Wake Forest broke a seven-game ACC losing streak by stunning N.C. State 34-37. North Carolina overcame turnovers and penalties with big plays to defeat Rutgers 24-22. And Stanford looked less like an academic school that Duke in whipping the Devils 44-14. Also, ECU scared Virginia Tech but finally fell 17-10. For a complete ACC scoreboard with boxscores and recaps please click here.
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Big rivalries highlight week 4 of the high school football season
Cary travels to Apex, Middle Creek goes to Garner and Ravenscroft travels across Raleigh to Cardinal Gibbons. And those aren’t the only big games across the Triangle area Friday night.
It will be clear and mid-70s so try to get out to one of these 10 football games being played tonight that are within driving distance in the Triangle area. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners. Last week my record was 8-2 for a 21-9 season mark.
Cary at Apex
East Chapel Hill at Carrboro
Enloe at Knightdale
Green Hope at Athens Drive
Hoke County at Sanderson
Middle Creek at Garner
Panther Creek at Holly Springs
Ravenscroft at Cardinal Gibbons
Southeast Raleigh at Wake Forest-Rolesville
Wakefield at East Wake
Other games of interest in the Triangle this week are Lake Norman at Wake Christian, Lawrence Academy at Cary Christian, Lee County at Fuquay-Varina and Millbrook at Northern Durham. Check out the results by clicking on the High School Football tab at the top of the left sidebar of this site.
Hurricanes mourn death of Vasicek, a plane crash victim
A plane crash in Russia earlier this week claimed the lives of members of the Lokomotiv hockey team, which included former Carolina Hurricanes player Josef Vasicek, who was a member of the 2006 Stanley Cup Champions.
The coach of Lokomotiv, Brad McCrimmon, who played for the Hartford Whalers, also perished in the crash.
Jim Rutherford, president and general manager of the Hurricanes, issued this statement:.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of today’s tragedy in Russia. Josef was an key part of the Hurricanes for six years, helping us achieve some of our greatest successes. More importantly, he was a great teammate on and off the ice, and was respected as a person as well as a player. Brad McCrimmon was a member of our team while we were still in Hartford, and was well-liked by all who came in contact with him. His presence in the hockey community will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go to the Vasicek and McCrimmon families, and the loved ones of all of today’s victims.”
Vasicek, 30, was about to begin his fourth season with Lokomotiv. In 341 games with the Hurricanes, he had 57 goals, 78 assists for 135 points. Vasicek skated in 37 Stanley Cup playoff games with Carolina, earning five goals and two assists for 7 points.
Durham Bulls lose in playoffs; face elimination
Chad Huffman homered for the second straight game for the Clippers in their 8-3 victory over the Durham Bulls on Thursday night at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The win gives the Clippers a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Chris Archer (0-1) settled down after allowing four runs in the first two innings to the Clippers and went five and two-thirds innings allowing seven hits and five runs, walking three and fanning a Triple-A career high 11.
The Bulls were down 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning when Tim Beckham got things going with a single. Matt Carson followed with a one-out double to put runners on second and third for Dan Johnson. Johnson drove a singled to center field to score both Beckham and Carson and cut the lead to 3-2, which was as close as the Bulls would get. The Clippers tacked on one run in the second on Travis Buck’s RBI single and would add another in the sixth on Tim Fedroff’s RBI single to make it 5-2.
The big blow came from the Clippers offense in the seventh inning when Juan Diaz connected on an Adam Russell fastball for a two-run double to give Columbus a 7-2 lead. They would go on to add another run when Diaz scored on a Luke Carlin double.
Talbot (1-0) went seven innings allowing seven hits and two runs walking one and fanning five to earn the victory. Jason Rice, Tyler Sturdevant, and Cory Burns combined to work the last two innings allowing three hits and a run, while walking two.
Durham will head to Columbus facing elimination in Game 3 on Friday September 9. The Bulls will send Alex Torres to the mound against the Clippers Joe Martinez. The game can be heard on 620 the Buzz.
Academic Stanford much better at football than Duke but why?
With Duke taking on Stanford this weekend, the question arises: Why can Stanford, known for its academics, do so much better than equally admired Duke, which lost to Richmond last Saturday?
Well, I don’t think Stanford ever went to the depths of Duke,” said Blue Devil Coach David Cutcliffe. “They’ve had some modern history where most of our history goes well back where apparently a pretty conscious decision to minimize the importance of football was made at Duke. So we’re in a much different situation as far as recovery.”
But Cutcliffe said Duke can get there. “They do it with quality young men that are great students, and we’re going to do the same thing,” he said. “We feel very good about the track we’re on. We’re recruiting very well. Only thing we don’t feel good about right now obviously is our opening game performance, and that’s my
responsibility.
“But what we’re doing in recruiting and what we’re doing in facilities and focus of taking a program to another level, we’re absolutely on that same path, and there’s no question in my mind we can do what our basketball program does, compete nationally with Duke-quality student athletes.”
State’s O’Brien more than happy with QB Glennon
Prognosticators and football fans everywhere thought NC State would really miss quarterback Russell Wilson, who transferred to Wisconsin, but so far, so good in new quarterback Mike Glennon.
Tom O’Brien, during his weekly news conference, noted that he was especially good against Liberty last weekend considering that he had not started a game in four years.
“He hadn’t played a full game since the state championship in high school,” O’Brien said. “so he was all excited and knew that there were some things that he was going to have to do better and learn from, but he’s got a great attitude, a great amount of talent and he will continue to get better as we go along.”
O’Brien said he didn’t like seeing his quarterback get “clobbered” but it was a good sign that Glennon got back up and played unaffected by the hits.
He added that Glennon was able to move around in the pocket well, buying time. He added when nothing was there, he made good choices including tucking the ball in and running for a first down. “He’s a little quicker than people thought he was,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said that Glennon graded out well as he looked at the films from last week’s game. “You go back and you look at his mechanics. You go back and look at his reads. Is he throwing to the right person? Is he
throwing on time? I think all those things he checked off.”
He’ll have to do it this Saturday against a Wake Forest team that’s better than last week’s opponent. The Demon Deacons return eight starters on defense.
UNC looking to “clean up” a few things offensively
Despite UNC quarterback Bryn Renner going 22 of 23 for 277 yards and two touchdowns, Coach Everett Withers is looking to “clean up” a few things offensively this Saturday at home against Rutgers.
“We need to clean up areas in protection calls and line calls on the run game,” Withers said. “We’ve been working that this week, running right routes, right depth, those type things, just the little things.”
As for Renner himself, Withers said, “I’ve seen it really all summer to be honest with you. Nobody expects
the ball not to hit the ground during a ballgame. But I’ve seen the guy just light it up in summer, just
making the right reads.”
Withers said that Renner is his own worst critic. “He’ll complete a deep ball, and he’ll say, I didn’t make the right read or I didn’t take my full drop, and he’ll be talking to himself and that type stuff. So he’s a little bit of a perfectionist. He’s really hard on himself.”
Rutgers, 48-0 winners over NC Central last week, know that it will be tougher against UNC and Renner, who they note has been compared to former Packer great Bret Favre.
“He was incredible,” Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said after watching film of the UNC victory over James Madison. “He’s as good as I’ve seen, that kid. I heard over the years how good he is when he was playing behind the other kid (T.J. Yates).”
Cardinal Gibbons, Green Hope, Tom Suiter to be honored at UNC-Rutgers game
Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons and Cary’s Green Hope High School will be among the schools honored at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Day at halftime of the Rutgers at UNC football game this Saturday at Kenan Stadium.
Cardinal Gibbons and Green Hope High were two of the winners of the Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) Cup for the 2010-11 academic year, symbolic of the best overall interscholastic sports program in the state.
At Green Hope, boys soccer, girls lacrosse, girls basketball, both boys and girls cross country and boys and girls swimming all contributed points that led to the Cup.
At Cardinal Gibbons, more than 700 co-ed student-athletes participate among 40 teams in the following sports: baseball, basketball, cheerleading, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball, and wrestling.
In addition, the newest members of the NCHSAA Hall of Fame, including former WRAL sports anchor Tom Suiter of Raleigh, will be recognized.
A native of Rocky Mount, Suiter joined WRAL in 1971 and eventually started the Extra Effort Award for those athletes who excel in the classroom as well as on the field. Under his leadership, Suiter also started the Football Friday show which covers football games throughout the Triangle and the WRAL viewing area.
Suiter and seven others will be formally inducted into the NCHSAA Hall of Fame next spring during the Hall’s annual banquet and induction ceremonies at the Friday Center in Chapel Hill.
Jags’ GM takes responsibility for controversial cut of ECU’s Garrard
Some Jacksonville Jaguars fans are fit to be tied about former East Carolina quarterback David Garrard being cut. It seems most were upset because they like him as a person and thought the timing was bad. It was just a week before the season began
Jaguars General Manager Gene Smith has heard an earful and he’s saying that the buck stops with him.
And he likes Garrard. Smith, who lived in Southern Pines during his scouting days, is friends with my in-laws. Smith and my in-laws lived in Ohio prior to being neighbors in Southern Pines. I had dinner with Smith and his wonderful family about a year ago in Southern Pines and Smith brought Garrard up in the conversation – making the North Carolina connection and saying how much he thought of Garrard.
But Smith made the difficult and controversial decision to cut Garrard last Tuesday when Garrard was taking part in various team-related community events.
“Ultimately, it was my decision,” Smith wrote in an email to the media.
“Clearly, I am not proud of how things played out on Tuesday and our players deserve better, but I think to understand the situation, you need to know the facts,” he added.
“Wayne (Weaver), Jack (Del Rio) and I did sit down Tuesday morning and the decision was finalized at approximately 10:40 a.m. Wayne and I had an 11 a.m. speaking engagement prior to the 12 noon kickoff event. I endorsed having David participate in the event due to the time constraints and circumstance. It was not my intent to be insensitive to a man and a family I have great admiration for. Immediately after the event, Jack and I (and then Wayne) sat down with David to discuss the decision that was made in the best interests of the team.”
He wrote, ‘”As it relates to the kickoff event or really any of the events that took place Tuesday, I take full responsibility. Obviously, it would have been easier and would have made the release seamless had we done it over the weekend. I kept an open mind to making the final decision on the QB decision until Tuesday, so if keeping an open mind and being dilatory in the process is a mistake, then I made a mistake.”
Some media outlets are reporting that Coach Del Rio’s and Smith’s futures are tied to the success of the Jaguars this season, now led by QB Luke McCown.
Each ACC school will honor nation’s military at a 2011 home football game
GREENSBORO – The Atlantic Coast Conference announced today a conference-wide initiative to honor our nation’s military throughout the 2011 ACC Football season at both the conference and institutional level. Each ACC institution has selected one home contest that will serve as its part of the effort.
The initiative will vary from campus to campus, but all ACC Military Appreciation Days will have several common elements. Each school will host and honor a member of the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. WWP serves to raise awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of injured service men and women, to help injured service members aid and assist each other and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. Each school will also pay tribute to veterans during the course of the game and will promote the initiative through ACC Military Appreciation Day videoboard and ribbon board graphics provided by the conference office.
“The Atlantic Coast Conference and its member institutions believe it is important to honor the sacrifices that the members of the United States Armed Forces make on our behalf every day,” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. “We are all dedicated to saluting the men and women who protect and serve our country and this collective effort is just one way for us to show our appreciation.”
The ACC will also continue its tradition of patriotism for a seventh year at the 2011 Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game on Dec. 3 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Last year, the league invited two members of the Wounded Warrior Project to participate in the pregame coin toss and local Boy Scouts presented The Flag of the United States, which spanned the full field, during The National Anthem.
The ACC’s salute to the Armed Forces extends into the football postseason with its relationship with the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman. The Military Bowl, held on Dec. 28 at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., seeks to generate broad support for the USO and honor the U.S. military as its core mission.
For more information about each ACC Military Appreciation Day, visit the respective school’s athletic website through the fall.
September 10
Clemson vs. Wofford
North Carolina vs. Rutgers
September 17
Boston College vs. Duke
NC State vs. South Alabama
Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas State
October 15
Duke vs. Florida State
October 22
Florida State vs. Maryland
Miami vs. Georgia Tech
November 5
Maryland vs. Virginia
November 10
Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech
November 12
Virginia vs. Duke
November 19
Wake Forest vs. Maryland