Taking another glance

Greenville Rose 49 (3-2), Rocky Mount High 20 (3-1-1)

What happened: The Gryphons lost their first game. Period.

That’s the strongest fact coming out of Friday night. And if it wasn’t obvious from the game story in Saturday’s edition, the loss was sparked, fueled and engulfed by Marquis Gorham. He turned the Gryphons’ undefeated record to ashes with five touchdowns. But enough about Gorham, this is to explain what happened to Rocky Mount.

The Gryphons couldn’t do much in the first half, and those struggles extended through the third quarter. Everything finally improved for Rocky Mount in the fourth quarter. After recording only 71 yards of offense through three quarters, the Gryphons doubled that in the fourth quarter. It didn’t help Friday night, but it could help going forward.

What it means: The first thing Rocky Mount Dickie Schock said to me was that, ‘If it could go wrong, it did.’ But the longer he spoke, the more upbeat he grew about the loss  – as he should.

There weren’t many highlights in the first half. Nah’Jerrelle Graves and the defense scored on a fumble in the end zone. The Gryphons didn’t score again until the fourth quarter and record negative yards of offense in the third quarter.

But the fourth quarter was a different story. Rocky Mount scored twice, and Rose hadn’t pulled its starters. Both touchdowns were scored with JT Smith, who is one of two quarterbacks Schock utilizes, behind center. Smith is by far the best passer on Rocky Mount’s roster and might have earned some more playing time.

Up next: Rocky Mount has a bye week next week before its first conference game of the season. The Gryphons will play host to Nash Central on Sept. 30.