TARBORO —
Crunch time is here. All three county football teams are vying for a good seed in the NCHSAA state playoffs. With just four weeks left in the season, two of the three teams are fighting for a conference title and the other is just trying to stay alive and stay afloat in their conference.
The Eastern Plains Conference has turned into a battle of Edgecombe County teams. The Tarboro Vikings and SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars are both undefeated in the conference and have one more game left before the two teams meet for their regular annual meeting Oct. 12 in Tarboro.
Neither team has an easy task tonight though, because for both teams to stay alive and play for the conference title next week, they have to beat their opponents tonight.
Tarboro will be hosting the Kinston Vikings. Kinston has been struggling as of late and has lost three of their last four games which included a 56-49 loss to SouthWest three weeks ago.
Vikings head coach Jeff Craddock isn't taking Kinston lightly though, because he knows they have a good offensive system that can score on anyone quick. Kinston is averaging over 33 points per game.
Craddock has made a move defensively and has set up a defense he hopes can stop Kinston quarterback VeQuain Joyner, who threw for 206 yards and two TDs last week. Joyner has thrown for 1,259 yards and 16 TDs this season.
Craddock plans on coming out with a three man front line on defense and has Travonne Marshall in the middle of the field at linebacker. Marshall will be roaming and reading the Kinston offense. If he makes the big hits like has all season, then Kinston will probably go back to the ground game.
"We have to come out ready to play football because Kinston is going to be ready," Craddock said. "It would be nice to keep their offense on the sideline."
That may be a problem for Craddock and his Vikings, because they seemed to have a big play offensively on each series and isn't a team that can control the ball and the clock because of the big plays.
Craddock knows his team has to play great assignment football. His team has been making some improvements each week on defense even though it may not show up on the stat sheet.
"Our rush defense is getting better and better every week," Craddock said. "Our pass defense has played good in spurts."
Tarboro's offense is still clicking on all cylinders. They are averaging over 43 points per game and are allowing their opponents to score over 20 points per game.
Tarboro's key will be to hold down the Kinston offense and maintain their offense as they have all season.
For SouthWest, they will be hosting a North Pitt Panthers team that plays streaky football. The Panthers have a good passing attack and head coach Raymond Cobb knows his defense will have to step up and make the big plays if they want to stay undefeated in the conference like they did last week when the Cougars defense allowed only 230 yards of offense to the Beddingfield Bruins. They held the Bruins to just 48 yards of offense in the second half, which helped the Cougars seal their 32-13 win against Beddingfield.
SouthWest is averaging over 31 points per game, which is good considering the type of non-conference schedule Cobb put together for his team. They are allowing their opponents to score over 25 points per game.
"I scheduled the non-conference schedule like that because I knew it would help us out come conference time," Cobb said. "We are playing good football as of late and I hope we just keep it up."
SouthWest senior running back Gerald Hinton has been the spark plug for the Cougars this season offensively. He has gained 982 yards on 126 carries and has scored 15 times
The key to the Cougars winning will be to stop the Panthers passing attack and their running game they like to mix in. They will have to step up on offense and control the ball and not make mistakes.
For the North Edgecombe Warriors, they are looking to bounce back from a tough 50-14 loss to Northampton County. The Warriors have fallen into the cellar in the Tar-Roanoke Conference and are sitting at 2-4 overall and 0-2 in conference. They are hosting Kipp Pride tonight. Kipp Pride hasn't won a game this season and had to forfeit two games.
Head coach Keith Parisher just wants his team to continue to play hard on every play and not give up. He wants his guys to continue to fight and battle.
With the youth that Parisher has in his program, they are taking their bumps this season. He has a sophomore quarterback, two freshman running backs and a freshman center. He has other underclassmen scattered all over the field.
Now with just three games left in the conference, they have to win the remaining games to possibly make the playoffs.
Sports
Related Photos
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Tarboro Viking linebacker Saiid Murphy (50) and Keithion Battle make a tackle against the Greene Central Rams last week during Eastern Plains Conference action in Snow Hill.
Week 8 is big for Vikings, Cougars in EPC action
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Tarboro beats SouthWest 16-11
Tarboro and SouthWest battled it out Friday night in the 15-under Nash County Babe Ruth League at Municipal Stadium. It was a game that included 30 walks, 13 errors and 27 runs scored. Tarboro was able to hold on and win 16-11.
SouthWest, who is winless this year, fought back time and time again and took advantage of 18 walks and the six errors Tarboro committed. SouthWest has a team filled with 13 and 14-year olds playing against older players. They were able to hold their own though and take advantage of different situations. -
Jones, Pittman starting new semi-pro team in Tarboro
If you had a dream of playing professional football, but were never given the chance out of high school or college, now is the time for you to become a professional.
Three citizens in the community came up with the idea to organize a semi-pro football team and came up with the team name, East Carolina Buccaneers.
Mike Jones and Marty Pittman are co-owners of the organization. -
LITTLE TARHEEL CHAMPIONS
Pizza Inn won the Little Tarheel League baseball championship through the Tarboro Parks and Recreation Department. They had a 10-1 record this season and in the last six seasons, Pizza Inn has won six straight titles and have a record of 66-13. Members of the championship team are from left to right, kneeling, Deshawn Moss, Clark Dupree, Ricardo Hernandez, Seth Paramore, Landon Riley, Eric Moss and Tobais Joyner. Middle row, Hunter Gardner, Mason Riley, Justin Rameriz, Mike Wiggins, Eli Williamson, Eric Jones and CJ Joyner. Back row, coaches Ken Oliver, Mike Riley, Bo Dupree, Nick Oliver and Bill Howerin.
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Tars drop season opener 8-7 to Nash County
Fielding errors and throwing errors played a big part in the Tarboro Tars season opener loss Tuesday night at Municipal Stadium. Nash County defeated the Tars 8-7 in the Coastal Plains Senior Babe Ruth league opener.
Tarboro trailed three times in the game and twice they made comebacks. After the second comeback, they took the lead, but that didn't last long after the Tars defense fell apart. -
New punishments need to be added in MLB
The main question remains about Major League Baseball. Why do the same players names continue to appear when it comes to using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs)?
Last year, Commissioner Bud Selig said that they were going to crack down on drug testing, but the fact is how many players have been tested so far through this season? -
10 Under Champs
The Riptide won the 10-under girl's softball league through the Tarboro Parks and Recreation Department. They finished the season with a 7-2-1 record. Pictured from left to right, kneeling, Hannah Scott, Autumn Partain, Rena Harris, Kaliyah Lynch, Hailee Whitehurst, Hailey Boyette, second row, Sarah Harrell, Carly Webb, Taylor Williams, Alysia Braswell, Ziniya Tillery, Yasmine Shannon. Back row, Coaches Van Webb, Ken Williams and Ross Whitehurst.
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Tarboro Parks and Recreation scores
The following scores are from the baseball and softball leagues played at Indian Lake Sports Complex through the Tarboro Parks and Recreation Department.
Baseball
Little Tarheel League
Pizza Inn 14 WRL Farms 4
Leading hitters – Pizza Inn – Justin Rameriz 4-4, Hunter Gardner 3-3, Mike WIggins 2-3, Eli Williamson 2-3, Tobias Joyner 1-1 WRL Farms – Ryan Scott 2-2, Layton Dupree 2-2, Tanner Wittig 1-2, Dillon Johnson 1-2 -
Thorne chosen to play in Powerade game
Tarboro Lady Vikings soccer phenom Shayla Thorne has added another accolade to her credentials. She was one of 19 players selected to play in the Powerade State Games on the 2013 East women's team.
She won't be the only one from Tarboro participating in the state games, because Tarboro coach Leshaun Jenkins was also named the head coach of the women's East team. -
MMS Athletes of the Year
A their annual athletic banquet, Martin Middle School announced that Shanice Mercer, left, and Kendrick Pittman were the recipients of the Mike Alford Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Mercer was a cheerleader and played softball. Pittman played football, basketball and baseball.
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Five rule changes for high school basketball in 2014
During a recent session in April, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Basketball Rules Committee made five rule changes to the game.
The first part of the session talked about safety and fighting on the court. After voting, the board decided to revise Rule 10-4-5.
Beginning in 2014, the revised rule states that head coaches in high school basketball will be allowed to come onto the court in an effort to break up a fight or to keep a situation from escalating into one.
Before the rule was revised, head coaches could only enter the court if beckoned by an official. - More Sports Headlines
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