Games may be on the move

Published 7:39 pm Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Games are being moved for the second straight week due to Hurricane Irene.

Game of the Week

Rocky Mount at Hertford County: Home sweet home will have to wait another day for the gridiron Bears of Hertford County.

Due to missing school most of the week, Hertford County will move its home game from Friday to Saturday. Kick off will now be at 7 p.m.

“We’re really behind the eight-ball,” HCHS Head Football Coach Scott Privott said. “We haven’t done anything since Thursday of last week.”

Privott said all he could hope is that the workouts during the summer would pay off Saturday night.

“I guess this is when summer workouts have to keep us going,” he said. “The kids know our system, so that isn’t a big concern. My concern right now is about being in-shape and our conditioning.

“The last thing we need is to play Saturday and have someone pull a hamstring or something like that,” he added.

Hertford County enters the contest 1-1 for the season and fresh off a 36-6 win at Southeast Halifax. Rocky Mount comes in 1-0-1 with a victory over Bunn and a tie last week at Bertie High.

Last season, the Gryphons edged Hertford County 21-20 after losing to the Bears 41-21 in 2009.

Bertie at Swansboro

Bertie High is coming off a tough week, even though it wasn’t a loss.

The Falcons (1-0-1) tied Rocky Mount 22-all last Thursday, but second-year Head Football Coach Greg Watford said his team needs to get back into the winning column quickly.

“The weather this week has affected us tremendously,” he said. “Tomorrow (Thursday) will be the first time we practice as a team this week. “

Watford said he coached through a similar situation when Hurricane Floyd came through, but was concerned about what the lost week of practice would mean.

“We’ve just got to play,” he said. “At this point, our conditioning certainly concerns me, but I feel like it’s important we get this game in. We’re just going to go there and do what we do.”

Watford said he felt the Falcons’ overall speed would match up well with Swansboro, who enters the contest 1-1 this season after taking a season-opening victory over Lejeune and then suffering a setback last week to West Carteret.

“They have some impressive players,” Watford said. “They are well-coached and the kids there are working.”

Watford said running back Joey Lyons, quarterback Robbie Proctor and do-everything sophomore Deondre Tompkins were Swansboro players that concerned him.

As for the Falcons, he said the team had to do a better job of getting the ball in the hands of junior Malcolm Cherry.

The coach said his team would be healthy for the first time all year and he looks to see freshman quarterback David Watford on the field Friday for the first time this season.

Lawrence at St. Davids

Lawrence’s Friday home-opener has also been moved – but first-year skipper Beau Drake’s team won’t just be playing a different day.

Due to damage to the lights at Lawrence’s football field, the Warriors will be on the road Friday night as part of a football double-header. The junior varsity Warriors will play St. Davids at 4 p.m. followed by the varsity contest at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s tough for us,” Drake admitted. “We’re now looking at playing our first four games on the road and that a hard thing to do when you’re rebuilding a program.”

Drake said he would use the opportunity to teach kids about adversity.

“This just gives us a chance to teach our kids how to handle adversity and that’s what we will do,” he insisted.

Drake said his team had been working this week, but without certain team members.

“We’ve had voluntary practices, but because of damage to homes and businesses, some of the kids haven’t been able to come, which is perfectly understandable,” he said. “The main thing is everyone is okay.”

He said the losses at practices had resulted in some shifting of players, but that the Warriors were handling the adjustments well.

“We’re going to work hard and really use these first four games to learn,” he said. “After that, we’re hoping to be a tough draw for anyone in the final stretch of the season.”

Halifax at Northeast

The football game between two eight-man rivals in the North Carolina Independent School Athletic Association is up in the air.

Northeast Academy Headmaster and Athletic Director Russell Leake said the game was still tentatively scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, but that could change depending on when Northeast returns to school.

The Eagles are coming off a season-opening setback to Word of God while Halifax defeated Cary Christian 28-21 in last week’s opener.

Details as to when the game will be played can be found at www.r-cnews.com.

Northampton-East at Northampton-West

The Rams and Hurricanes are still in doubt as to whether or not the first of their two matchups this season will be played.

Northampton County Schools has yet to return to normal operation following Hurricane Irene and East Head Coach George Privott said the game is in jeopardy.

“Right now, we’re still waiting to see what’s going to happen,” Privott said. “We had considered moving it to Saturday and now Monday is a possibility.”

If the game is played, it will be played at Roy F. Lowry Stadium in Creeksville because the bleachers at Northampton-West were onto the school’s track by the winds of the hurricane.

When and if the game will be played can be found by logging on to  www.r-cnews.com as soon as a decision is reached.

Gates County at Pasquotank County

No information was available as of press time as to when or if the Gates at Pasquotank game would be played.