Nov. 30 results

Prep basketball

Boys

Kinston 67, South Lenoir 49

Girls

Kinston 43, South Lenoir 38

Prep football playoff results from the Associated Press:

4AA

EAST

(4) New Bern 20, (7) Raleigh Leesville Road 10

WEST

(10) Charlotte Independence 10, (1) West Charlotte 8

4A

EAST

(1) Wilmington Hoggard 21, (2) Southern Durham 6

WEST

(2) Winston-Salem Mt. Tabor 36, (1) Watauga County 14

3AA

EAST

(7) Greensboro Dudley 14, (1) Oxford Webb 6

WEST

(5) Charlotte Catholic 24, (6) Asheville Roberson 7

3A

EAST

(1) Western Alamance 50, (3) Rocky Mount 36

WEST

(6) North Gaston 35, (4) Asheville 34

2AA

EAST

(1) Reidsville 49, (2) Southern Vance 19

WEST

(1) Shelby 17, (2) Mt. Pleasant 0

2A

EAST

(1) South Columbus 8, (2) Jacksonville Northside 3

WEST

(5) Lincolnton 21, (10) East Lincoln 13

1AA

EAST

(2) Warsaw Kenan 28, (4) Pender County 0

WEST

(6) West Montgomery 12, (4) Albemarle 7

1A

EAST

(1) Plymouth 48, (7) Robersonville Roanoke 6

WEST

(1) North Duplin 33, (3) Salemburg Lakewood 0

 

 

My picks, Week 16

Prep

Jacksonville Northside at South Columbus: JN

Rocky Mount at Western Alamance: WA

Charlotte Independence at West Charlotte: Indy

Raleigh Leesville Road at New Bern: NB

College

Boston College vs. Virginia Tech: VaT

Missouri vs. Oklahoma: OU

LSU vs. Tennessee: LSU

Arizona at Arizona State: ASU

Eastern Washington at Appalachian State: ASU

Pro

San Francisco at Carolina: Car

Buffalo at Washington: Wash

Seattle at Philadelphia: Phi

Tampa Bay at New Orleans: NO

Cleveland at Arizona: Cle

Denver at Oakland: Den

Bonus pick: South Lenoir probably won’t win tonight, but the Blue Devils will lead either at the end of the first quarter or at halftime at Kinston. And I’ll say this, too: if KHS plays the way it did against NL on Tuesday, SL WILL win.

Proposed conferences 2009-2013

Here are the proposed conferences in the NCHSAA’s first rendition of the new realignment (that affect our readership area):

3A

Conference 5 (likely to be the Eastern Carolina 3A)

Triton

South Johnston

Southern Wayne

Eastern Wayne

C.B. Aycock

North Lenoir

2A

Conference 2 (likely to be the East Central 2A)

Croatan

Swansboro

Jacksonville Northside

Richlands

South Lenoir

Kinston

East Duplin

Clinton

Conference 3 (likely to be the Eastern Plains 2A)

North Pitt

Tarboro

SW Edgecombe

Wilson Beddingfield

Farmville Central

Greene Central

North Johnston

1A

Conference 4 (likely to be the Coastal Plains 1A)

Dixon

East Carteret

SW Onslow

Jones Senior

Lejeune

Pamlico

Conference 5 (likely to be the Carolina 1A)

Goldsboro

North Duplin

Princeton

Goldsboro Rosewood

Spring Creek

Ayden-Grifton

My initial takes: Wow! Kinston and South Lenoir in the same conference? And Kinston gets to join a historic conference like the East Central? I really thought Kinston would be in the Eastern Plains, along with GC and FC, but I actually prefer keeping KHS and SL together.

NL in a conference with Triton? Where the heck is that?

GC stays in the EP2A, a league that it has been in since the formation of the EP2A. Good for Rabbit and the boys in Snow Hill.

Goldsboro, once a 4A force, is now 1A. Wow again. That’s going to be a Wayne County-heavy league, with four members from that county. GHS and A-G will be the powers in that league in football and basketball.

How did SW Onslow drop to 1A? Wow for the third time. Do you go ahead and pencil SWO in as a football finalist?

I’ll have more reaction later when I talk to the coaches/ADs at the schools.

For the complete list at the NCHSAA site, click here.

Intelligent piece on Sean Taylor’s death

Thanks so much to our friend JWade for this well-written piece on Sean Taylor and the state of black-on-black crime in America. Please take a minute or two and go read it.

My take: Jason Whitlock does it so well again, saying things only a black man in America can say. Something absolutely has to be done about black-on-black crime and there’s really only demographic that can do anything about it — African-American men. We can throw all the money we want, have all the politcians say the right thing, but if black men don’t want to take care of this, IT’S NOT GOING TO CHANGE. Great read.

The bet is on (Buffalo-Washington) with a damned Yankee

Free Press City Editor Charlie Kraebel is a diehard Buffalo fan; you guys know how I love my Redskins. Well, they play each other on Sunday.

Kraebel has proposed a bet, a la the one I won with co-worker Richard Clark last year. If I win — which I will — Kraebel has to wear my awesome No. 69 Hanks/Redskins jersey. If I lose — and I’m not worried about that happening — I’ll have to try to fit my fat gut into some loser Bills jersey he probably bought at a yard sale.

Charlie has some photoshopped junk on his blog with my mug on it; check it out if you so desire. I’ll wait until Monday to post the picture of him here on my blog.

Rest in peace, Sean Taylor

This just goes beyond football; Washington Redskin safety Sean Taylor has died from a gunshot he received early Monday morning in his own home.

My take: What other take could there be? This is a tragedy on so many different fronts. He had a 1-year-old daughter, he had turned his life around and it happened in his own bedroom. I truly hope they find whatever SOB did this.

On a football front — and no, I’m not trying to be heartless here — this just devastates the Redskins. They’ve already lost three in a row and now they’re without their best defender.

My heart truly aches today. Here’s a picture of Sean at training camp in 2005:

This is how I want to remember Sean, with a smile on his face and his future in front of him.

Pick these games, Week 16

Prep

Jacksonville Northside at South Columbus

Rocky Mount at Western Alamance

Charlotte Independence at West Charlotte

Raleigh Leesville Road at New Bern

College

Boston College vs. Virginia Tech

Missouri vs. Oklahoma

LSU vs. Tennessee

Arizona at Arizona State

Eastern Washington at Appalachian State

Pro

San Francisco at Carolina

Buffalo at Washington

Seattle at Philadelphia

Tampa Bay at New Orleans

Cleveland at Arizona

Denver at Oakland

Police dog bites Auburn player

Check out this youtube.com clip from SportsCenter on an Auburn player that was bitten by a police dog at Saturday’s Iron Bowl game between the Tigers and Alabama.

My take: That’s got to be the most hilarious sports dog bite since UGA (Georgia’s mascot) tried to attack an Auburn player in 1996. FYI, it’s also in the same youtube clip. Hilarious!

Standings after Week 15 — two perfectos!

You old-timers help me out here, but I can’t remember ever having one perfect week by a picker; this week, we had TWO! Many congratulations to Eastern and TwinFan, who both were an amazing 15-0 this week. Good grief, what weeks!

Two guys (DeepRunPirate and Heelatious) got their picks in after the Friday games started, but not too late (it wasn’t even halftime of the games). I let those stand. However, Heelsfan got his prep picks in at 2:07 a.m. on Saturday morning, so I’m not going to count those (although I’m not going to count them as losses, either).

It was a holiday weekend, so some of you guys didn’t get your picks in; you’re going to regret it, because this was as easy a week as we’ve ever had.

Again, thanks to my beautiful, blue-eyed, buxom, bewitching, blithe, bootilicious, blonde-headed girlfriend Tina for adding these up for me.

Leaders by percentage (minimum 180 games selected)

Pos (LW)                         Overall (pct.)       

1 (1) Greg Melvin                  145-65 (.690) 

2 TIE (2) Jagshouse              154-71 (.684)

2 TIE (3) JWade                   154-71 (.684)

4 TIE (7 TIE) Eastern            153-72 (.680)

4 TIE (5 TIE) Hanks              153-72 (.680)

4 TIE (4) Wimpy57               153-72 (.680)

7 (5 TIE) Clay                      147-72 (.671)

8 (7 TIE) COliver                  149-76 (.662)

9 (7 TIE) GWhitley               148-77 (.658)

10 TIE (NR) Devil27             147-78 (.653)

10 TIE (10) Johnny Kennedy 147-78 (.653)

Leaders by wins

                                 Overall (pct.)        This week

Jagshouse                    154-71 (.684)           11-4

JWade                          154-71 (.684)          12-3 (5-0 in prep) 

Eastern                        153-72 (.680)          15-0 (PERFECT!!!)

HANKS                         153-72 (.680)            13-2 (10-0 in prep/pros)

Wimpy57                     153-72 (.680)             12-3 (5-0 in college)

COliver                          149-76 (.662)          11-4

GWhitley                       148-77 (.658)           10-5

Clay                              147-72 (.671)          11-4

Devil27                         147-78 (.653)           12-3

Johnny Kennedy           147-78 (.653)           10-5

Deep Run Dynasty         146-79 (.649)           11-4 (5-0 in preps)

Heelatious                     146-79 (.649)           13-2 (10-0 in preps/college)

Greg Melvin                  145-65 (.690)            11-4

BW                               145-80 (.644)            11-4

BlueDevil99                   143-82 (.636)            12-3

Heelsfan                       142-78 (.645)           9-1 (5-0 in college)

Jackson                         139-86 (.618)            11-4

BlakeH                          138-87 (.613)           10-5

Taplie Coile                     135-85 (.614)            7-3

Twinfan                        132-78 (.629)            15-0 (PERFECT!!!)

AdrianBrewer                129-81 (.614)           —–

ENCMetalhead                128-97 (.569)            9-6

DubG GC                       127-68 (.651)           12-3 (10-0 in preps/college)

Rocky                           125-70 (.641)            —–

Rousehouse                   125-85 (.595)            9-6

DeepRunPirate              123-72 (.631)           12-3

RJarman                       122-78 (.610)            11-4 (5-0 in preps)

Natis9988                    121-74 (.621)            8-7

Jeff Howard                  117-78 (.600)            11-4

Will the Thrill                 107-88 (.549)            10-5

Pig Farmer                     85-50 (.630)           —–

Packpride                      81-54 (.600)            —–  

The Kid                         72-63 (.533)            —–

KHSDefensivetackle         68-52 (.567)           10-5

BHatcher                      67-53 (.558)           —–

drheel50                      59-31 (.656)         —–

Scott44544                   54-51 (.514)           —–

Mr._NL1991                  52-53 (.495)        —–

Mr. Awesome                46-29 (.613)         12-3 (10-0 in preps/college) 

Bward                          43-32 (.573)           —–

3sportstar                     41-19 (.683)            —–

Wyseforkgirl                 26-19 (.578)            —–

Comet65                       19-21 (.475)           5-10

Wolfpacker                    16-14 (.533)           —–

JGoodson                      9-6 (.600)            —–

Pirate2010                     9-6 (.600)           —–

S. Lovick                       9-6 (.600)            —–

Wildman                        7-8 (.467)           —–

NCHSAA Regional final schedule

All games next Friday:

4AA

EAST

(7) Raleigh Leesville Road at (4) New Bern

WEST

(10) Charlotte Independence at (1) West Charlotte

4A

EAST

(2) Southern Durham at (1) Wilmington Hoggard

WEST

(2) Winston-Salem Mt. Tabor at (1) Watauga County

3AA

EAST

(7) Greensboro Dudley at (1) Oxford Webb

WEST

(6) Asheville Roberson at (5) Charlotte Catholic

3A

EAST

(3) Rocky Mount at (1) Western Alamance

WEST

(6) North Gaston at (4) Asheville

2AA

EAST

(2) Southern Vance at (1) Reidsville

WEST

(2) Mt. Pleasant at (1) Shelby

2A

EAST

(2) Jacksonville Northside at (1) South Columbus

WEST

(10) East Lincoln at (5) Lincolnton

1AA

EAST

(4) Pender County at (2) Warsaw Kenan

WEST

(6) West Montgomery at (4) Albemarle

1A

EAST

(7) Robersonville Roanoke at (1) Plymouth

WEST

(3) Salemburg Lakewood at (1) North Duplin