Seems like old times, Pirates rally past Whirlies 24-23

Will Newman’s 25 yard TD pass with 1:39 to play allowed Page to pull out a thrilling 24-23 win over the Whirlies of Grimsley in jam packed Jamieson Stadium. With the win the Whirlies 27 game regular season winning streak was snapped as Grimsley dropped to 7-1 on the season, 1-1 in Metro 4-A action. Page climbs to 4-4, 2-0 in conference play.

Sporting throwback uniforms the Whirlies started out strongly enough as on their first possession Grimsley ground out a 14 play 40 yard five minute march for a 28 yard Stephen Sheppard field goal. Initially the Whirlies were around midfield, but a bad snap on the punt forced Sheppard to run for it and his 14 yard run on 4th and 12 gave Grimsley new life.

Following a Ramon Rosado interception the Whirlies then went 47 yards in 10 plays in just over four minutes to make the score 9-0 with 10:49 to go until intermission as Zack Maynard hit his half brother Keenan Allen for a ten yard score. Allen would have scores receiving, running and passing during this contest and big brother would wind up 10-20 on the night for 145 yards and a TD. However, Sheppard struck the upright on the extra point and as is often the case that missed opportunity would come back to haunt the Whirlies.

At the time though it seemed that Grimsley would do what they do best and that is to grind down their opposition. Page responded to the initial Whirlie onslaught on their ensuing possession by driving 83 yards in 13 plays as the 5:14 march was capped by Newman’s 23 yard TD pass to Cameron Davis to make the score 9-7 at the half.

Grimsley regained their two score edge as Allen swept 55 yards down the right hand side to complete a quick 7 play 80 yard drive to start the second half. Matt Milsor would miss a FG on the next possession for Page and then Grimsley drove to the Page 39 but the Whirlies were able to move no further. Then in a decision that our colleague Jim Modlin felt was a turning point the Whirlies decided to go for the jugular but when the 4th down conversion failed the Pirates put themselves back into the contest quickly. First Newman hit Davis deep for 39 yards then D.J. McNeil split the Grimsley defense on the next play for the final 22 yards and a 16-14 score after three periods of play.

Still it appeared Grimsley was going to get that historic fourth win in a row on their archrivals when Allen completed a 19 yard pass on a halfback option play to DeAngelo Artis to give Grimsley a 23-14 edge with 9:53 to play completing a 12 play 80 yard drive that took just under four minutes. Page though responded by driving 63 yards in 9 plays as Milsor made up for his earlier miss by connecting on a 27 yard attempt to close the gap to 23-17.

On the next possession Grimsley got out to midfield, but on 4th and 2 the Whirlies special team problems on this night resurfaced this time. With 3:32 to play Sheppard again had to scoop up a bad snap, this time he had no where to escape as Page took over on the Grimsley 37.

Six plays later Newman would toss his second TD of the night with as Bernard took the slip screen and shimmed thru the middle of the Whirlie defense to complete the comeback. Bernard would end up with 6 catches on the evening for 114 yards. Newman was 9-18 for 155 yards and a pair of touchdown. The son of Grimsley’s athletic director also added to his cause with 89 yards on the ground on 16 attempts as the Pirates balanced attack kept the Whirlies guessing all night long.

Grimsley got to the other side of midfield on their final possession. But on fourth and ten Maynard was flushed out of the pocket and was run out of bounds well short of the marker allowing the Pirates to pull one out in a manner reminiscent of their heyday back in the Marion Kirby era.

(Paul T. Lambeth II is a proud 1988 graduate of Grimsley, you can hear Paul each Sunday from 10a to 2p on WSGE 91.7FM (www.wsge.org) in Dallas NC for his weekly show “The Classic Corner” which features music from the rock pioneers of the 50’s to the jam bands of today with musical stops all along the way!)

18 thoughts on “Seems like old times, Pirates rally past Whirlies 24-23

  1. Andy, I think it was you that said this on the air last night.

    If theres a Will (Will Newman), theres a way!!
    haha, I love it!!

  2. PagePirates44, yes that was my line and it fit the game pretty well. We need to put copies of the Will Newman line up over at the Newman’s garage. “If there’s a Will there’s a way”. There’s a New-man on the QB pedestal and his name is Will Newman.

    On Shepherd’s punts, he may have bobbled the first one due to nerves and then that effected the Grimsley long snapper on the other two. The third punt miscue was on the ground and I would be interested in other readers and listeners thoughts about what went wrong with the punts and the snaps.

    Like I say, bad nerves may have hurt Stefan on #1 and then that may have got into the long snapper’s head on #’s 2 and 3. Things got progressively worse in that department as the night wore on.

  3. Looks to me like Grimsley got punked and the Whirlies blew it. Page is now the team to beat and from what the paper said the Grimsley AD was pulling for Page because his son is on the Page team. What’s it going to take to get the Page quarterback over to Grimsley? He has one year left after this season doesn’t he? Grimsley needs a real QB, the guy they’ve got back there couldn’t handle the pressure. The Page QB is the best around and he needs to move on over to Grimsley. Tell him he is welcome and his dad can give him a ride to school unless the Grimsley AD was given the head football job over at Page and then they both would be set. Didn’t the Grimsley AD say he would love to have the job as the head coach at Page? If it keeps his kid happy then bring him on over or get the Page kid to switch to Grimsley. The Page QB is the man on the clock. He has negotiating power.

  4. I think it’s time Grimsley stops trying to RECRUIT Page players and leaves Will alone. He is where he is because that’s where he wants to be. His dad has a job and Will is a kid, let’s not forget that. How many times does he have to answer the same question with the same answer. He likes Page and his friends are at Page. Not ALL kids transfer schools just for athletics…there’s a lot more to high school!!

  5. Will Newman has already said multiple times that he is not leaving Page. Its funny how probably for the past 2-3 years the Grimsley folks didn’t want anything to do with any of the Page players. Now that they see one better then theres, they want him to transfer. Thats pretty sad, in my honest opinion. Y’all already have James Hinson (LB) and Stefan Shepherd (K/P) from Page.

    Page has had to rebuild in past couple of years, and the players that did stay loyal want to be apart of when Page starts to win consistently. (Some players that left Page during the 2005 0-10 season or after, Cameron Booker(RB) and Chris Carter(DE) — (both started for Page, also 2006 graduates that transfered to Ragsdale and started), Fred Robinson(LB) started for Page and transfered to Dudley and started for them last year then graduated. James Hinson(LB) and Stefan Shepherd(K/P) Both played for Page, James transfered last year and Stefan this year to Grimsley. Stefan only played his Freshman and Sophomore year if i remember right, he didn’t play last year for Page, then transfered this year to Grimsley.

    This year in particular Page is very young on both sides of the ball. On Offense, Junior QB (Will Newman) , Sophomore RB (Lenny Gordon, he shares snaps with Sr. DJ Mcneil), 4 of the starting 5 offensive linemen return, and Junior TE (Brad Workinger). 6 sophomores start on Defense, with 1 sophomore that get alot of playing time. Also, 3 Juniors that play some as well too.

    To me, it looks like Grimsley is losing a lot next year.. they might be finding themselves having to rebuild.. like we had too.

  6. Also, when Coach Via departed from Page, some of the players that were really close to Coach Via didn’t agree with the decision. Which left a lot of talent off the field.. 2 of those players in particular would be Rotha Ksa (6’4 265lbs) and Grey Goley (6’3 245lbs) both would have made the Page Oline very strong and they would have played last year as well.

    Just think,

    Mikhail Hammons 5’10 260lbs. (Senior)
    Rotha Ksa 6’4 265lbs. (Senior)
    Chris Jasperse 6’4 255lbs. (Junior)
    Grey Goley 6’3 245lbs. (Senior)
    Aaron Ganoe 6’0 240lbs. (Junior)
    Brad Workinger 6’1 190lbs. (Junior) (TE)

    Not to mention the starters that are starting now in place of Rotha and Grey.

  7. Hey, it was a great game, I’m a GHS alumnus (’03) and was very proud of how Grimsley played, as well as Page. At least now this rivalry has a little more excitement cosindering the fact that GHS now has a competitive program. I was also very encouraged to see the Grimsley side of the stadium PACKED! Without a few mistakes GHS could have won this game, but hey its just football and you have to be proud of the way the way the WHirlies represnted their school. We just need to finish out the conference unbeaten and then focus on whats really important the playoffs and a state title. BTW , It would be nice to see GHS vs. PHS in the playofffs, but not sure if they would be in same classification. GO WHIRLIES!

  8. Grimsley was 4AA last year but 4A the year they went to the state championhsip game vs. Greenville Rose. Page has been 4A the past two years and might have had a run at the title game last year if they got past Watauga in round two. Last year they figured the Weaver students who would have been at Grimsley into the Whirlies attendance and that made the overall number go up.

    As far as Grimsley QB’s for the future, Maurice Harris the freshman now at Northeast who has started at least one game for the NEG was at Grimsley this past summer involved in the summer workouts but decided to go to NEG. He is a cousin of Maynard and Allen.

    Also of interest is the fact that former Grimsley coach Todd Shuping, well his son is the starting Quarterback for the Grimsley JV and doing a pretty good job. In sports you never know what might happen next.

    Page is in a position where they could run the table the rest of the way in the Metro 4-A. After the Grimsley loss last year the Pirates won the rest of their conference games to finish at #2 with a 4-1 record. This year could be a 5-0 marker.

  9. Andy, thanks for the info. I guess you never really know who will be around, or transfer in next season. Many thought this would be a rebuilding year for the whirlies, but so far they’ve done very well. I’m just worried about Page next year, especially after witnessing Newman in person. The kid has skill. I still think Keenan Allen could be a good fit at QB, we would still have “lay lay ” Brown and David Ray to run the ball. Who Knows? I guess I should just worry about us going undefeated in the conference the rest of the way and hope Page drops one.

  10. The Shrine Bowl rosters will be announced on Thursday October 18 at 1:30pm and we hope to have some local reps. I wonder who will be on the North Carolina squad? Will it be the Graves kid from Reidsville or the Graves kid from Southern Guilford, or who will make this team? What about OL Michael Via from Northeast Guilford? He has already committed to Virginia Tech. Kenny Okoro from Dudley? He has given the verbal to Wake Forest and plays a mean DB.

    Who will it be?

  11. Lest we forget, Justin Venable from Southeast Guilford. He is headed to East Carolina and is a fine defensive back.

  12. Has Jamaaral Reese for Grimsley not recieved any scholarship offers? He has been one of the top Defensive ends in the state for the last few years.

  13. Also, I noticed Page did a pretty good job blocking Mr. Reese last week. Grimsley also did a good job shutting down Page WR Corey King, which is why Erik Barnard had to step up and he did.

  14. Yeah, I knew he was a little undersized for a DE, but an athelete none the less. And ur right Barnard did step up. But from my perspective, Newman won the game for u guys, what a talent. I can’t even imagine the PIrate team for next season. Hopefully, we can build up our young talent and keep this rivalry competitive. Its much more fun when u know both teams have a chance of winning, unlike the years when it was pretty much a given that Page would win. But like I’ve said before, GHS has established itself as a competitive force in 4A football, and now students will be encouraged to come out and play, unlike past years where the team only had 30 or 40 kids come for the team.

  15. I did not leave because Coach Via left. There was too much time that was not spent the way I want it during my high school life that I wanted to relocate somewhere else that would benefit my decsions. I used to love football and love the game.

    Now I just love my former teamates and the current players of now and I love my school, but that is not enough reason for me to play a game that I usesd to love.

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