Attention North Davidson and Mount Tabor parents!

My friend Dana Warren has been busy this season capturing the images of your student athletes, band members and cheerleaders.  Please check out his website, www.DEWshots.com/sports to check out all of the images from this season.  He's been kind enough to enhance this blog with his work, and I'd appreciate it if you paid him a visit!

Black Knights Escape Spartans, 20-14

The undefeated North Davidson Black Knights defense once again proved to be the difference en route to a 20-14 victory over Mount Tabor in the third round of the NCHSAA 4-A playoffs.  Senior Devonte Moore rushed for 94 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore lineman Shy Tuttle added one of his own to pace the Black Knights.

North Davidson Celebrates on Friday Knight!

In the frenzied aftermath of North Davidson's title-clinching victory over Davie on Friday, I had a chance to take a couple of videos and interview some of the Black Knight athletes.  Erin Andrews I'm not, but I enjoyed talking to this year's conference champions!

North Davidson vs Davie Pregame Video

Now that my knees don't hurt from running up and down the sidelines all night on Friday, I found time to piece together the all the video and audio I took.  Let's start with the scene prior to the kick.  Make no mistake, this was as fine an atmosphere as you'll find at a game on ANY level. Here's what I saw during pregame on Friday:

Suddenly Saturday- North Davidson v.Davie Recap

  

Emotions ran high at War Eagle Stadium for the contest between the War Eagles and the Black Knights from North Davidson Friday night, both on the field and in the stands.  Davie High's venerable stadium was filled to capacity on both sides, with considerable spillover in the SRO areas in the end zone.  The game lived up to the hype as the Black Knights eventually prevailed 34-24, wrapping up the Central Piedmont 4-A championship and a perfect season in the process.

An Open Letter to Reagan High School

Dear Reagan Raider Nation,

During the first week of the football season I was asked by WXII to cover your game against Glenn and provide some details for the highlight show.  I sat in the stands (live tweeting the game) and thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and, of course, the football.  A week later, this little blog was born and I was off and running.

Fast forward 7 weeks and I am finally making my return visit to Pfafftown and I want nothing more than to showcase the Reagan Raiders and their incredible fans!  So this is my plea to you, dear Raiders.  I'm asking you to help me, help you.  Because you see, my friends, things have changed around these here parts.

Pop Quiz! Caroline Wooten- North Davidson High School

When anyone asks me what I like best about covering prep sports so far, I have an easy answer: I'm constantly reminded that our community is filled with bright kids who are into much more than video games and Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

In fact, later today I will be creating a separate page strictly to display this season's Pop Quiz! participants.  I would encourage all visitors to this blog to read through each profile, even if it is about a student at a rival school. Each student's answers have been impressive in his or her own way, and this week's entrant is no different.

This past weekend, I got an unsolicited email in my inbox that said the following:

"Hello, my name is Caroline Wooten, and I am a varsity cheerleader at North Davidson High School. I just wanted to thank you for featuring North Davidson on your blog for the past two weeks! We're having a very good season, so I hope you drop by another game soon! Your blog is great and I'll make sure to tell everyone about it! Keep up the good work and have a great day!"

What?

I was shocked and moved at the same time.  I immediately asked Caroline if she wanted to participate in our Pop Quiz! and she readily accepted.  To my ultimate delight, Caroline fits right in with all of our other participants this year...but I'll let her tell you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Miss Caroline Wooten!

March on, Black Knights

One of the things I missed last week was the marching band.  With all the Homecoming festivities going on, I think I heard them play the National Anthem and that's it.  I'm a sucker for a good old marching band, and the Marching Black Knights did not disappoint.  They were absolutely fantastic!

See for yourself:

Taking the Field!



Once the smoke clears, the Black Knights gather in the endzone before taking the field.  If you watch closely, in one of the videos I (barely) capture one of the cheer squad executing a perfect layout!



Knightly Images

Here are a few of my favorite images from last night's game.  DEWshots captured over 200 images from last night's game, so I would suggest heading to his website and spend some time looking through them!



It's Knight Time!

One of the things I lamented not capturing was the pre-game entrance extravaganza that goes on at North Davidson.  If someone has better video, please pass it on and I'll post it!

Suddenly Saturday

I once again had the pleasure of spending a Football Friday in Welcome, North Carolina watching the North Davidson Black Knights run their record to 8-0 in front of their adoring fans.  This time, I brought my HD video camera to capture everything I missed last week! 

Additionally, my friend Dana Warren of DEWshots.com stopped by to capture some images for his award-winning photography portfolio.  I think he intended to stay for only a little while, and I saw him and his trademark hat on the sidelines for the duration.  He was just as impressed with North Davidson as I told him he'd be!  DEWshots is the preferred photography source for Finally Friday! and I encourage you to check out the scores of images Dana took from last night's game.

I'll be posting both photos and video this morning for your viewing pleasure!

Thanks so much to all the folks at North Davidson for their hospitality, and for my friends over at www.ourNDsports.com for all their help this week!  What a great two weeks of football!

In the meantime, you can read Doug Mead's game report from last night's 45-14 Black Knight rout over a talented Reagan Raider group here.

-John

A Conversation with OurNDSports.com

As I happily noted earlier in the week, I'm headed back to Welcome this week to cover the North Davidson/Reagan game.  This time, I hit up our friends over at www.ourndsports.com for some insight into what makes Black Knight football such a special experience.  Thanks to those guys for their thoughtful answers and their wonderful hospitality!

Knight Time, Redux

Somebody pinch me.  I must be dreaming.  I must be, because I thought for SURE that this week's contest between the Reagan Raiders and the North Davidson Black Knights was in Pfafftown.  There's no way I could be lucky enough to head to Welcome two weeks in a row to enjoy some Black Knight hospitality. Right?

I was wrong.

I'm coming back.  Someone warm up the grill for me!

John

Suddenly Sunday

True Southern football is an all-consuming experience best characterized by cool weather, hot grills, and a passion that is without rival.  On Friday night in Welcome, the best of Southern football came together to produce a hard-hitting conference opener that saw the host North Davidson Black Knights finally topple the Mount Tabor Spartans in a 7-6 defensive struggle.

The scene I encountered on Friday night was straight out of a Hollywood script.  Although the weather was less than favorable (a line of thunderstorms had delayed kickoffs across the central Piedmont), I followed a long stream of taillights bound for a singular destination.  I exited my car, saw the bright lights of Palmer Field in the distance, and was immediately overcome by the wonderful smells of fried chicken and barbecue.  The fact that the Spartans were in town promised a special evening of football, indeed, but the atmosphere was heightened by the fact that the Black Knights were also celebrating Homecoming.

I have been searching all season for "the buzz", the feeling I get when the football stars align and produce a special night.  North Davidson delivered within thirty seconds of my arrival.

After setting up shop in the press box, I grabbed my toys and went hunting.  It was not long until I encountered a group of students hovering by the end zone watching their "guests" warm up.  I enjoyed a good conversation with Caleb and his friends.

One of the things that Caleb (middle) let me know was that their chief rivalry was now Mount Tabor.  When I was in high school, the rivalry between North Davidson and Lexington was fraught with intensity and bad intentions.  Now, things have changed.  The link above should play in your favorite media player.

At halftime I sauntered down to the field to make a visit to the student section and met some really enthusiastic students who were more than happy to talk to Finally Friday!.

Hopefully I get some Pop Quiz! contestants from this year's Homecoming Court.  I will post them as soon as I get them back.  In the meantime, Mason Linker of the Winston-Salem Journal provides the particulars of the game here .  I am always happy to share a space with someone I can learn from, and Mason is no different. 

Pregame Images from Palmer Field



Welcome to Palmer Field!



Black Knights getting ready



Midfield on a wet night- great drainage!



My office for the evening.  Thanks, ND!

The Spartans in hostile territory

Tabor getting ready!

My new friends Caleb and Co.!

Friday Knight Lights!

We are so excited to be headed to Welcome, North Carolina for our first visit to North Davidson High School!  Tonight, the Black Knights welcome the Spartans from Mount Tabor to their Homecoming festivities.  North Davidson (6-0) is coming off a 48-3 win over Asheboro High while Tabor (3-2)comes in looking to bounce back from last week's nail-biter against Jack Britt.  The Spartans' only other loss was the season opener against the powerful Eagles from East Forsyth. 

Finally Friday!  is the official Qwixcorer for tonight's game, and you can follow game progress using this link.  Qwixcore is a great application from Maxpreps that allows people to track a game's progress, so that those not in attendance can keep up with the action.  Hopefully, it is user-friendly enough so that even I can figure it out!

As always, please be sure to follow me on Twitter @FinallyFri336 and feel free to drop me a line at jpmundy@gmail.com

Have a great Friday!

- John