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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

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

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

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

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.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Hunt-Rocky Mount soccer rivalry gets a bit too heated

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.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Reynell takes Goldsboro boys basketball job

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

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.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Richardson to South Carolina

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.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Jeffers commits to Drake; Richardson likes South Carolina, Alabama

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?

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

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

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

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

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)
            

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Interesting week 4 in high school football season

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!

Friday, September 11, 2009

Congratulations to Charles Davis

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

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

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

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Football rankings with a twist

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.