Rocky Mount High School earns second title in three yearsThe Rocky Mount faithful came out in droves to support their Gryphons Saturday night at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill. They stood. They danced. They clapped. They jumped up and down. They were LOUD. The student section behind the basket was pumped up before their team took the floor and were crazy all night. This was a crowd of folks who were going to will their Gryphons to a state championship. You could feel it in the air. There was going to be nothing to stop the Rocky Mount basketball team from winning the school's second state title in three years, and first on the hardwood since 1982.Except maybe the Gryphons themselves.The talk before the game was how their Concord High opponents would full court press all night. The worry was if the Gryphons could match the Spider's intensity and if the Gryphons could handle the pressure.Rocky Mount answered those questions and fears early in the contest, seemingly breaking the press with ease. The Gryphons built an early lead during the first quarter and those in the seats were happy and cheering.But the Gryphons suddenly went cold. They couldn't make shots from under the basket. They couldn't make free throws. And their early lead during the first quarter dwindled to just a couple by the horn ending the first half. The wild jubilation of being in the state championship game gave way to the reality of playing against a worthy opponent. The Gryphon cheering section was still loud and fully behind their team, but you could feel the tension building by the start of the second half.The Gryphons got by the pressing Spiders for the most part and slowly inched ahead on the scoreboard as the teams battled through the third period. The Gryphon nation started sniffing victory when Rocky Mount put on a spurt to go up by double digits midway through the final quarter of play.Concord knuckled down on defense to force a couple of turnovers, and Rocky Mount did not take advantage of their own defensive stops. A couple of baskets by the Western side, a couple of fouls from the Eastern side. The Spiders seemingly hit every free throw they were given, and with just about two minutes to go, the game suddenly was undecided. The Western faithful were making all the noise, Concord's coaching staff was pumped up. The Gryphon faithful seemed to be nervous and the team not so confident.But just as Concord somehow stayed within shooting distance of the Gryphons, Rocky Mount took a deep breath and imposed their will. They pounded the boards on the offensive end and cashed in on second chance opportunities. They broke the Spider press over and over again. The defense turned Boa Constrictor and tightened on the Spider offense. All the while being willed on by those folks in the stands, the students and the band.In the end, the Gryphons played well enough. They took the Concord Spiders' best shot & they turned them away.They showed the heart of a championship team. They played with the will of a championship team.And today, they are a championship team.
The 2010 NCHSAA 3-A State Champions - the Rocky Mount High School Gryphons Basketball Team.
Martin Fleming of The Takedown Report announced the all-area wrestling team Sunday night on WHIG's Stretchlon Sports Show. Three Gryphons were included on the 2010 edition.
Gathering his first of what should become many accolades during his high school wrestling career, Mason Holt earned TDR 103 pound All-Area Honorable Mention. Mason had a rock solid freshman campaign, forging a 26-11 record.
Janicento Williamson was named to the TDR All-Area first team at 171 pounds. This is the second year J.K. was named to the first team. Last year he gathered the 160 pound first team honors. Williamson had a stellar year, going 30-12 and becoming a two time state qualifier as a sophomore.
Chandler Phillips ends his Rocky Mount career being named to the TDR All-Area first team for the fourth year in a row. The last two years he was named the area's top ranked 135 pounder, while being awarded the top spot at 125 his sophomore year and at 112 pounds his freshman campaign.
Chandler started his senior season with 20 wins in a row, picked up his fourth Conference Championship and capped it off becoming a two time state qualifier with a 33-6 record.
Wrestling for the Gryphons in the team state tournament all four years, he finishes his high school wrestling career with 123 wins and a .727 winning percentage.
Normally, Gryphon senior wrestler Chandler Phillips would wake up Saturday morning still fuming over losing a wrestling match the previous evening. Phillips has been a fierce competitor on the mat since his first match six years ago at Edwards Middle.
Rocky Mount teacher and Gryphon wrestling and baseball supporter P.R. Ford tagged Chandler early in his freshman wrestling season as "Pitbull" because of his relentless and fierce competitive style.
Phillips had lost his second match at the State Tournament on a controversial call by the referee on the mat. He was pretty steamy when he came back into the stands to sit with his parents and former Gryphon teammates Francisco Alfaro and Guy Williamson, according to his dad.
"As usual, Chandler didn't complain about the call, but he was pretty mad. His windpipe was pretty sore and he was coughing for 20 minutes from the kid choking him," said the elder Phillips.
When Chandler arrived at the Coliseum Saturday morning, his dad expected to see him still in a sour mood. But that wasn't the case. He donned a home made T-shirt with RM Rock-N-Roll Express on the front, his and teammate J.K. Williamson's names on the back (made by yours truly) then made his way down to the mat Williamson would be wrestling on.
When returning to the seats directly behind his parents after the Williamson match, Chandler told the story of his swimming adventure the night before.
He and Janicento went down to the Hotel's indoor pool to take a dip and relax a little on Friday evening. Other than three young children, they had the pool to themselves.
One of the children, a boy of around 5 or 6 years old, went underwater near where Chandler was at in the 5 foot end of the pool. Chandler said the kids could swim pretty good, so he didn't think anything of it. Until the boy popped up gasping for breath, barely able to get a "help" out of his mouth before he went back under.
The boy pushed off the bottom of the pool and popped up again, this time flailing in the water before quickly going down again. Chandler realized that this boy was in trouble and went under to get him.
Chander pulled the boy to the top of the water and brought him over to the side of the pool, all while the parents were in a conversation with themselves, never seeing what was going on.
That Saturday morning, while telling the story to his parents, Chandler's lost wrestling match from the night before never came up. With a look of satisfaction on his face, he told his mom and dad, "You know, I saved some little kid's life last night in the pool. That's a pretty good feeling. I feel really good."
After suffering a heartbreaking loss in Friday night's match that ended his high school wrestling career, he made no mention of it Saturday morning.
He made no mention during his telling of the story that he got no thank you from the parents of the boy.
Just the satisfaction that he was in the right place at the right time to give help to someone who desperately needed it.
Much more satisfying than winning a wrestling match.
The Rock and Roll Express, Janicento Williamson and Chandler Phillips, pulled back into Rocky Mount for the last time late Saturday night. The long season ended in disappointment for the two Gryphon wrestlers this weekend at the Greensboro Coliseum.
Philllips dropped his first two matches on Friday night and was eliminated much earlier than he anticipated. In his first match, he was defeated by Lucas Dutch from Northwest Cabarrus, who came into the Championships with a 49-2 record. Dutch went on to place second.
On a controversial call by one referee with less than a minute in his second match, Philllips was slapped with a technical violation that gave James Farthing of Orange a single point victory. Phillips was called for pulling a finger as he tried to remove Farthing's hand from his throat. The ref could see the single finger, but must not have seen the choke hold of the remaining hand. Phillips could not score the takedown he needed in the final seconds and lost 8-7.
Williamson also fell in his first match on Friday, to Ryan Daining (35-3) of West Iredell. In order to survive to wrestle Saturday, he needed to win his second match.
Wrestling against Adam Purgason(22-8) of Rockingham County, Williamson won his first ever match at the state level. Easily handling Purgason with a decision victory, Williamson advanced to wrestle Saturday morning.
Williamson dropped his third match to eventual fourth place finisher Nick Shriner (48-9) of Orange.
Orange placed second in the NCHSAA 3-A Team State Tournament, and also knocked out the two Gryphons in the Individual.
The Rock and Roll Express has now been officially put to rest, as both wrestlers' seasons are over. Just as the Gryphon Six from last year went in separate directions at season's end, so will Phillips and Williamson.
Phillips looks to be attending either Appalachian State or UNC-Pembroke to take up studies in Criminology, where he says he may wrestle at either school. Williamson will return next year as a Gryphon wrestler for his junior year.
Williamson finishes the season with a 30-12 record, while Phillips rests at 33-6.
At a combined 63-18, the duo Coach Thomas dubbed The Rock-N-Roll Express rolled hard, fast and long this year for the Gryphons.
Rocky Mount wrestlers Chandler Phillips and Janicento Williamson are headed West. As in Greensboro. As in the NCHSAA Individual Wrestling Championships. They will join ten other Big East 3-A wrestlers at the event. The Big East Conference will send a total of 12 wrestlers to the Championships, including eleven from Nash County.
Northern Nash qualified five wrestlers, while Rocky Mount, Southern Nash and Nash Central qualified two each. Wilson Fike added another qualifier.
Looking over the qualifiers by team across the state and across each of the four divisions, there was an amazing fact that stood out above all others. Parkland High School qualified all 14 of their wrestlers for the state tournament. Parkland has been a 3-A power for years, winning several team state championships. They moved up to 4-A this year and unseated Cary as team state champions.
Speaking of Cary, they qualified 11 wrestlers, to match 3-A Union Pines. Croatan qualified 13 and Trinity 12 in the 2-A ranks. Orange, 3-A team state runners-up, qualified 10.
Out of the 3-A East, where the Gryphons are located, Havelock and South Brunswick each qualified 9 wrestlers.
Here are the Big East Conference State Qualifiers by team:
Rocky Mount: Chandler Phillips, Janicento Williamson
Southern Nash: Buddy Tom, Steven Murray
Nash Central: Josh Taylor, Jacob Robinson
Wilson Fike: John Messer
Northern Nash: Tavis Richardson, Kris Horton, Bryan Sweet, Denzel Perry, Joe Young
