Still Can't Believe It...

Now it's been almost two days since Rocky Mount's stunning last-minute defeat in Friday's 3-A Eastern Final. And the way the final few minutes played out could only be described as going from a fairy-tale feeling to a still shell-shocked finish.

The Gryphons came out on the night's opening drive and quarterback Collins Cuthrell threw an interception. That had Gryphon fans already feeling nervous after the lsat few seasons. The INT led to West Craven's Eric Highsmith's 18-yard touchdown pass from Brett Mooring and a 7-0 RM deficit.

But the Gryphons responded, with junior running back Marquavis Alston dashing sixty-four yards for a touchdown on the Gryphons first play. The PAT snap was low and Cuthrell was unable to handle it, as Nick Hahula tried to pick up the ball and run it in before being stopped short. Rocky Mount cut the lead to 7-6. (REMEMBER THIS PLAY.)

In the second quarter, Alston took a pass from Cuthrell forty-six yards for the touchdown and the Gryphon advantage. But because of the PAT miss, RM coach B.W. Holt decided to go for the 2-point conversion, which was again stopped by West Craven.

The Gryphons D-Block didn't allow the West Craven offense to get going the rest of the first half. The Gryphon offense scored with just over three minutes to play in the half on La'Var Silver's fourteen yard run. Hahula's extra point gave Rocky Mount a 19-7 advantage.

The West Craven offense got into the endzone just before the half on a Bobby Cox four yard touchdown catch, but the Gryphons held the 19-14 halftime lead.

The third quarter involved no scoring, but rather field position and defense. The Gryphons defense didn't allow a point, but the offense was not able to get anything going for themselves, either.

Going into the fourth quarter, the game was still 19-14. Both the Gryphons and the Eagles and both team's fans knew that it was going to come down to the final quarter for a shot at the State Championship.

Ball control and defenses continued to control the first part of the fourth quarter, with Rocky Mount running the ball to chew up the clock.

With around five minutes left in the game, with the Gryphons in the middle of being forced to punt, senior defensive end Jermaine Fields went to each of his defensive teammates and told them "Defense gonna have to win the game."

The Rocky Mount D-Block responded, as they had so many times theoughout the season and this game's second half. The Rocky Mount offense got the ball back after a West Craven three-and-out, as the Eagles again played field position.

When the Gryphon offense took the field, both the fans and the team sidelines began to buzz with anticipation. And the offense responded.

After being bottled up most of the second half, the Gryphon running attack marched down the field on West Craven.

Anticipation again built as Rocky Mount was faced with a third and long situation around midfield. Junior back Jordan Ford sweep around the left end secured the first down and had the Gryphon fans going crazy. On the sideline, it seemed as if the players were ready to release all of their built up emotions from the past few seasons.

But the emotion turned south just plays later, as Hahula was ruled to have fumbled. Both Gryphon coaches and players on the field argued that his knees were down, but to no good.

The Rocky Mount defense, which was ready to celebrate moments earlier, was forced to try and hold the West Craven offense one more time.

But this time the Eagle offense would not be denied. After getting the ball back with around three minutes to play, West Craven drove what proved to be the dagger in the Gryphons heart as they got into the endzone with thirty-four seconds remaining. Stunned silence fell over the Rocky Mount players and fans as the two-point conversion was good, and gave West Craven the three point lead.

The Gryphons had one final chance as senior Brian Goodwin's kickoff return set up the offense just short of midfield. Two straight incompletions by Cuthrell and third down awaited Rocky Mount.

With under twenty seconds left and one timeout, Holt called a draw play to Ford, who sprinted 26 yards before he was brought down by the last defenders for West Craven and the Gryphons called timeout with four seconds to go.

On came Hahula, the senior who holds all the Gryphons kicking records, with a chance to send the game into overtime and partially make up for his fumble.

But Hahula's attempt barely got over the line of scrimmage, and the Eagles celebrated. Afterwards, Hahula laid on the ground with cramps in his kicking leg all the way down. He had cramped right before the kick, but the Gryphons were unable to call back-to-back timeouts and a delay of game penalty would have put them out of range for the try.

So again Rocky Mount was denied, and this may have been the hardest to accept. From feeling like the game was in hand to suffering from defeat minutes later, the Gryphons are only left wondering what could have been for another winter and spring before using the loss as modivation in the summer and throughout next season as the work to try and get back to this point.