Home > So, what do you think? > Archives > 2008 > June > 02 > Entry
Gryphons win state championship!
I never played for a championship team. The closest I came was my senior year at High Point Central when I was starting center for a football team that finished 7-3 but didn’t make the playoffs.
We were 7-1 going into the last two games and needed at least a tie to make the post-season. Didn’t happen, and I’ll never forget the long bus ride home on that cold November night of my senior year.
That was more than 30 years ago, but memory holds onto things like that with amazing tenacity.
All the more reason to revel in the magic of this past Saturday, when Rocky Mount High School won the state 3-A baseball championship against East Rowan.
Never mind the toil and burdens of everyday life. Check out the faces of those joyous players celebrating in an infield pile-on. You can bet those kids won’t think about politics or war when they look back at 2008.
It’s something for those of us who are older and supposedly wiser to keep in mind.
Forgive me for blowing our horn for a moment, but the Sports section that ran in Sunday’s edition of the Telegram was one of the finest we’ve produced since I’ve been editor.
Sports Editor Ben Jones, Jessie Nunery, Matt LaWell and H. Williams Kellenberger brought to life a glorious finish to the Gryphons’ season. And Alan Campbell’s remarkable photographs preserved the moment for the ages. If you haven’t already, be sure and check out the photo gallery he shot during the championship run.
Congratulations to Gryphons coach Pat Smith, players Brian Goodwin, Chris Berry and all the rest. Your finish lifted the whole community. And the memories of this year will hold a place in your hearts and ours for a long time to come.
Comments
By Will
June 4, 2008 9:47 PM | Link to this
I must bring up a bit of bias in the local newspaper’s (RM Telegram) coverage. Nothing against Rocky Mount Sr High and their players as they were worthy of all the media coverage they received. The RM paper had two reporters and a photographer at both their regional and championship games and also had play by play coverage on their sports blog.
But in the case of Rocky Mount Academy the paper failed to send a reporter to any of their semifinal or state championship games and only printed a boxscore of their semifinal game against Southlake and a telephone interview article with Coach Andy Jackson after their state championsahip matchup with Asheville Christian.
In Faith Christian’s case they played in the NCISAA final four in Wilson (only 20 miles away) and the Telegram did not even bother to send a reporter there as well.