The A.L. Brown football team and head coach Ron Massey don’t like sitting home on Friday nights in the fall.
So when the N.C. High School Athletic Association announced the postponement of tonight’s 3Aplayoff games, Massey and the Wonders quickly made new plans.
Instead of taking on South Point in the opening round of the playoffs, Massey said he’s going out on a date with wife Sherry.
It’s been a long time since a Wonder football coach has been able to relax on a Friday night in November. There’s nowhere the Wonders would rather be than in Memorial Stadium.
But instead of complaining about it, Massey gave his team the day off and tried to make the best of it.
“I told the kids if this is the worst thing that ever happens to us, we’re lucky,”Massey said this morning.
Massey did his best to put a positive spin on the situation. He found out about the one-week delay Thursday afternoon — right after he spent all day marking the field. That, he reported ruefully, is a job that likely won’t keep until next week.
Most of the Wonder players and many of their fans figure to take the short trip to neighboring Landis tonight, where 4A South Rowan entertains McDowell in a playoff opener.
“At South, it’ll help their gate a lot,”Massey said. “I’m going to ask them for a loan after tonight.”
Despite the humor Massey could find in the situation, he’s also well aware of the repercussions from the court case raging over North Gaston’s eligibility. When the NCHSAAdeclared North Gaston ineligible for using an illegal player, parents took the case to the courts, resulting in the current hold-up.
“It’s a shame. That’s society now,”Massey said. “We’ve got a governing body (NCHSAA) and I think we need to go by what the governing body says, whether you agree or disagree. Otherwise it creates situations like you’ve got now.”
Among the many negatives from this case, Massey pointed out that his football players who wrestle and play basketball will be reporting to their winter sports much later now.
Also, the Shrine Bowl, which highlights the top players in the state, is slated to be played Dec. 15 — with this week’s delay, the 3Atitle game won’t be played until Dec. 22, keeping several players from the teams still alive out of action at the showcase event.
A two-week layoff at this point in the season might get a few teams healthy, but it’ll also allow some rust to develop, Massey added.
“I wish they’d call today and say, ‘Do you want to play Monday and Saturday of next week?’ ” Massey said. “Taking two weeks off in a playoff situation, I don’t know how that’s going to feel. The season’s long enough for the kids to drag it out. It’s a lot when you start playing near Christmas — if we’re lucky.
“We just have to wait.”
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