Rocky Mount High School | Archive | April, 2016

Rocky Mount High shortstop Logan Pearce (15) bobbles the ball against Wilson Fike on Friday at Flemming Stadium.

Rocky Mount High catcher Zach Keeter (9) catches the ball against Wilson Fike on Friday at Flemming Stadium.
©Telegram photo / Adam Jennings

Rocky Mount High’s David Harrison (1) pops the ball up against Wilson Fike on Friday at Flemming Stadium.
©Telegram photo / Adam Jennings

WILSON – It didn’t take Rocky Mount High coach Pat Smith long to start chirping at the umpires on Friday night at Fleming Stadium – two batters, to be exact.

What originally was a scheduled 4 p.m. first pitch was moved back to 6, and then 8 p.m., as bands of rain moved all day through eastern North Carolina. And just as soon as Wilson Fike’s Brandon Winstead faced his first batter in the top of the first, another drizzle began; by the time Rocky Mount High took the field in the bottom half, it had turned into a downpour.

Water pooled around each base, the pitcher’s mound muddied (“Forty years, and I ain’t never seen anything like this,” Smith boomed from the dugout at one point), but Fike’s hitters didn’t seem to mind.

The Golden Demons scored four runs before a 34-minute rain delay interrupted the bottom of the first, then scored three more after the dark skies cleared, sending 13 batters to the plate in a seven-run onslaught. Winstead then cruised through seven innings of three-hit ball, as the Golden Demons moved into a tie for first in the Big East alongside Northern Nash with a 9-1 win over Rocky Mount High.

“There was no reason for us to be out there and for them to not stop that game, the game we waited two hours for,” Smith said. “That was an embarrassment to high school athletics right there. Now, that don’t excuse some of the stuff that happened – we’ve got to throw strikes – but that’s a 2-1 game from the second inning and on.”

Rocky Mount High starter Forrest Bell didn’t make it out of the first inning, retiring two of the 11 batters he faced and allowing seven runs (all earned) on six hits and three walks.

“That one is on me, all the way,” Bell said. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that I was having trouble gripping the ball too bad. You’ve got to make do. I was slipping a little bit, and it felt like the rain picked up once we got on the field, but that one was on me.”

Smith went to visit Bell after the first two Fike batters reached base, and Bell promptly retired D.J. Daniels on a fly ball to right field. But the next nine hitters, sandwiched around the delay, reached base, in some form or another – single, walk, hit by pitch, double, single, single, single, walk, single – before lefty reliever Will Hedgepeth got the third out of the inning.

“I mean, of course, the first inning was the difference,” Smith said. “I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes, but our boys just had no chance out there. There wasn’t a cleat-cleaner, or a rosin bag, or anything out there on the mound to help them out.”

That Friday’s game was played in the first place came as a surprise. Rain fell nearly all afternoon, and a tarp covered the Fleming Stadium infield until 7:20 p.m., until the downpours tapered off. Wilson Hunt canceled its scheduled game against Southern Nash on Friday, but the Fleming field appeared in good shape. That is, until the rain started again, timed up perfectly with first pitch.

If not for that slog of a first inning, Rocky Mount High – which beat Fike, 1-0, on April 5 behind a gem from David Harrison – would’ve been in the thick of things. Hedgepeth, a crafty left-hander, worked 4 1/3 innings in relief of Bell, allowing just three hits and two runs.

Hedgepeth also drove in Rocky Mount High’s only run of the night, slicing a line drive to right field with the bases loaded in the fourth inning for a sacrifice fly, scoring Jake Philbeck. Fike right fielder Hunter Lee, in the expansive outfield, did not read the ball well of Hedgepeth’s bat and reacted late to charge and dive to his left to make the catch, preventing more damage.

Rocky Mount High dropped back into a tie with Nash Central at 4-4 in the Big East, while Fike and Northern Nash have a one-game lead at 5-3 with two conference games remaining. Hunt sits at 3-4 and Southern Nash is 2-5, with that postponed game still to be played.

Northern Nash closes the season with games against Fike and Rocky Mount High. The Gryphons have games against Southern Nash and the Knights remaining.

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, April 22, 2016

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Beware, Wilson County schools, when Rocky Mount High’s David Harrison is on the mound.

Harrison shut down Wilson Fike in a 1-0 Gryphons victory on April 5, holding the Golden Demons to two hits in that outing.

On Tuesday night, Harrison, a junior lefty, was up to his same tricks. The N.C. State commit breezed through a complete-game shutout, allowing two hits and walking two while striking out 10, as Rocky Mount High beat Wilson Hunt, 1-0, to move into a tie for first place in the Big East.

Logan Pearce drove home the game’s only run, flaring a two-out single to left-center on an 0-2 pitch from Hunt starter Jacob Williamson to score Isaiah Stewart in the third.

“David, I mean, what more can that kid really do?” Gryphons coach Pat Smith said. “It looked like the Fike game all over again. Had to work hard there a little bit, but he shut ’em down.”

Harrison was only in serious trouble one time on Tuesday night, through no fault of his own. Hunt shortstop Bryson Worrell, an ECU commit, led off the fourth with a sky-high fly ball to shallow center field that Gryphons (10-7, 4-3 Big East) center fielder Isaiah Stewart and left fielder Josh Pittman lost in the lights and let drop for a double that counted as one of Harrison’s two hits allowed.

Harrison, though, struck out Hunt (8-12, 3-4) cleanup hitter Greg Lamm on a 3-2 pitch and got consecutive groundouts to second base from Neal Lewis and Thomas Helms to strand Worrell at third. Hunt only had one other batter reach second base, and that was because of an error by Stewart in the second inning that allowed Helms to advance to second on a single.

“That first out, that was the big one for me,” Harrison said. “I had to put that (double) behind me, because I knew he shouldn’t have been standing there, but it was my job then to make sure he didn’t score. So to be able to get that first out and not let him advance was the big out.”

The strikeout of Lamm started a stretch of 11 consecutive batters retired by Harrison. A two-out walk of Helms in the seventh ended that stretch, but Harrison induced a ground ball to second base by Joel Taylor for the game’s final out.

“He was the same, shutdown David Harrison that I’ve known since I’ve been playing with him,” Pearce said. “He got ahead of those guys and made it look pretty simple.”

Pearce, the Gryphons’ No. 3 hitter, came through with a crucial hit that provided the lone run that Harrison would need to win on Tuesday.

Stewart led off the bottom of the third with a walk, fighting back from a 1-2 count to reach first. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on another wild pitch, as Williamson went to another 3-2 count against Pittman before getting the first out on a grounder. Will Hedgepeth struck out looking for the second out, and Pearce got in an 0-2 hole.

Williamson threw his curveball, hoping to get Pearce to go fishing, but it caught too much of the plate and Pearce looped it into left-center for an RBI.

“It was that mentality of just wanting to put it in play, and fight to stay alive,” Pearce said. “I went up there looking for that curveball and was pretty sure that was what he would throw 0-2.”

After an 0-2 start in Big East play, the Gryphons are now tied for first atop the jumbled and tightly-packed Big East standings, and a trip to Fike awaits this Friday. Nash Central beat Fike, 12-7, on Tuesday night, preventing the Golden Demons from staying in first place alone.

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

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Rocky Mount High’s Sarah Bland (1) takes a shot against Wilson Hunt’s Jesse Von Arx (7) on Monday at Rocky Mount High School.

Rocky Mount High’s Barkley Browder (2) heads the ball against Wilson Hunt’s Jordi Brick (15) on Monday at Rocky Mount High School.

Rocky Mount High’s Schuyler Moss (11) moves the ball up the field against Wilson Hunt’s Kaitlyn Bradshaw (8) on Monday at Rocky Mount High School.

When Rocky Mount High’s schedule was released, everyone knew this would be a big week for the Gryphons.

On the docket was Monday’s showdown at home against Wilson Hunt and a Wednesday trip to Wilson Fike, the two co-favorites in the Big East Conference. If Rocky Mount High wanted any chance at winning the conference, it had to earn a pair of victories this week.

The Gryphons certainly rose to the occasion Monday.

Rocky Mount High was able to smother the Hunt attack in the midfield, and picked up two timely finishes from Sarah Bland and one booming shot from Barkley Browder to defeat the Warriors, 3-0, and move into a tie with Hunt (9-5-2, 5-2-0) for second place in the conference.

“We definitely put together the best 80-minute game of the year so far,” coach Jordan Musselwhite said. ”We pressured the ball really well in their defensive third and took possession from them when they were trying to play it out of the back a little bit. … We played about as close to a perfect game as we can.”

Browder was the center of attention for most of the day, chasing the ball around the midfield for all 80 minutes while halting Hunt’s progress up the field. She won plenty of jump balls with well-timed leaps over the Warriors’ midfielders and created plenty of offensive momentum with strong, smart passes to the wings.

However, it was the junior’s goal that truly turned the tide of the game because of its timing.

She collected a loose ball about 20 yards away early in the second half and struck a thunderous shot past Hunt goalie Bryson Lee, who barely got a hand on it before it found the back of the net. The goal gave the Gryphons (13-5, 5-2) a 3-0 lead and kept the confidence flowing after a strong first half.

“I knew we had to keep it up and keep it going,” Browder said. ”Two goals is very scary because if they score one then it’s just one more until it’s tied. I just took a big touch and shot it as hard as I could hoping it would go in the back of the net.”

The trouble for Rocky Mount High once it gained possession was trying to find the space to create quality scoring opportunities. Lee is adept with her feet and many times acted like a fifth defender for the Warriors, which meant she was ready to race out and scoop up a dangerous pass if necessary.

There were plenty of those passes hit too hard for Lee to collect, but there were others that were placed perfectly in the path of Bland, who then had to face Lee one-on-one. The Gryphons’ junior got the better of Lee twice, both times finding ways to cut at the last second to give herself a better angle at the goal.

But that did not mean it was easy for Bland, who was also stoned by Lee’s outstretched leg twice.

“We adjusted well to how their goalie comes out and plays like a sweeper,” Bland said. ”We worked really well to work the ball wide and then play it into the middle and having our passes through really well hit.

“It’s definitely tough and something you’re not used to, but when I get played a ball really well I can work with it and it usually just becomes a foot chase.”

With Rocky Mount High possessing the ball and attacking for most of the game, there was not much action for the defense until the final 15 minutes. The Gryphons’ backline responded in tune, frustrating the Warriors’ attackers and limiting the number of shots sophomore Ty Arrington faced.

Yet when Arrington was called upon in the second half, she made two big saves to preserve the shutout.

The challenge for the Gryphons is now to repeat this performance Wednesday in Wilson. Fike leads the conference with a 7-0 Big East record, but the Golden Demons face both the Gryphons and Warriors in their final three games.

“We somehow have to figure out how to enjoy this one for the night and hopefully continue the level of play on Wednesday,” Musselwhite said.

Rocky Mount High 3

Wilson Hunt 0

Goals: RMH — Sarah Bland (9’ and 34’) and Barkley Browder (46’);

Assists: RMH — Chandler Brice (1) and Schuyler Moss (1);

Shots: RMH — 17 (10 on goal); WH — 7 (4 on goal);

Corner Kicks: RMH — 5; WH — 0;

Saves: RMH — Ty Arrington, 3; WH — Bryson Lee, 6;

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Monday, April 18, 2016

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WILSON — The pressure heaped onto the shoulders of Tyler Brice and George Shannon is nothing new.

From the outset of the season, the pair of sophomores knew Rocky Mount High needed the two of them to win in singles and then combine for a win in doubles if the Gryphons stood a chance at beating some of the better teams in the state. If the duo was able to secure three points on their own, then the Gryphons needed just two points from their remaining six matches.

It was a formula that earned them a critical win over Wilson Fike the first go-around, but didn’t work Thursday night in a 7-2 loss to the Golden Demons. Both Brice and Shannon remained perfect as individuals by winning their singles matches, but struggled in their doubles match to suffer their first loss of the year as a duo.

“We’ve talked to about the fact that we’re getting wins at (Nos.) 1 and 2 and No. 1 doubles and we just need to find two more wins against these really good teams,” coach Berry Nethercutt said. ”They know that if they don’t get a win we have no shot, so I think both of them feel a certain amount of pressure in that way.”

Shannon had a relatively straightforward 6-2, 6-3 victory over John Gliarmis, but Brice had to fight hard to earn his 6-4, 6-4 win over Sunny Sandhu.

The sophomore fell behind 4-1 with screams of frustration filling the air around the court. Those moments seemed to rile up the group of supporters that had gathered to cheer for Sandhu.

However, Brice used a lot of the emotion to re-focus and alter his strategy, allowing him to charge back and capture five straight games to win the first set. He began to pick on Sandhu’s forehand which either forced errors from the Fike senior or opened the court for Brice to attack.

“He was a little too-hyped up, he was missing more shots than he normally misses because I think he was trying to go for too much,” Nethercutt said. ”Ty’s a gamer. … He doesn’t let his emotions affect him negatively and he keeps thinking throughout the match. Really mature for a sophomore.”

The second set was a much-different battle as Sandhu adjusted his forehand slightly and forced yet another tactical change from Brice. In that set, the sophomore pounded Sandhu to one side of the court to open up a winner on the other side. The second set featured eight straight games when no one held serve before Brice finally closed the deal on his serve.

His top-two players aside, Nethercutt said the key to the match was going to be whether his other four singles players could remain consistent throughout the match. The Gryphons’ Nos. 3-6 singles players struggled mightily with their Fike counterparts’ speed, winning only 11 games between the eight sets played.

“I saw more (Wednesday) against Hunt,” Nethercutt said. ”It’s harder against Fike at (Nos.) 4, 5 and 6 because their pace really makes it difficult for us to be as consistent as I would like us to be. They’re hitting balls that we simply can’t be in position to be consistent, but we’re improving with it.”

The loss sets up a winner-takes-all match Tuesday against Southern Nash at home for the second spot in the state playoffs. For a program that has not made the playoffs since 2010, the victory would mean a lot to this group.

“We struggled so much last year and they’ve put in a ton of work and have seen the difference that work has made,” Nethercutt said. ”It would mean so much to them this year … but we need to be consistent against Southern Nash on Tuesday.”

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Thursday, April 14, 2016

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Rocky Mount High’s Jamar Ellis (17) hits the ball against Northern Nash on Wednesday at Rocky Mount High School.

Rocky Mount High’s Will Hedgepeth (6) throws to first base in an attempt to turn the double play as Northern Nash’s Devin Davenport slides into second base Wednesday at Rocky Mount High School.

After an arduous first inning, Rocky Mount High pitcher David Harrison trudged back to the dugout, where Gryphons coach Pat Smith told him not to worry: run support was on the way.

It didn’t happen immediately — Rocky Mount High went quietly in the bottom of the first — so Harrison set Northern Nash down in order in the second.

Rocky Mount High backed up that one shutdown inning with two runs in the second and four more in the third to break Wednesday’s game open, then survived a dicey final half-inning to beat Northern Nash, 8-3.

The Gryphons (9-6, 3-2 Big East) moved into a three-way tie atop the conference with Wilson Fike and Wilson Hunt at the midway point of the Big East schedule.

“****, when you look at where we started with those two losses (against Nash Central and Hunt) to start the conference, I think anybody would take where we are right now,” Smith said. “I’m not sure how we got here, but it’s a race to the finish now.”

Rocky Mount High knocked Northern Nash (5-9, 2-3) starter Dwight Daniels out of Wednesday’s game, which was postponed 24 hours due to Tuesday’s heavy rains, after just 2 1/3 innings. The Knights’ No. 1 starter, Tyler Barrett, has dealt with soreness in his pitching elbow over the past week, and senior right-hander Chad Nelms was out with an illness that caused him to miss most of Tuesday and all of Wednesday.

“That put us in a pretty good bind,” Northern Nash coach Bard Collins said. “I’m just not going to risk a kid’s arm like that. We hope Tyler might be ready to pitch against Hunt on Friday, but I wouldn’t say that it’s likely.”

Daniels (2 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R (6 ER), 3 BB, 3 K), diminutive but deceptive, began to struggle as the Gryphons’ lineup saw him for the second time in the game.

Will Hedgepeth gave Rocky Mount High a 2-1 lead in the second with a double to right-center off the glove of a diving Whit Casper, scoring Jake Philbeck and courtesty runner Battle Shannon.

In the third, the middle of Rocky Mount High’s order did its damage; five straight Gryphons reached as a one-run lead ballooned to five.

Shortstop Logan Pearce, still playing with a broken bone near the tip of his middle finger on his right (throwing) hand, notched a one-out infield single, and Harrison followed with a single to left-center. Both Pearce and Harrison advanced one base on a wild pitch, before Philbeck plated Pearce with a single to left-center that just fell in. Harrison moved to third on the single and scored on a wild pitch for a 4-1 Gryphons lead.

Forrest Bell then delivered the decisive blow with a two-run double that he lined into the left-field corner for a 6-1 Rocky Mount High advantage.

“I felt like once we saw (Daniels) once, we figured him out,” Harrison said. “Everybody was sitting on his curveball and reacting to the fastball.”

Eight of the Gryphons’ nine batters reached base at least once, and six reached base multiple times.

“Dwight hit his spots as good as he ever has for us,” Collins said. “Those boys just came to hit tonight, and they hit it all over the place.”

Harrison (5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 9 K) was pulled after 96 pitches in favor of Bell, who got the final four outs for the Gryphons — though not without a bit of drama. Bell walked four batters in the seventh and hit Casper as the Knights scored two runs, one on a throwing error on a potential game-ending double play and another on one of Bell’s walks. Josh Daniels grounded out to Pearce to end the game with the bases loaded.

“David wasn’t as sharp as he was last week at Fike,” Smith said, speaking of Harrison’s complete-game shutout in a 1-0 Gryphons win on Friday. “But there was a reason for that, and let me tell you why. That guy (the home-plate umpire) was squeezing the **** out of him. I don’t like to complain about umpires, but gosh almighty.”

Smith, tough but fair as ever, noted that Bell wasn’t getting squeezed — he just wasn’t throwing strikes. The Gryphons, though, survived to see the top of the Big East, at least for a few days.

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

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Rocky Mount High’s Barkley Browder, left, and Northern Nash’s Kelsey Hutchinson fight for the ball Monday during their game at Rocky Mount High School. Rocky Mount High won 6-1.

Rocky Mount High’s Sarah Bland, left, charges to the goal against Northern Nash’s Macon Rollans Monday during their game at Rocky Mount High School. Rocky Mount High won 6-1.

Northern Nash’s Rebekah Beal, left, and Rocky Mount High’s Aimee Dalsimer battle for the ball Monday during their game at Rocky Mount High School. Rocky Mount High won 6-1.

Northern Nash coach Joe McCarthy’s post-game talks are always direct and devoid of excuse-making, and Monday’s was no different.

He had just seen his Knights pegged back in their own half for nearly 80 straight minutes, as Rocky Mount High was faster to every ball and stronger in every tackle.

“(Rocky Mount) was tougher than us, mentally and physically and in every aspect,” McCarthy said. “They wanted it more than us, and until our girls can get tougher or until we can draw that out of them, this is how it’s going to be against the teams in the top half of the conference that have more technical ability than we do.”

The Gryphons parlayed that dominance into 32 shots and a 6-1 win over Northern Nash on Monday, though it could have been far worse if Rocky Mount High had been able to finish and if not for a solid performance from Knights goalkeeper Kaitlyn Michaels.

“We wouldn’t have played the full 80 minutes if not for Kaitlyn,” McCarthy said. “We would’ve been on the bus after 60, but she was really, really good for us. She did all she could.”

Sarah Bland and Erin Cooke scored two goals apiece for Rocky Mount High (10-5, 3-2 Big East), and Audrey Ulrich and Barkley Browder each netted once. The Gryphons led, 3-0, within the first 25 minutes and 4-0 at halftime.

Browder opened the scoring for Rocky Mount High off a corner, and Bland and Cooke each followed with goals. Ulrich scored the Gryphons’ fourth with 9:25 left in the first half, curling a right-footed shot into the top corner past a helpless Michaels.

Bland scored her second by heading in a Browder corner kick in the 60th minute, and Cooke’s second goal, a 66th-minute right-footed rifle from outside the 18-yard box, capped off the scoring for the Gryphons.

“The finishing certainly has not been perfect lately; I’m not sure if it’s nerves or what, but we’ve just been hitting the ball right at the keeper,” Gryphons coach Jordan Musselwhite said. “But that’s something that can be worked on and improved… I was very pleased with the effort and fight today from the girls.”

Rebekah Beal scored Northern Nash’s (12-3, 2-3) only goal nine minutes from time, dribbling past several defenders and scoring with a left-footed finish to end Rocky Mount High’s shutout bid.

Musselwhite saw several other teams, including Southern Nash, stick one defender on Beal and follow her around all night, so he did the same, putting Aimee Dalsimer on the Knights’ all-time leading scorer.

It likely didn’t make much difference. Northern Nash enjoyed only brief spurts of possession, and Beal spent most of the game near the halfway line, waiting for long clearances to bounce her way and hoping to win the ball and beat three or four defenders for any chance at goal.

“We basically threw the book at Beal, with everyone putting in challenges and trying to crowd her out,” Musselwhite said. “With how much of the ball we had, we were able to pretty much keep it away from her and not give them space to give her service.”

Musselwhite raved about the Gryphons’ effort on Monday, but knows there’s more work to be done if they are to steal a win or two from Wilson Fike or Wilson Hunt.

“If the girls can combine that sort of fight and that mentality with a little bit of sharpness in front of goal, then who knows?” Musselwhite said. “We’ve played Fike and Hunt tough once already, so maybe we can beat them next time around.”

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Monday, April 11, 2016

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The emotions on the Rocky Mount High bench were complicated to decipher.

Mixed in with the general satisfaction of keeping Wilson Fike bottled up for most of the game was the disappointment in being unable to get a favorable result.

Despite being underdogs against the reigning Big East champions, the Gryphons dominated the action for most of the first half and let a few golden chances in the second half run away from them. In the end, the 3-1 defeat to the Golden Demons seemed both cruel and just.

“It was a very close game, we definitely could have gotten a draw or a win if some balls bounced our way,” coach Jordan Musselwhite said. ”I’m pleased with the game, not with the outcome, but with the game itself and how we performed.”

It took only 72 seconds for Fike to get on the board, taking advantage of the Gryphons’ vulnerable defense on a through ball that was easily deposited into the net by Emilee Futrell.

But after that score, Rocky Mount High began to pin the Golden Demons into their own defensive half. The pressure resulted in few scoring chances, but the structure was clearly there to potentially strike.

“From watching (Fike) a couple of times, I knew we could come in and keep the ball a little bit and go at their goal some,” Musselwhite said. ”It’s always nice to actually see it happen.”

The dam broke briefly when Fike coach Toni Varacchi made a few tactical adjustments with her team’s position late in the first half, resulting in two goals in three minutes. But the three first-half goals were also the only three shots Fike had in the first 40 minutes.

Sarah Bland scored the only goal for the Gryphons, answering the Golden Demons’ two goals with a tally just before halftime. However, she might be more preoccupied with the three shots she did not convert, any of which would have changed the tone of the game.

The junior had a low line-drive shot stopped in the first half that would have tied the game. In the second half, she was able to sneak past the Fike defense with a beautifully-timed run, but saw her far-post shot strike the post and bounce just out of the reach of freshman Katie Moss, who had made a run to that post. Just a few minutes later, Bland was once again on a breakaway with goalie Lexus Caster charging at her, and this time slotted her shot just wide of the post.

“We had plenty of chances, particularly in the second half when we had a lot of open goal situations with the keep coming out,” Musselwhite said. ”We just need to keep our composure and finish those.

“(Bland) is our finisher, I don’t know if it was nerves or if the keep coming out threw her off a bit, but she’s a good player, she’ll get it down. If we get those same opportunities again, her being the player she is, I expect that she’ll finish them.”

Wilson Fike 3

Rocky Mount High 1

Goals: WF — Emilee Futrell (2’), Elery Williams (33’ and 35’); RMH — Sarah Bland (37’);

Shots: WF — 11 (5 on target); RMH — 10 (6 on target);

Saves: Lexus Caster (WF) — 4; Ty Arrington (RMH) — 2;

Corner Kicks: WF — 2; RMH — 0;

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

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Rocky Mount High’s Jamar Ellis (17) hits the ball against Southern Nash on Friday at Southern Nash High School.

BAILEY — Before Zack Keeter had even threw his 10th pitch Friday night, Rocky Mount High had already gifted him a 10-run lead.

The Gryphons scored 10 runs in the first two innings against Southern Nash, and the game quickly snowballed out of control in what turned into a 17-0 five-inning rout. Keeter threw three innings of nearly flawless baseball to give the Gryphons a second conference win for the week.

“We had a rough stretch where we lost some real close games and it was rough on us,” coach Pat Smith said. ”Hopefully, we’re digging out of that. I want them to feel good about this week because we had excellent pitching and two big wins, and we needed them after starting 0-2, so we’re happy tonight.”

Rocky Mount High (8-6, 2-2) benefited from an unusually inaccurate Southern Nash pitching staff that issued 15 walks including seven on four pitches. The Firebirds (10-7, 2-2) also committed six errors that led to eight unearned runs for the Gryphons.

Leroy Edwards, who entered the game with a 2.56 ERA in seven appearances, allowed eight runs and six hits in just 1.1 innings Friday. The sophomore struggled with his command, either leaving pitches down the middle of the plate or missing the plate entirely. The relievers did not fare much better as Dawson Sikes came on to surrender five more runs and walk eight batters in just 1.2 innings.

“That’s not been a  problem we’ve had so far,” coach Todd Brewer said. “Leroy is normally spot on, Dawson has three wins, Leroy has two wins. Things just started rough for them and it just all went downhill from there.”

The Gryphons’ aggressiveness on the basepaths also helped to quickly pile on the runs. Rocky Mount High seemingly ran on every passed ball, scoring twice on that play and advancing into scoring position on almost a dozen other occasions.

But that aggressiveness also cost the Gryphons a few times, getting thrown out at third three times, twice for the last out of the inning.

Despite the number of physical and mental miscues the Firebirds made Friday night, the Gryphons still pounded out 10 hits in key moments with seven of those resulting in RBI.

“I know they’re not that bad, and we’re probably not that good, but you’ll take them anyway you can get them in this league,” Smith said. ”This one just happened to get away early and I’m glad it was in our favor this time.”

Rocky Mount High struck for three runs in the first inning, but really put the game away in the second when it scored seven times. The Firebirds committed three errors in that inning. Their other three errors came in the fourth when the Gryphons exploded for six runs.

Brewer took full responsibility for his team’s loss, saying he didn’t have the team ready to play in such a critical conference game. Although Friday’s result certainly seemed like an anomaly in what has so far been a good season, Brewer said his team needs to take the weekend to re-focus for the closing stretch of conference season, especially since four out of the six Big East teams are tied at 2-2.

“We’ve just got to stick together,” Brewer said. ”This is one of those that stings, but you got to learn from it. We’ve got to … go home over the weekend, think about how we can get better and make sure we’re ready to go Tuesday against Nash Central.”

For the Gryphons, things have began to click under Smith and are riding a four-game winning streak at the moment. The pitching has certainly helped with both Keeter and David Harrison throwing gems in each of their past two starts.

But Smith also cautioned his team against getting too overconfident with such a tight race ahead.

“We approach every day with a little guarded optimism,” Smith said. ”There’s no reason for us to get big-headed right now because every game is a dog fight.”

Rocky Mount High 17

Southern Nash 0 

RMH  3 7 1 6 0 — 17 10  0

SN     0 0 0 0 0 —  0   2  6

WP: Zack Keeter

LP: Leroy Edwards

by Josh Walfish
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Friday, April 8, 2016

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The 2015-16 Telegram All-Area Wrestler of the Year Wilson Smith, of Rocky Mount High School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, March 24, 2016 at Rocky Mount High School.

The 2015-16 Telegram All-Area Wrestler of the Year Wilson Smith, of Rocky Mount High School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, March 24, 2016 at Rocky Mount High School.

The 2015-16 Telegram All-Area Wrestler of the Year Wilson Smith, of Rocky Mount High School, poses for a portrait on Thursday, March 24, 2016 at Rocky Mount High School.

Wilson Smith sat down at a Greensboro T.G.I. Fridays on Feb. 20 and allowed himself to indulge in a feast: steak, lobster, mac and cheese, and his favorite drink, strawberry lemonade.

Smith, the Telegram’s 2016 All-Area Wrestler of the Year, was celebrating a second consecutive NCHSAA 3-A state wrestling championship in the 126-pound weight class, but neither the food nor the glow from earning another ring lasted long.

By the time most of Smith’s family and coaches were drifting off to sleep in their Greensboro hotel later that night, Smith, a bundle of sinewy muscle and frantic energy, was pacing around the hotel parking lot, thinking about a third championship ring that he had promised Gryphons coach Jermaine Jones one year prior.

“I had too much on my mind,” the effervescent Smith said last week. “Getting that second one was great and I enjoyed it. I really did. But at the same time, I was already figuring out what I could do to get another.”

After Smith won his first state championship as a sophomore in 2015, Jones, himself a state runner-up while wrestling for Rocky Mount High, had asked Smith if he could get him one more ring.

“Wilson, right away, said, ‘Coach, I’m going to get you two more,’” Jones recounted last week. “There wasn’t any hesitation at all.”

There’s not an ounce of runner-up in Smith’s lithe frame. The so-called curse lingering over Rocky Mount High – Jones, Elbert Thomas and, later, 145-pounder Alex Knight, had combined for six state second-place finishes during their respective careers – ended in 2015.

Even before Smith earned that first state championship, a target on his back had already started to form. Smith finished second nationally in his weight class in Greco-Roman style as a sophomore, thanks to an exceptionally strong upper body that just recently got a new addition: a tattoo with the Rocky Mount area code, 252, piped across his inner bicep.

Opposing coaches know that Smith can be dominant if he gets to use his upper body to force his counterparts’ hand, so they tell their wrestlers to make Smith use his lower body. Smith, in turn, focused on improving his shot to give his style more variety.

Jones, for his part, insists that he doesn’t do much coaching of Smith anymore.

“What am I gonna tell him that he doesn’t already know?” Jones said. “At this point, I’m his time management coach. I tell him when time is running low and that sort of thing, and I try to keep him focused. Other than that…I mean, this kid has got it handled.”

In other words: Jones doesn’t have to do much at all, because Smith is not one to spend much time on the mat. He spent less than a minute total on the mat to win the Big East crown, then cruised to his third straight 3-A Eastern Regional title, pinning each of his first three opponents in the first period in dominating fashion.

In the state semifinals, Smith got past Asheville Payne’s Justin Erwin in a 3-1 decision. Erwin was considered the state’s other top 126-pounder all season, and that proved true; Smith beat Enka’s JR Banks, 7-1, in the state championship match, a coronation for the kid who already is the most decorated wrestler in Rocky Mount High history.

So, how did Smith get from where this all began, as a seventh grader who still played nose guard in football (“You know this dude was tough, because ain’t nobody else his size playing nose guard,” Jones quipped) and had just discovered wrestling, to now?

It’s hidden inside Smith, under tufts of hair dyed gold, nearly the same color as the singlets Rocky Mount High wears in competition: his brain.

“I don’t know that I’d go as far as calling it photographic memory, but it’s close,” Smith said. “It’s more that I just pay close attention to what I do and what my opponents do, their strengths and weaknesses, and I store it away and remember every little detail. So I’m always thinking through every move when I’m out there.”

That mental fortitude is what has made Smith remarkably consistent over the last two seasons. Whenever he has lost, and the occasions have been rare — to Fayetteville Jack Britt’s Richard Tolston last season, for example — Smith has made a habit of coming back and beating those opponents, because he studied what went wrong. He said he’ll sometimes shake his mother awake, and when he does, the question isn’t, ’What do you want?’ Instead, it’s ’What match are you thinking about?’

Probably a loss — or perhaps another state championship bout.

Foster Lander can be reached at 407-9951 or flander@rmtelegram.com

FIRST TEAM

126 POUNDS — WILSON SMITH, JR., ROCKY MOUNT HIGH: Now a two-time state champion, Smith was dominant during his junior campaign en route to a Big East title and a third straight 3-A Eastern Regional championship.

106 — RAHSUN LAWRENCE, SO., ROCKY MOUNT HIGH: The Big East champion, Lawrence finished one win shy of the podium in Greensboro in what coach Jermaine Jones called one of the more surprising performance from his team.

113 — RAQUAVIOUS HOPKINS, SO., TARBORO; One of two Vikings’ wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament, Hopkins finished fourth in his weight class after battling an injury in the third-place match.

132 — KEYONTE WILLIAMS, SO., ROCKY MOUNT HIGH: Williams had to sweat off a few extra pounds before winning the Big East title, and came up just a win short of qualifying for Greensboro.

145 — QUADARRIUS HOPKINS, JR., TARBORO: It was a curious season for Hopkins, who lost the regional title on an illegal throw and finished third in the state after a frustrating semifinal.

160 — ALEX HENDERSON, SR., ROCKY MOUNT HIGH; The senior had a difficult bracket at the state championship, but Henderson won the Big East title and finished second at the regional tournament.

170 — SE’DRAK SHEPPARD, SR., ROCKY MOUNT HIGH: Sheppard won a match at the state tournament to cap off a senior season that included a third-place finish at the regional and a Big East championship.

220 — MYLES LANE, SR., NASH CENTRAL: Lane finished one win shy of qualifying for the state tournament, but he had a incredible season in which he only lost two matches.

285 — KENDRICK WATSON, SR., SOUTHERN NASH: A state qualifier, Watson wrestled back through the consolation brackets before being pinned just one win shy of the podium in Greensboro.

HONORABLE MENTION

Joshua Brice, Jr., Nash Central; Anthony Costanza, Jr., Tarboro; Michael Ellis, So., Tarboro; Tycen Hunter, Sr., Rocky Mount High; Dillon Joyner, Jr., Northern Nash; Daniel Medina, Fr., Southern Nash; Luis Rolon, Sr., Nash Central; Donte’ Wilkins, Sr., Rocky Mount High.

By Foster Lander
Sports Writer for Rocky Mount Telegram

Thursday, March 31, 2016

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