Eastern Wayne 36, North Lenoir 22
Clinton 29, South Lenoir 23
Raleigh St. David’s 15, Parrott Academy 14
Greene Central 44, C.B. Aycock 6
Goldsboro Rosewood 34, Jones Senior 32
Sept. 29 scores
11
Monthly Archives: September 2006
The (slow and mostly painful) death of ihigh.com
A few years ago, a good friend of mine — Michelle Donahue Hillison from Raleigh – started the northcarolina.ihigh.com site in our state. For several years, it was THE site to go to when you wanted to know what was going on statewide in prep sports. Every school was represented on the site with scores, schedules, news, etc., by local sports writers and writers from within each individual school.
Most of that — heck, all of that — was due to the hard work Michelle put into the site. I know for a fact that she worked sometimes 18-20 hours a day to make ihigh.com the premier prep sports site in N.C.
For a time, the ihigh folks supported her, too. She was able to hire writers from all over the state (myself, Chris Hobbs from Hickory, Langston Wertz from Charlotte, Charles Alston from Rocky Mount, among many others) to write for her. When the Internet explosion started to die down a couple of years ago, the money dried up, too. She was unable to keep the writers and the site started to die.
But she kept working hard and procured agreements from newspapers all over the state to use their stories on the site. That worked for a while.
She finally decided she was ready to go in a different direction and now runs her own sports consulting business in the Triangle that is – by the way – going strong. But ihigh has continued to plug along, sometimes painfully.
Well, sound the death bells for ihigh.com. Today, the site has moved along to more of a teeny-bopper “entertainment-type” site that pretty much forgets sports altogether.
You know what? Good riddance. Arnold Solomon’s ncpreps.com took over the mantle as best prep site in N.C. after Michelle left ihigh and it is the place you have to go if you want to know what other fans and coaches are thinking throughout North Carolina.
The powers-that-be at ihigh.com should be ashamed of the way they ruined a great Web site. Forget them. Support ncpreps.com.
My picks, Week 7
Prep
North Lenoir 24, Eastern Wayne 18
Clinton 34, South Lenoir 8
Raleigh St. David’s 26, Parrott Academy 22
Greene Central 28, C.B. Aycock 14
Jones Senior 34, Goldsboro Rosewood 26
College
Virginia at Duke: Virginia
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech
Ohio State at Iowa: Ohio State
Oregon at Arizona State: Arizona State
Texas Tech at Texas A&M: Texas A&M
Pro
New Orleans at Carolina: Carolina
Jacksonville at Washington: Jacksonville
Dallas at Tennessee: Dallas
Minnesota at Buffalo: Buffalo
Cleveland at Oakland: Cleveland
Wedding bells for Coach Miller
I have a confirmation of an earlier post: former South Lenoir coach Dale Miller, 41, married 2006 South Lenoir graduate Sammee Jo Smith, 18, on Tuesday.
Thursday night upset special
Read it and re-read it: North Pitt upset Ayden-Grifton 14-6 on Thursday in a game postponed due to Tropical Storm Ernesto.
Eastern Plains 2A teams, take notice: if NP plays the way it did tonight, the Panthers are going to challenge for the EP2A title. No joke.
Congratulations to Coach Boal and NP. And a hearty thanks to A-G coach Paul Cornwell for staying the super-classy coach he is. Coach Cornwell is the epitome of class: even in defeat, he answers the tough questions, doesn’t take offense at those hard questions and is just a good guy. Some other coaches could learn a few lessons from him.
Rumors, innuendoes and questions
I apologize for being away so much lately, but — as you know — you have to take the time off or they take it away from you!
Let’s jump on some of these things that have been floating around our area lately…
- I am seeking solid confirmation of Coach Miller getting married. As soon as I get it, I’ll post it here. But if he did, then congratulations to him. Trust me on this: It’s hard to get married!
- With all my duties (Jones Post, etc.), I really haven’t had a chance to do videos. I’m going to make a concerted effort to get those under way soon. But what I want to know is this: do you miss them? Do you even want to see them? Let me know.
- Let’s just lay everything out here on the line about former SL coach Lee Atkins; I have received several e-mails from some of you thinking I am hatin’ on the man. Nothing could be further from the truth. He did a heck of a job last year in Deep Run with a program that had had a run of bad seasons. My only beef — if I have one — with the man is that he told me and those kids that he was there for the long haul. But it’s hard to stay somewhere if you have a better offer. I have only spoken to him once since he left for Raleigh and that was when I did the story on him leaving for Wakefield. From everything I understand, he is doing a great job up there, too. I wish him nothing but success.
- Check out my Sunday column; I’m going to run a mid-season report card of sorts on the high school football teams and I think you guys will like it.
Leaderboard after Week 6
CORRECTED! Thanks, Flagan!
It was a tough week all around as five of us (me, Jagshouse, S.Lovick, Go Twins and BWard) tied for the best week at 11-4. The defending champ (JWade) continues to lead, but Flagan and I are only one game back.
JWade 64-23 (.736) 9-6
Flagan 63-24 (.724) 10-5
HANKS 63-24 (.724) 11-4
Jagshouse 62-24 (.721) 11-4
BW 61-26 (.701) 10-5
S. Lovick 61-26 (.701) 11-4
Spence 60-27 (.690) 8-7
Clay 59-28 (.678) 10-5
Go Twins 59-28 (.678) 11-4 (6-0 in preps!)
GWhitley 58-26 (.690) 8-7
Tate Mooring 58-27 (.682) 9-6
Bward 58-28 (.674) 11-4
K-Town Pirate 58-29 (.667) 8-7
Taplie Coile 57-30 (.655) 9-6
Lee 57-30 (.655) 10-5 (5-0 in the pros!)
Greg Melvin 57-30 (.655) 10-5
Devil27 56-31 (.644) 9-6
Jeff Howard 56-31 (.644) 9-6
RJarman 56-31 (.644) 10-5
The Kid 55-32 (.632) 9-6
DubG GC 54-33 (.621) 9-6
JGoodson 52-35 (.598) 8-7
Johnny Kennedy 52-35 (.598) 10-5
James Roberts 52-35 (.598) 10-5
Heelatious 50-23 (.685) 7-8
Will the Thrill 50-37 (.575) 6-9 (picked both Chicago and Minnesota; I counted it as a loss)
COliver 47-26 (.644) 10-5
ECPirates11 46-26 (.639) 10-5 (5-0 in pros!)
ENCMetalhead 45-29 (.608) 9-6
PantherFan 45-42 (.517) 6-9
CBeaman101 44-28 (.611) 9-6
Mr_NL1991 43-28 (.606) 9-6
Natis9988 41-31 (.569) 9-6
KHS loving sister 40-33 (.548) 8-7 (Didn’t pick TC-APA game)
SLfootball15 39-18 (.684) 10-5
CourtKillinger 39-19 (.672) 8-7 (Didn’t pick FC-AG game)
Blue Dog 38-28 (.576) 7-8
Marine 34-24 (.586) 6-9
DJTyndall06/DJ 23-20 (.535) 4-11
I know things 16-14 (.533) 7-8
Scott44544 13-17 (.433) 6-9
WMurphy* 9-6 (.600) 9-6
APAfootball9 5-8 (.385) —–
* indicates first week of selections
AP prep football poll, Sept. 26
North Carolina Prep Football Poll
The Associated Press state high school football polls for the week of September 26, first-place votes in parentheses, record and total points as voted upon by a statewide panel of prep sports writers:
Class 4A
School Records Points Prv
1. Independence (21) 5-0 219 1
2. Greenville Rose (1) 5-0 185 2
3. Richmond County 5-0 159 3
4. Davie County 6-0 131 4
5. Asheville Reynolds 6-0 118 5
6. Wilmington Hoggard 5-0 110 6
7. Greensboro Grimsley 5-0 102 7
8. Hope Mills South View 6-0 64 10
9. Shelby Crest 4-1 48 9
10. Matthews Butler 4-1 15
Others receiving votes: New Bern 9, Scotland County 9, Raleigh Wakefield 8, East Wake 6, Watauga County 6, Fayetteville Seventy-First 4, Winston-Salem Reynolds 4, Garner Senior 4, Raleigh Leesville Road 3, South Caldwell 3, Gastonia Ashbrook 2, Southern Durham 1.
Class 3A
School Records Points Prv
1. Eastern Randolph (19) 6-0 210 2
2. Rocky Mount 5-1 150 3
3. Greensboro Dudley 5-1 132 4
4. Harnett Central 5-0 94 7
5. Franklin 6-0 87 8
6. Western Alamance 5-1 83 6
6. Kannapolis Brown (1) 5-1 83 1
8. Anson County 5-1 77 5
9. W-Salem Parkland (1) 6-0 76 9
10. SW Edgecombe 5-0 43 —
Others receiving votes: Hertford County 36, Pikeville Aycock 34, Gastonia Huss 29, Winston-Salem Carver 24, West Rowan 16, Monroe Sun Valley 10, North Gaston 9, Asheboro 9, West Craven 4, Monroe Parkwood 3, Southern Wayne 1.
Class 2A
School Records Points Prv
1. Shelby (21) 5-0 219 1
2. Maiden 6-0 171 3
3. Bunn (1) 6-0 168 5
4. Canton Pisgah 5-0 141 6
5. Burlington Cummings 5-1 114 7
6. Reidsville 4-1 96 8
(tie) Brevard 5-1 96 4
8. Southwest Onslow 4-1 71 2
9. Newton-Conover 5-1 41 10
10. Catawba Bandys 5-1 27 —
Others receiving votes: West Davidson 24, Greene Central 20, Elizabeth City Northeastern 7, East Lincoln 6, West Henderson 3, Clinton 2, Ashe County 2, Jacksonville Northside 1, North Surry 1.
Class 1A
School Records Points Prv
1. Thomasville (17) 6-0 214 1
2. Wallace-Rose Hill (3) 5-0 192 2
3. Elkin 6-0 159 3
4. Manteo (2) 5-0 130 4
5. Warsaw Kenan 5-0 115 5
6. East Bladen 5-0 111 7
7. Cherokee 5-0 72 8
8. Polk County 6-0 60 9
9. Northampton-West 5-0 56 10
10. East Carteret 4-1 36 6
Others receiving votes: Siler City Jordan-Matthews 22, Plymouth 11, Mt. Airy 9, Ayden-Grifton 9, Pamlico County 5, Hobbton 4, Chocowinity Southside 2, Clinton Union 2, Rosewood 1.
Pick these games, Week 7
Prep
North Lenoir at Eastern Wayne
Clinton at South Lenoir
Raleigh St. David’s at Parrott Academy
Greene Central at C.B. Aycock
Goldsboro Rosewood at Jones Senior
College (JWade, got OSU-Iowa in but the other game was a 14-point spread…)
Virginia at Duke
Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech
Ohio State at Iowa
Oregon at Arizona State
Texas Tech at Texas A&M
Pro
New Orleans at Carolina
Jacksonville at Washington
Dallas at Tennessee
Minnesota at Buffalo
Cleveland at Oakland
Leaderboard update
Hi, guys and gals…as I mentioned in the last post, I am out of town for the next few days, so it will probably be Wednesday and maybe even Thursday before I get the leaderboard and new games up. Flagan — I should just pay you to do it, since yours are always more accurate than mine anyway!
And yes — I am taking some much-needed vacation! Before June, I had not taken more than four days off at a time in my four years in Kinston. Have a TON of hours to take! Have fun and I’ll see you back in Kinston on Friday.
