St. Pauls’ Kemarion (23) runs behind Ja’queze Anderson’s block (70) during a Nov. 12, 2021, game against Roanoke Rapids at G. S. Stadium. Kinlaw. broke his own Robeson County record with 447 yards on the floor and scored six touchdowns.
Chris Stiles| The Robesonian
Marcus Galbreath (22) of St. Pauls and Garyen Maynor (10) of Purnell Swett are fighting for the complaint at the start of the Robeson County Children’s Championship Game on Dec. 18, 2021 in Pembroke.
Chris Stiles | The Robesonian
Marcus Galbreath (22) of St. Pauls and Garyen Maynor (10) of Purnell Swett are fighting for the complaint at the start of the Robeson County Children’s Championship Game on Dec. 18, 2021 in Pembroke.
Chris Stiles| The Robesonian
Styles
Styles
Okay, now I can breathe deeply.
After the hustle and bustle of the senior school sports season for the past nine months, the 2021-22 school year for athletics ended on Saturday when St. James Gunter of St. Pauls crossed the finish line on Friday for a third-place finish at two hundred meters. At the 2A State Track Championships in Greensboro.
After covering about 185 live events on site this school year, adding robson County’s top five schools and UNC Pembroke, yours, in fact, could decline a bit in the coming weeks. You don’t take a break, we still print two days a week, and as seen in the long editions, there’s still content to come, adding groups from all counties for baseball, softball, and women’s soccer; however, it definitely works at a more informal pace.
As the 2021-22 school year comes to an end, let’s take a look at some of the most productive games from the past year. Here, in chronological order, is a list of the five most sensible games I’ve covered; there are possibly other games that you may also think of as being worthy of this list for the ones that weren’t there.
October 23: Charleston at UNCP football
Some of those games are memorable because of the combination of several main points to produce an intriguing and exciting contest, and this is one of them. The UNCP had its biggest audience of the season in Homecoming and needed the game to stay in Race. for the Mountain East Conference.
In the 3rd quarter, UNCP tied the score at 14-14 with a hole on the goal line; Two plays later, a double pass from Josh Jones to Rodney Smith to Trey Dixon, who controlled a one-handed reception, resulted in a 45-yard touchdown.
The final quarter consisted largely of two long practices: the UNCP covered almost the entire length of the area before a missed basket, and then Charleston drove in the other direction back to the 1-meter line. UNCP’s Taye Vereen intercepted Guy Myers of Charleston. at fourth base.
It is the third of a streak of 4 UNCP games in which the latest results are doubtful until the last seconds of the game; UNCP won all 4 games in a 6-5 season.
November 12: Roanoke Rapids at St. Pauls Football
It’s not that unusual to see record functionality in a game that comes down to the last game. For example, Kemarion’s first 400-yard performance of St. John at the GcircularPauls last fall finished with a 56-38 victory over Clinton. However, in last season’s 400-yard game, the Bulldogs needed him to survive in a 44-36 overtime victory in the minute round of the state playoffs.
Baldwin, the junior ball carrier who named Robeson County Heisman for the first time this season, rushed for 447 yards, breaking his own Robeson County running record set in the game against Clinton, and six touchdowns, also a record. The total of 447 yards is the thirteenth fastest in a game in NCHSAA history.
Baldwin’s touchdowns included runs of 80, 71 and 51 yards; However, Roanoke Rapids, annoyed, provided the response time. After tying the game at 28-28 midway through the final quarter, Baldwin’s 80-yard run came on the next scrum play before the Yellow Jackets responded to force overtime.
Baldwin scored on a 4-yard carry in the extra consultation before the end of the game on a defensive play: Eddrick James intercepted a pass at the line of purpose at fourth base to seal the Bulldogs’ victory.
St. Pauls Complex to the next round, where he earned the odd thrilling victory in Whiteville, 38-36; the Bulldogs lost 45-28 to seeded Princeton in the fourth round.
Dec. 18: Robeson County Shooting Championships
I’m going to cheat here and pull out an iron two for one of my “top five games,” but that’s fitting since those were back-to-back games at the same site, and even between the same two schools, in Championship on Saturday at Robeson County Slugfest. Purnell Swett swept St. Pauls to win the Girls’ and Boys’ Shootout titles that night in front of a packed space at UNCP.
The girls’ adjustment is a rematch of the 2019 vintage final, which St. Pauls won over the horn, and included many of the same stewards in both groups (if I ever make it to a column of the top five games of my time at The Robesonian, this 2019 game would definitely be included). As in 2019, Purnell Swett played in front for most of the night, but this time the Rams held off St. Pauls and responded with one of their own to pull out for a 66-59 victory.
He had almost finished interviews for that game when the boys’ game began with an 18-2 run on St. Pauls; the Rams slowly got closer over the next 3 quarters and took the game to overtime. A classic three-pointer by Garyen Maynor gave Purnell Swett an overtime lead and two loose throws through tournament MVP Ethan Brewington and Chandler McNeill helped seal a 64-61 victory. .
Purnell Swett’s women would lose until the state playoffs (see below); the men’s team struggled after their 3 brilliant nights in December. The juxtaposition of those two groups that won the Shootout titles made the night and the effects even more intriguing.
February 24: Green in Women’s Basketball Purnell Swett
The Purnell Swett women’s basketball team won its first 25 games, following its Shootout championship with normal season and tournament titles at United-8. They lost 55-53 to Green Level at the circular time of the state playoffs, but that score only says component of history and necessarily why the game is on that list.
In an environment that matched the Shootout, the Lady Rams lost 26-4; They may have simply retired smoothly at the time, but they moved forward to gradually close the gap, hitting a 29-16 deficit at halftime and less than six in the third quarter.
Purnell Swett came within a point at 50-49 in the final quarter; Trailing 55-51 at the end, Josey Locklear connected on a basket with thirteen seconds to play to turn it into a two-point shot, and after Green Level’s Madison Nereu missed a 1-on-1 lead, the Rams stepped to the floor with a chance. tie or win when the horn sounded, but missed a 15-foot shot attempt at the end of time, ending the most successful season, boys or women, in Purnell Swett’s basketball history.
It’s part of an exclusive basketball playoff double anniversary for me; after the end of this match, I arrived in St. Pauls for the final 3 quarters of the Bulldogs’ 80-55 win over Wallace-Rose Hill.
May 10: Greene Central at St. Pauls Baseball
Total purchase scenarios are some of the most fun in sports, especially when covering the best students in the school. Once, such a story spread when St. Pauls beat Greene Central 3-2 in the first round of the State 2A baseball playoffs two weeks ago. This game also featured a head replacement at the end of the game in a knockout game, which is memorable.
An error in the fourth inning through first-year infielder Joshua Garner, part of a series that led to Greene Central’s first run, breaking a scoreless tie when T. J. Parker dueled on the mound with Austin Hardy of Greene Central.
Garner was hit through a pitch in the fifth and went on to score when the Bulldogs scored two no-hit runs in the inning. Greene Central tied the game 2-2 in the next half-inning; in the bottom half, Kemarion was hit through a pitch and Parker made one to keep the inning alive for Garner, who delivered a single RBI for a 3-2 lead.
St. Pauls defeated Midway, to whom they had lost twice in the regular season, in an 8-4 resolution at the circular time to advance to the 3rd circular in their first playoff appearance, coach Matthew Hunt; the Bulldogs lost 10-5 to Whiteville in the 3rd round.
Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at [email protected]. You can reach him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.