High School Football Friday Night Finish:We had “Blue Friday” and “Black Friday” on the same night

They used to talk about “Black Sunday” at the Greensboro Coliseum, when North Carolina and Duke were losing on the same day in the NCAA Basketball East Regionals and now we have a “Black Friday”, coming a week before Thanksgiving, as we had four of six Guilford County high school football teams bowing out tonight, in Round Two of the NCHSAA playoffs…

Southeast Guilford is gone and they were in the 3-AA State Championship Game last season….The Dudley Panthers are gone and they were in the game with Mount Tabor, until the Spartans ran and off and left the Panthers at the end…Northeast took it on the chin up in Asheville, while Northern battled most of the night, before succumbing to Northwest Cabarrus…

As far as the “Blue Friday” part of our story goes, we had both Grimsley and Ragsdale winning on Friday night and both were doing so, while wearing their home Blue uniforms…”Blue Friday” for the young men in Blue, from Ragsdale and Grimsley…

Grimsley improves to (11-1) while Ragsdale climbs to (6-6), and both the Whirlies and Tigers were winners, on “Blue Friday”…

Northeast Guilford finishes the season at (10-3), while Dudley concludes their 2019 campaign also at (10-3)…Southeast goes out at (9-4) and Northern closes things up at (8-5)…

This was a very tough way to see our Guilford Couunty kids end their seasons, but that is how it all went down tonight and we had the two Blue teams, that have moved on to Round Three in Grimsley and Ragsdale, both from what some have called, the weak milk-toast Metro 4-A Conference…But the Metro is shining bright tonight, and the former Conference Commissioner Rusty Lee, had to be somewhat beaming tonight, knowing his old conference has two teams moving on to Round Three of the state football playoffs…

We bid a sad farewell to all of the seniors from Dudley, Northeast, Northern and Southeast Guilford….

But as the man was saying just a few lines back, Grimsley and Ragsdale are still running…..

Grimsley(11-1) at home again next Friday night, and the Whirlies #1 seed is helping them to stand tall in the playoffs…Ragsdale(6-6) will be on the road facing #2 seed in the NCHSAA 4-A West, East Forsyth…This will be a very tough matchup for the Ragsdale Tigers, as they will seeking to match wits with last year’s 4-A State Champs, in the East Forsyth Eagles….Ragsale a #3 seed and East Forsyth is seeded second in the 4-A West bracket….

Grimsley will be hosting the #5 seed from the West 4-A bracket, the Glenn Bobcats…Glenn over Hickory Ridge on Friday night, at Hickory Ridge, 12-11 the final, with the Bobcats bringing the win back to Kernersville…Glenn and East Forsyth, both from Kernersville and both from the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference and commissioner Marty Stanley has to very excited about this turn of events…

Grismley and Ragsdale both from the Metro 4-A Conference and the conference patriots have to very pleased to find/see both Ragsdale and Grimsley in the State 4-A Quarterfinals…

Ragsdale playing to the tune of a #14 these days, and that would be “Little Hooker”, the younger brother of Hendon Hooker and that is Alston Hooker….Hooker hooking up with Devan Boykin, the younger brother of Braxton Boykin and the Hooker-Boykin hookup/combination has proven to be a lethal connection for those teams opposing the Ragsdale Tigers….Devan Booker playing running back and rushing for over 200 yards tonight/Friday…..

Grismley took a 22-6 lead over the Porter Ridge Pirates into the halftime break on Friday night and then the Whirlies ran out of offensive gas, but their defense did just enough to hang on and Grismley hangs around and knocks off Porter Ridge, 22-17…

The Whirlies of Grimsley High School got first half touchdowns from Chris Zellous, Quan Nora and Travis Shaw, plus two, two-point conversion runs from Zellous and with just enough defense to withstand the Porter Ridge attack led by QB Mason Cox, Grimsley held on to defeat Porter Ridge and the Whirlies have survived and advanced to face the Glenn Bobcats at Jamieson Stadium, next Friday night, the day after Thanksgiving and the day they have the for real “Black Friday” sales….

For Grimsley it was Zellous giving the early 8-0 lead when he dashed into the end zone from 8 yards out with 10:58 to play in the second quarter…Zellous also snuck in the two-point conversion run and Grimsley led early 8-0, after we had ourselves a scoreless first quarter…Grimsley made sure that the second quarter didn’t go scoreless, as Nora got running downhill and ended taking the football 28 yards to end zone with 4:21 remaining in the second period…The Zellous run was good again and Grimsley is now up on Porter Ridge, 16-6…Porter Ridge was able to get on the scoreboard with the Mason Cox pass to Anthony McClintock for the TD..

Travis Shaw came into the game for Grimsley as the I-backfield fullback and Shaw rammed the ball across the goal line on a 3-yard carry and this put Grimsley up over Porter Ridge, 22-6…Travis Shaw looked a double-wide heading downHigh the highway, as he plowed into the end zone on that TD run…

Grimsley took that 22-6 lead into the halftime break and in the second half, the Grimsley offense ran out of scoring ammunition and the Grimsley defense including the Grimsley QB Chris Zellous playing corner back on defense, all had to stand up and not allow Porter Ridge to get all the way back into this football game…

Porter Ridge got a 32-yard TD run from their #32 Dylan Burdette, and with the Pirates’ two-point run, Porter Ridge was back in the ball, down by just eight points, 22-14 Grimsley…Porter Ridge added a 35-yard field goal with just a minute and twenty-eight seconds left in the third quarter and it Porter Ridge climbing almost all the way back in this game now only trailing by only 8 with the entire fourth quarter still waiting to be played….

Our score is Grimsley over Porter Ridge, 22-17 and both teams exchange blows in the fourth quarter, but nobody adds any points to their totals…Porter Ridge has the football and the Pirates are driving late in this contest, and the Porter Ridge QB Mason Scott is doing almost everything right, but one of the Porter Ridge running backs breaks out for a long run toward the left sideline and Alex Chapman, I think it is, coughs up the football and Cam Allison recovers the loose pigskin and that was one of the Plays of the Game, that key fumble recovery by Allison late in the fourth frame….Game-Changer, the fumble recovery by Allison…This stopped a potential game-winning drive by Porter Ridge, and it gave Grimsley the football with just seconds remaining in the contest…

Grimsley also had recovered a key fumble on the opening drive of the game by Porter Ridge and Mason Cox…Porter Ridge had the football at the Grimsley one-yard line and they fumbled the ball into the Grimsley end zone, where the ball was recovered by the Whirlies Travis Shaw…Shaw that fumble recovery, a TD run, and numerous QB hits on the night and at least 2-3 tackles for a loss, for the Whirlies…Quite a busy night for young Mr. Travis Shaw…

Grimsley hangs on to win, 22-17 and they will play host to Glenn, in Round Three of the NCHSAA Football Playoffs next Friday night, at Jamieson Stadium, on the Grimsley High School campus…

Grimsley #’s on the night..
Quan Nora 22 carries for 137 yards/1 TD…
Chris Zellous 18 carries for 53 yards on the ground 5-9 passing for 91 yards through the air…1 rushing TD for Zellous and 2 two-point conversion runs…10 of the 22 Grimsley points from Chris Zellous…
Christian Tutuh 3 catches for 74 yards…

9 thoughts on “High School Football Friday Night Finish:We had “Blue Friday” and “Black Friday” on the same night

  1. Truly a survive and advance situation for the Whirlies tonight. PR is a very good team. Grimsley is also a very solid team. Each week different players step up to make it happen. Keep finding a way Whirlies!

  2. In my opinion Dudley screwed themselves a couple years ago when they failed to have confidence in Alston Hooker and Chris Zellous. Now both guys who were Dudley players are leading their teams to the 3rd round of the playoffs. It’s amazing what happens when your QB feels like you have his back. Credit to the Ragsdale and Grimsley coaches. That has been the problem at Dudley for the last 4 years starting with the Monroe kid, Hooker and Zellous. It appears to be the same with their current QB situation. No confidence.

  3. I tell you what. I was thinking more about this last night and this morning…When Travis Shaw is coming at you running the football, it is like a double-wide mobile home coming at you down the highway, Sideways..A mobile home coming at you sideways, that is a load and one thing for that kid, he is having fun and he believes in having fun…Pretty much all of the time, seems to be a smile on his face…

    Dudley lost QB Slade last night to the injured hand and if not, story may have had a different ending in Round Two, we will never know..Dudley was unable to throw the ball with Slade out of the game and had to turn to Mehki Wall and have him run a wildcat offense…Dudley has made some moves, some work some don’t, but we still can never argue with the Panthers’ success over the last 15 years…

    In the playoffs everything has to run to near perfection and when you get some breakdowns, your plans can go haywire and you have to adjust on the fly, and that can be hard and hectic…

    I used to tell some of the old coaches we messed up when we let all of those assistant coaches get up on top of the Press Box and gave them those headsets and they could see everything we were doing from up there and they would relay it back down to the field…

    Told the old coaches we need to get those assistant coaches back down on the sidelines so we can run our plays and not be dissected from up top…

    If they start picking up all of our tendencies, they can pick us apart…

    This time a year, only the strong survive….At this stage of the game and the season, you have to be good and a little bit lucky….

    Luck from the old coach’s handbook, “When preparation meets opportunity”….

    Right now both Ragsdale and Grimsley would like to meet Mr. Round Four, but they have to get through Mr. Round Three first….

    I was telling one of the coaches or AD’s last night, school is out next Wednesday and they can practice all day on Wednesday if they need to, and then the Thanksgiving morning practice….

    Some of these kids have never practiced high school football on Thanksgiving Morning and that is going to be a treat for all of them….

    To be out there on Thanksgiving Morning and tossing that football around, that is true Americana..

  4. Heck of a game watching Grimsley vs. Porter Ridge with three things jumping out:

    1) Zellous’ stats back up his athleticism and dynamic abilities to move the ball. It was fun to watch this kid!

    2) PR was on the move on the last drive, no question about it. Their 2nd half defense shifted the momentum while persistence on offense found the gaps in the Whirlies secondary.. Study film and make adjustments in prep for Rnd 3 to hold off Glenn and advance.

    3) PR QB Mason Cox gets leveled by #18 Shaw in the 4th during a tense drive.. But what happens next had commentators across the airwaves talking.. Cox pops up and extends his hand out to help the 6’6″ 320lb mountain of a man to his feet.. This speaks volumes to the character Hertz has built into his program at PR.. Something we all should strive towards as players, coaches, fans, and humans alike!

  5. @andydurham Travis truly loves what he’s doing he does it all for his mother and siblings heleva humbled young man as well as an honor roll student

  6. Travis made one of the wisest/smartest plays of the game when one of the opposing offensive players got up in his face and instead of barking back, Travis Shaw just backed off and the 15-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct went against the other guy…Travis just casually backed off and walked away…Smart move and he may have just made sure the penalty did not go on him by not retaliating, and just slipping back and moving away…

    Again, smart and slick move by Big Trav…

  7. I think it’s great when kids are able to move to a school that will allow them to showcase their talent. Funny how when Roscoe was coaching and all the Dudley kids who couldn’t start for them transferred to NG, everyone was crowing like crazy about cheating. As soon as he left, those same types of players are playing for Grimsley, Page, Ragsdale, NE, etc. Again, I don’t see a problem with it. Just an observation from an affiliated fan.

  8. That was the unsportsmanlike, Andy! I didn’t see it, but it was on your side of the field. Travis Shaw gets better every game, and he is just 15. He will have 5 stars dancing around his helmet pretty soon.

  9. Another big part of that Grimsley-Porter Ridge game was when Porter Ridge drove ball down to the Grimsley 1-yard line and had the ball 3rd and goal from the one and they fumbled the ball into the end zone as they were crossing the goal line and Grimsley got the fumble(I think #18 Travis Shaw came out of the pile with it) and then Grimsley went down the field and scored to go up 8-0…(Opening drive of the game and Porter Ridge had that ball at the Grimsley 1-yard line.)

    That was the very first possession of the game for Porter Ridge and they had points coming, but gave the ball to the Whirlies…

    Very first possession of the very first game of the season, Northern Guilford is driving the ball down the field vs. Grimsley and the Nighthawks on that very first possession vs. the Whirlies had the ball around the the Grimsley 10-yard 1st and goal and the Nighthawks were looking at points, but they threw the ball to a Nighthawk receiver in the end zone, Grimsley picks off the pass, I think it was Jacquavion Mayo, that got the pick, and Grimsley gets the ball on their own 20-yard line and they take the ball down the field vs. Northern and the Whirlies score, and they never look back…

    But we just did look back, and what a way for Grimsley start their first game of the season and then again what a way to begin/start their first game of the playoffs…..

Comments are closed.