What a night, what a Wild Week!
The posiitve energy coming out of Northern Guilford is unbelievable. What those kids have done over the course of this season would be seen as to some, nothing short of a miracle. But it is not. We should have known and saw this coming, with the great kids that were coming back in Jonathan Frye, Dylan Berry, John McBeth and others…..
Who hired this coach Ryan Freeman? We knew little or nothing about this young man comng in, except the fact that he was coming in here from a school down near New Bern and that he was inheriting a team that had been through so much and a few of those brave souls were going to try and come back and do it again…..And now look where they are back, in the East Regionals, while claiming a sectional title for the second straight year.
Whoever hired Ryan Freeman deserves a raise. This man has taken over a dire situation and brought Positive Energy to place where students, parents, faculty and friends had their chins dragging along the ground. These Nighthawk people were down and they had a right to be after all that they had been through. But, with the new young coach Ryan Freeman and group of kids led by seniors Frye and Berry, the Nightahawks said, “We will persevere”.
You win it all, you have your title stripped and you’re back the next year starting from scratch, with nothing?????? But these kids had something. The Nighthawks that returned had each other, they had a new coach that was a stickler for details and this guy was almost a kid himself and he cared. It was almost like he became a caretaker and he carried these kids through the early times and they carried him to the Pizza Hut finals and now they are going all the way back to Greenville, N.C. for another shot at the East Regional championship and the chance to again play for the State 3-A title.
There is a lot of Positive Energy coming out of Northern Guilford and we should have known you guys could have pulled this off, No Problem. Right, there’s no way we could have really seen this coming, but you guys did and Great Job; Jonathan, Dylan, McBeth, Coach Freeman and all the Nighthawks…….
It is now time to Man Ram Up, as those Northeast Guilford Rams will join the Northern Guilford Nighthawks this week down in Greenville for the East Regionals. NEG now stands at (18-10), after Friday night’s ten-point win down at Southern Lee and I was reading on another blog last night and it looked like the Northeast Guilford Rams were in control of this game from the outset.
These kids have Man Ramed Up all season long and even after off-season losses of key players to other schools, the Rams came back determined to be winners and do it with their own style this season. Coach Curtis Hunter has been criticized over the year as most all coaches have, but I bet you it is all good karma flowing through the NEG community this morning. You could just tell, even back in December/early January at the Pizza Hut Tournament, that this Ram team had the makings of a squad that could do something special.
They earned a first round upset at the PHI and you have to look back now and wonder if that was really an upset. NEG has a unit of kids that all check in at around 6’3, with the exception of Daruis White and these kids can run the floor and they also get up and rebound well.
Northeast Guilford played the Dudley Panthers in the East Regional finals just about four years ago when they had Mezie Uzuchukwu, Ishmel Hinson, Jamal Rasool and others and I touched on this point earlier this week.
Could this current Man Ram group be headed for another East Regional final? These kids have decided to Man Ram Up and it is up to them and you know that means they will be down in Greenville ready to cut down the nets. There is always a tall ladder to success and the Rams are ready to keep on climbing…..
“What did you have for breakfast”, we were asking Reggie Dillard last night after his 33-point performance in the Dudley Panthers’ 85-50 run over Ragsdale in the Sectional Finals. Reggie said, “Frosted Flakes”…..Tony the Tiger never dreamed he be saying, They’rrrrrrrrrrrre Grrrrrrrrreat in regards to a team other than his surnamed Ragsdale Tigers, but that is exactly what you have when you put it on the table and reflect on a start last night by Reggie Dillard, that we won’t soon forget.
How could you forget how Reggie came out, “All the Way Turned Up”….After his Breakfast of Sectional Champions(Sorry about that Wheaties!), Reggie with the Flava of Frosted Flakes still fresh on his mind, went out and lit up the Panther Place(Palace the way our janitor works that gym), well Reggie fired in 23 first half points….I
It came on 6-6 shooting from three-point range and he was 8-9 from the floor and 1-1 at the foul line. Reggie added cool, cool milk to his morning bowl of Frosted Flakes and it helped make him Red-hot Reggie for the night…..He finished 12-15 from the field with 8-10 three-point shooting and he stayed 1-1 from the line. You would think why didn’t you foul him more if you were Ragsdale? You didn’t really want to get close to this kid he was soooooo hot……
Excellent effort by all the Panthers as they move on to the next week’s West Regionals at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center and now that I have my own bowl ready, “will someone please pass the milk”?
I almost forgot again, that is Brennan Wyatt’s job. Brennan, please pass the milk and “More Frosted Flakes Please”…….
Thanks for the kind words about Northern Guilford. That was a nailbiter of a finish Friday night. We are proud of those young men! On to Greenville!
Thanks for the positive about NE. We are usually either ignored or given negative press.
I felt good about this post/article and wish more people could read it and we could share in the positives……
There are some good things going on at all of our schools….