't have Michael Vick for two more weeks. Panthers 31, Eagles 24

Football rankings with a twist

2009-09-01T14:25:00.002-04:00

Drew Pasteur won't publish his first high school football Fantastic 50 until next week, but in the meantime, the rankings guru has given us the rankingsby the school's SAT scores, of the top 50 statewide and top 10 in each classification.

He's also listed the 2008 SAT scores for each team in the final Fantastic 50 from last season, which includes SouthWest Edgecombe and Fike. Sadly, no schools in The Wilson Times readership area landed in the SAT Fantastic 50 or even the top 10 in each classification.

ACC hoops schedules are out

2009-08-25T16:57:00.004-04:00

The Atlantic Coast Conference has released its 2009-10 men's basketball schedules.

Defending national champion North Carolina starts off with Florida International in Chapel Hill on Nov. 9 in the first round of the 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Although that opponent now seems to be up for review.

The Tar Heels will get a rematch with national runner-up Michigan State in the Smith Center on Dec. 1 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and four days later visit revamped Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Two weeks later, Carolina plays Texas in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Duke, which has 17 home games, begins the season Nov. 13 against UNC Greensboro in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils visit Wisconsin Dec. 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Duke is also in the NIT Season Tip-Off and in a non-conference affair, meet Gonzaga in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 19.

N.C. State will open at home against Georgia State but the date is not final, either Nov. 12, 14 or 16. The Wolfpack will play in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Nov. 20-22 and host Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Dec. 1. State visits Marquette on Dec. 5 and Arizona on Dec. 23.

Humbling first week in the Football Forecast

2009-08-22T02:22:00.004-04:00

Well, since it's all high school games this week, the results from the first Football Forecast of the season is in and what a disaster it was for me.

I should have known not to pick against Fike since the Demons stymied me nearly every week in the first part of last season. At least, if I'm going to be wrong, I should go with the home team, right? Oh well, give the Demons credit for the 14-8 victory at D.H. Conley.

Also surprising to me was Charles B. Aycock beating Bunn. Not that I think poorly of the Golden Falcons but Bunn has just been so tough in recent years. Aycock was able to squeeze out a 39-38 win.

North Johnston let me down since I took the Panthers mostly because they were at home but Clinton Union made itself at home in Kenly with a 41-12 win.

Greene Central at home against South Central was a tough call, too, but the Rams couldn't utilize the homefield advantage in their 10-6 loss to South Central, a result that came in so late it didn't make the print edition of The Wilson Times.

But kudos to guest picker Scott Jones for sizzling to a 10-2 week, followed closely by newbie Natalie Sayewich with a sparkling 9-3 mark. She can thank me for steering her away from taking Elizabeth City Northeastern to beat SouthWest Edgecombe. In this case, southwest trumped northeast.

Good ol' Frank Artis, who finished last in 2008, had a strong night as well, going 8-4. In typically Frank fashion, he accurately calls Fike and CBA wins as well as those by Southern Durham over Greenville Rose and South Central over Greene Central but inexplicably takes Nash Central over Tarboro, which won 39-0. Frank also had Northeastern, a 42-6 loser to SWE.

Tied for fourth with me at 7-5 is The Senior Staff Writer. He had a bad week, too, changing his mind on the North Johnston-Union game and it cost him.

Finally, there's Michael Lindsay who'd better get on the ball if he doesn't want to be ridiculed for being the cellar-dweller after his 6-6 start.

I think we need to find some rookie guest pickers. I can't have people off the street humbling us like Scott did this week. If you're interested in sitting in for a week, shoot me an e-mail at paul@wilsontimes.com

Bruins loss is Rose's gain

2009-08-21T14:01:00.002-04:00

Although it sustained a huge loss earlier this summer, the Beddingfield varsity volleyball game served notice it will still be a force. The Bruins stopped Hunt in four games – 27-29, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22 — on the Warriors home court on Thursday.

It was a small measure of revenge for Beddingfield which lost two of three matches to Hunt last season, including the 3-A Eastern Carolina Conference tournament. The squads split the regular-season title in each's last campaign in the ECC.

Now the Bruins are the 2-A Eastern Plains Conference and Hunt has joined the 3-A Big East Conference, which is why they were playing so early in the season, instead of at the end. Hunt lost three key perfomers to graduation – Morgan Ballance, Caroline Moody and Alison Ellis — while the Bruins bid farewell to 2008 seniors Mallory Glover and Shaniqua Clay. But Beddingfield also is without its star player from a year ago, junior Jamie DeRatt. The 2008 ECC Player of the Year will attend Greenville Rose this year, leaving not only Beddingfield volleyball coach Jeremy Howard but also Bruins girls basketball coach Debra Pegram and girl soccer coach Glenn Griffin without a key starter.

Reasons for the move are personal and best to leave it at that. However, I feel a pang of wistfulness considering how much the DeRatt family has meant to athletics in that part of the county over the years. Jamie's older sisters, Barbara and Lindsey, were both standout volleyball and soccer players at Beddingfield.

Their father, Jimmy, was a two-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference linebacker at North Carolina in the early 1970s.

Their uncle, Monte, and father lettered in baseball at UNC. Both were star football and baseball players at the old Saratoga Central High School, whose students went to Beddingfield following merger in 1978. Their grandfather was the football coach at Stantonsburg High, which merged with Saratoga to form Saratoga Central.

The DeRatts have long been part of Wilson sports lore and Jamie was writing her own chapter. We're sorry to see her leave but wish her all the best in Greenville. Rose has gotten itself a rose!

Demons, Rams already in midseason form

2009-08-18T03:13:00.002-04:00

I haven't watered this blog in a week and I apologize to it and any loyal readers I might still have. A hectic schedule is no excuse for not spending a few minutes a day here.

I spent an hour or so at the Fike High School tennis courts Monday afternoon watching the season-opening match between a pair of teams that might be in Burlington by season's end. The Golden Demons, of course, made the trip last year as they reached the state 3-A dual-team final and Greene Central has won both its 2-A crowns in the past five years.

Fike won Monday's matchup 5-4 against a Rams squad that returns all six starters from last season. Making the Demons' win more impressive was that they did it without No. 1 singles player Mary-Katherine Prince, a three-time 3-A East Regional champion, and junior No. 4 Sarah Flinn.

I've seen Fike play so many tough matches the past two seasons but those usually come when the air is brisk, the leaves are falling and there are pumpkins on every porch. It was kind of strange seeing that intensity when everyone looked like they had either just come back from the beach or were getting ready to go. It was also spooky watching Fike play without Prince, who was out of town. She has been such a constant for the Demons since she arrived on the scene in the fall of 2006.

And Flinn, who was nursing a sore shoulder, has become a mainstay in the second half of the Fike lineup. Lee Matthews' lineup has been nearly written in stone for the past two seasons so it took a moment to adjust to the revamped order for Monday's match.

But one thing was familiar — the sight of senior Connor Allegood alone on the court as Fike's last singles player. I give Connor a hard time about making a habit of going to third-set tiebreakers whenever I cover a Fike match but she was in midseason form after taking the first set from Greene Central's Samantha Taylor, who has tennis in her blood, and then losing the second. But Connor determinedly won the tiebreaker, one of three on the day for Fike, and it proved to be a good omen.

Fike will have a likely tougher road in the 3-A East this year with traditional 2-A power Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons moving up a classification. But the Demons have experience in big matches and could well find themselves back in Burlington. Don't count out Donald Clark's Rams who certainly will benefit from Cardinal Gibbons' move as well.

Before you know it, October will be here and these teams will be playing some really exciting matches, if Monday was any indication.

A hectic week brings no change to sports department

2009-08-08T00:13:00.002-04:00

It's been a hectic and sad week here at the Times with 15 co-workers being laid off for economic reasons. However, I should point out that none of those layoffs came in the sports department so we will be able to continue to bring the best sports coverage we can possibly bring to our readers.

I have been asked to serve as interim co-editor with Lisa Batts and if I can handle the double-duty the way Tom Ham handles his multiple fantasy league baseball teams, we'll be in good shape.

The 2009 high school football preview will be out Thursday, Aug. 20, a day before area teams kick off the regular season. With NCHSAA realignment now a reality, there will be lots to discuss in the preview. We are planning on providing the same coverage of high school football (as well as other sports) that we have in the past — redesign or a.m. delivery notwithstanding. That means Between High School Football Fridays and our weekly game previews and Football Forecast (The Hammer knows I'm coming for him this year!)

Can you believe the season will start in just two weeks?

Tom's OK and thanks

2009-08-05T01:20:00.003-04:00

Just a word of thanks on behalf of Tom Ham and his family to the folks who looked out for him Tuesday when he took ill at the Wilson County Junior Golf Championship at Happy Valley Country Club.

Tom, of course, built the Wilson Daily Times sports department into the finest in the state and I'm just privileged to be carrying on that tradition. While he is considered a "part-time" or "semi-retired" staff member these days, he is far from that. Unfortunately, his dedication to his career gets him in hot water at times and scares the heck out of me.

He suffered a dizzy spell in the heat Tuesday and needed some medical attention but seems to be fine now. He might have to be sidelined for a few days but hopefully will be back to his usual self within no time.

Many, many thanks to Robert Wells, Frank Pridgen, Jim Boykin Jr. and many others who made sure Tom got prompt medical attention.

Wilson's Barnes aiming for dunk title but he needs your help

2009-08-05T01:10:00.003-04:00

Check it out, you can help a Wilsonian make it to the first Sprite Slam Dunk Showdown at the 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend in Dallas.

Willie Barnes, who attended Fike High and played for Charis Prep in 2007, is one of 10 semifinalists that are competing for four spots in Dallas.

Sprite, NBA superstar LeBron James, NBA Nation and Kia Motors are the sponsors of this cross-country search to find America's top amateur dunker. Barnes drove to Washington, D.C., to get into the regional competition as a walk-on. He said he waited in line for eight hours for the open call and, when no one else showed up, he got his chance and made the most of it by defeating 13 other contestants.

You can watch Willie AKA "Flyte" strut his stuff and vote for him. The top four will go to Dallas and the winner there will take home a $10,000 grand prize and be a guest at the NBA Sprite Slam Dunk contest during NBA All-Star Saturday Night on Feb. 13.

I had the pleasure of talking to Willie following Charis Prep's season-ending National Prep Tournament championship in 2007 and was as impressed with him as a person as I was with his basketball skills. I think it's really cool that he has a chance to earn some fame so let's help him out with some online votes!

The Brittany for the Boys V isn't far off

2009-08-04T00:59:00.003-04:00

The high school football season kicks off in less than three weeks with all three Wilson County teams in action Friday, Aug. 21. But that's not all the kicking that will go on that night as The Brittany for the Boys V cranks up at Gillette Soccer Complex with 12 games that night.

There will be another 18 games the next day, Saturday, Aug. 22, with 30 games total, five fewer than the previous Brittany for the Boys last August. It appears as though there will be 54 teams involved, with six, including Fike, playing two games. Again, four fewer than last year's total.

With school budgets being trimmed, it's not surprising The Brittany contracted a wee bit but it's still the biggest and best high school soccer showcase in the state, as the N.C. Soccer Coaches Association proclaimed last May.

Here's the schedule for The Brittany for the Boys V.