The big matchup that everyone wanted to see, came and actually lived up to and exceeded the expectations. I’m talking about the game between the two undefeateds-Dudley and Ragsdale, if you need reminding.
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The crowd was listed at 4,000 in attendance. I think that was WAY off-I’m thinking 6,500-7,000. The Ragsdale side had at least 3,500 people. I looked down from our position as the game started and the seats were packed. I then looked over my shoulder at the ticket booth and saw at least 1,500 fans lined up all the way past the traffic circle at Dudley. I asked the old timers in the press box from Dudley if they had ever seen a bigger crowd at the stadium……the answer was an emphatic “No!”
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Back to the on field stuff: The game was the most physical, hard hitting, lay it all on the line games by both teams that I’ve seen in high school football. You could see bodies being thrown, slung, pounded and generally making every yard and space earned.
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Let’s jump to the third quarter with Dudley receiving the kickoff, having deferred by winning the coin toss. Dudley was leading 14-10 and received the second half kickoff and like I’ve seen Coach Davis do before, the Panthers came out physical, running the ball and controlling the line of scrimmage, imposing their will and physicality on the other team. The Dudley drive ended after running 9:49 off the clock with Ricky Lewis and Fred “Overdrive” Overby doing most of the damage. Lewis scored from 3 yards out to cap the long, time consuming drive and giving Dudley a 20-10 lead after the 2 point extra point attempt failed.
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The next big situation came when Ragsdale had to punt and Dudley muffed it with Ragsdale recovering the ball on the DHS 14 yard line. After getting to the 3 yard line on second down running back D’onavan Smith was hit for 1 yard loss. Facing 3rd. and goal from the 3, QB Tim Romer dropped back and was sacked for a loss to the 13 yard line. On comes PK extraordinaire, Kasey Redfern for a 30 yard attempt, which he makes most of the time-not this time-hooked it wide left. Ragsdale, even with just a FG would have cut the lead to a 7 point deficit. Ragsdale had to get something out of the field position and go ZERO.
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Dudley took over after the miss and Fred Overby broke one for big run up the middle to put icing on the Dudley win.
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Games usually come down to 2-3 plays that make the difference in close games. This one was no exception. Dudley will now play another county foe, Northeast Guilford who won last night 7-6 over Northern Vance. The game will be at Dudley, also. I don’t see how Dudley can lose to the resurgent Rams, but in sports crazy things happen. We’ll be there, Andy and I, to call all of the action. The bar has been set very high for excitement and hitting. Friday’s game will be hard to top.
What a game! It had it all and we were there! Dudley 26 Ragsdale 10â€
28 thoughts on “What a game! It had it all and we were there! Dudley 26 Ragsdale 10—
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THIS IS FOR ALL YOU RAGSDALE SNOT NOSE PARENTS; D- U – D – L- E – Y DUDLEY DUDLEY DUDLEY HIGH.
Your comment does not make those of us who support Dudley look good. Stay off the message boards if you can’t represent the Panther Nation better than that.
mr panther pride if you would like to discuss in person justlet me know, and as far as representing panther nation, i will do my own way and stay on the board.
Bazela don’t even waste your time bro.
thanks ron
What yaw haters think bout us now……………#10 Major B.
We do no arguing on line we do our thang on the feild so they can represent dudley how they want we no they not part of this team because we represent us and only us.
major b what grade you in, with your language you can only represent on the field, it shows you dont in the classroom.
After waiting as long as I could to say ANYTHING-Whatever happened to “Win with class-Lose with class?” The boys on the field certainly DID!
Major Bryant is a first-class kid and his actions on the field speak for themself.
Major is a kid and kid’s talk like kids and #10 and #51 Kelton Shepherd are really kids that play like grown men.
These fellows and their Dudley defensive teammates are as tough as you will ever see.
Major B could give Mr. T a run for his money back in T’s younger days and I for one sure wouldn’t want to be trying to block that Dudley “D” even on my best days back when tripping was still legal and you could take a man’s legs out with a slashing leg-whip at any time.
Can anybody keep these Dudley defenders out of the opposing team’s backfield? I’d like to give it a try but my insurance just ran out last Friday.
During Andy’s live broadcasts from Shane’s…the kids from Dudley were on there on a couple of occasions. The kids were well manner and articulate. I enjoyed talking to them before Andy interviewed them and thought they represented themselves, their parents, and Dudley well.
If you have IM’d or received a text message lately, you’ll find that english as we know it it changing. Cut the kid some slack. He’s a good kid who played a great ball game. I would hate to have an english teacher or copy editor reviewing every post on this site. Too many red marks to even think about.
I take my hat off to this Ragsdale team and fans.
We gave them our best shot on and off the field but they held there own espescially
in the stands. There is nothing wrong with a little trash talking and you can believe
that you will get some at Dudley thats what we do. It was fun the game
was
good and like I told you earlier this may be the BEST DUDLEY FOOTBALL TEAM EVER.
Congradulations to MAJOR, RICKY, NEAL and the rest of the DUDLEY PANTHERS.
There are really some GOOD ATHLETES on this team.
I didn’t notice anything from the Dudley kids other than the usual game trash talk, couple of personal fouls but nothing major. Got the text messages all week with trash talk. I just told my son to blow it off and not respond. Most people ignore that stuff. What did surprise me was the bahavior of a few Dudley fans who chose to sit right in the middle of the Ragsdale section and taunt parents the whole game. There were plenty of seats on the Dudley side when they sat down at 6:30. It seemed their only intention was to taunt people. They seldom cheered for Dudley. It was a little strange. They seemed to be there more to taunt others than cheer for their team.
As to Bazela’s comment, not sure what provoked that remark. This is just the type comments we hope our kids ignore.
Kirk I know you dont know what was happening on the field because that is not true
about the visiting side. I was there and those same Dudley Fans sit on that side no matter who Dudley is playing. The thing I hate is cry babies and that what you are doing. Take your whipping like a man but dont lie. Those fans on that side pull for their team every week so find another excuse for the lost.
Maybe DUDLEY IS A BETTER TEAM U THINK
QUIT CRYING
Ray – if you think the fans sitting on the Ragsdale side were not throwing jabs towards the Ragsdale folks you are wrong. I was sitting in the mist of their verbal barrage as well.
It’s rediculous that they do not sit on the home side. Why sit on the visitor’s side except to aggrevate and aggitate? No one is whining. No one here is a cry baby. If anything its childish, rude, and irresponsible to sit on the visitors side when they had the opportunity to sit on the other side. If you know these “fans” are you seriously suggesting they have never said anything to you about getting fans of opposing teams aggitated? What’s the purpose?
I think Kirk and other would have felt the same way about these “fans” even if Ragsdale had won. No one would have said anything about these “fans” had they acted like fans. Screaming “you suck” and “yall ain’t s..t” is not the same as cheering for your team. Some schools have rules about things like this. Dudley should consider implementing one. Respect is something you earn. The Dudley’s team got it the other day. The “fans” sitting behind me got none.
What is wrong with having a little class and sportsmanship. These are kids for goodness sakes! The “fans” sitting behind me were adults. They could use a lesson from the kids on the field from both teams.
There are several reasons that we sit on the visitor side.
The main reason is that we park there .
I dont know where you were sitting but there was none of that happening in my
section. There was some trash talking going on but it was all clean and fun and
we all shook hands when the game was over. If there was someone saying things like that I appologize for my Alma Matta . Now for you telling us where to sit I think you are wrong for that and that makes me wonder who do you think you are and what gives you the right to tell us where to sit in our own stadium. Thats wrong and it makes me think that you are a sore loser. SO I SAY AGAIN QUIT CRYING
GOOD LUCK NEXT TIME
Here’s the Deal…..I am an avid SEG supporter. I sat in the middle of the Ragsdale crowd @ the Dudley. I was not beaten, stoned, or tarred and feather despite the Ragsdale/SEG grudge matches this year. Actually, I was welcomed. I did not notice any “Snot Nose Ragsdale Parents”. However, a kid a few rows back did blow his nose. I assume there may have been some snot there, but I didn’t inspect the tissue.
Kirk, Ray, and David….you guys are all correct in one way or another. Kirk is in no way crying or whining. He never blamed running the fullback up the middle twice on the goal line on the guy in the stands taunting him. He is correct in that there were some pretty rude things said and directed toward some of the Ragsdale parents. It’s uncalled for and has no place in high school athletics. It wasn’t “Trash Talking”, it was disrespectful. I have been to enough Dudley games to say that those few don’t represent the whole.
As far as stadium goes….that stadium has been packed all year. My friends that are Dudley Alumni were tailgating. I don’t know too many high schools in NC that get those type of dedicated fans that would tailgate. Wow!!! In these hard economic times…I put on my Panther gear and show up early for games for some free grub. The tailgating says alot about the Panther Nation. They get out and support their school, their kids, their community.
A lot of people park on that side, therefore they sit on that side. Also, Dudley fans pack the stadium. It’s easier to grab a good seat then fighting students, band, etc. on the “Home” side. Plus, it’s America people…you can sit wherever you want to. So, David, I agreed with you right up until that point. It’s not childish, rude, or irresponsible to sit on the visitor’s side. The behavior displayed by a few bad apples is what was childish, rude, and irresponsible. Ray paid his money and can sit wherever he wants to as long as he’s not blocking my view of the game.
Ray, I salute you for apologizing for those few fans. These guys from Ragsdale have no reason to lie to you. If you look around the boards, they are proud of their kids and know they lost to a better team.
Now, I will leave you with some parting words from the Great Philosopher Rasheed Wallace…..”Both Teams Played Hard”.
For those of you that don’t get the humor….just laugh anyway and look at any interview Rasheed Wallace did while playing in Portland.
I was in the middle of that section with kirk. While I didn’t appreciate some of the things said I wasn’t that put off and I thought for the most part most of those Dudley fans showed restraint. When the game was over I told those guys ” good game and good luck next week”. That’s just the way you do it. Just like some old timer Dudley fans that waited 15-20 minutes after the game just so they could shake Romer’s hand and tell him “good game kid” as he walked off the field. You have to love that old school respect. It was a hard fought game for 48 minutes, Ragsdale never quit ( they never do) and 16 points or not they gave Dudley as tough a game I’m sure as anybody has this year. Nice to see those Dudley fans respecting a competitor.
One thing I noticed on my first visit to Tarpley Stadium was how much bigger the visitors side is from the home side. KInd of odd – usually it’s the other way around. That being the case I’m sure many Dudley fans do always sit there. Also – when a game is standing room only it’s pretty much first come first serve. There is no way the Dudley home side holds all their fans so it stands to reason many will be on the visitors side.
I’ll say it again – good luck to Dudley ( not that you need much luck) against NE Guilford.
I’ll say it again
It’s as traditional as long as there has been high school sports to have a home side and a visitors side. Like you said it’s America – which also gives me the opportunity to state an opinion. I still think it’s childish, rude, and irresponsible.
When an opposing team plays at “your” field those fans paid the same money you paid. Granted that gives them the right to sit wherever they want as well. But that also makes it their stadium for that night too. Visiting fans should not have to face a verbal barrage while sitting on the side of the stadium the host school designated for them. That does not make for a very responsible host. I wonder if the school’s administration knows what’s being thrown at their guests while they are sitting on the “HOME” side of the stadium? I also wonder if those same verbal salvos would be tossed if an administor from Dudley was within ear shot. I somehow doubt it. That’s how children behave.
Dudley has a great team. Something everyone in Greensboro should be proud of. There’s no crying on the part of Ragsdale to lose to the better team. We would never want our children or our children’s friends see us act that way.
Haters.
Nice comeback major. I guess that’s an easy explanantion for you. It keeps you from having to deal with the truth.
All the Ragsdale people here have congratulated Dudley and reailized they had the better players. Heck, we knew that going in but that doesn’t mean you don’t develop a game plan to try and win. I have also pointed out several times that the Dudley fans that sat in the middle of our section were in no way indicative of the majority of Dudley fans. I know many Dudley fans through baseball and they are GREAT people. I met these people. I shook their hand before and after the game. yet they continued to taunt us and our kids. they even cheered when Dudley would get personal fouls and encouraged the Dudley boys to get another and to hit late or out of bounds. As a parent I would not want my kid anywhere around these guys. It was obvious they were there to stir things up. They sat down at 6:30 and when I asked them why they did not sit on their side when there were seats available they said they were there to taunt our team and fans.
At the beginning of the last week the guy that runs this site alluded to behavior like this from Dudley fans. I called him out saying we did not expect any of that. That it wouldn’t happen and we needed to move beyond that in today’s world. I guess I owe Andy an apology. I was wrong.
It has now come to light that some Ragsdale families arrived late and were not able to get in. As they stood at the gate trying to negotiate a way in Dudley fans arrived and they were allowed to eneter. This after arriving after the Ragsdale families. I guess Andy was right. We should have expected this.
This is really laughable! Kirk you should be ashamed at spreading this non-sense, and don’t drag Andy in this. That’s not what he was saying. Andy has been around Dudley long enough to know what to expect.
Out
Maybe I should not use the word lie but I will use exaggerated and thats what alot of this is. I will once again appoligize on behalf of my Alma Matta if any bad language was used toward any fan.
Please come back to Dudley so that we can show you really how hospitable we are.
I can tell you for a fact that we will give you the shirt off of our backs and we will allways feed you if you are hungry.
I am going to quote RODNEY KING “cant we just all get along”
HAVE A NICE HOLLIDAY
GO PANTHERS
David,
I take it back…you are whining about the seating. Yes there is a home side and a visitor’s side, but I’m well past 30 and choose not to be bother with all teenagers and the band in my ear. I love the band, but enjoy them much more at half time and from the other side of the field. I come to watch a football game and want the best vantage point possible. I don’t want to have to leave my house @ 6PM to get it. Dudley packs the stadium therefore it is not physically possible to pack everyone in like sardines on the home side. How much money would the athletic departments of both schools lost if you were in charge of seating? Grandma and Grandpa should be force to stand up because they support Dudley and David only wants Ragsdale fans on the visitor’s side. There’s no excuse for rude behavior, but you’re out of line for telling people where they can sit in their own stadium. Once you become a booster and fully fund the football, I will help you get your seating policy implement. Ron “Da Great” would probably help you also. Until then, I think you should choose to enjoy the game from Andy’s live broadcast the next time these two teams face each other if you don’t want Dudley fans on “Your” side of the field.
SEG Parent –
You obviously did not read my post. I NEVER said that anyone could not sit any where they want to sit. You pointed out, it is America.
I said visiting fans should not be placed in a hostle environment from home team fans sitting on the visitor’s side. I questioned if the Dudley admistrators knew what was going on.
I actually enjoy talking with fans of opposing teams. Fans cross the line however when they are abusive. Quite frankly, I think Guilford County has rules for spectators to act in certain ways. I do not think the rule applies to only one side of a stadium.
I know the actions of a few to not make-up a whole. Countless Dudley fans did not act like fools. My reaction is to those FEW fans that sit on the visitors side for the sole purpose of aggrivating the visiting fans. Ron, I’m sure you are a great guy and someone I would have enjoyed sitting with. You do not need to apoligize for your alma matta. 99.9 percent of the people were great. I am speaking about a FEW not all.
Regardless where they park, I doubt these FEW “fans” sit on the “home” side when Dudley plays on the road. If they do, I’m sure they do not act like jerks. These FEW “fans” do this at Dudley because they have been getting away with it. I am confident if administrtors heard what we had to listen to on Friday they would have these FEW offenders removed.
LET ME SAY THIS VERY CLEARLY – I do not care where you sit if you act like you have some sense about you. Cheer for your team and respect those around you. SEG Parent I am sure you show respect as do I. Why should I expect anything less from other fans?
David are you still crying.
Ill bet you were the worse when you were a kid when you lost.
This is not Parks and Recreation this is HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL.
QUIT CRYING PLEASE ITS NOT BECOMING AND NO ONE IS GOING TO JAIL.
WE LOVE YOU
PANTHERS
Ron and Ray, I think you miss the point. If Ragsdale could not win the State I would just as soon seee Dudley win it. It’s good for that school, it’s good for the community and it’s good for Greensboro. After all this past things that the Dudley school has been through I think it’s great to see the community pride that has been re-kindled. It’s truly good for everyone. Dudley baseball is back, Dudley basketball is always good and the football team is doing very well. The community pride continues to swell with good reason. Hopefully the County will spend some money over there.
Someone commented about hating. That’s a bad word. No one hates kids. They’re just kids. Those kids are experiencing something positive that will be with them for the rest of their lives. Again, that is a big positive.
My issue all along was the intentional actions of a few. There is no disputing that Ron. There were many non-partisan witnesses. And I commented several times that everyone realizes a few bad apples do not offer a fair representation of the whole. Don’t make an acusation on something you did not witness that so many others did. The good part is these people turned out not to be parents and hopefully have virtually no influence on the kids.
I think most everyone in Greensboro will be pulling for you guys to win the State. As I said, it’s good for those kids, it’s good for the Dudley community and it’s good for Greensboro. We all benefit with a stronger Dudley community. Good luck Friday and beyond. Maybe we’ll see you next year when we both go to 4A.
Thanks Kirk and just be glad you did not have to go thru the things that myself
and my kid as gone thru.
I personally put a lot of money back into my Alma Matta so that the kids can have a better experience than I did .
WE ARE NOT WERE WE WANT TO BE BUT THANK GOD WE ARE NOT WERE WE USE TO BE so we will keep on striving to get better in all aspects of the community.
One of my favorite lines when I talk to parents is ITS NOT JUST ABOUT YOUR KID
ITS ABOUT ALL THE KIDS and I think we all have to keep that in our minds.
Take CARE
Believe it or not a lot of people want to see Dudley do well. It’s good to see the community spirit. I see it a lot in baseball with the Aggie youth teams. Years ago they talked about tearing that school down but that place is too much of the soul of the community. The people in that neighborhood need a strong Dudley. You’re right. It is about all the kids. In fact, you know the kids get along great.
Good luck Friday. Ya’ll should be fine. It’s gonna take someone with a great o-line to have a chance to beat you. Your D-line makes that team go, as well as your own o-line.