Last Team Standing:”The Page Pirates”, as 5 of 6 area teams fall, some fans shocked/some disappointed[FRIDAY NIGHT FINISH]

We lost all of our Guilford County teams but one this evening and that was the Page Pirates….

Page went to the road to Apex and brought back home the NCHSAA 4-AA East Regional Title…

We had three Guilford County teams going into the night and Page prevailed and will meet the Mallard Creek Mavericks for the 4-AA Championship next Saturday in Raleigh with the Championship Saturday kickoff set for 12 NOON…

I thought 2011 was the “Year of the Pirates” with James Summers, Drew Rogers, Shaun Workinger, Brian Spain, Christian Cranford, Blake Hickman, Savon Wall, Kevin Henry, Ed Britt, Orlando Hatfield, Jalen Gavin, DeAnthony Brooks, Carter Stanley, Jordan Putnam, Isiah Towns and more….That was a perfect (15-0) team/season and the Pirates were the best the state had to offer…

And now Page is in line to earn that honor again….The “Best in the State of North Carolina” on the high school level for 2015…

Many felt like Page would challenge for the 4-AA Title next year in 2016, but look out, Page has a chance to take home the title a year early, as they will stake their claim as “Best Of” next Saturday in Raleigh…

I was thinking with Will Jones and Javon Leake both juniors and the way the Pirates have been playing this season, Page would be cinch to be in line for #1 next season, but now they are one year ahead of schedule…..You have to really hand it to these kids/guys and congratulate them for the way have over-achieved in 2015…

Will Jones, Harrison Kiser, Diondre Overton, Javon Leake, James Ellis II, Miles Faison, Ronald Polite, Micah Gafford, Will Hardin, Nick Mackovic, Harrison Stout, Elijah Diarrassouba, Jeremy Level, Alan Tisdale, Carter Jessup, Deven Milton, Tyler DeBerry and others….

Now this Page team has a chance to be “that team”…..You can’t say enough about the job head coach Kevin Gillespie and his assistants like Norman Weeks, Jesse Britt and the others are doing over there on Alma Pinnix Drive…..(All of my names from above coming in off of memory, so if I left anyone out that needs to be in here, my apologies.)

This Page team has earned our utmost respect and now they are just one win away from the State Title and it may just come one year early for the Pirates and you have to be sure those seniors are saying that they are ready to do it right now, right here in 2015…

All you have to do is look at the list of teams that we lost tonight and realize that “Page is the One”, the “Only One Left Standing”….

Look at this:
Charlotte Catholic 17, Dudley 8
Southern Durham 19, Northern Guilford 15
Mallard Creek 41, East Forsyth 38 (OT)
Rocky Mount 42, Eastern Alamance 21
Mitchell 27, Walkertown 23
*****Two out of three Guilford County teams fall….*****
And then there was One and that was Page:Page 49, Middle Creek 23
+++++And on that overall list we lost 5 out of 6 area teams and again, Page is “The Last Team Standing”….+++++

Dudley falling was a shocker….Eastern Alamance losing another shocker….Northern going to Durham and going down(losing) to Southern Durham a major surprise if not another shocker….Not really a shocker for us to see East Forsyth fall, but still after they had led most of the game, you had to think that they might get in….Walkertown has over-achieved in the playoffs and those kids had a great year….Many fans wanted to see that Page-East Forsyth rematch, but that won’t happen, as Mallard Creek had different ideas about that plan….

Lots of disappointed fans and we almost hit a “Black Friday” with all of our teams being eliminated and if not for the Page Pirates carrying the banner back from Apex/Raleigh, we wouldn’t have anybody left to go to Raleigh next Saturday….

For most of our teams it was the end of the line tonight and you just hate it for all of the seniors out there, but this is the way life has a way of going….Sometimes up and sometimes down and for tonight with the exception of the Page Pirates, everybody in the area is on a downer tonight…..

You just wish the Dudley Panthers could have completed a few of those passes that got picked off in the second half and that Northern Guilford could have finished off their late drive down near the Southern Durham Spartans 20-yard line, with some sort of score and preferably a touchdown…..

Had to make the East Forsyth fans sick getting that close and then seeing Mallard Creek steal the game in Overtime….Mallard Creek has been on a run of their own here late in the season….

Feeling sort of sick for Coach John Kirby and Eastern Alamance…Seems like that group is sort of snake-bit in the late post-season more times than not….

This is a real tough way for all of teams to end up the season/year….All of the teams except for Page and now the Pirates are the boys carrying that Guilford County/Triad Area Banner….

Good luck to Page and best of luck all next week to the Pirates…..They have earned their trip to Raleigh for the State Title Game and this will be a fun team to follow for the next few days and for all of next season too………

12 thoughts on “Last Team Standing:”The Page Pirates”, as 5 of 6 area teams fall, some fans shocked/some disappointed[FRIDAY NIGHT FINISH]

  1. I didn’t see the team that Summers played on, but this team has a group of guys that are hungry for a title and have been playing hard. Also Summers wasn’t the only player on that team that won the State title in 2011.

  2. Went back and added couple of names to that current Page list and for sure James Summers was not the only player on that Page team back in 2011…Lots of kids made big plays and in the State Title game vs. Garner, Shaun Workinger had some huge carries from his fullback spot and he went on to play FB/fullback in college…A lot of those kids off that Page team in 2011 went on to play in college, Cranford, Brooks, Towns, Workinger, Britt, Gavin, Summers and more…

    This Page group is their own team and they have their own identity and with Jones at QB, Leake at RB, Overton at WR, the ‘O-line’ and their defense, many players off of this team will be collegiate players also…

    I have often wondered this season and last season too, if Will Jones was any relation to Mack Jones, who was a big-time WR for Page back in the 80’s and later on played at N.C. State…With a name like Jones, it is sort of general, but you never know…The kid has talent and he has become a strong field general and is now a proven leader…Mack Jones later on played for N.C. State…

    This Page team is there and now time to finish what they have started….

  3. One final note here this morning and then I will let it ride and I will almost sound like an old woman taking here, but you can’t help but feel a bit heartbroken for the seniors from Dudley and Northern Guilford who played their last high school football game last night…

    Lots of kids that we have known and seen over the years and there is really an empty feeling for them this morning…

    Still might be talking like a kid, but those for those kids it is hard to believe it is over, but it is…

    Happens every year and we will move on, but still doesn’t take away all of the sting or the hurt….

    It never gets easy to put it behind you.

    Good luck to all of those kids from both of those teams as they head down the road and for Page, your next highway is open and it leads toward Raleigh…

  4. Good luck next week Page. I only wish Dudley would have played with the same competitive spirit against Catholic as they did when you guys met earlier this season. Last night was not the same Dudley team that played Page.

    However, I think you guys are peaking at the right time. Please get that 4AA trophy out of Mecklinburg County!

  5. Northern losing not really a shocker.
    NG plays a soft schedule and this year their talent level
    Got the best of them deep in the playoffs.

  6. Look, I have seen a lot of football over the years. I knew some of the players from the championship teams in the early 80’s (Mac&Romey, Haywood Jeffries, Michael Brooks). Every Page championship team had a different identity and a lot of talent. The one thing that never changes is the “Tradition” of winning! If Page spread the ball around and play “D” and believe in the “Tradition” they will bring the hardware back home. Go Pirates!

  7. James Rodgers was the running back on that team, I think he could squat over 500. He was massive

  8. That Page dynamic duo back in 2011 goes all way to Middle School from what I had heard and pretty sure they were together at Ayock Middle…

    I saw them play for the first time together as Page backs, back on Labor Day Monday in a JV night game at Page vs. Northeast Guilford…Playing JV on a Monday to make up a game that had been rained on the previous Thursday…

    For Page then in 2008 as JV players you had QB #18 James Summers and RB #28 Drew Rodgers….

    James Summers and Drew Rodgers and they were something to see at Page on the football field from 2008-2011…

    Now you have a very tough duo back there with #15 QB Will Jones and RB #1 Javon Leake and you add in #14 Diondre Overton, #80 James Ellis III, #18 of today Ronald Polite and not sure what Miles Faison’s number is, it might be #2, but Page has the QB, the RB and 4 strong receivers to make what they have out there now, a very balanced offense….

    James Summers had some very good receivers back in the day, but I bet he would like to throw to some of the 2015 guys too….

  9. @Not shocked

    NG plays a soft schedule? Really?

    The Mid-State is the deepest 3-A conference in the state with Eastern Alamance, Western Alamance, Northern and a Morehead team that was pretty good this year. Northern also played Page, Northwest and Reidsville as their nonconference games. That’s soft?

    Not nearly as much talent this year, as you said, but the schedule was not the problem.

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