Rocky Mount eeks past Northern Nash
November 10, 2009 Rocky Mount High School
- Senior QB Collins Cuthrell
RED OAK - When Rocky Mount and Northern Nash have had close football contests, they have all virtually been at Death Valley.
And though it has been few years, another close classic between the two old rivals took place Friday night in the regular season finale for both teams.
Rocky Mount quarterback Collins Cuthrell scored on a controversial fourth down 5-yard run with 3.2 seconds remaining in their Big East contest to give the Gryphons a narrow 15-12 win.
The win assures the Gryphons (6-4, 4-1) the No. 2 seed for the conference in first round of the NCHSAA 3-AA playoffs. The big question was whether Cuthrell got into the end zone.
One referee trailing the play refused to raise his arms, but the line judge who came in from the left side of the play ran in and raised his arms - sending the Rocky Mount sideline into a frenzy.
Seconds later, Cuthrell hit Diandre Harris on a two-point conversion to give the Gryphons a three-point cushion.
"I thought I could get in," said Cuthrell, who seemingly had plenty of room to race Northern's defenders to the left pylon, but decided to cut up inside for the score. "I knew I had the room so I just took off."
Rocky Mount, which claimed its seventh straight win (RM leads 24-17) in their 41-game series, actually had a first-and-goal at the Northern 5, but went no where running the ball on its first three downs as time elapsed. After a timeout, Cuthrell ended the Gryphons' 82-yard, 14-play drive with his winning run.
Rashad Hedgepeth got the Knights (2-9, 2-3) going early on his 2-yard run with 7:37 left in the first period. A two-point run failed, but the Knights led 6-0. They got 12-0 with 8:31 left in the half when QB Tavis Richardson called his own number from two yards out.
Northern was set up with a short field on a shanked Cuthrell punt that had the Knights set up shop on the RM 27.
But Rocky Mount managed to put a score on the board before the halftime. Marquavis Alston (24 carries for 18 yards) ended a 15-play, 65-yard march with a 3-yard run with 1:15 left before intermission. Tim Bishop's PAT left Rocky Mount down 12-7 at the half. Hedgepeth ended the night with 88 yards on 16 carries.
RM's Alston also became Nash County's all-time leading rusher with 3,577 yards surpassing Southern Nash's Julius Peppers (3,501). |
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