Saturday, October 27, 2007

Hahula's FG keeps Gryphons unbeaten


Rocky Mount junior kicker Nick Hahula bangs through a 32-yard field goal with 1.1 seconds left in the game to beat Wilson Fike 16-13 on a wet and muddy Buddy Bedgood Stadium field Friday night. The victory assured the Gryphons (10-0, 4-0) of no less than a tie for the NEW 6 Conference championship.

Sophomore back Marquavis Alston led all rushers with 120 yards on 21 carries.

For the first time in 55 years of Rocky Mount football, it has recorded four straight seasons of 10 victories or more.

For the record, Gryphon teams have now gotten a share or won outright four conference titles this fall.

Photo/Wilson Daily Times' Scott Jones

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

There were three things that Fike did to stay competitive against the Gryphons: 1) Play the game as scheduled on a muddy, "turtle-back" field to neutralize RM's speed
2) Run the ball (only one pass) to control the clock 3) Take the play clock down to the last few seconds to help keep RM's potent running game off the field. RM seemed to come out emotionally flat with a sparse crowd with the weather conditions. The RM running backs had a dificult time getting their footing to turn up field and make the cutbacks. Fike stacked the line of scrimmage with 8 players in the box knowing RM would probaly not throw (total of four passes) and rely on its running game. This was a night where RM could have lost under the circumstances but found a way to pull it out. It will be interesting to see how RM responds against Northern Nash. Hopefully the game will be played under better weather conditions and RM can get back to playing "Gryphon football". RM stills has plenty of room to improve as it heads into postseason play. This time last year RM was hitting on all cylinders even though Nash Central, Wilson Fike and Northern Nash are much better than last year's squads. Go Gryphons and let's beat the Knights!