Monday, January 18, 2010

I was warned

I can’t say I wasn’t warned.
Coach Isaac Pitts of Quality Education told me if I watched his basketball team play, I wouldn’t be able to view a “normal” high-school game the same way.
He was right. And again, I can’t say I wasn’t warned.
Watching QEA beat Oak Ridge Military Academy on a tip-in at the buzzer last week was a curious sight. The tiny gym at Oak Ridge was mostly full, a handful of high-school Cadets in one corner, die-hard military men and women scattered throughout, and gawking onlookers, presumably unable to believe they were watching teenagers — and not grown men — play the game before them.
The players are so big, so fast, that especially in the first half, there was barely room for either team to complete the most rudimentary of passes.
Quincy Miller, Aaron Bowen, Juvonte Reddic, Dominic Pointer…..QEA has the best players I have laid eyes on this year. And I didn’t even get to see the Pharaohs point guard, Baylor signee Stargell Love, because he was out with an ankle injury. Oak Ridge is no slouch—Jay Canty, a 6-5 guard who has signed with Xavier, is a beast. So is Jacob Lawson.
It’s a shame QEA doesn’t play close to home more often. Watching the Pharaohs play is to catch a glimpse at tomorrow’s major college game, and quite probably, tomorrow’s NBA.
But it’s not a high-school basketball team in the traditional sense. Not at all.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Discovering Quality Education

I took a drive down Carver School Road late this morning. I went a mile or so past Carver High to a school that isn’t so well known in Winston-Salem.
Quality Education Academy might not be well known around here, but word of its prowess seems to be spreading in the fast lane world of national prep basketball powerhouses.
QEA is in its second year of playing basketball. Some of our readers have probably not heard of QEA, because they really don’t play many teams from around here — even though Isaac Pitts, the head coach and athletics director — would relish the opportunity to play local opponents.
QEA, known as the Fighting Pharaohs, plays a national schedule and that wouldn’t change even if they did pick up a few local games. If QEA did play local teams, it would be fun to watch the show, but the other teams wouldn’t stand much of a chance.
Only one player on the team — point guard Stargell Love, who has committed to Baylor — has committed to a Division I college. But the team is full of Division I prospects.
I sat down today with Pitts and Simon Johnson, the executive director of QEA who co-founded the school in 1992, and later, with Quincy Miller, a 6-10 junior who rated among the very best players in the nation for the Class of 2011.
It takes a lot less time to ask Miller who hasn’t offered him a scholarship than to ask who has. I found that out the hard way.
In the coming weeks, I will have a story about the quick rise of QEA as a national basketball powerhouse. But next week, I plan to have a story on Miller, a native of Chicago who is probably far and away the best current prep player who calls Winston-Salem home.
The Pharaohs don’t play a lot of games close to home, but they are playing at Oak Ridge Military Academy on Friday night.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Rivalries bring out bad blood

Some of the biggest rivalries I have seen over the last 18 years have produced some unsightly results and plenty of bad blood. The West Forsyth-Mount Tabor football games, especially several years back, might have been top of the heap for extra-curricular bad behavior. If I’m not mistaken, when coaches Bob Sapp of Mount Tabor and Russell Stone of West were coaching at the schools, I saw a game in which there were about 13 penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Carver-Parkland games are always intense and on the edge.
Don’t want to leave anyone out, because there are many other rivalries in Forsyth County. East Forsyth-Glenn, North-Mount Tabor, Reynolds-Mount Tabor.
When Reagan High opened its doors in 2005, an immediate border rivalry with West Forsyth was born. Reagan also has a rivalry with North Forsyth, to a lesser degree, but Reagan’s rivalry with West is a two-way street paved with occasional bad intentions.
And that rivalry hit a new high — or low? — on Tuesday night during West’s 51-37 Central Piedmont 4-A win at Reagan in the varsity girls basketball game.
The girls on both teams bumped, shoved, talked and generally ratcheted up the animosity until finally, late in the fourth quarter, it boiled to a head and three players were ejected.
Jourdan Miller and Michelle Price of West Forsyth and Alana Beroth of Reagan were the ejectees after a skirmish near midcourt that appeared accidental when it started, as Price and Beroth got tangled up running downcourt.
Officials from both schools were of the thought that the ejections should not have been for fighting — which carries a two-game suspension under N.C. High School Athletic Association rules, as well as the completion of an online sportsmanship class. But that determination is up to the officials.
Once I find out how this will be handled, I’ll follow up on it here.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Kathleen Baker set the bar high

On occasion when dealing with our private schools, an athlete that is a seventh or eighth grader makes a splash — no pun intended — while competing in a varsity sport. That happened over the weekend in the city-county swimming championships.
Kathleen Baker, a seventh grader at Forsyth Country Day, could be a force over the next six years judging by how high she set the bar in the city-county championships.
Baker won the 100 backstroke in 57.71 seconds, bettering the previous mark (100.91) by more than three seconds. In the 200 I.M., Baker’s time of 2 minutes, 8.69 seconds broke the previous mark of 2:16.92 by more than eight seconds.
Reagan High also had a big day at the swimming meet, sweeping the boys and girls titles. Coach Ryan Michel of Reagan said he was surprised his boys were able to edge Reynolds, and he had this to say about FCD’s Baker:
“It was the fastest girls 100 backstroke I have ever seen in person,” Michel said. “It was amazing.”

If the Bishop McGuinness girls wind up winning a fifth straight Class 1-A state basketball championship, it probably be one that’s well earned. Because the Villains lost two Northwest 2-A/1-A Conference games last week — to Mount Airy and North Stokes — after winning 82 straight games against conference opponents.
The North Forsyth boys basketball team will be a handful for any team in the Mid-Piedmont 3-A if they shoot like they did during a 95-71 win over Asheboro last Friday night. The Vikings hit 13 of 24 3-pointers, and they have numerous good shooters and they play hard and with a ton of passion.

Monday, January 04, 2010

Last Spencer at Joel Coliseum?

Wish I had to the time to put in the nitty-gritty research it would take to be 100-percent certain of this, but I am 99.9-percent sure that only one coach has ever won the Frank Spencer Holiday Class with three different schools, and his name is Howard West.
West might disagree with me, but I would say the most unlikely of the five Spencer championships he has been a part of occurred last week, when his Reagan High team subdued the most talented team in the Spencer, Winston-Salem Prep, for a surprising 53-43 win in the final. West also won a title as the coach at Eden Morehead and three as the coach at Reynolds.
A veteran of more than 30 years of coaching, with three state championships on his resume, West and his staff obviously had his players ready for Prep, a team that I can’t see doing anything less than winning the NCHSAA’s Class 1-A state championship by the time this season is said and done.
And there were no tricks, at least none visible to a decently-trained eye, to set off the win. The Raiders just played tireless man-to-man defense while giving up “about 6, 7-inches a man,” according to West. And the end result was a drama-free fourth quarter that featured the Raiders knocking down free throws and never giving the Phoenix a chance to come back.
Prep might be the only team in Forsyth County capable of winning a state championship this season, but I think Forsyth County basketball is on the way up based on the strength of some young talented players sprinkled throughout the teams.
As for Reagan, I can absolutely see them beating a team in the Class 4-A playoffs that an observer might think would be impossible.

ONE MORE THOUGHT on the Frank Spencer. I think it was evident to anyone who has been around the tournament that this should be the last year it’s held in Joel Coliseum.
The argument you get from some coaches and administrators about discontinuing the long-held practice of the using the coliseum is usually that it’s special for the players to get that chance. Not totally disagreeing with that, but many of these players play in big arenas like Joel during AAU play in the summer. And at some point, cost has to come into the picture.
At $6,000 a day for coliseum rental — a figure given to me by several athletics directors — why not take the tournament to the schools. Will it cause the occasional headaches and keep the fire marshals hopping? Probably.
But a coliseum that’s not even 10-percent full brings almost no atmosphere, and that’s what the Spencer has become. The quarterfinals of the tournament were held at East Forsyth and West Forsyth, and I speak from experience that the atmosphere at East blew away Joel. There just weren’t that many people there.
In the end, wouldn’t a Spencer championship be sweet no matter where it was won?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Football season ends with a great game

Been a couple of weeks of beating a trail back and forth from the office and back and forth from Mount Airy, but the blog is back.
I can’t say that it was heartbreaking to watch Mount Airy lose such a close a game, 38-37 in overtime, to Wallace-Rose Hill in last Saturday’s Class 1-A state championship game. And I say that knowing all the class the Granite Bears exhibit under Coach Kelly Holder and his all-star staff.
WRH had a great football team this year, especially offensively with all their speed and the tricky misdirection of their Wing-T Offense. The Bears just couldn’t stop WRH, and on the other side, WRH couldn’t stop the Bears.
It came down to a decision by Coach Joey Price of the Bulldogs to go for two in overtime rather than kick the extra point. When Price sent his offense back on the field after the overtime touchdown, everyone at BB&T Field knew the game was getting ready to end.
And wow. What a close call. Fullback Omar Carr of the Bulldogs was so close to the goal line, I think he might be the only one to truly know if he made it in or not.
But the call was made, and everyone stood by it. Luke Wheeler, Mount Airy’s tremendous linebacker, had some stupendous things to say about the play in particular, and about the Bears season and run of 31 straight wins.
Back to the reason it wasn’t heartbreaking, and that’s mainly because the Bears didn’t act like it was. Brooks Mayberry, who had a great season as a two-way lineman for the Bears, spelled it out in the postgame, saying they played as hard as they could and had nothing to be upset about.
It was a great, see-saw championship game between two top-notch 1-A teams that were about as even as two teams could be. The Bulldogs, as Holder said several days after the game, were probably a little better man-for-man, but I think if the teams played again today that Mount Airy would win. It was that close.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mount Airy start a new streak next year. There is plenty of rebuilding to do — losing Wheeler, Andy Temoney, Justin Collier, Daryl Valentine, Mayberry, Tyler Hull, and many others will leave some large voids to fill.
But the Bears didn’t get this good by accident. I bet they’ll be back to work in short order.

Will try add another update or two before Christmas, but time is short. I finished adding up the coaches’ votes on the All-Northwest Football Team yesterday and will have the players in tomorrow for their pictures. That will be in the paper on Christmas Day — at least that’s the plan — and between now and then, I will work on that, as well as rounding up all-conference teams and try to get a handle on holiday basketball tournaments.
And after the Frank Spencer Classic, I hope to catch a break. Those in my business need one every once in a while, never more than this time of year.
Merry Christmas to our loyal readers and don’t forget to comment, call or email with any tips or anything interesting.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

First basketball game

For the first time in many years, I actually covered a prep basketball game before the Christmas holiday. Went out to Glenn last night to see the Bobcats play West Forsyth, and it was a very entertaining game.
L.A. Williams, Glenn’s broad-bodied shooting guard — whoa! Nice touch. This is a guy who make teams pay dearly if they choose to leave him open. One thing I like about Glenn is they are strong. They have some real physical guys like Tyler Lee and JeVante Crump who can move, and really battle.
And the Bobcats must have some mental toughness after erasing West’s 15-point lead in the third quarter to win 80-74.
This West Forsyth team is way more athletic than any West team in years and years, and yes, that certainly includes the Chris Paul-led teams. The Titans can run, jump — and when motivated — they can defend. Tabarris Hamilton is a 6-3 junior guard and forward who is in his last year of eligibility, and this guy can flat get a shot off whenever he wants it. He was a little rusty with it on Tuesday, but still scored 18.
Both of these teams are going to scare people throughout the season.
Also, it was cool to see Coach LaQuanda Barksdale Quick on the sidelines in her first season of coaching the girls at West Forsyth. LaQuanda is on the short list, and maybe at the very top (along with Camille Little of Carver) as the best girls player ever to suit up in Forsyth County. And while Barksdale was very stoic as a player, she is very, very intense as a coach.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Sort of, but not quite, on to basketball

By and large, the football in Forsyth County this year was pretty average, and that much is apparent now that we have no teams left in the playoffs. Mount Tabor was the last great hope, but the Spartans lost a tough game in a very tough place to play 9-7 at Asheville Reynolds last week. Mount Tabor should be tougher next year because most of their best players were juniors.
So who is left for us to cover? Not-so-surprisingly, the Mount Airy Granite Bears, and surprisingly, the Lexington Yellow Jackets. Lexington was 5-6 coming into the playoffs, but it has caught fire and will take an 8-6 record into Friday’s 2-A semifinal at Mountain Heritage.
Mount Airy will have to make a major gear shift this week. It took the Bears about a quarter last Friday to figure a way to slow down Princeton’s passing attack. But once they did, it was light’s out, on to the 1-A semifinals with a 51-20 win.
This week, the Bears won’t have to spend too much time preparing for the pass with Robbinsville coming to down. They will probably be in the weight room — they’ll need all the strength and stamina they can muster to stop Robbinsville brutish running attack.
But Mount Airy has won 30 straight games, and those that have seen the Bears play probably think like me — they will have some major things go wrong if they lose, like a rash of turnovers or injuries. I don’t see it happening for Coach Kelly Holder’s bunch.
And I will repeat that Luke Wheeler is one of the best players I have seen this season. If Wheeler, a 5-10, 175-pound linebacker and fullback, were a couple of inches bigger and 30 pounds heavier, college programs would be all over him. But the good thing for Mount Airy is Wheeler’s size works just fine for them.

I am slowly transitioning into basketball mode, and that transition won’t be complete until I cover the Frank Spencer Classic here after Christmas. But until then, we have schools all over our coverage area that will play in tournaments during Christmas break. So I am making a plea to basketball coaches and athletics directors – If you have a team playing in a tournament over the holidays and can fax or email a complete bracket to me, it would save me one of a lot of phone calls and requests.

Mason Linker (336-727-7324; or fax to 336-727-4083)
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Monday, November 23, 2009

And then there were five

Wow. Two rounds of the football playoffs and only five teams in our coverage area left. That was fast!
The fortunes of Forsyth County football now rest squarely on the shoulders of Mount Tabor, the only one left. The Spartans advanced by beating Reynolds 26-22 in what was the second riveting game the teams played this season.
Just like the first meeting, either team could have won. But you have to hand it to the Spartans — they looked dead in the water went Reynolds went ahead 22-7 in the third quarter. But the Spartans caught a spark from quarterback Brad Morton, who started the comeback with a 46-yard touchdown run, and their defense did the rest, stopping three late Reynolds drives, including two in the red zone.
It was heartbreaking to see Reynolds lose because that was one of the more fun teams to watch I have seen in the county in years. The undersized Demons were like a pack of fire ants on defense, and watching Craven Knotts sling passes all over the field to so many good receivers was a treat.
But pound-for-pound, Mount Tabor has the best talent in the county and that was proven. The Spartans defense is nasty, Morton is a big-time playmaker, and I am assuming they will take the trip to Asheville Reynolds on Friday and come home winners.
Mount Airy needs two more wins to have a shot at repeating as Class 1-A champs, and the Granite Bears will be at home against Princeton, from out of Johnston County, on Friday. The Bears will have to brace for Princeton’s wide-open passing attack.
Elkin needs one more win to get back to the semifinals, where a possible rematch of last year’s semifinal against Mount Airy could be waiting. But the Elks have a tough draw on Friday, at home against Robbinsville in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal, which Elkin won 21-20.
Finally, the most historical rivalry — from a football perspective — in Davidson County will take place when Lexington travels to Cushwa Stadium to take on Thomasville in Class 2-A. Both teams won dramatic second-round games last week. They played on Nov. 6, and Thomasville won 23-13.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Two football games to choose from on Friday

Anyone who follows high-school football in North Carolina knows the first round of the playoffs is a yawner. Too many teams play that first week that should have already packed the equipment away.
The real stuff starts this week, and the real, real stuff gets going next week. But there are two marquee games in Winston-Salem on Friday.
Everyone knows about the Mount Tabor-Reynolds game. It’s a must-see, and I will be there for the rematch. But I wish once again that I could be in two places at once. Because the Lincolnton-Carver 2-A game holds a ton of promise.
Coach Brent David of Carver is one of the most passionate football guys I have had the pleasure of talking to. And he cranks it up another notch for the playoffs. He did so much research getting ready for Friday’s game that it wouldn’t surprise me if he knows the shoe sizes of each Lincolnton player, probably right down to the trainers.
I predicted at the start of the season that Carver was going to be around for a while. The Yellowjackets were 2-4 after running through a gauntlet of Class 4-A teams, but they have won six straight, allowing only 17 points in that span.
I don’t think the 2-A powers-that-be are going to enjoy having Carver around. And I don’t think Lincolnton is going to enjoy playing against that defense.
Two weeks down the road, I think Carver will be playing in the semifinals — either at home against Thomasville, or on the road at Starmount.
And for the life of me, I can’t see Mount Airy having to break a sweat until the Class 1-A state championship. Looking forward to seeing the Bears at BB&T Field on Dec. 12