2014 fall sports preview

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what’s inside #rocketpride

features

3 Person’s 5 burning questions

features

Major storylines for the Rockets heading into the fall

Young Rocket squad looking to make a splash in loaded PAC-6

Rockets have sights set on finishing in the top-two in PAC-6

Things to watch around Bulldog athletics this fall

Expectations high for veteran Bulldog squad

‘Dogs eyeing return playoff trip

RCS team looks to race past competition this year

School, community support huge for local high school

athletes

Brutal non-conference schedule awaits Rockets

New QB, deep running back group for offense

New scheme with new playcaller on the defensive side

Former state champion takes over as Person varsity head coach

3 welcome to the fall

4 person football season preview

6 ROCKET Offensive preview

10 rocket defensive preview

Person Soccer and Cross Country

previews

12 Meet the Rocket football team

PHS volleyball

14

15

16 PHS Volleyball

18 PHS Tennis

24 RCS Volleyball

RCS soccer

RCS cross country

22 5 Burning questions for

RCS

26

27

] ABOUT THE COVERs [

This marks the 46th year The Courier-Times special edition focusing on the upcoming fall sports season. Previews, features and schedules of fall sports teams from Person High School and Roxboro Community School are included in this edition. This publication was a joint effort of the editorial, production and ad-vertising departments at the C-T.

A special thanks goes out to the many, many people who participated in our dual cover shots highlighting the school spirit of both Person and RCS.

The photo shoot included athletes, band member, cheerleaders, drill team members, parents, com-munity members, school staff personnel even one stuffed Bulldog.

Here’s hoping for success for all of the team’s in the county this year.

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10

#bulldogstrong

C2 the courier-times | roxboro, Nc FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #ROCKETPRIDE wedNesday, aug. 20, 2014

wednesday, aug. 20, 2014 FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #ROCKETPRIDE the courier-times | roxboro, nc C3

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By Kelly Snowcourier-times sports [email protected]

1. HOW muCH WILL THE LOSS OF TREVOn TAPP HuRT THE PERSOn VARSITy FOOTbALL

TEAm?

Trevon Tapp was set to enter his senior season a three-year starting quarterback and All-Conference defensive back for the Rockets. He accounted for around 2,000 all-purpose yards

The Blizzard

Kelly snowKelly snow | courier times

Person football coach Dave Kleine talks to his new starting quarterback, Antonio Williams, during a preseason scrimmage.

Five burning questions for the Person High School fall sports teams

last season and was the undoubt-ed leader of a team looking to make a significant step forward in the PAC-6.

But all of that changed when he transferred to Northern Dur-ham after a tough summer that included a couple of immature mistakes.

So where does that leave the Rocket football team?

If there is a brightside to los-ing someone as important as Tapp, it’s that the Rockets have depth at the positions he played.

Antonio Williams will step in at quarterback after playing in that role for the JV team the past two seasons. Williams isn’t the playmaker with his feet that Tapp is, but has a strong arm and has shown in the preseason that he’s not afraid to pull the ball down and run, if needed.

The Rockets’ junior signal-caller is clearly the best option at quarterback, and keeping him upright and healthy is the abso-

See PHS 5bQ, Page 5

Thank you very much for picking up a copy of this year’s Fall Sports Preview.

As with every year, the sec-tion is a labor of love. The hours required to put the section to-gether by the entire staff of The Courier-Times are long and we hope that you enjoy the stories and pictures and that it provides a nice starting point for the fall sports season. We also certainly appreciate our advertisers and hope you show your apprecia-tion with your business.

As the sports editor, I take an enormous amount of pride in giving you the best possible product and I have a great team riding with me.

I’ll get to that in a minute.This year, I decided I’d try

something a little different.Athletics have evolved so

much at Roxboro Community School that I felt it was time for the Bulldogs to have their own separate section of the FSP.

The boys’ soccer team ad-vanced to the playoffs last sea-son and should be even better this year.

The cross country team should have a pretty strong sea-son behind some solid athletes — and then there’s the volleyball ‘Dogs.

Welcome to the 2014 Fall Sports Preview:

#RocketPride/#BulldogStrong

There’s a lot written about the RCS volleyball team in this year’s FSP, and for good reason. This very well could be the birth of a state powerhouse program for many years to come, but time will tell.

And with their own section of the FSP, the Bulldogs needed a cover. Many students, athletes, cheerleaders and supporters de-scended upon Huck Sansbury Gym for the photo shoot after rain forced us to go inside.

I’m grateful to the good folks at the Person County Recreation, Arts and Parks Department, es-pecially Jennifer Dunkley, Sarah Farr and John Hill, for allowing us to use their gym when the rains came.

I did a similar shot at Person High School a few days earlier, and in both instances got fantas-tic turnouts.

It was awesome to see a crowd so big that I literally had to change my idea for the cover of the section because I didn’t an-

ticipate such an amazing turn-out. I set up a Facebook page to help promote the shoots, asked friends to share the information, but in the end, it took an ol’ fash-ioned all-call to get the word out.

Many, many thanks to Person principal Jarrod Dennis for tak-ing the initiative to spread the word and for actually being in the shot.

I think Mr. Dennis got the pur-pose of the cover without actu-ally having to be told.

Typically, the cover of the Fall Sports Preview is reserved for the best returning athletes — those performers who will be leading their teams during the season. I struggle with what to put on the cover for months and months, in fact, I’ll probably start thinking about the 2015 FSP before the end of this week. I spend a ton of time researching magazines, calendars, college media guides and typically wait

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for inspiration to hit.This time around, that light-

ing bolt of creativity hit me when I was taking pictures of Person’s graduation.

I was on the field, looking up at the overflowing crowd of in-credibly enthusiastic people and I walked over to my good buddy Ronnie Epps (Lil’ Brother) and said, “wouldn’t it be nice if it was like this on Friday nights this fall.”

I went back to that moment and that scene when I first start-ed planning the FSP.

Friends, you really don’t need me to remind you about how tough the 2013-14 school year was from an athletic perspec-tive, and frankly I have no inter-est in bringing it back up again.

Hopefully, we’ve learned from the mistakes of last year and are ready to get back to the basics.

The basics begin with having pride in your school, your colors and your community — #Rocket-Pride.

The basics begin with being strong in your convictions, be-ing brave enough to accept the challenges of high expectations and being proud to wear the red and black — #BulldogStrong.

That pride and that strength come from the collective pull in the same direction.

It can’t be about me. It can’t be about my playing

time. It can’t be about my kid’s stats. It can’t be about any of that individual junk.

It has to be about the team — “the strength of the wolf is in the pack” kind of mentality.

It has to be about taking pride in wearing the school’s colors and the name on the front of my jersey.

It has to be about represent-ing my community with honor.

And it has to be about sup-

porting and rallying around each other — and that was what the shots on the two covers were all about.

It was wonderful to see the entire Person band and mem-bers of the drill team and cheer-leading squads come together to show school spirit.

How great was it to see the newly-annoited starting quar-terback of the Rocket football team with a huge smile on his face, holding the ball up high?

The volleyball team was in full-force, tennis and football players showed up as well as members of the student body, parents and faculty.

There was a similar spirit at the RCS shot a few days later.

Practically all of the volley-ball and soccer teams showed their Bulldog spirit, along with the cheerleaders with their air-borne theatrics. There were even kids in red and black face paint and, my personal favorite, a cute little girl with a stuffed Bulldog.

Friends, these pictures were just brief, choreographed mo-ments in time, but my hope is that this becomes the norm at Rocket Stadium, Rocket Gym, the PHS tennis courts, the ath-letic fields at RCS, the trails at Mayo Park and Helena Gym.

I challenge you, as Bulldogs or Rockets, to come out and sup-port your teams this year — and hopefully there will be far more positive to report than negative.

So...the list of people to thank for the production of the Fall Sports Preview is lengthy.

My former colleague at the C-T, Phyliss Boatwright, was in-strumental in helping publicize the RCS cover shot, and when plans changed because of the rain, I emailed her first.

Our advertising representa-tive Brooke Tatum and publish-er Brinn Clayton did a wonder-

ful job filling the FSP with local advertisers who care about their community and promoting their businesses.

Our graphic designers, Carol Garrett and Sandra Coghill, did a beautiful job with our ads. Car-ol also helped keep everyone on task (including the sports editor) at the Person cover shoot and de-signed the two fantastic pages highlighting the lighter side of the girls from RCS and Person.

Our circulation manager, Eric Whitt, was again a huge help during the Person football photo shoot, and our wonderful receptionist, Heather Leonard, was an awesome sounding board and buffer during the final days of production.

In one of the greatest “team effort” moments ever seen at The Courier-Times, Tim Chan-dler came out of sports editoring retirement for a day and took a last-minute team picture for me while I was at a football scrim-mage.

Pressmen Sandy Wrenn and Mark Blalock, along with their staff, did a fantastic job printing the paper and I greatly appreci-ate their long hours and efforts.

And last but certainly not least, I am grateful for the ath-letes and coaches who were so gracious with their time.

It’s an ordeal to organize pho-to shoots and interviews around practice time and the coaches at Person and Roxboro Community were amazing to work with — as usual.

In most instances, the teams were on time, ready with their smiles or scowls — depending upon what I asked of them.

We are so blessed to have so many great men and women leading and molding the young athletes of Person County.

Here’s to a fantastic fall sports season — with good kids doing great things in sports they love.

BLIZZARD: team-first attitudes needed for a successful 2014-15 year

Kelly sNow | courier times

Person running back Taymon Smith, shown here during a game last season, is expected to shoulder much of the rushing load this year. Smith was an All-PAC-6 back as a sophomore.


The Person High School var-sity football players are few.

But their leader, second-year head coach David Kleine hopes they are mighty.

Kleine expects to dress around 30-35 for games this year, with many of his players seeing significant time on both sides of the ball.

The Rockets finished 3-8 last season under their third differ-ent head coach in as many years. Kleine hopes that some stability in leadership will lead to con-tinuing a project that he started last season — changing the cul-ture.

“This group of seniors still has had three head coaches,”

Kleine said. “This junior class had two head coaches. Our soph-omore and freshman classes will have had one. When I say ‘in or-der to change the culture, you have to change the culture,’ what I mean is that we need consis-tency and continuity within the coaching staff and expectations of not only what the coaches expect but the players expect of themselves. That’s been an ongo-ing effort that we have to do ev-ery single day.”

Person will be looking to make the state playoffs for the first time since 2009, but will have to navigate a difficult sched-ule. The Rockets will either have to finish in the top-three in the PAC-6 to earn an automatic spot or have one of the top 18 at-large winning percentages among the remaining 4-A teams across the

state.“I think (playoffs are) a tar-

get every year,” Kleine said. “We take away a fourth down at Northern Durham and we don’t go to overtime. If we get a two-point conversation because an injury situation forced my hand, we’re in. If we don’t turn the ball over against East Chapel Hill, we’re in. We were able to count on one hand, the ifs and buts. This year, we want to bring this community a playoff team. It’s been a long time and I’m itching for it.”

The Rockets are in the final year of a two-year schedule and have a brutal start to the season with three consecutive games against teams with state title as-pirations.

Making the playoffs a major goal for Rockets this season

See GOAL, Page 7

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lute top priority because there is no proven backup heading into the season.

Tapp was probably the best of a deep defensive backfield which should probably be the best unit on the entire team.

Losing someone as dynamic and impactful on the field as Tapp hurts, but it’s up to the players and coaches to not allow his absence to linger and affect the entire season.

2. WILL ThIS bE ThE yEAR ThE PERSOn FOOTbALL TEAm mAKES IT bACK TO ThE STATE

PLAyOFFS?

The Rockets play an absolute-ly brutal non-conference sched-ule, including a three-week gauntlet against teams with state title aspirations — Orange, George Washington (Va.) and Greensboro Dudley.

Here’s the good news.There’s two paths into the

state playoffs.If Person finishes in the top-

three in the PAC-6, it earns an automatic bid.

If the Rockets have one of the 18 best records of non-automat-ic qualifiers, they’re in as well.

This is a season that the eas-ier path may very well be to fin-ish in the top three in the PAC-6. Hillside is expected to yet again dominate the conference, and the gap between the Hornets and the rest of the league appears to be significant.

What that means for Person is that regardless of what hap-pens in the non-conference or against Hillside in the regular-season finale, a combination of three wins against Northern Durham, Jordan, East Chapel Hill and Riverside will get the Rockets to the postseason for the

first time this decade.Northern Durham, Jordan,

East Chapel Hill and Person were a combined 10-35 last sea-son and at least one of those teams will make the playoffs this season.

3. WhAT KInD OF ImPACT WILL AmAnDA RAmIREz hAVE On

ThE PERSOn VOLLEybALL TEAm?

When Hope Heverly decid-ed to step down as the team’s head varsity volleyball coach, the school decided to promote Amanda Ramirez (formerly Amanda Clark) to the position she’s coveted since helping lead the Rockets to the school’s first-ever state championship in any sport.

Ramirez was a winner as a player at the high school and college levesl, but how will that translate into leading one of the traditionally best 4-A programs in the state?

Only time will tell, but so far Ramirez has already raised the level of intensity and account-ability in the program.

One of the nice things about this job is that she inherited a stable team from Heverly, but this is a program that became accustomed to winning confer-ence titles and contending at the state level.

That hasn’t been the case in recent years, and with a young, talented stable of players in the program, Person appears on the verge of being elite again.

4. WILL ThIS bE ThE yEAR ThE PERSOn VOLLEybALL TEAm

mAKES AnOThER DEEP PLAyOFF Run?

That may be a lot to ask this year considering how deep the PAC-6 will be with reigning con-ference champion Riverside and

East Chapel Hill both bringing back many significant pieces. Jordan took a significant step back last year, but the Falcons had a strong JV program and

Person junior volleyball player Hannah Hutchin-son lofts a set in the direction of one of her hitters during a recent preseason scrim-mage.Hutchinson is one of three setters on the varsity Rockets’ roster.

Kelly snow | courier times

PhS 5bQ: a couple of different playoff routes available for Phs footballFROM PAGE 3

should be better at the varsity level.

The great thing this year for Person is that it won’t be locked into seeing a powerful Wake

County program in the opening round. The way the teams are selected for postseason for vol-leyball is practically the same as basketball and football. That

may allow Person to have a bet-ter opportunity to make a run, but none of that will matter if the team doesn’t come together and perform on the court.

The Rockets have a nice core group of hitters in Casey Good-win, Courtney Jackson and Ka-tie Slaughter leading the way, but this team will only go as far as the setter takes it.

If Person gets good, consis-tent play from that position, this could be a really outstanding season.

It may not be a regional semi-final or finals season, but it could be the launching point for another golden age of volleyball at Person.

5. WILL ThE PERSOn TEnnIS TEAm bE AbLE TO CLImb uP TO

SECOnD In ThE PAC-6?

The Person girls’ tennis team has quietly been one of the most successful programs in the school during the past few years.

Coach Lynn Ward has done a masterful job of recruiting the halls and building players from the very beginning.

Only one of the players on his team had any significant tennis experience before joining the team, and his group of Rockets is poised to take a huge step.

East Chapel Hill is the undis-puted, untouchable power of the PAC-6 and that’s certainly not going to change, but Person can jump up and take second this season behind an experienced group led by Molly Horton, Cas-sidy Gillie and Danielle Russell.

For the Rockets, finishing second is like winning the con-ference, and the season revolves around four matches — the home-and-home series with Jor-dan and Riverside.

If Person can take care of those matches, the season is suc-cessful — period.

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Person High School Rockets

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ing the Rockets is Fun...ock ts s FFportingSupportinggSupporting the Rockets is Fun...ttting the Rocc eepporting the Rockets is Fuuuupporting the Ro ss ssorting the Rockets is FunnuuFii FFkkkupporting the RockkSupporting the Rockets is Fue s sttss sS o t g t occcpporting the Re Rockeee sSupporting the RoSupporting the Rocker FFp o g h sS iiiSupporting the Rockets is Fun...FFuunnRocketsoockkeettssthe Rockets i iissp oting c torting the Rockets is Fuee etss sSupporting ts se s sporting the Rockets is FunSupporting the Rockets is FunS h kng You is Serious Business.g YYoouu ss SSepresent gRep ggg s sss SSSting You is Serious Business.tt erious Busineeeeepresenting You is Serious Buuu oo s Serious Bussssenting You is Serious BusinessYYoo rious Businuu ii rrYYYnnnnnniiinnnnnnRepresenting You is Serious Boo ous Buuepresenting You is Serious Business Buss Businesssgt og ottt eYop nessgggRepres sBusinesepresenting You is Serious Busineesenting You is Serious BusineSSRR o Besee eeeprese riousrRepresenting You is SeriouS ss S ii iii iRepresentingeennttiinngg Serious SSeerriiYou is Serious Business.YYoouu is iissesenting You is Serious Businet g Bt o Businessou uuepresenting You is Serious Businet us Businessg S s s sBusinessssoese e e sonsenting You is Serious Businespresenting You is Serious Busineeepresenting You is Serious BusineeSp ep tin Y i S io B iti Y i S i

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We’re dedicated to achieving the best outcome for every client. Listen to Ben Holloman broadcasting Rocket games this fall!

rocket offense

at a glance

The single biggest factor for the success of the Person football team is how well the offensive line performs.

If the line takes the instruction of OL coach Andre Obie and becomes a detail-oriented, methodical, technique-driven unit, with a little bit of nasty about them (the legal kind, of course) the Rockets will have an opportunity to be a good offense.

If Taymon Smith can return this season with no lingering effects for the concussion he suffered against Hillside, then he could be one of the top backs in the PAC-6.

If the offense is rolling, this will be a big-play unit with Corey Young, Najee Davis and Dontavian Smith in the middle of it.

There may not be a team, outside of Hillside, in the PAC-6 with better skill players, and if the offensive line performs well, Person will show them off.

The offensive line never comes together and too much of the unit’s success falls on the shoulders of Antonio Williams.

Williams has the potential to be a really nice quarterback, but he cannot be expected to be the focal point of this offense quite yet.

The line has to help him by creating holes for the backs and keeping the offense on schedule. Third-and-long will not be the friend of the Rockets’ offense.

The Rockets’ offense will definitely struggle if Corey Young isn’t a major contributor. He has the playmaking ability and swagger that this team desperately needs.

the offense will be good if...

the offense will be struggle if...


Person High School football coach Dave Kleine anticipated having one of the best quarter-back situations of any team in the conference this season.

He was returning a senior quarterback, who would be start-ing for the third year in a row af-ter amassing nearly 2,000 yards of total offense last season.

And Kleine had a triggerman in his third year in the system as the understudy.

But plans changed.Senior Trevon Tapp left Per-

son and will be suiting up for Northern Durham this season, while junior Antonio Williams will be charged with leading the Rockets’ offense.

Kleine declined to discuss the reasoning for Tapp’s transfer as well as if he was removed from the team or left on his own, say-ing only that it was a “situation over the summer and he decided to transfer to another school.”

Tapp is listed on Northern Durham’s roster on the team’s MaxPreps.com page.

The senior was the team’s leading rusher last season with 661 yards and 13 touchdowns. He threw for 10 more TDs and piled

Williams takes over as Rockets’ quarterback


Antonio Williams, shown here during a preseason scrimmage, will be the Rockets’ new starting quarterback after two-year starter Trevon Tapp left the team.

up 1,209 yards threw the air.Tapp was responsible for

more than 51-percent of the team’s total yardage last season.

“His absence hurts us in a multitude of ways,” Kleine said. “His skill set is extremely unique. He had the most game experience of any of our play-ers. From that aspect, he’ll be

missed. He’s always energized and ready to go Friday night, but we can’t dwell on that. My feeling is that we’re opening the door for three or four people to have an opportunity to showcase what they have. We expect a posi-tive out of this because we’re go-ing to be relying on other indi-viduals to take on that role.”

Williams was the JV Rockets quarterback for the past two sea-sons and poses a bit of a differ-ent challenge for defenses. The junior has a strong arm and isn’t afraid to test defenses vertically, but isn’t quite the scramber as his predecessor.

See OFFENSE, Page 7


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Person JV Football

Person opens the year with home games against Orange and reigning 4-A state champion Greensboro Dudley sandwiched around a trip to Danville George Washington (Va.).

Orange was 12-2 last season, with its only two losses coming against 3-AA state champion Southern Durham, once in the regular-season finale and again in the fourth round of the play-offs. The Panthers handled Per-son 40-7 in the opener last season at Hillsborough.

George Washington was 10-2 under first-year coach Nick An-derson, who led Kinston to the 2-AA title game in 2011. The Eagles edged Person 30-12 in An-derson’s first game as coach, and ran off five consecutive wins after that by an average of 38 points.

Dudley powered its way to a state title behind a stifling de-fense that only allowed four of its 15 opponents to score in dou-ble figures, including a 24-7 rout of Scotland County in the 4-A championship game. The Pan-thers lost a pair of high Division I prospects, but are still consid-ered one of the preseason favor-ites to win another state title.

“We’re facing three jugger-nauts, let’s not kid ourselves. After that, the schedule doesn’t necessarily get easier. but it gets more familiar,” Kleine said. “Those first three games are a great tests for us to see our levels of commitment, character, dedi-cation and follow through. If we’re able to come out healthy, I think the potential is there to be a pretty darn good football team. Our numbers are small, but the potential is there.”

The Rockets continue their non-conference schedule with a home matchup against Halifax (Va.) and road contests at Burl-ington Cummings and Bartlett Yancey. After a week off, Person will open PAC-6 play Oct.10 when it faces Northern Durham for Homecoming.

The Knights rallied to knock off the Rockets in overtime last year and have added a couple of familiar faces to its coaching staff — former Northern Dur-ham head coaches Ken Brown-ing and Gary Merrill.

Merrill was also a former Per-son High School head coach, and Kleine served on his staff.

Person will continue confer-ence action against Jordan, East Chapel Hill and Riverside before hosting Hillside to wrap up the regular season.

Hillside is the prohibitive favorite to win the conference again this season, and is cur-rently on a 29-game PAC-6 win-ning streak.

The Hornets have not lost to a current PAC-6 member since a 21-20 loss to Jordan in 2006.

“The facts are facts, Hillside is tested and proven,” Kleine said. “They are not to be feared, they are to be respected, and that’s as far as it goes. We play to win. Outside of that, I think we have a great chance, even with the improvements at Northern Durham and the experienced nucleus at Jordan. (Merrill and Browning) bring a world of coaching knowledge, and I think Northern Durham is going to be better. Adding two outstanding coaches with 20-plus years of experience can only help. I think Jordan will be improved. River-side hired a new coach within the system and they have the potential to keep the ball rolling. East Chapel Hill seems to be in a rebuilding process and Hillside is reloading. It makes for an in-teresting conference, but there’s a logjam after after Hillside.”

TARgETIng DEFInED AnD mERCy RuLE In PLACE ThIS

SEASOn The North Carolina High

School Athletic Association has made a couple of rule changes that are expected to make an

impact this football season. Tar-geting was more specifically defined by the NCSHAA and the National Federation of High Schools as “an act of taking aim and initiating contact to an op-ponent above the shoulders with the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow or shoulders.”

A defenseless player was de-fined as “a player who, because of his physical position and fo-cus of concentration, is especial-ly vulnerable to injury.”

A player flagged for targeting a defenseless player is subject to a personal foul penalty and an ejection.

The NCHSAA has also insti-tuted a mercy rule during foot-ball games when a team is up by a large margin.

If a team is ahead by 42 points or more after halftime, a run-ning clock that will only stop for scores and timeouts will auto-matically be instituted.

Also, the coaches will have the option of ending the game at that point. Reviews about the new mercy rule are mixed.

“I understand the safety con-cerns, but I think at times it sends a mixed message,” Kleine said. “We want kids to play un-til the end. But with a running clock, doesn’t necessarily get the kids the chance to play to the end. I guess I have an older mindset, and I’ll have to get used to it.”

gOAL: three-game non-conference gauntlet to start the season against state title contenders

FROM PAGE 4

One huge advantage for Wil-liams is his familiarity with the system, which Kleine says won’t change much despite the trig-german.

“He’s a got a good arm, but what he’s lacking right now is just a little bit of personal con-fidence, but that will come with repetition in throwing the ball and managing the run game,” Kleine said. “He’s not as mobile, but he does have a mobility fac-tor that has improved from last year. He’s a strong kid, a pretty good student of the game who’s worked hard in the offseason.”

Williams will have a couple of proven weapons to help him carry the offense.

All-Conference running back Taymon Smith returns for his junior season after amassing al-most 500 yards rushing an five touchdowns.

The junior did most of his work in the final five games of the season when he thrusted into the role of primarily ballcar-rier. Smith’s sophomore season ended when a helmet-to-helmet hit in the second half against Hillside gave him a concussion. He missed the basketball season, but has been active in summer workouts and is expected to be a premier back this season in the conference.

“Taymon bounced back great,” Kleine said. “ He’s a won-derful athlete and just an out-standing young man. It’s going

to be a numbers game for us. If the numbers are in our favor in formation sets, Taymon might touch the ball 25 times. If they’re not, he might only touch it 15. To say we want him to be a 20-25 rep back is absolutely right, because that means we’re doing some-thing positive.”

Corey Young, Najee Davis, Tyrique Wright, and sophomore Dontavian Smith are expected to give the Rockets versatile of-fensive threats. All four may see time in the backfield or as wide receivers in Person’s spread at-tack.

“Speed, technique and spac-ing will be important and we have to get our kids in situations to succeed,” Kleine said. “We are smaller, so we have to play a smaller type of football game. The beauty of the spread offense if we can get it down is that ob-ject is to win the numbers game and get kids in space.”

One of the biggest question marks heading into the season is the offensive line. Person lost three starters last season and will be breaking in several new players, including some with no offensive line experience at any level. Returners Brandon Med-lin and Elliott Phillips will be counted on to help lead this unit, that is smaller across the board than in previous years.

Nikko Pettiford is also slated to be a key player on the offen-sive line, while Chanigo Brooks has looked good at times at that position in the preseason.

“We’ve gotten a little younger and a little smaller and we’ve had to change a little of our technique,” Kleine said. “We’re certainly thin an inexperienced up there, but we still have high expectations and (offensive line coach Andre Obie) still has high expectations. That’s certainly a work in progress.”

OFFEnSE: all-Pac-6 running back taymon smith returns after scary injury in season finale

FROM PAGE 6


4 CoreyYoung WR/RB 5-8 160 Sr.

5 A.J.Cash CB/WR 5-11 170 Sr.

6 ColtonBarnette K 6-0 145 Jr.

7 NajeeDavis RB/OLB 5-9 174 Sr.

9 AntonioWilliams QB/DB 6-0 170 Jr.

10 TayshaunOutlaw DB 5-8 160 Jr.

11 MatthewMoss WR 5-9 140 Sr.

12 TyriqueWright LB/RB 5-10 190 So.

16 DontavianSmith RB/CB/KR 5-6 132 So.

18 JamesRobinson TE/DE 6-2 210 Sr.

20 JaMauriRoyster WR 5-9 151 Sr.

21 MalikStreet WR/S 5-9 150 Jr.

23 PrestonPhillips LB/DB 5-9 142 Jr.

26 HarrisonMoore DB 5-10 140 Sr.

27 Da’QuanHolloway WR/DB 5-9 155 Sr.

30 TaymonSmith RB/LB 5-9 190 Jr.

32 ChanigoBrooksII RB/OT/DT 6-0 200 Jr.

33 MatthewMayer LB 6-1 175 Sr.

40 CalebGarrett DE/TE 6-0 200 Sr.

42 GabeSnow LB/RB 5-11 155 Jr.

46 AlexFloyd RB/LB 5-10 180 Sr.

52 TraycerBarnette OL 6-0 200 So.

53 ElliottPhillips C/LB 5-10 170 Sr.

54 DevinParker OL/DL 5-8 230 Jr.

56 BrandonMedlin OL/DL 5-9 215 Sr.

58 ChanstonCobbs OL/DL 5-11 250 So.

60 NikkoPettiford LT/DE 6-3 250 Sr.

70 MonteithLowery OL/DL 6-3 224 Jr.

74 D’AngeloCunningham DT 5-10 205 Sr.

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The Person football team will have a different look on defense and will be led by a different coach.

Dale Honeycutt will be help-ing the lead the Rockets’ defense after serving as the head coach at Northern Middle School. Hon-eycutt has coached at Person during his time in the school system, and has installed a new 3-5-3 scheme.

The defense is designed to give the Rockets versatility in how it attacks offenses.

Person head coach Dave Kle-ine called offensive and defen-sive plays last season, but will be handing over the defense to Honeycutt, assistants Randy Oakley, Steve Evans and Justin Campbell.

“This scheme is all about flexibility,” Kleine said. “You might see four down (linemen), you might see three down. You might see five linebackers, you might even see two. It’s all about multiple fronts. We want teams to have to prepare for multiple fronts and multiple stunts. We’re smaller, but we’re going to be quicker and we have to find ways to use that as an advantage. Last

year, we were stuck in a situation where we were running a gap-scheme defense with kids who weren’t necessarily gap-scheme kids. We’ve had to change our mindset and we’ve brought some new coaches with new ideas who I think have been a wonderful as-set to our program.”

The Rockets will be looking to improve after a tough season on the defensive side of the ball.

Person surrendered almost 35 points a game and gave up at least 40 points in five of its 11 contests.

Kleine hopes that the new scheme and the diversity it brings will maximize the

rocket defense

strengths of his defense and cause confusion for opponents.

“Something I’ve learned in coaching is that your defensive philosophy can only go so far based on the personnel that you have,” Kleine said. “You have to allow your athletes to succeed with the skill sets that they have. We’re trying to make more ad-justments based on the players we have to allow them to succeed than a set, standard scheme. That’s one facet, but I remember working on the defensive side of the ball going over teams with 12 different formations with


The Person High School defense will be shifting to a 3-5-3 scheme this season under new co-defensive coordinator Dale Honeycutt. The Rockets will attempt to highlight its quicker, more experienced defensive players in this scheme.

New scheme, new playcaller for Rockets’ defense

See DEFENSE, Page 11

at a glance

The team can quickly adapt to this new 3-5-3 scheme.The Rockets will have plenty of good athletes at linebacker

and at defensive back, but anytime there is a new coach calling plays and a new style of play, there is an adjustment period.

That period of adjustment has to be quick — in fact, it needs to have already happened, and the Rockets must be fast, aggres-sive and on point by the time the ball is kicked off on Aug. 22.

The defense will be good if it can use the smaller athletes on the field to make turnovers and outscheme offenses that will likely be far bigger across the front.

There’s no confidence in the new scheme, a lack of effort in learning the 3-5-3 and a lack of toughness from the players on the defensive front who will have the job, for the most part, of occupying blockers and allowing the linebackers to make plays.

The 3-5-3 is designed to out number offenses and it is required that players be good teammates.

If the Rockets become more interested in playing hero ball, the defense could be an absolute mess this season.

the defense will be good if...

the defense will struggle if...

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DEFENSE: defensive backs and linebackers expected to lead new-look 3-5-3 defensivefour different plays on those formations and it was tough to prepare. On the offensive side, right away you can identify the athletes, and then all of a sudden they switch formation or a wrin-kle and it makes it more difficult to prepare.”

The defensive line returns a couple of pieces including se-niors Caleb Garrett and Bran-don Medlin. Medlin, along with Devin Parker and Rayshawn Long are expected to play on the interior. Garrett and athletic juniors James Robinson and Chanigo Brooks will see time at the ends.

The strength of the 3-5-3 scheme is centered in dropping linebackers down to the line to provide a variety of different front.

The linebacking corp will be spearheaded by returning All-Conference senior Matthew Mayer. Alex Floyd and Elliott Phillips also played a great deal at linebacker, while Tyrique Wright and Gabe Snow are ex-pected to see a good deal of time as well. The Rockets lost a few key players from the front sev-en last year, including current Shaw University player LeRon Cash, but Kleine believes his linebacking group will be much improved.

“We’ve got some kids who can play back there, but it’s a work in progress,” Kleine said. “If we tackle better, we’ll be improved. They’re all back except for Cash who played both. We’ve made ad-ditions. Our linebacker depth is solid. This might be the first time in a long time we’ve gone five, maybe six good ones. There are going to be times where we’re go-


Rocket linebacker Matthew Mayer, shown here putting pressure on the South Granville quarterback during a preseason scrimmage, is one of the team’s top returning defensive players.


The Person defensive backfield will be one of the deepest and most experienced units on the team this season.

ing to be doing things that are a little bit different.”

The strength of the defense should be in the defensive back-field, even with the loss of All-Conference safety Trevon Tapp.

The Rockets return five play-ers with varsity experience led by cornerbacks Tayshaun Out-law, Malik Street and A.J. Cash. Najee Davis, DaQuan Holloway

and first-year varsity player Dontavian Smith will be counted on to provide the Rockets a deep, athletic unit in the backline.

“If you’re looking across the board, we’re looking at a bunch of kids with varsity experience who are good athletes,” Kleine said. “This group should po-tentially be the highlight of the team.”

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Members of the Person High School varsity cheerleaders include: front row (left-to-right) Justice Gattis, Courtney Bowes, Lauryn Hatchett. Middle row: Hannah Moss, Avery Pierce, Gabby Reed, Chloe Cates.Back row: captains Gabrielle Cates, Renise Ford-Pulliam

Meet the Rockets


5-8 WR/RB 160 Sr. 5-11 CB/WR 170 Sr 6-0 K 145 Sr.. 5-9 RB/OLB 174 Sr. 5-9 WR 140 Sr.6-0 QB 170 Jr.

Corey A.J. Colton Najee MatthewAntonio

Family:Christina Hamlett, Corey Young

Favorite Athlete:Reggie Bush

Favorite Sports Moment:a touchdown

Favorite School Subject:English

Family:Aubrey, Francine, Le’Ron and Jasmine Cash

Favorite Athlete:Darrell Revis

Favorite Sports Moment:Making my first interception

Favorite School Subject:Math

Family:Zeb, Laurie, Zeb Jr., and Traycer Barnette

Favorite Athlete:Josh Brown

Favorite Sports Moment:n/a

Favorite School Subject:P.E.

Family:Troy, Janice and Troy Jr. Winstead

Favorite Athlete:Bo Jackson

Favorite Sports Moment:The season I got 5 INTs


Family:Jerry Wayne II and Libby Moss

Favorite Athlete:Steve Smith

Favorite Sports Moment:My first varsity win

Favorite School Subject:History

Family:Willie, Careatha, Malik and Na-riah Williams

Favorite Athlete:Braxton Miller

Favorite Sports Moment:When I threw my first TD

Favorite School Subject:World History

Young cash Barnette Davis MossWilliams

4 5 6 7 119@antoniowillball

5-10 LB/RB 190 So. 5-6 RB/CB/KR 132 So. 6-2 TE/DE 210 Sr. 5-9 WR 151 Sr. 5-9 WR/S 150 Jr. 5-9 LB/DB 142 Jr.

Tyrique Dontavian James JaMauri Malik Preston

Family:Alvin Wright, Robin Jay

Favorite Athlete:Paul George

Favorite Sports Moment:Scoring 36 points in an AAU basketball game


Family:Demetrius and Latoya Smith, anyone I’m close with

Favorite Athlete:DeAnthony Thomas

Favorite Sports Moment:Making it to state in track

Favorite School Subject:Math/English

Family:James Robinson, Verlanda Stevens, sisters Jasmine and Jami

Favorite Athlete:Vernon Davis

Favorite Sports Moment:Making a play for my team

Favorite School Subject:Science and History

Family:Maurice and Jamie Royster

Favorite Athlete:Sammy Watkins

Favorite Sports Moment:Scoring my first TD in a high school game


Family:Gene and Vanessa Farrish

Favorite Athlete:Patrick Peterson

Favorite Sports Moment:Making a big hit


Family:Chris, Jennifer, Ethan, Elliot and Grant Phillips

Favorite Athlete:Babe Ruth

Favorite Sports Moment:Making an interception

Favorite School Subject:Auto mechanics

Wright smith Robinson Royster street Phillips

12 16 18 20 21 23

5-10 DB 140 Sr. 5-9 RB/LB 190 Jr.5-9 WR/DB 155 Sr. 6-0 RB/OT/DT 200 Jr. 6-1 LB 175 Sr. 6-0 DE/TE 200 Sr.

Harrison TaymonDa’Quan Chanigo Matthew Caleb

Family:Kevin and Kim Moore

Favorite Athlete:Jerome Bettis

Favorite Sports Moment:Sacking the quarterback


Family:Tameika, Tameia, Raymond Smith

Favorite Athlete:Adrian Peterson

Favorite Sports Moment:My first TD on varsity as a freshman


Family:Benjamin, Laverne and Damian Holloway; Tay Paylor

Favorite Athlete:Derrick Rose

Favorite Sports Moment:buzzer beaterFavorite School Subject:Math

Family:Chanigo Brooks Sr. and LaNetta Terry

Favorite Athlete:Jerome Bettis

Favorite Sports Moment:Sacking the QB

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5-11 LB 155 Jr. 5-10 RB/LB 180 Sr. 6-0 OG 200 So. 5-10 C/LB 170 Sr. 5-8 OL/DL 230 Jr. 5-9 OL/DL 215 Sr.

Gabe Alex Traycer Elliott Devin Brandon

Family:Dale, Donna, Jake and Carly

Favorite Athlete:Herschel Walker

Favorite Sports Moment:When I got my first sack


Family:Wayne, Joan and Aaron Floyd

Favorite Athlete:Jeff Gordon

Favorite Sports Moment:Scored a defensive touchdown

Favorite School Subject:P.E

Family:Zeb Jr., Laurie, Zeb III and Colton Barnette

Favorite Athlete:Eli Manning

Favorite Sports Moment:Seeing Chad Ochocinco front-flip-ping over a defender to score a TD


Family:Chris, Jennifer, Ethan, Preston and Grant Phillips

Favorite Athlete:Peyton Manning

Favorite Sports Moment:Recovering a fumble


Family:Dawn Parker

Favorite Athlete:Adrian Peterson

Favorite Sports Moment:First touchdown


Family:Mike, Shannon and Ariel Medlin

Favorite Athlete:Cam Newton

Favorite Sports Moment:Sacking the quarterback

Favorite School Subject:World History

snow Floyd Barnette Phillips Parker Medlin

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Family:Chahsity Stewart, Trevon Cobbs

Favorite Athlete:Frank Gore

Favorite Sports Moment:In 2012 when the 49ers were the NFC champions


Family:Sheniqua, Javon and Tanzania Lowery

Favorite Athlete:Reggie Bush

Favorite Sports Moment:When the Steelers won the Super Bowl with a catch at the end of the game


Family:Severo and Lisa Cunningham

Favorite Athlete:Tom Brady

Favorite Sports Moment:When we win together as a team


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Favorite Athlete:Calvin Johnson

Favorite Sports Moment:Going for a deep pass and scoring a touchdown


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Person Boys’ Soccer

The Person High School cross country team will begin its sea-son with back-to-back meets against nearby rival Roxboro Community School.

The Rockets will race against the Bulldogs Tuesday, Aug. 19 and then again the following week.

Both meets will be at Mayo Park. Person will open up con-ference action Sept. 3 when it travels to Northern Durham.

After consecutive home meets against Jordan and East Chapel Hill, the Rockets will travel to Riverside before closing the con-ference season Sept. 30 at home against Hillside.

Person’s regular season finale will be in Yanceyville against Bartlett Yancey.

The Rockets are expected to be led this season by sophomore Andrew Garrett. Garrett was the team’s fastest runner through-out the 2013 campaign and had a strong track season as a fresh-man. Kaity Sullivan and Abbie Adcock are expected to pace the girls’ squad.

Person soccer

readies for season

The Person High School boys’ soccer team will open its regular season next week when it travels to nearby Bartlett Yancey for a non-conference game.

The Rockets opened fall prac-tice last week and have close to 20 players on the roster.

Person will be looking to bounce back after a winless 2013 campaign. The Rockets will face cross-county rival Roxboro Com-munity School in a home-and-home series, Sept. 2 and Sept. 11.

The Rockets will challenge conference rivals Jordan, East Chapel Hill, Hillside, Northern Durham and Riverside.


Members of the Person High School cross county team include: (left-to-right) Abbie Adcock, Kaity Sullivan, Austin Sullivan, Andrew Garrett, Dakota Sullivan and Shane Whitt.

Members of the Person High School JV volley-ball team include: front row (left-to-right) Piper Bled-soe, Meghana Patel, Samantha Gaines, Alicia Paylor. Middle row: Meghan Mc-Cowan, Cristina Roberts, Haley Howard, Eliza Fochler, Alexis Thompson. Back row: Kennedy Cox, Ginger Al-len, coach Alison Garnett, Tamia Lipscomb.



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Kelly Snowcourier-times sports [email protected]

Am a n d a Clark had a pretty de-tailed idea of what she wanted to do with her life

even before she became one of the most decorated athletes in Person High School history.

As a high schooler, she told pretty much anyone who would ask that she wanted to be a teacher and come back to coach the Rocket varsity volleyball team.

The former Amanda Clark, now Amanda Ramirez, has final-ly gotten that chance after serv-ing as the JV coach for the past several years.

Ramirez is taking over the varsity position after Hope Heverly resigned from the school system to take a teaching job in Winston-Salem.

For Ramirez, this is the op-portunity she’s been waiting for.

“It’s pretty cool, it’s really the only way to describe it,” Ramirez said. “It is something I’ve always wanted to do. Thinking back to when I was playing, the program gave so much and we helped build it and I just want to give back. It gave a lot to my sister. I remember coming through high

school was how my sister was one of our biggest supporters. And it’s nice to be able to give back.”

Her high school coach, Sandy Mathews was thrilled when one of her pupils was given the op-portunity to take over the pro-gram that she led to back-to-back 4-A state titles during the last de-cade.

“It was tough leaving the pro-gram and those girls knew it, but I told them that what I wanted to see was for one day for one of them to step in and continue the tradition, because they know how good it is and what it takes to make a successful program,” Mathews said. “I’m so proud of Clarkie. She’s come a long way, and I know she’ll be great.”

Ramirez was a three-year var-sity player at Person and helped lead the team to consecutive state championship appearanc-es in 2005 and 2006.

The Rockets fell a little short in 2005, losing to Charlotte Prov-idence in three sets in the 4-A fi-nals, but it was that season that helped ignite a passion for vol-leyball in Person County.

The next year, with Ramirez as the team’s senior setter, the Rockets claimed the PAC-6 cham-pionship and avenged the ‘05 title game loss by defeating two-time reigning state champion Providence in four grueling sets.

She was named the champion-ship match Most Valuable Player

in her final high school appear-ance — in front of an overflow-ing crowd of people clad in blue who jam-packed the Person side of the stands at Reynolds Coli-seum.

“It was almost indescribable,” Ramirez said. “You almost had to be there to feel it to know what it was like. Seeing our crowd versus their crowd was amaz-ing. Our side was slammed and so loud. The community, friends, everyone came. There were peo-ple that I didn’t even know were there because they wanted to support us. It was emotional.”

Ramirez may have helped her team and her school reach new heights at Reynolds, but her leg-end was made a week earlier.

The day before the Rockets were set to play then-PAC-6 rival Chapel Hill in the regional semi-finals, Ramirez flipped her Jeep as she was going to class at Pied-mont Community College, even-tually landing on a huge rock on the side of the road.

No one really knew if she’d play or not just hours before the match, but Ramirez, with cuts and scrapes all over face and body, and a bruised eye that faced the net, played one of the best matches of her career to lead the Rockets past Chapel Hill.

‘It’s something I’ve always wanted to do’Former state champion amanda (clark) ramirez

takes over as person varsity volleyball coach

Mathews promised her setter if they won a state champion-ship that she would make sure the rock Ramirez hit would find a home on the Person campus.

Mathews was true to her word, and the “Clarkie Rock” now sits outside of Rocket Gym.

“I’m extremely competitive and I wasn’t going to let my team down just because of that wreck,” Ramirez said. “We had a goal and we had something we were working for. Unless I was super hurt, nothing was going to keep me out of that game. Cha-pel Hill was one of our biggest ri-vals. We all played club together and we’d been talking and knew what was on the line.”

Mathews believes that the Rockets’ new coach is already on the right track in leading her team.

“She can teach them that hun-

ger,” Mathews said. “Just watch-ing the (preseason scrimmage against Roxboro Community School), you can see the unity they already have. I watch things off the court, and seeing them in the huddle and embracing and cheering each other is the secret ingredient. You have to motivate them to motivate each other. As a coach you can’t play it for them, but she’s an excellent role model.”

After leaving Person, Ramirez went on to play at Wingate and was a key member of several South Atlantic Conference championship teams.

The Bulldogs played in the Division II Elite Eight with Ramirez as the team’s setter.

She believes her leadership style has been shaped by both her high school experiences and Wingate coach Shelton Collier —

the winningest coach in the pro-gram’s history.

“Coach Mathews wasn’t the kind of coach who had to yell to get her point across. If we were stinking it up, she’d bring us in and ask us what we needed to do immediately to change it up. I could count on one hand how many times she had to yell at us to motivate us because we were self-motivated,” Ramirez said. “Coach Collier planned every detail in practice to the second and that’s something I’m try-ing to do with my team. I want to make sure we’re doing cer-tain drills to prepare us for who we’re playing. I want to find our strengths and build on them, and if I’m seeing weaknesses, the next practices, we’re going after those weaknesses to make them better.”


Person varsity volleyball coach Amanda Ramirez gives her team some instructions in the huddle during a preseason scrimmage against Roxboro Community School.

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jada mcghee

katie slaughter

avery bowman

kara wilkerson carlee hawkins

rylee bledsoe

hannah hutchinson

courtney jacksontori turner

casey goodwin

myah smith

jessica wheeler Alexis williams

ready to win now

Rocket Varsity Volleyball

It would be understandable to look to the 2015 season as the one that could be

something special for the Person High School volleyball team.

Maybe even a championship-special kind of team.

This year’s Rockets only have one senior, a handful of returning varsity play-

ers and a cast of unproven performers at the varsity level.

But first-year varsity coach Amanda Ramirez isn’t looking ahead in the dis-

tance. She isn’t glancing over her shoulder at the past.

She’s looking straight ahead at a group that she believes have the ingredients to be out-

standing right away.

See READY, Page 17

By Kelly Snowcourier-times sPorts [email protected]


Number of years playing volleyball

9 years

Twitter@kara_wilkerson

PositionLibero/Defensive Specialist

Best Sports Movie of All Time

The Blind Side

Most visited websiteGoogle and Instagram

I absolutely cannot live without...

my friends and family

Top sports accomplishmentbeating rival teams and

coming out on top

Favorite athlete in my sport

Megan Hodge

Best part of gamedayThe intensity of being able to

play

Favorite subject in school and why?

Math because there is only one answer

Who inspires you and why?My coaches because they have

taught me what I know and have gotten me where I am to-day. And they know what they

are talking about

Favorite place to visitAny amusement park

Favorite sports teamUNC

GETTING TO KNOWkara wilkerson | person volleyball

Favorite mealTacos

Talent I’d most like to haveto be able to sing because I

can’t sing at all

Things I want to accomplish in high school

before I graduateWin a PAC-6 volleyball title; Get academic scholarships;

Improve my grades more than I ever have ; Do the best we

can in volleyball

What I value most in others

personality and individuality

I’d love to trade places for a day with...

the president to see how it is and how much work he has to

do

In 10 years I see myself....in a successful job working

with kids in the medical field

“Oh I think we’re going to be special this year,” Ramirez said. “You don’t want to look too far ahead because you’re not in the here and now. They can do spe-cial things this year. They’re working hard at being one unit instead of just 13 girls. Team unity and cohesiveness will be huge for us this year.”

The Rockets are bringing back just five returning players off last year’s varsity team that finished 12-7 overall and 6-4 in a tough PAC-6. Person finished third in the conference for the second consecutive year and was bounced from the playoffs in the opening round by eventual 4-A state champion Raleigh Wake-field.

The Wolverines ended Per-son’s season in the second round of the 2012 playoffs.

Reigning PAC-6 champion Riverside reeled off 26 consecu-tive victories last season before falling to a Wakefield in a five-set thriller in the sectional finals, and East Chapel Hill returns most of its group that finished second in the conference.

Both are preseason favorites to make deep playoff pushes this season, and along with Person and Jordan make the PAC-6 one of the deepest 4-A conferences in the state.

Ramirez expects her group to be in the upper echelon of the league this season.

“I still think our expectations are high,” Ramirez said. “All the girls that we’re bringing up are certainly capable of playing at a high varsity level. They’re ei-ther competitive JV players or players who are coming up from the middle school that proved themselves in the offseason. I don’t think it’s a disadvantage at all. The only disadvantage would be if they’re not confident in themselves with any team in general.”

Ramirez may only have five players with varsity experience, but they all saw key time last season.

Junior outside hitter Casey Goodwin was an All-Conference performer and was the team’s leading hitter. Goodwin played with Triangle Volleyball during the club season and helped lead her 16 Black team to an AAU na-tional championship match ap-pearance.

Goodwin is expected to be a contender for PAC-6 Player of the Year.

“She’s grown more confident in herself,” Ramirez said. “She’s going to be one of the best out-side hitters in our conference and that’s a given, but I think we’re seeing other girls seeing her and taking it on as a chal-lenge to be just as good. They all want to be really good at their position. She’s going to rise to the occasion.”

Sophomore middle Courtney Jackson has been a bright spot during the preseason. Jackson saw a lot of time in the middle last season, but was used pri-marily as a blocker. This season, the sophomore will be counted on even more as a hitter, but cou-pled with Goodwin will provide 12-feet of blonde blocking on the front row.

“I just need them to give it their all and play at a new level and help lead this team,”

Ramirez said. “When they push themselves, and everyone sees it, the rest will fall in line. They’re both being verbal leaders right now, which is what we need. It takes one to start the push.”

Junior Katie Slaughter gives the Rockets depth and experi-ence as an outside hitter, while Alexis Williams returns as a sophomore after seeing time last year on the back row.

Williams played some as an outside hitter during the Rockets’ preseason scrimmage against Roxboro Community School.

Kara Wilkerson is the Rock-ets’ lone senior and is slated to be the team’s libero. Wilkerson was a key substitute last year and was used primarily as a server, but will be needed to shore up the team’s back row after los-ing two defensive specialists to graduation.

“We’re really focusing on who’s going to take charge and communicate on the back row,” Ramirez said. “Kara’s done a re-ally nice job as a senior leader, but we have some players who can hit front row and who can go in the back and play defense.”

For the first time in several years, the Rockets will be look-ing to break in a new setter.

Setters Hannah Hutchinson and Tori Turner will be mov-ing up to the varsity team this season, while freshman Carlee Hawkins is also vying for play-

ing time running the team’s of-fense.

All three have seen time in the preseason, with no clear-cut favorite emerging. Ramirez has indicated that she may put two of three on the floor at a time.

“They’ve all got solid hands and I’m not too worried about it,” Ramirez, a former high school and college setter said. “Carlee’s a solid little fresh-man and has a strong setter’s mindset. Tori’s improved a lot in the offseason and her hands are really good, and she’s mov-ing around well and it’s showing in how she’s setting. Hannah’s got solid hands and is breaking out and trying new things and I’m pushing her. I was a setter myself and I’m going to be the hardest on those three because I know what it takes and I expect them to rise to the occasion.”

Other newcomers to the var-sity team include Myah Smith, Jada McGhee, Jessica Wheeler, Rylee Bledsoe and freshman Av-ery Bowman.

The Rockets will be tested early with first-week non-con-ference road matchups at Or-ange and periennial state power Cardinal Gibbons. Gibbons has competed for championships the last eight years, winning seven, including the last five at the 3-A level.

Person will host Orange on Aug. 28 and will have home-and-home games with South Gran-ville and Halifax (Va.).

The Rockets will also play host to cross-county foe Roxboro Community School on Sept. 8, before opening PAC-6 play three days later against Northern Durham.

READY: rockets looking to make noise in Pac-6


Person outside hitter Casey Goodwin returns after an outstanding sophomore season.

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FROM PAGE 16

8.18 at Orange 5/6:30 9.22 at South Granville 5/6:30

8.20 at Cardinal Gibbons 5/6:30 9.23 Riverside 5/6:30

8.26 Halifax (Va.) 5/6:30 9.25 Hillside 5/6:30

8.28 Orange 5/6:30 9.29 at Webb 5/6:30

9.3 South Granville 5/6:30 9.30 at Northern Durham 5/6:30

9.4 at Halifax (Va.) 5/6:30 10.2 Jordan 5/6:30

9.8 RCS (varsity only) 6 10.7 East Chapel Hill 5/6:30

9.11 Northern Durham 5/6:30 10.9 at Riverside 5/6:30

9.16 at Jordan 5/6:30 10.13 at Hillside 5/6:30

9.18 at East Chapel Hill 5/6:30

Person Volleyball schedule


person tennis

emilee nelson

cassidy gillie

abbie adcock Ashley Cowell

victoria phelps

kayla tillman

danielle russell

Payton Lea

kaity sullivanhannah holt

molly horton

crissa berger


The 2013 version of the Person High School girls’ tennis

team had one of the best seasons in school history.

The Rockets won 20 matches, earned a wildcard berth

into the state playoffs and even had their top-seeded player

earn a spot on a college roster.

But something was missing and a goal was left unful-

filled.

This year, the Rockets are not looking at relying on any

wildcard to get into the postseason. They’re planning on leaving no doubt and earn-

ing one of the PAC-6’s two automatic bids into the state playoffs.

taking the next step

See TENNIS, Page 19


GettinG to knowdanielle russell | person tennis

Number of years playing tennis3 years

SeedSingles — third


The Blind Side

Most visited websiteYoutube


bread

Top sports accomplishmentgoing from 20th seed to 4th in

one years

Things I want to accom-plish in high school before I

graduateTo become the top seeded

singles player, be elected into the senior Homecoming court

Talent I’d most like to havehip-hop dancing


Novak Djokovic

Best part of gamedayplaying a hard match and

hopefully winning


Math, because I enjoy solving functions and equations

Favorite place to visitthe beach

Favorite sports teamUNC Tar Heels

Favorite mealSpaghetti and garlic toast

Who inspires you and why?

my mother because I value our relationship and her advice

What I value most in othersintegrity


Maria Sharapova

In 10 years I see myself....being an elementary school teacher and having a family

“With the wildcard, we al-ways end up playing (Raleigh) Broughton or Panther Creek, or some awesome team like that,” Person coach Lynn Ward said. “If we get second, we may get someone farther east that we could play with and that would be a great thing for us to have a chance to win the first round of the playoffs.”

East Chapel Hill is expected to once again be the dominant team in the PAC-6, while second place should be a battle between Person and Jordan.

Jordan won both meetings last season by narrow 5-4 mar-gins, but will have to replace five of its top-six players.

Person lost three players from last year’s team, including top-seed Hannah Mattson, but Ward expects his deep squad led by se-niors Molly Horton and Danielle Russell, and junior Cassidy Gil-lie to be the favorites against the Falcons this season.

“It always comes down to us and Jordan (for second in the PAC-6),” Ward said. “Last year, we should have won and with a little luck, we would have won both. (Beating Jordan) is the next step for us. With our two seniors in the top three and Cas-sidy, this is our best year to beat Jordan. It’s just an important step for us.”

The Rockets made a couple of schedule adjustments with the matchups with Jordan and Riv-erside in mind.

Person played 26 matches last year, including several home-and-home non-conference matchups against lesser oppo-nents. This season, the Rockets have 19 matches on the schedule, including non-conference tests against Chapel Hill and Watau-ga.

Ward is hoping that strength-ening the out of conference schedule, along with taking a few breaks during the season will help his prepare his team for big PAC-6 matchups.

“Last year, our girls were just never tested until they went to Jordan,” Ward said. “They hadn’t been pushed. Jordan and East Chapel Hill were the only matches the girls really had to play. Maybe that would have made the difference in that 5-4 score. We played all those teams twice and I think with all of those matches, it just wore us out.”

The Rockets have balance in the top half of the lineup with returning starting players Hor-ton, Russell and Gillie.


Person’s Molly Horton, shown here during a match last season, is expected to be a senior leader for the Rockets this season.


Person’s Cassidy Gillie is slated to be one of the top three singles players this season.

TENNIS: Phs eyeing second in the conference

Horton spent much of last season playing in the top three along with Gillie, the only player on the Rockets’ roster with any significant tennis experience be-fore joining the team. Horton in-jured her shoulder late last sea-son, but has shown no ill effects.

Russell started the season seeded in the 20s, but worked her way into the top-six as the season began and was a key contributor.

Juniors Victoria Dunn and Victoria Phelps, and sophomores Kayla Tillman and Hannah Holt are expected to vie for the final three single spots in the lineup.

“I think we’ll be strong at the top,” Ward said. “Where our

usual strength has been the bot-tom of the lineup, we have good players, but just not the experi-ence. We’re perfectly fine at the bottom, but that’s usually where we get most of our wins, but I think this year, we’ll get a lot of wins from 1-2 and 3, especially early. Probably more than we’ve ever had and that comes from a combination of us being stron-ger and other schools losing se-niors.”

The Rockets have 19 players out for the team this year, includ-ing 11 juniors. They open the season with three home matches in the first week against Chapel Hill, Orange and Webb.

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8.19 Chapel Hill 4p 9.9 at East Chapel Hill 4p

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wednesday, aug. 20, 2014 FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #BULLDOGSTRONG the courier-times | roxboro, nc C22

Kelly Snowcourier-times sports [email protected]

1 — IS ThIS ThE yEAR ThAT RCS VOLLEyBALL TEAm BREAkS ThROUGh AND WINS ThE NCAC?

The Bulldogs were probably one of the top 10 1-A teams in

the state last season, but had the unfortunate circumstance of competing in easily the toughest conference in that classification. RCS came within a couple of points of knocking off Voyager Academy twice — taking the Vi-kings to five sets in the second meeting of the season and in the third round of the 1-A state play-offs.

The Bulldogs even had more points in those two meetings, but just not the right ones.

RCS was competitive with eventual NCAC and East region champion Raleigh Charter in two regular season losses, and even took sets off of the power-ful Phoenix.

Both teams are expected to be good again, but lost Division I talent. Franklin Academy was a dangerous fourth-place team in the conference and had some tall and young players who posed a threat.

But here’s the good news if you’re an RCS fan.

Voyager and Raleigh Char-ter have both taken slight steps backward, while the Bulldogs appear poised to take a giant step forward.

The Bulldogs return a host of veteran players who have improved in the offseason, and have one of the best freshmen in the state in any classificaion.

RCS may very well be the team to beat in the NCAC this year, but we’ll know more when the Bulldogs face Raleigh Char-ter on Sept. 11 and Voyager five days later.

2 — WILL ThERE BE VOLLEyBALL DEEP INTO

OCTOBER AND mAyBE EVEN NOVEmBER FOR RCS?

Muzzleloader deer hunting season opens up in Person Coun-ty on Nov. 1, and I can promise you, my readers, that Roxboro Community School athletic di-rector Pete Tuck is well aware of that.

I’m honestly not sure if the man loves baseball or hunting more, but it’s a close race.

But friends, the opening day of the hunting season may be pushed back for the Bulldogs’ AD, because the volleyball team has a real shot at playing for a 1-A state championship that day at venerable Reynolds Coliseum.

This team that RCS coach Meagan Tatum has returning is

FiLe

Roxboro Community School outside hitter Kelsie Holt returns after an All-Conference junior season. Holt is one of three returning Bulldog All-NCAC players.

FiLe

Roxboro Community School’s Garrison Bowes floats the ball over the extended arms of blockers during a preseason scrimmage.

Five burning questions for RCS

fall sports teams

See RCS 5BQ, Page 23

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loaded. She has a four-year start-ing All-Conference setter (Pey-ton Thornburg), two outstand-ing outside hitters (Garrison Bowes, Kelsie Holt) and three middles who all have winning experience (Kailey Oakley, Ry-ann Tate, Kelsey Cole).

Put all that together, and add sensational freshman Mackenzi Thornburg, and you have the in-gredients of what could be a spe-cial, championship team.

The biggest hurdle may very well be a mental one, in that you don’t know you can be great, un-til you do it.

If these Bulldogs can mesh well together, be unselfish and stay healthy, this could be a long, long season that ends in Raleigh.

Also, my daughter’s sixth birthday party was originally scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 1 — it’s been moved...just in case.

3 — WhAT UNDER-ThE-RADAR PLAyER WILL STEP UP AND

mAkE A hUGE DIFFERENCE FOR ThE VOLLEyBALL TEAm?

Taylor Winstead may very well be one of the most impor-tant players for the Bulldogs this season.

She’ll likely see a great deal of time on the back row and will be asked to be a fearless de-fender, but her biggest contribu-tion will be in how she returns serve. Opponents will likely test

her, but if she can consistently make solid first passes to Peyton Thornburg, the Bulldogs’ offen-sive attack will be just fine.

The sophomore defensive spe-cialist didn’t see a great deal of time last year because of the ex-perienced players in front of her, but she has an opportunity to be an impactful player this season.

4 — WILL ThE RCS SOCCER TEAm mAkE ThE PLAyOFFS?

The likelihood is yes because just about every 1-A soccer team makes the playoffs, but the ‘Dogs have a chance to do some good things this season.

First-year coach Troy Bryan inherits an extremely experi-enced squad with 18 returning players, including senior for-ward Paul Luebbert.

Soccer is still a growing sport in Person County, and RCS ap-pears to be moving in the right direction.

A .500 overall season and finishing in the top-half of the North Central Athletic Confer-ence should be considered suc-cessful.

5 — IS ThERE ANyONE ON ThE RCS CROSS COUNTRy TEAm WhO

COULD mAkE IT TO STATES?

The Bulldogs suffered an un-expected loss when last year’s state qualifier Aaron Frisbie de-cided not to run this season.

Not having the team’s best returning runner does hurt, but RCS is bringing back a couple of experienced athletes, most no-tably Brittany Smith and Katie

Pleasant.There are a couple of new-

comers to the team who could make a little noise as well.

Senior basketball player Christian Ingram decided to join the cross country team this season as a way to stay in shape for the hoops season. His fresh-man sister, Elana, is expected to be a three-sport standout athlete at RCS with cross country being the first. It might be a good idea to remember her name, especial-ly when it comes to basketball.

All in all, there are some a handful of tall runners with long strides, which can be effec-tive on the trails, and a couple may emerge as state qualifiers.

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Members of the Roxboro Community School high school cheerleading team include: front row (left-to-right) Kayla Taylor, Vashti Cash, Ashley Foreman, Skyler Bryan, Catie Mooney, Savannah Elder, Emmey Cobb, Allie Carpentier. Back row: Emily Watkins, Audrey Con-ner, Alycia Parker, Elena Meiggs, Brianna Connolly, Madison Howard, Chandler Warren, Jalen Blanks. Not pictured: Talor Allen

RCS 5BQ: high expectations for experienced volleyball teamFROM PAGE 22

C24 the courier-times | roxboro, Nc FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #BULLDOGSTRONG wedNesday, aug. 20, 2014

Roxboro community school

volleyball

camryn black

kelsie holt

taylor winstead

jordan taylor

kelsey cole

logan redd

hannah hawkins

mackenzi thornburg

garrison bowes

ryann tate peyton thornburg

kailey oakley

stated goalsBy Kelly Snow

courier-times sports [email protected]

Roxboro Community School volleyball coach Meagan Tatum

is a little hesitant to talk about the ultimate goal for her

team this season. It’s not that she lacks confidence in her

experienced group, or that she doesn’t have a clear picture

of just how good it can be.

And it’s certainly not that the goal is unrealistic.

She just doesn’t want to jinx it.

The two-time state champion as a player clearly sees the potential of her team

and knows exactly when and where this season could possible end — Nov. 1 in

Reynolds Coliseum playing for the 1-A state title.

See VOLLEYBALL, Page 25

Number of years playing volleyball

9 years

Twitter@kelsieholt22

PositionOutside Hitter


Remember the Titans

Most visited websiteBuckle


a gym

Top sports accomplishmentmaking All-Conference


Megan Hodge


Math, it has always been an interesting subject to me

Who inspires you and why?My mom because I hope one

day in the future to be as great and loving and she is to me

Things I want to accomplish in high school

before I graduateWin a state championship,

inspire someone to play volleyball, share Christ with all

of my teammates

GettinG to knowkelsie holt | roxboro community school volleyball

Favorite place to visitBeach

Best part of gamedayComing together with the

team to talk about the game

Favorite sports teamUNC

Favorite mealGrilled chicken

Talent I’d most like to haveplay the guitar

What I value most in othersrespect


Carrie Underwood


“It’s already tough enough for us to think about all the other games on our schedule, I don’t want them to look too far ahead,” Tatum said. “If we don’t keep our senses in order and are ready to play each game, we could eas-ily be defeated. We’re not an un-touchable team. We’re very good and have good athletes, but we’re not perfect. I don’t want to talk too much about the playoffs or going to states, but that’s some-thing I’d definitely like to see for us.”

But this team looks poised to take a major step forward.

The Bulldogs return the core of the team that advanced to the third round of the state playoffs a year ago — the deepest run in the program’s history.

RCS finished third in a deep North Central Athletic Confer-ence that included eventual 1-A state finalist Raleigh Char-ter. The Phoenix defeated RCS twice last year, but the Bulldogs managed to take a set off the conference champions in both meetings. Raleigh Charter lost several of its key players from last year’s team including lead-ing hitter Joanna Powers, but return N.C. State commit, Grace Irvin, at libero.

The Phoenix had to get through another NCAC power-house on it way to Reynolds.

They defeated conference runner-up Voyager Academy in the regional semifinals — a game after the Vikings ended Roxboro Community School’s season in a five-set, third-round thriller. The Bulldogs were two points away from knocking off Voyager in that playoff show-down, but lost all three meetings last season despite actually win-ning more points in the last two matches — both five setters.

Voyager and Raleigh Charter lost several major players who are now on college rosters, while RCS brought back all but two regulars from last year’s lineup. The Bulldogs also had tough bat-tles with fourth-place Franklin Academy, who made the playoffs as a wildcard and returns many of its key players.

“People graduate and teams are always different, but I still think we’ll be in one of the toughest conferences in the 1-A bracket,” Tatum said. “Knowing that if we can beat those teams in our conference, I know we’ll have an even better shot in the playoffs. Not that other schools aren’t good, but I think our girls are ready. Right now, our eyes are firmly fixed on Voyager. They’re excited for that game. We want to play the toughest teams and seek revenge from last year, but we have to keep track of the big picture and not forget the other important parts of our season.”

The Bulldogs return most of the key components of last year’s team, including senior setter Peyton Thornburg. Thornburg has been the team’s starting set-ter since her freshman season and is a two-time All-Conference performer and one of the Bull-dogs tri-captains.

“Her leadership for us already overwhelming,” Tatum said. “The girls look to her to run the show on the court, and she does an amazing job.”

Thornburg has plenty of fa-miliar targets to set this season.

Kelsie Holt and Garrison Bowes return as outside hitters, while seniors Ryann Tate and Kelsey Cole will be patrolling the middle.

Holt had an outstanding ju-nior season as the team’s top hitter just a year after a knee injury sidelined her in 2012. Bowes blossomed into an strong all-court option last season as a sophomore and is even better as a junior, according to her coach.

“(Bowes’) so good all the way around (the court),” Tatum said. “She’s the same type player (for-mer RCS and current UNCW player Molly Tatum) is. You don’t expect much from her in the front row because she’s little (5-7), but she can hit the ball like crazy.”

Tate and Cole give the Bull-dogs a strong blocking presence in the middle and are two of the team’s four returning seniors.

Tatum believes that her team’s closeness will be be a huge asset this season.

“The dynamic of the team personality and chemistry is fantastic,” Tatum said. “There’s a great bond between the seniors and they’re really trying to em-power the rest of the team. With

them as our leaders, we have a huge advantage.”

The Bulldogs also have a solid group of underclassmen who will leaned on for depth, includ-ing four freshmen. Rookie Mack-enzi Thornburg, younger sister of the team’s setter, helped lead the Bulldogs’ middle school team to an undefeated season and is expected to jump right into the lineup.

The younger Thornburg was recently invited to play in the elite USA High Performance A2 Camp at the U.S. Olympic Train-ing Center in Colorado. The 14-year-old, like her sister, plays setter, but is also an outstanding hitter.

“She’s a monster,” Tatum said. “It’s hard to think of her as a freshman. Mackenzi has always had to play up in an old-er age group and that already makes her a mature player and a person.”

The Bulldogs will step out of conference an play a home-and-home series with nearby North-ern Durham and Granville Cen-tral. RCS defeated Central in the opening round of the state play-offs last season.

The Bulldogs will also travel to in-county rival Person on Aug. 8.

RCS will likely have to take a different route in the playoffs this season.

In years past, conferences were locked into a specific re-gional based on location and playoff matchups were pre-de-termined based on how teams finished in their conferences.

This year, the North Caro-lina High School Athletic Asso-ciation (NCHSAA) changed the playoff format for volleyball to match football and basketball,

with conferences receiving auto-matic bids and teams being sent to regionals based on individual school location.

Conferences with all 1-A members get three automatic bids, while split conferences re-ceive two, with the remaining spots in the 64-team field deter-mined by winning percentage of a 22-game schedule.

Roxboro Community School had been going east for the vol-leyball playoffs, but it’s likely the Bulldogs will be sent to the west regional this year. The school may be on the borderline, and it’s quite possible that its conference rivals may be sent east, while RCS goes west.

If the Bulldogs have the out-standing season that they expect to have, it’s quite possible they’ll host several playoff games against opponents who would have to make long trips to Rox-boro.

“I think (the new playoff for-mat) is going to benefit us, espe-cially since we’re in a conference that’s one of the best in 1-A,” Tatum said. “It was really hard losing to a team we’d already lost to twice before, and after talking with the Voyager players and coaches, it was hard for them too, losing to Raleigh Charter in the fourth round. It’s tough not being able to play other teams. I think after the following we got, especially in those bigger games, if we get home games for the playoffs, I think that could be a huge thing. It will be a little bit cooler (in the gym) by the time the playoffs get here, but we have these very, very low ceilings that we’re going to be used to playing in, but not everyone else will. We’ll definitely have a home court advantage.”

VOLLEYBALL: ‘dogs looking to make big jump

file

Roxboro Community School’s Peyton Thornburg returns for her fourth year as the team’s setter.

FROM PAGE 24

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8.19 at Northern Durham 6p 9.18 at Kestrel Heights 6p

8.21 Kestrel Heights 6p 9.22 Northern Durham 6p

8.26 at Franklin Academy 6p 9.23 Franklin Academy 6p

8.28 at Granville Central 5p 9.26 at Voyager Acad. 6p

9.2 at Woods Charter 6p 9.30 Woods Charter 6p

9.4 River Mill Academy 6p 10.2 at River Mill Acad. 6p

9.8 at Person 6p 10.6 Granville Central 6p

9.9 East Wake Academy 6p 10.7 at East Wake Academy 6p

9.11 at Raleigh Charter 6p 10.9 Raleigh Charter 6p

9.15 at Research Triangle 6p 10.14 Research Triangle 6p

9.16 Voyager Academy 6p

RCS Volleyball schedule

By Kelly SnowCourier-Times sporTs [email protected]

Troy Bryan may be new to the position of head coach of the Roxboro Community School soc-cer team, but the group he’s in-heriting are far from a collection of rookies.

Nine seniors are among 18 re-turners from a team that earned a trip to the playoffs a year ago under long-time head coach Tim Ess. Ess stepped away this sea-son, leaving Bryan, as assistant last season, a group of players looking to make a return trip to the postseason.

“I think a lot of credit goes to Coach Ess for getting the pro-gram going,” Bryan said. “(RCS athletic director Pete Tuck) asked me to step in and I was honored that he thought enough of me to ask. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

The Bulldogs return a host of key contributors, including forward Paul Luebbert. Lueb-bert had a big junior season and helped lead the team’s offensive attack. Chipi Llerena is also ex-pected to be a scoring threat for the ‘Dogs.

Bryan also expects good things this season from midfield-ers Colin Winstead and Bryce Snow and has experience on the backline with defenders Nick Al-len and Cody Morast in front of sophomore goalie Noah Carver.

“We should have a pretty good team coming back,” Bryan said. “I’m excited. I’m looking forward to the season. I’m look-ing forward to this year after so many bad years and all the struggling for years and years.

Kelly snow | Courier Times

Members of the Roxboro Community School soccer team include: front row (left-to-right) Caleb Vanek, Collin Winstead, Cody Morast, Jeremy Shaw, Tyler Amato. Middle row: Bryce Snow, Noah Carver, Bryson Mooney, Blake Hudson, Chipi Llerena, Jon Mussatti. Back row: coach Troy Bryan, David Oakley, Dennis Luebbert, Nick Allen, Alex Shaw, Paul Luebbert, Daniel Oakley. Not pictured: Weston Womack, Jared Adcock, Daniel Taylor, Jack Wallace, Noah Wilkins.

File

Roxboro Community School senior Paul Luebbert is expected to be one of the key players for the Bulldogs this season.

I’m hoping we do a little better this year and maybe a do a little better than .500.”

The Bulldogs earned a bid to the 1-A state playoffs but were knocked out in the opening round by Northwest Conference co-champion East Surry.

Bryan is hoping for a return trip to the postseason and maybe even a little more.

“They’re looking (to make it back to the playoffs), but I’m

looking for a little more than that,” Bryan said. “I’m hoping we can get a win in the playoffs. They’ve got to come together as a team and come ready to attack and show up every day.”

The Bulldogs will open the season Monday, Aug. 18 at Gran-ville Central and jump right into conference play a week later when they travel to Voyager Academy.

RCS will play home-and-home

contests with North Central Athletic Conference rivals Kes-trel Heights, Franklin Academy, Woods Charter, River Mill Acad-emy, Raleigh Charter and new member Research Triangle.

The non-conference slate in-cludes a home contests with Webb and two matchups with Person.

The Rockets will host RCS on Sept. 2 and will make the short trip to East Roxboro on Sept. 11.

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C26 The Courier-Times | roxboro, nC FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #BULLDOGSTRONG wednesday, aug. 20, 2014

RCS soccer schedule8.18 at Granville Central 5p

8.25 at Voyager Academy 4p

8.27 Kestrel Heights 6p

8.29 Webb 5p

9.2 at Person 5:30p

9.3 at Franklin Academy 4p

9.10 at Woods Charter 4p

9.11 Person 6p

9.15 River Mill Academy 6p

9.16 East Wake Academy 6p

9.17 at Raleigh Charter 4:30p

9.22 at Research Triangle 4p

9.24 Voyager Academy 6p

9.29 at Kestrel Heights 4p

10.1 Franklin Academy 6p

10.7 Granville Central 6p

10.8 Woods Charter 6p

10.13 at River Mill Academy 4p

10.15 at East Wake Academy 4p

10.20 Raleigh Charter 6p

10.22 Research Triangle 6p

Senior-heavy soccer ‘Dogs looking for return trip to playoffs

Free Estimates

23 Years Experience

Randy GravitteOwner

Home336-364-3509

Cell336-503-4054


Gravitte’s Floor Designs

Hardwood Flooring & Ceramic Tile

Offi ce 336-364-9259 Fax 336-364-1608

1-800-524-60917807 Helena Moriah Road

Rougemont, NC

Personalized Custom Design, Printing & Embroidery For That Outstanding Design Call Wes or Greg for More Details

We’ll Custom Design Caps, T-Shirts, Sweatshirts & Jackets with Your Favorite Team!

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We proudly support Bulldog and Rocket athletics!

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Cross CreekOutdoor Supplies

Annual Blowout SaleSaturday, August 23, 2014

8 am - 3 pm537 Cross Creek Rd

Henderson NC 27537Closeout on

2013 Merchandise10%-50% off

Boots, Clothing, andother Accessories

Archery Sale - Mission & Mathews(Ready to Shoot Setups)

Scope Sale - Leopold, Pentax, Nikon, Zeiss Etc.

Special Pricing onAmmunition and Drove Load

Hard to fi nd Firearmswill be available

Special Pricing on select FirearmsMuzzle Load Sale (CVA & TC)

Tree Stands on Sale!

Live Wolf, Lynx& Nutria Exhibit

Over 5 Distributor Reps.on site to Help!

Concessions by Venture Scouts (Breakfast & Lunch) Pelicans

Over 40Vendors Outside!

Free Drawing for Purchase

of Firearm

Door Prizes, FREE

Drawing & Raffl es

Champion & Superior Safe Sale

Rep On Site

Fall 2014 Carhartt in stock andon SALE

NCWRC Archery

Range &Face Painting

for Kids

Contact Us!crosscreekoutdoorsupply.com

[email protected](252) 492-9770

Come Out & Enjoy! Fun For The Whole Family!

Find us on:


8.19 at Person 4p

8.26 at Person 4p

9.12 at Research Triangle 5p

9.16 at River Mill Academy 5p

9.23 at Raleigh Charter 5p

10.9 at East Wake Academy 5p

10.16 at Raleigh Charter 4p

RCS cross country

schedule

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! CALL ERIC at336-599-0162


The Roxboro Community School cross country team is only returning a couple of run-ners from last year’s team, but its picking up several good ath-letes.

Second-year coach Yvonne Pleasant thinks her group will be able to accomplish several things this season, but most importantly have enough boys and girls runners to be scored in meets.

The Bulldogs already have the necessary numbers of runners, but expect to have more by the time school begins.

“It’s a time of year where ev-eryone’s trying to get their last minute vacations, so I really may not know what I’ve got until the first day of school,” Pleasant said. “Some of our soccer girls are trying to recruit some more so we don’t have to be disquali-fied. I really think I will. I cer-

tainly have more this year than last year and they’ll learn fast.”

Last year’s state qualifier Aar-on Frisbie decided not to return to the cross country team this season, but the boys’ team will bring back a couple of runners, including Harley Finkbeiner.

The girls’ team will be lead by veteran runners Brittany Smith and Katie Pleasant. Smith also plays on the girls’ soccer team at RCS and is one of many multi-sport athletes on the cross coun-try squad.

“A lot of the kids who are new play year-round sports like soc-cer and basketball so they’re used to running,” Pleasant said. “They’re just not used to run-ning 3.1 miles as fast as they can. You have to get them from run-ning a little bit to running 3.1, and I think they realize when they start how hard it is, but they’re doing really good.”

RCS boys’ basketball player Christian Ingram will join the team this season, as well as his sister, Elana. Elana Ingram is

expected a three-sport athlete at Roxboro Community School, and was a multi-time Player of the Year basketball player for the middle school team.

The Bulldogs will open the season with consecutive meets against Person at Mayo Park. The first meet is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 19 with the re-

match set for the following week.RCS has meets scheduled

against North Central Athletic Conference members Research Triangle, River Mill Academy, Raleigh Charter and East Wake Academy.

The season finale is set for Thursday, Oct. 16 with the con-ference meet at Raleigh Charter.

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Members of the Roxboro Community School cross country team include: front row (left-to-right) Britany Smith, Grace Hardy, Taylor Davis, coach Yvonne Pleasant, Elana Ingram, Katie Pleasant, Sarah Powell. Back row: Te’Shon Clayton, Del Kimrey, Anthony Carr, Harley Finkbeiner, Christian Ingram, Aaron Adams.

Bulldog cross country teams ready for new season

Featuring

• Food • Music • Car Wash •• Water Slide • Face Painting • Popcorn •

• Funnel Cakes • Duke Helicopter •

Saturday, September 13th

10 am - 3 pmRoxboro Community School

All proceeds donated to Athletics Dept.

Person County Sheriff Dept. will be there with ID kits

Person County Fire Dept. will be there with“Smoke House”

FeaturingRCS Bull Dog Day

BBQ Chicken

Leg Quarterswith 2 Veggies,

Roll & Dessert

Plates will be served from

10-2 p.m. or until gone.

$8 per plate

Family related prizes awardedfor top age group fi nishers.

RCS 5K RunRegistration forms available online:

roxborocommunityschool.org.

7th Annual

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WHEN IT COMES TO ORTHOPAEDIC CARE

As the leading provider of Comprehensive

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Roxboro Location799 Doctors Court · 336.599.4079O�ce Hours: 8:00am - 5:00pm Monday - FridayClosed Saturdays and Sundays

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There are so many people out there who will tell you “you can’t.”. What you ’ve got to do is turn around and say “watch me”!

Sometimes I pretend

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gets boring, so I go

back to being me.

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C28 the courier-times | roxboro, Nc FALL SPORTS PREVIEW 2014: #BULLDOGSTRONG wedNesday, aug. 20, 2014

©2014/FS The Courier Times, Inc.

CLEVE WAGSTAFF STONE MASONRY L.L.C.

Specializing In Stone Since 1975309 Wagstaff-Carver Rd. • Roxboro, NC

Phone: (336) 597-5757 Mobile: (336) 597-1393

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