Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Real football starts; too early for hoops

This time of year is a crusher for a sportswriter — the dreaded overlap of football and basketball seasons. As I have told basketball coaches over the last couple of days: “It’s too early for this.”
But it’s upon us anyway. I am working on a very general basketball preview story, as well as a couple of lists with players and teams to watch. If all goes well it will be on Wednesday’s paper.
As for football, we had 30 area teams that entered the playoffs last week, and only 12 survived. Not terribly surprising because it’s obvious that about half the teams that reach the playoffs really aren’t playoff material.
However, it was a memorable night for some of our teams. East Wilkes, in particular, pulled off a big shocker by driving the field and scoring with nine seconds left to topple East Surry, which saw a terrific season disappear in the blink of an eye. The Cardinals won their first 10 games, then lost their last two. Poof.
All of the rain last week did afford me a unique opportunity. I was able to watch Reynolds play on Friday night, and Mount Tabor play on Saturday night. It was good advance scouting, because this week, I will watch these rivals knock heads for the right to advance in the Class 4-A playoffs.
It’s going to be a whale of a game. Reynolds played a very poor Asheville Roberson team last week and won 38-0. Could have been way more lopsided. Mount Tabor had a real live opponent on its hands and survived with a 14-7 win over Western Guilford.
So if last week is the barometer, then Mount Tabor is certainly coming in more battle-tested. Western Guilford had a handful of really, really good football players. Mount Tabor also has the revenge angle after losing 28-21 to Reynolds in the regular season.
I would hate to make a prediction on this one. Reynolds didn’t show me anything last week that would indicate its ready for the season to end. The Demons aren’t 12-0 for nothing afterall.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

playoff time

The football coaches around Forsyth County, most of whom I can honestly call friends, might give me a lot of grief for this one. But as I see it, there are three teams in Forsyth County capable of reaching at least the quarterfinals of the playoffs: Carver, Mount Tabor and Reynolds.
I’ll start with Carver. The Yellowjackets have dropped down to Class 2-A after becoming a powerhouse in Class 3-A. Is Carver as good as it’s past state championship teams? I don’t think so. I don’t think Carver is quite as good as it was last season, when it took a late trick play from West Rowan — the eventual 3-A state champs — to knock Carver out in the quarterfinals.
But what Carver has is a nice draw. The No. 3 Yellowjackets open against West Davidson on Friday then would have future games, theoretically, against No. 6 Lincolnton and No.2 Mountain Heritage. They wouldn’t have to face Thomasville or Starmount until the semifinals.
But Carver has cut its teeth on a very difficult schedule against larger schools. The only other team in the bracket that can claim as much is Thomasville. That experience will count for something in the playoffs. Since it jumped into the 2-A portion of its schedule five games ago, Carver has allowed only 17 points.
Only one team, Mount Tabor or Reynolds, can make it past the second round in Class 4-A, because that’s where they will meet if both win this Friday. No. 1 Reynolds will win convincingly against Asheville Roberson in the first round, while Mount Tabor plays a Western Guilford team that has played a murderous schedule is better than its 5-6 record.
When Reynolds beat Mount Tabor 28-21 several weeks ago, it scored touchdowns on a kickoff return from Jake Gainey and an interception return from Vance Mathews. The Demons offense did little in the first half, a recurring theme in their biggest wins this season.
I don’t think Reynolds will be able to overcome another slow start against Mount Tabor. The Spartans’ offense has improved in the last month.

Since most first-round matchups aren’t worth mentioning in these watered-down, expanded playoffs, it’s more fun to look down the road.
One potential third-round matchup looks appetizing — Thomasville at Starmount. Starmount is seeded No. 1 in Class 2-A West, Thomasville is No. 4. That would be a great game between playoff powers. And beyond that, Carver against either Starmount or Thomasville in the semifinals? There’s a lot of football tradition right there.
As for Mount Airy, the only potential interesting matchup I see is Elkin, which would be in the semifinals. But truth is, Mount Airy is too good to lose. The Bears stay healthy and they’ll be playing at BB&T Field on Dec. 12 for their second straight state title.

Monday, November 02, 2009

Living up to the hype

Around 7:25 on Friday night, from my vantage point in the press box at West Forsyth, I finally stopped gawking at the traffic jam on Lewisville-Clemmons Road. The sea of humanity spilling into Titan Stadium was amazing — the horseshoe on the entrance end to the field wound up being so deep with spectators that it reminded me of how I avoided such a crowd at the 1999 US Open in Pinehurst to witness Payne Stewart’s winning putt on the 18th hole — but that’s another story.

It turned out the Reynolds-West Forsyth game lived up to the hype and then some, and boy was it well-supported. Before the end of the first quarter, an allotment of 4,000 tickets had been sold, and T.R. Richards, West’s athletics director, had to make a trip to the school office to get more. Richards wound up guessing that 6,000 people were inside the stadium, it might have been more, and still others stood outside the gates by the gym and looked on from a distance.

Reynolds 14-9 victory — specially delivered by two Craven Knotts-to-Jake Gainey touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the last one coming with 27 seconds left — had all kinds of sidebars.

Midway through the first quarter, I heard a thud behind me in the press box, turned around, and it was a headset from a Reynolds’ assistant coach. He soon climbed down the ladder from atop the pressbox and I could hear him muttering. Yes, the Reynolds coaches had their headsets malfunction before the game had barely gotten underway. The coaches wound up having to improvise and use hand signals the rest of the way.

The game started at 7:30. At 8:02, I got this text message from my friend Marc Pruitt, who often covers games for the Journal:
“People still parking over a mile away to get in. I’ve never seen so many cars for a fb game in Forsyth County.”

For the majority of the game, West Forsyth moved the ball well but often short circuited. The Titans lost two fumbles in the first half, and the Demons picked off two West passes in the second half. Defensively, West confounded Reynolds for most of three quarters, flooding the shallow secondary to discourage Reynolds short passing game, although Knotts barely missed connecting on two fly patterns that likely would have gone for touchdowns.

At halftime, West made a PA announcement opening up the scoreboard end of the field to spectators to ease the crush on the other end.

So West entered the fourth quarter leading 9-0, and looking very much on the way to 10-0. But Knotts hit Gainey on a 31-yard post pass with eight minutes left to help trim the lead to 9-7. Reynolds got the ball back at its 17 with two minutes left, and on first down, a West defender was called for hitting Gainey out of bounds after an incomplete pass. This call was not in the least well-received in the West stands, or the West sidelines.

But Knotts directed his team to the West 42 with little more than 40 seconds left. On first down, he tried Gainey deep down the right side, but Nygee Lockhart of West outraced Gainey and the pass was incomplete. On second down, Lockhart broke up a pass for Gainey 25 yards downfield.

So what did Reynolds do on third down? Knotts went right back to Gainey down the right sideline. This time, with Lockhart providing seemingly perfect coverage, Gainey jumped a little bit higher and reached with both hands over Lockhart’s right shoulder. Gainey came down with the ball, Lockhart fell down, and Gainey waltzed into the end zone.

Game stolen.

De’Vyne Julius of Reynolds intercepted Patrick Midkiff’s last pass of the night to end it, and soon after, Reynolds students scaled the railing and stormed the field, engulfing the players. Players for both teams were crying and there was a massive traffic jam building in the parking lot.

Reynolds won’t scare any playoff opponents when they take the field in a couple of weeks, it’s just not a visually intimidating team, but the Demons are every bit the “Little Engine that Could.”

Reynolds is 10-0 and 4-0 in the Central Piedmont 4-A following last week’s epic game. The Demons beat Reagan this week and they are outright CPC champs. West needs to lick its wounds and rebound quickly for Friday’s home game against Mount Tabor, a team that will likely see a streak of seven straight years of winning or sharing a conference title come to an end.

Finally, a game that was worth the buildup.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Shrine Bowl Rosters

As I have previously stated, I started working at the Journal in 1992. And like many of us, I am prone to a foggy memory on some things.
But this is the first time I remember a North Carolina Shrine Bowl roster that didn’t have at least two or three football players from our main coverage area. I have wondered if the football in our area was slanted toward mediocrity this season, and this roster kind of backs that thought.

The only player on the roster who is even remotely from our coverage area is Quantre’z Stevenson, a defensive back from High Point Andrews.

No players from Forsyth County. It’s been a while since that has happened.

NORTH CAROLINA
Vince Allen, dl, New Hanover; Keenan Allen, db, North Guilford; David Amerson, db, James B. Dudley; Tyler Brosius, qb, Tuscola; Major Bryant, lb, James B. Dudley; Anthony Carrothers, qb, Independence; Nate Charest, db, David W. Butler; Patrick Clyburn, lb, West Iredell; Takoby Cofield, ol, Tarboro; Alex Coulthard, ol, Richmond Senior.
Robert Crisp, ol, Anthens Drive; Phillip Dobbins, ol, Southern Nash; Damario Eastmon, rb. E.E. Smith; Ethan Farmer, te, South Columbus; Graham Fisher, ol, Tuscola; Andrew Geathers, ol, East Bladen; Jamil Hawes, dl, Asheville; Lamar Ivey, ath, Eastern Alamance; Eric Johnson, rb, Jack Britt; Anthony Johnson, lb, Harnett Central.
Jermaine Kessler, dl, Lumberton; Kewitt Koonce, db, Kinston; Terrence Leifheit, dl, John T. Hoggard; Darius Lipford, lb, Hibriten; A.J. Marshall, db, Southern Durham; Kareem Martin, de, Roanoke Rapids; Clarence Montgomery, dl, West Charlotte; Devin Moore, te, East Mecklenburg; Anthony Parker, db, North Mecklenburg; Kevin Parks, rb, West Rowan.
Alex Polofsky, lb, David W. Butler; Kasey Redfern, l-p, Ragsdale; Corey Robinson, ol, Havelock; T.J. Ross, lb, Southern Durham; Trevor Sawyer, te, Asheville; Christopher Smith, de, West Rowan; Joshua Snead, rb, Smithfield-Selma; Johnathan Spain, lb, Page; Quantre’z Stevenson, db, T.W. Andrews; Tra Thomas, dl, Anson Senior.
Antonio Vaughan, db. Hertford County; Tamari White, rb, White Oak; Reggie Wilkins, wr, Crest; De’Tric Williams, wr, South Johnston.
Head coach: Jim Oddo, Charlotte Catholic. Assistants: Anthony Barbour, Smithfield-Selma; Steven Davis, James B. Dudley; Lenon Fisher, East Bladen; Robbie Harris, Eastern Alamance; Mike Newson, David W. Butler; Scott Young, West Rowan.
___
SOUTH CAROLINA
Matthew Ashley, ol, Belton-Honea Path; Andrew Bailey, dl, Dorman; James Barnes, dl, Keenan; Antuawn Blue, wr, Dillon; Bashaud Breeland, lb, Allendale-Fairfax; Martavis Bryant, wr, T.L. Hanna; Aaron Cann, ol, Bamberg-Ehrhardt; Ronald Canty, ol, Chester; Davious Chestnut, lb, Carvers Bay; James Costello, ol, Gaffney.
Cody Craig, qb, Timberland; Delarius Edwards, dl, Chesterfield; Bruce Ellington, wr, Berkeley; Max Elliott, rb, Clover; Johnovan Fulton, db, Manning; Keagen Funderburk, te, Pageland Central; Brandon Golson, lb, Calhoun County; Mustafa Greene, rb, Irmo; Chad Hamilton, ol, James Island; Charles Hazel, wr, North Augusta.
Justin Henderson DL Bamberg-Ehrhardt; DeAndre Hopkins, wr, Daniel; Malcolm Howard, lb, Goose Creek; Taylor Hudson, ol, Mauldin; Conelius Jones, wr, Spartanburg; Amos Latta, lb, Clover; Marcus Lattimore, rb, Byrnes; William Lucas, te, Hartsville; Airean McCree, lb, Chester; Xavier McFadden, db, Rock Hill.
Corey Miller, dl, Byrnes; Justin Parker, lb, Beaufort; Ruben Perez, k, Laurens; Kelcy Quarles, dl, Greenwood; Sheldon Robinson, db, Lake City; Brant Sally, db, Stratford; Logan Stewart, ol, Boiling Springs; Jatavius Stewart, db, Rock Hill; Devin Taylor, ol, Summerville; Thomas Teal, dl, Marlboro County.
Dylan Thompson, qb, Boiling Springs; Khiry Watts, db, Myrtle Beach; Brandon Williams, lb, Northwestern; Cephas Wilson, ol, Richland Northeast.
Head coach: Lewis Lineberger, Johnsonville. Assistants: Art Craig, Timberland; Denver Cromer, North Myrtle Beach; Mike Hawkins, Laurens; Rick Knight, Midland Valley; Nate Thompson, Carver’s Bay; Jet Turner, Clover.

Big game

For those that have read, and hopefully enjoyed, my blog posts, apologies for not being prolific lately. This is a wild time of year with cross country, tennis, volleyball, etc. coming to a head, and football closing down the home stretch.

I have been asked to keep my posts short, and I’ll do my best with this one, but there are a couple of things to hit on, starting with…

REYNOLDS AT WEST FORSYTH

The last time I vividly remember two unbeaten county teams playing this late in the season was in (I think) 1993 when Reynolds and Mount Tabor met in the infamous Fog Bowl on the final night of the regular season, a game which Mount Tabor pulled out.
That’s based on my memory though, and things can get hazy. If I am wrong about that, feel free to point it out.
Truth is though, Friday’s game at West should generate as much fan interest as any game in recent years, with both teams being 9-0 overall, 3-0 in the Central Piedmont 4-A, and ranked in the Class 4-A poll by AP. The winner will lock down a share of the conference title.
West has the size, Reynolds has the speed. It’s often said that speed kills, and West’s field should be in good shape for the game. Reynolds has been charmed this season for a variety of reasons, and West has been rock solid, albeit a little shaky over the last month as compared to early in the season.
I would advise on getting there early. It will be interesting, at the very least.

Wish I had more opportunities to do retrospective stories such as the one I had in Wednesday’s paper on North Forsyth honoring their 1971 football state championship team. I didn’t possibly have room in the paper for all the material I came up with from talking to coaches and players, and the following piece is something I had to leave out, but wanted to get in the blog.
Boyce Shore, the man who kicked the winning field goal in that 10-7 victory over High Point Central in the 4-A state final, talked at length about how black and white players on the team bonded just one year after schools were integrated.
“Cleo Joyner, an offensive tackle, was African American, and he and I kidded with each other like brothers,” Shore said. “He called me ‘Marshmallow’ and I called him ‘Chocolate Drop’ and we had a friendship that went deeper than the field.”
I bet those former coaches and players are going to have a blast while reuniting at North on Friday.

Hopefully I can get back into a regular routine with this next week. As always, questions and suggestions are welcome. Back to the grind…

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Beware of the Demons

Earlier this season I watched Reynolds pick apart Parkland and wondered how good the Demons really were.

After watching them survive a horrific start, have their offense bottled up for a half, then come back and beat a tough Mount Tabor team anyway, 28-21, I have my answer.
This is the best Reynolds team since the mid-1990’s, when Dave McConnell was the coach.
Mike Propst and his staff are getting every ounce of effort out of their undersized, overly quick team, and that’s allowed them to be 8-0 overall and 2-0 in the Central Piedmont 4-A heading toward a showdown at West Forsyth (which is also 8-0, 2-0) on Oct. 30.

The Demons were penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct before the opening kickoff last week, gave up a 55-yard touchdown pass on the first play, and its offense manufactured only two first downs in the first half. Still, the score was tied at 14 at halftime because junior Jake Gainey blew through the Spartans like a cheetah on an 86-yard kick return, and safety Vance Matthews converted an interception into an entertaining 55-yard run up the right sideline for another score.
Mount Tabor (5-3, 1-1) is a scary team, and if the Spartans tighten a few things up, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see them make a long playoff run. What made Reynolds’ win so significant is, as Propst said, the Spartans seemed to have a perfect game plan for Reynolds, and for the most part, they executed it.

Before heading off to West for a matchup of unbeatens, Reynolds will have to beat much-improved North Davidson this Friday. I would be surprised if Reynolds is looking ahead — after all, North beat the Demons last year.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Girls golf and Alfred Poe

Erica Clinard of Reynolds sat under a shade tree Wednesday afternoon at Pinebrook Country Club, nursing what she said was a bad headache. Behind her, and 50 yards to her right, girls from high schools in the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference practiced on the putting green or were tuning their swings on the range while warming up for the conference tournament.
Not sure if Clinard ever kicked the headache, but as it turned out, the malady didn’t keep her from winning the championship because she fired a 36, beating Reagan freshman Hannah Craver by two shots and junior Kristi Ingram of Mount Tabor — normally the CPC’s top golfer — by three.
Girls golf in Forsyth County, which got its meager beginnings when Dennis Ring started a team at Mount Tabor in the 1990’s, has never been better. There are at least five players from schools in the CPC who could be factors when the regionals are held next week. Are these players ready to tackle the big-time players around the state? They will know in the next couple of weeks.
I am working on a story highlighting some of these players that’s scheduled to run next week.

I was at Carver this morning to interview the well-rounded football player Michael Lawrence. As Michael and I left the office, I saw the familiar face of Alfred Poe.
Poe, who retired in June as a teacher and athletics director at Carver, was stopping by the school to drop something off for his daughter. I walked outside with him and talked basketball — Poe was the longtime boys coach at Carver, and spent his last 10 or so years as either the head coach or assistant coach with the varsity girls team, which won two state championships in that span.
I asked Poe what he was doing, and he said he was getting ready for basketball. That surprised me. To make a long story short, Poe took my cell phone number and said he was going to decide today where he would be this year, presumably as a coach. He said I would be surprised by the where.
I’m sure I will be. I was surprised enough to hear that he hadn’t yet gotten basketball out of his system.

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Tidbits

Sort of a bummer knowing I won’t be covering a game Friday night, but it’s probably just as well — there are so many good ones it would have made picking ONE a difficult call.
Later today, the N.C. High School Athletic Association is expected to announce the hiring of Davis Whitfield as its new executive director. He will replace longtime director Charlie Adams, whose retirement will take effect on Feb. 1.
Don’t know a lot about Davis at this point, other than he is an assistant commissioner of the ACC. He also spent four years (1998-2002) working as an assistant athletics director at Wake Forest and he is a 1993 graduate of North Carolina.
It will be interesting to see how his young blood meshes with the seasoned staffers at the NCHSAA office in Chapel Hill.
Next week, I am looking forward to — for the first time — watching some girls golf! I am going to the Central Piedmont 4-A championship Monday afternoon, where I plan to talk to some of the best golfers around for a story next week. Also, weather and newspaper space permitting, I plan to cover my first soccer match of the year Monday night when Mount Tabor plays at West Forsyth, which is having its best season in years.

Monday, October 05, 2009

Getting out

In days gone by, especially when there were only eight public high schools in Forsyth County, The Journal was able to venture outside of the county often to cover games. And those trips to Surry, Wilkes, Stokes, Yadkin, Davidson and other outlying counties from our nerve center here in downtown Winston were always worth it to me.
Because we have so many teams here now, it’s tough to get out. But having most Forsyth County teams off last week gave me the opportunity to get out of town, and being able to go back to Starmount — where I have covered many games — was something I really looked forward to, especially since they were playing Elkin. What an awesome rivalry.

While the atmosphere at some places in Forsyth County is really nice, it’s a lot different — in a really good way — at most of the places in the Foothills. You can’t beat the smaller stadiums, packed houses and excitement at places like East Surry, Mount Airy, Elkin, Starmount, etc. And my game, a 42-12 win by Starmount over Elkin, didn’t disappoint.
The people up there love their teams, and for good reason. The teams hit hard, are led by wonderful coaches, and what a perfect fall night it was last Friday. It was great see the folks at Starmount I don’t often get to see, like David Norman and Deana King, who by the way in addition to being the No. 1 Starmount fan and statistician, is probably as big a fan of high-school sports you can find anywhere in the state.

Two things I discovered while there — Starmount has one of the best concession stands you’ll come across, and also, the Rams have one of the best players I have seen this season in Jake Barr, a junior quarterback and defensive back. One of the coaches told the 6-1, 205-pounder is receiving a lot of recruiting mail from LSU. He is a whale of a player.
It was also great to see Coach Scott Johnson of Starmount get a big win, one that will probably propel the Rams to the Mountain-Valley 2-A/1-A Conference title when it’s all said and done. But on the flip side, I hated to see Elkin lose like that. Richard Grissom, the Elks coach, is one of the best in the business, and his team is way better than that. I bet they’ll prove it from here on out.
And one last note — Scott Carter (Starmount’s athletics director and longtime assistant football coach) — thanks for the hospitality!

Well, back to local business this week with a nearly full schedule of Forsyth County games. Because of scheduling here at work, I won’t be able to cover a game this week, but we will have stringers at four or five games. Wish I could get up to Pilot Mountain, where unbeaten East Surry will take on unbeaten Bishop McGuinness. That’s going to be a good one, and in one of the best places around to see a game.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

Less is better

This is totally my opinion — although I know it is shared by others — but something good just might come out of the down economy our country is going through: the North Carolina High School Athletic Association is considering cutting back on playoff berths in all sports, potentially even in basketball and football.

As a means of cutting costs, the NCHSAA’s board of directors recommended earlier this year that schools voluntarily reduce the number of regular-season games in non-revenue sports. But at regional meetings over the past week, NCHSAA staff members have also discussed reducing the number of playoff teams in basketball and football.

This would be a great idea not only in a struggling economy, but also in times of prosperity. When 256 of 386 teams qualify for the playoffs in those sports, it creates many marginal, and many bad matchups in the early rounds of the playoffs, and it also forces teams — especially in the smaller classifications — to play an extra game that in some cases they might not want to play.

I will be in touch with Rick Strunk of the NCHSAA soon to do a story for the paper, but he has been out of the office this week attending regional meetings.

Less is better. The period when every team making the postseason really earned their way in has been gone for a long time, and shaving the number of participants wouldn’t bring it all the way back. But it sure would make it better.