West has its hands full with team on a roll

CHAPEL HILL — West Rowan is 29-0, while its 3A state championship game opponent Winston-Salem Parkland is a far less imposing 21-9.

So the Falcons are going to mop up the Dean Dome floor with the Mustangs on Saturday night, right?

Since the game starts at 9, it ought to be over by 9:30 or so. Right?

Well, maybe. But don’t count on it.

There are a few things every Falcon fanatic needs to know about Parkland’s 21-9 before he or she clears space in the closet for a state championship T-shirt.

Parkland coach Mike Pennington calls this season the “year of perseverance,” and he’s not kidding around.

Pennington received a unique Christmas present on Dec. 24 — a basketball team. Quite literally, Parkland became whole for the first time on Christmas Eve.

Why the late start? Well, Parkland won a state championship in football. And they won in 3A, the classification where the proceedings were pushed back an extra week by all that crazy legal wrangling emanating from Gaston County.

While he waited for four football players, including starter Paris Barnes and sixth man Javon Scipio, Pennington practiced with loaners from the jayvee team and even the freshman team. That contributed to a slow start.

Since Parkland plays in the nine-team Piedmont Triad Conference and had league games scheduled very early, it postponed all the contests it could while its football team rolled. But those reschedules caught up with the Mustangs in January.

“We played 14 games in 28 days that month,” said Pennington. “We lost a couple we shouldn’t have because we were just worn out.”

For six of his losses, Pennington needed no explanation. Parkland’s schedule was as dangerous as a stroll through Jurassic Park. Pennington claims it was the toughest slate played by any 3A team and no one’s arguing.

“Winston-Salem basketball is second to none,” he said. “And we played them all. Our nonconference schedule was ridiculous.”

One Parkland setback came at the hands of 4A regional finalist West Forsyth. Two were to powerhouse conference rival Greensboro Dudley, a 3A regional finalist. Three were to R.J. Reynolds, the monster that won the 4A Western Regionals.

“If we played Reynolds 10 times, we’d lose 10,” admitted Pennington. “We’re small and quick, but Reynolds is big and quick. I know West Rowan is big and fast, too, but I don’t think they’re Reynolds. No one is like Reynolds.”

Perhaps no conference in the state was as rugged as Parkland’s. Pennington says his league initially caught grief because it received six state playoff berths. But the complaining slowed when the PTC’s No. 6 seed, Greensboro Smith, won on the road against another league’s No. 2 seed in the first round of the sectionals. The griping ceased altogether when three PTC teams were among four sectional finalists.

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Pennington says his team harbored state title aspirations from the first day of practice and never let go. The Mustangs kept their dreams intact even after a 4-4 start. And they kept pushing after a pair of deflating buzzer-beater losses.

“We struggled some and we could have packed it in,” said Pennington. “But give us credit. Our goal was to wind up in Chapel Hill and the guys always believed we would be here.”

The perilous postseason path Parkland traveled to Chapel Hill was rougher than Tom Hanks’ beard in Castaway.

In the sectionals, the Mustangs won at Southern Durham, considered a potential state champ.

Then, when Parkland arrived at East Carolina University for the Eastern Regionals with its modest 19-9 record, it joined Kinston (26-3), Dudley (27-2) and White Oak (25-3). Talk about no respect. Parkland got less than the Minnesota Twins received from Bud Selig.

“The only time Parkland was mentioned at all was when someone pointed out we had more losses than the other three teams combined,” said Pennington.

But in the semifinals, Parkland’s buzzing gnats chopped down king-sized Kinston in what amounted to a road game, since ECU is only 30 miles or so from Kinston.

“The crowd was 3,000 and maybe 22 of them were for us,” said Pennington.

Then in the finals, Parkland knocked out dreaded Dudley and its star Eric Hicks, maybe the state’s top player. Hicks dunked home 40 points, but Parkland survived on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Scipio.

“The three teams everyone talked about in the East all year were Dudley, Kinston and Southern Durham, and that’s the three teams we just went through,” said Pennington. “So it’s not like we’re sneaking into anything. We deserve to be here.”

Now the only world left for Parkland to conquer is West Rowan.

“From Day One everyone expected West Rowan to get here,” said Pennington. “But we’ve never worried about who was coming out of the West. We’ve had our hands full.”

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Through no fault of its own — West simply showed up at the gym it was supposed to — the Falcons cruised through a Charmin-soft schedule. The other four Rowan teams were a combined 37-66. West won 10 county games and none was tighter than 22 points.

West’s 3A North Piedmont Conference was average at best. The NPC’s second best team — Mooresville — lost to South. The league’s other playoff team — A.L. Brown — was fortunate to win at East. West took its 14 league games, including the NPC Tournament, by at least 17.

Those numbers are well known to Pennington, who’s working overtime to convince his squad that West, despite its undefeated status and lofty reputation, is relatively untested — and beatable.

“The difference in schedules is an area of hope for us,” he said. “In our conference, every time you went on the floor, you were stepping right in the middle of it. That’s something that might give us a chance. West hasn’t had close games and that’s about all we’ve had. We played 30 times and 18 to 20 could have gone either way.”

Upon further review, that 21-9 team that’s persevered actually has a pretty good shot at that 29-0 team that’s revered.

Like the majority of Parkland’s games, this one could go either way. Toss those records out the window.

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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com .