Greensboro Grimsley played for their first state championship in 45 years on Saturday December 10 and although it was great to see our local Greensboro boys going for the title I can’t help but wonder why they couldn’t at least get on the scoreboard. If you didn’t see the game or if you didn’t listen to contest or maybe you haven’t picked up a newspaper lately, Greenville Rose defeated Grimsley 21-0 to win their 3rd straight 4-A title. The Rampants(which is supposed to be some kind of a Lion) found the going very tough against the Grimsley defense, but the Whirlies offense never but put up much of a fight in the contest except, for their first drive of the game when QB Robert Lane and RB Jon Morris picked up some key yards on the ground.
Grimsley showed they could run the ball some but the downfall for the historical Whirlies was the fact that they could not move the ball through the air. Lane, who is one heck of a defensive back, and not too bad of a running back, only completed one pass that I can remember and that was for about 8 yards. It was a very short pass to be exact and when he was at QB, you were pretty darn sure that the Whirlies were going to run the football.
To go along with his one completed pass, Lane threw 3 interceptions and 2 of the 3 came in the crucial 4th quarter. This is not a washed up old football player taking shots at Robert Lane or the Grimsley coaching staff, because I could line up with these guys and I’m not going to be the one who goes home in back of some Momma’s minivan, but I just wished the Whirlies would have had some kind of option of throwing the ball down the field. On the picks, Lane was throwing the ball to a spot and not to a particular receiver, and Greenville Rose was at the spot, and they kept coming up with the football.
I have heard many ramblings/rumblings, that the Whirlies downfall began on a muffed punt in the second half, when two return men suffered from miscommunication and ran into one another, but let me tell you it was the interceptions and the fact that the Whirlies had NO passing game. I would rather run than throw the football, but sometimes you gotta put the ball in the air and it must go to someone with the same color jersey, as your quarterback.
All these thoughts lead me to this question. Was former starter Josh Stewart an option for the Whirlies? Josh was the #1 QB early in the season, and if he was available for the championship game he should have been on the field. Appalachian State made a QB change at halftime and they won the National Championship. Trey Elder sits down and Richie Williams comes in, and the Mountaineers win it all. The Chicago Bears pull Kyle Orton, and Rex Grossman comes in and the Bears now have some offensive spark.
Am I on to something here? If Stewart was available, then maybe late in the Greensboro Grimsley-Greenville Rose game, we should have seen Josh enter the huddle and rally the Gate City eleven. You might say it all sounds nice, but it never would have happened. Well this is what big name sports analysts like me get paid to do. We watch the games and we still play the games and we break it all down every day of the week and if you read what I have to say, you will learn so much more than you will watching TV or playing some computer game. Be active and have fun, and learn by getting outside and tossing the pigskin or shooting the roundball.
Grimsley: Coach Shuping, Robert Lane(a once in a lifetime special player), Brandon Peguese, and to all the Whirlies: great job, congrats on a super year, and let’s don’t wait 45 years before you do it again. What the Whirlies did was not easy and they deserve all the attention they have received. The News and Record did a solid job of coverage as they always do, but will people ever stop talking about the Page week-long football special. TSEN and their leader Dan Falinski were at the title games, but were they there for the teams, or just there trying to make a quick dollar? Think it over and get on the E-Mail express. Hit me or get me at Durhamandy@hotmail.com. Until nest time, take care and talk to you soon…….