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Who knew what was to come this season among Rutherford County high school athletic teams in Rutherford County. One thing is for sure, Rutherford County was successful, brought some excitement and finished off the school year with a state title. Here are the top ten stories and/or moments among high school sports this school year.
10) The lights go out at East Rutherford/Chase: It was like a sci-fi movie had hit Bryan Harrill Stadium. Chase and East Rutherford did battle on the gridiron that November night with Chase clinging to a 10-7 lead. However, about half the lights went out in the third quarter. From there, East Rutherford outscored Chase 24-7 and won 31-17 in a crazy turnover war at East.
9) Chase football doesn’t go postseason: After Chase lost at East Rutherford, the Trojans would fail to make the football playoffs. Chase (6-5, 3-5) was livid after 12 playoff teams in the 2A and 2AA made the postseason with less than 6 wins. R-S Central (5-6, 4-4), who won one more conference games and beat Chase head-to-head got in. In the event of a wildcard spot, the seeding would go by conference win percentage and Chase ended up on the losing end of that battle.
8) East Rutherford baseball: It’s unbelievable that East Rutherford with limited pitching and inconsistency from the Cavs went three rounds in the 2A baseball playoffs before losing to West champion, Bunker Hill.
7) For the first time in school history, Thomas Jefferson basketball (16-8, 10-2) knocked off 1A power Cherryville, won a playoff game and posted their best record this past season. They also missed a fun team to watch under the guidance of Ken Hines.
6) Thomas Jefferson football: Also, setting a school record for wins in a season was the Gryphons football team. TJCA (8-4) had 1A All-State player Efrim Borders as they started 6-1, but tripped up down the stretch at 2-3, despite a pretty good defense. Oddly, they still haven’t won a playoff game though.
5) East Rutherford Men’s basketball: Two of the best players in East Rutherford basketball history took the court during their senior season in Devonte Boykins and Travis Waldroup-Rodriguez. Despite no conference title this season and coming up short against Shelby, they bolted through the 2A West before losing in the Elite Eight to North Rowan. East Rutherford (21-6) and coach Brad Levine have won more than 20 games in the last five seasons.
4) Thomas Jefferson boys soccer: Coach Brian Espinoza took his crew and tied for the conference title, set a school record for wins in a season and went all the way to the 1A Western finals to finish third overall in the state.
3) The ol’ rivalry between East Rutherford and R-S Central on the football field turned a new page this past November on a Friday night. East Rutherford had all the momentum in the world at “The Palace,” going up 17-3 with three seconds to go before halftime. That all changed in mere seconds! East kicks off to R-S Central’s Matt Atchley, who incredibly returns it all the way for touchdown, cutting the lead to 17-10 at half. Central’s defense took over from there and the Hilltoppers came back to win 20-17.
2) Rachel Camp and East Rutherford ladies basketball team: Before heading to Virginia Tech, Rachel Camp finished off her senior year at East Rutherford in a spectacular way. She posted over 28 points a game, earned First Team All-State honors, the Gainey Student Scholarship Award and broke the All-County scoring record going for 3,144 points in her career. The record may never be crossed again as Camp broke the old mark from former R-S Central grad Shannon Hines by nearly 1,000 points. Camp also led the Lady Cavs to the 2A Elite Eight and undoubtedly was the most exciting player to watch this season.
1) State Champs: Although three other sports teams made it to the elite eight or semifinals of NCHSAA playoffs in the county, only East Rutherford’s softball team (27-4) could collect a state championship this school year. A team who had solid coaching, pitching, defense and threatened to score runs about every chance they got to bat. They won a remarkable 23 games in a row and beat seven teams on their schedule who won 16 games or more this season. Tough East Rutherford pitcher Savannah Davis won of the series MVP and had the game winning hit to grab the title in a deciding game three in the championship series.
