Chesson's greatniece signs with ECU

Even though former Rocky Mount head baseball coach Shelton Chesson made his mark on the diamond, he knows basketball, too. In fact, he was the Gryphons' head boys basketball coach my senior year (1975-76) and coached former All-America Buck Williams as a sophomore.

Now another Chesson offspring has made some noise in the state - also in basketball.

His great niece (his brother's grandaughter) Katie Paschal, the state's top girls scorer last year as a junior at Williamston High School, signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at East Carolina last week.

“We are very excited about the addition of Katie,” head coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener stated. “Our coaching staff was very selective in finding the right pieces to the puzzle for next year’s team and did a great job. We are excited to this young lady to join the Pirate family.”

Paschal, a 5-8 guard, led all North Carolina prep players in scoring last season as a junior, netting 33 points per contest while averaging four assists, six rebounds and five steals. She is ranked as the 42nd-best shooting guard in the nation by the All-Star Girls Report and 78th by ESPN.com. Additionally, Atlantic South has tabbed her as one of the top five players in North Carolina.

Paschal has garnered numerous honors during her high school career, including 2009 North Carolina Basketball Coaches Association (NCBCA) First-Team All-State and Associated Press Second-Team All-State accolades as well as 2008 First-Team 1A All-State and 2007 Third-Team All-State laurels from NC Preps. She was also named ESPN.com Southeast Region Player-of-the-Week for the period ending Feb. 23.

Paschal has helped Williamston to three berths in the North Carolina 1A playoffs, including a sectional championship and regional appearance in 2008.

“Katie is a gym rat that understands the game of basketball," said Baldwin-Tener. "She is not just a great scorer but a great passer as well. She makes the people around her better. We are excited that Katie decided to stay close to home for the next four years.”

Chesson, who has been packing his car with many of his RM area friends and making pilgrimages to Martin County to see Katie play since she was in the eighth grade, will now get to see her play at Williams Arena the next four years.

Paschal also thought about coming to Rocky Mount. Her dad, Roanoke's head football coach Brian Paschal, had thought about joining then-head coach B.W. Holt's football staff before her junior year and Katie thought she might come with him and play for Pam Gainey's squad.

But alas, her dad opted to stay at Roanoke, so Katie stayed at Williamston.

Wesleyan to face Wesley College in first round of NCAA playoffs

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - The NCAA released its 2009 Division III Football Championship bracket on Sunday afternoon, and North Carolina Wesleyan has learned it will travel to Delaware to take on the South Region's top-seed, Wesley College, next Saturday at 12:00 noon. The 3rd-ranked Wolverines were awarded a No. 1 seed after completing an undefeated regular season at 10-0, while the Blue & Gold were tabbed the No. 8 seed after posting seven straight wins and an 8-2 overall record.

NCWC is making its second playoff appearance in program history after posting an undefeated 7-0 record in the USA South to secure the league's automatic bid. The feat marks the second time in the past three seasons that the Bishops ran the table against conference opponents. NCWC's two regular season losses came at the hands of non-conference foes Emory & Henry and Hampden-Sydney, which also turned in a 10-0 record en route to the region's No. 3 seed.

Wesley is making its fifth consecutive trip to the NCAAs, winning the South in both 2005 and 2006 and advancing to the quarterfinals in 2007. The Wolverines and Battling Bishops have just one series meeting between them: the 2007 opener for both squads, which was won by Wesley 34-31.

On paper, the two teams looked to be evenly matched offensively. The Battling Bishops averaged 36.5 points and over 450 total yards of offense per game during the regular season, while the Wolverines turned in 35.6 points and 410 yards per contest. The outcome, therefore, may be determined on the defensive side of the ball.

Other top seeds in the tournament include Mount Union in the East, UW-Whitewater in the North and St. John's (MN) in the West. In the South, the winner of the Wesley/North Carolina Wesleyan game will face the winner of the Mississippi College/Huntingdon contest.

Note: I will post a link to live coverage of this game Saturday right here later this week!

RMAC's field dry - the only game in town

Give former Rocky Mount head football coach and athletic director Walt Wiggins most of the credit for the Gryphons getting to play last Friday night against South Central.

Wiggins, the Gryphons' head coach for 14 seasons and their AD when he retired, planned the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex - from its design, its layout and thank goodness, its field.

I can see an old picture of him and former assistant superintendent (Rocky Mount City Schools) John Langley looking over the observation deck on to the field just weeks before the first game was played there in fall of 1987.

Wiggins had the forethought to bring in agronomists from N.C. State to prepare the ground underneath the field for optimum draining. Gravel, sand, filtering membrane - it's all down there and it has been amazing - despite some minor problems - how well it has drained. It's been the gold standard for football fields down east.

With the help of Quentin Leggett, father of former Gryphon pitcher Jim Leggett, and some of his colleagues, the field's drainage was improved upon and the root system strengthened.

That field has a history.

From so much play on it (semi-pro football, tons of soccer matches, etc.), to the loss of a lot of top soil when it was under eight feet of flood water from Hurricane Floyd. And of course, we were all upset when it was in such bad shape, the 2002 team was forced to play its home games at Nash Central's then-new field while it was being repaired.

And we all remember how wet the field seemed all during the 2008 playoffs.

Well, that problem is seemingly gone, thanks to Leggett and his friends.

I took to the field before the game with South Central last Friday around 5:30 p.m. and talked to a few of the Falcons' coaches. They could not believe that after around the seven inches of rain in the area and in the East the previous two days, the field could be so dry and firm.

As many of you know, none of the other three playoff games set for the Twin Counties area last Friday could be played. North Edgecombe had to move their opener with Columbia to Monday due to field conditions.

The RMAC's field was about as dry as it could be. And a little shower before kickoff didn't affect it a bit.

Proof of that came in the latter stages of the South Central game when RM's Collins Cuthrell lofted a punt from his own 45-yard line and when the ball hit the field, it bounded nearly 10 feet in the air and bounced into the end zone for a touchback!

I just hope when we get our new stadium at the new campus, whenever that may be, the N-RMS will get N.C. State to set up our new stadium's field the exact same way.

But guys, I wouldn't turn down some fieldturf, either!

Facing South Central for the first time

South Central High, which was built in Winterville at the same time Nash Central was constructed - in 2002, has never faced the Gryphons in football.

But it has had an encounter with Nash Central (2006 playoffs) and Northern Nash earlier this season.

Here is how the Falcons faired in each of their games this season:

2009 South Central Schedule/Results

Aug. 21
AT GREENE CENTRAL
W, 10-6

Aug. 28
FARMVILLE CENTRAL
W, 28-21

Sep. 4,
AT J.H. ROSE
L, 0-13

Sep. 11
AT NORTHERN NASH
W, 13-7

Sep. 28
AT WEST CARTERET
W, 46-20

Oct. 2
JACKSONVILLE
W, 28-14

Oct. 9
AT WEST CRAVEN
L, 7-28

Oct. 16

HAVELOCK
YES
L, 7-27

Oct. 23
AT WHITE OAK
W, 9-3

Oct. 30

AT

WASHINGTON
W 14-13

Nov. 6
D.H. CONLEY
W, 62-6

THE SERIES: Rocky Mount vs. Northern Nash

Rocky Mount traveled to Northern Nash this season and won for the seventh year in a row. RM now leads the varsity football series 24-17.

Here, for your enjoyment, are all 41 games of the series!

FYI - Northern Nash was a 2-A school in the first four years of the series:

2009 - RM wins, 15-12

2008 - RM wins, 49-0

2007 - RM wins, 54-21

2006 - RM wins, 54-0

2005 - RM wins, 21-0

2004 - RM wins, 40-0

2003 - RM wins, 21-14

2002 - NN wins, 47-6

2001 - NN wins, 48-13

2000 - NN wins, 48-28

1999 - NN wins, 21-20

1998 - RM wins, 21-7

1997 - RM wins, 28-12

1996 - RM wins, 39-12

1995 - RM wins, 14-12

1994 - NN wins, 54-31

1993 - NN wins, 28-12

1992 - RM wins, 13-7, OT

1991 - NN wins 21-19

1990 - RM wins 35-7

1989 - NN wins 20-18

1988 - NN wins 21-6

1987 - NN wins 13-10, OT

1986 - NN wins 34-14

1985 - NN wins 14-12

1984 - RM wins 20-7

1983 - RM wins 21-14

1982 - NN wins 21-13

1981 - NN wins 21-16

1980 - RM wins 21-18

1979 - RM wins 21-14

1978 - RM wins 22-0

1977 - RM wins 23-6

1976 - NN wins 20-6

1975 - NN wins 18-6

1974 - RM wins 21-7

1973 - RM wins 28-16

1972 - RM wins 21-6

1971 - NN wins 14-8

1970 - RM wins 21-12

1969 - RM wins 20-0

TRENDS:

1. Rocky Mount has won 14 times scoring 21 points or less. Northern has done it nine times.

2. Rocky Mount has shut out Northern Nash six times - three times in the last four seasons, but the Knights have never shut out the Gryphons. Until Northern's first-quarter score in the 2007 tilt, the Knights went scoreless in the series for straight14 quarters.

3. Both teams have won a contest in overtime.

4. Rocky Mount is the first team in the series to win seven consecutive games.

5. Over their last six meetings, Rocky Mount has outscored Northern Nash 233-33.

Former Southern Nash football coach inducted into Chowan Hall of Fame

Lawrence Edwards, a Nash County resident who at one time was head football coach at Big East schools Southern Nash and Wilson Hunt, was recently inducted into the Chowan University Sports Hall of Fame.

Edwards, a native of Spring Hope, was a star on the football field for Chowan from 1965-67. The 1967 All-Conference defensive lineman and team MVP also served as the vice president of the Chowan sophomore class. His play on the football gridiron took him to Temple University, where he was a letter winner for two years, 1968-1969.

He made such an impression on the Temple coaching staff that he stayed on for the 1969 season to serve as a graduate assistant coach. He earned his B.S. from Temple in 1969 and was hired by Robert E. Lee Elementary School in Richmond, Va. as a teacher.

While in Richmond, he continued with his football career playing at the semi-professional level for the Richmond Saints.

He returned to his native North Carolina in 1971 where he wound up coaching for the rest of his career. His coaching stops included Andrew High School and Rock Ridge High School (lost 1-A 1977 finals to Robbinsville) before going to Hunt and Southern.

Edwards, who was Hunt's first football coach (10-1 in 1978) and was at Southern in 1981 (2-8), also had two sons who had solid careers for the Firebirds in the mid 90s - and both played collegiately at the Air Force Academy.

I saw him recently and he looks great. Congrats, Lawrence!