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Articles by Bill Rollins
JK FB
WILSON — Most things had gone according to James Kenan’s plan by the time its first-round state playoff football game reached the middle of the fourth quarter Friday night. Then events took a turn to send the Tigers home for the season with an 18-16 loss. Hasaan Kornegay had just charged into the end zone on a six-yard run to increase the Tigers’ lead over Beddingfield to 16-6 with eight minutes to play.
'Mot's' Moment:Veteran coach wins first conferemce title as 'Dawgs repel Tigers
WARSAW — Out of one of the most convoluted, penalty-marred games in almost a century of this Bulldog-Tiger football rivalry, Wallace-Rose Hill emerged Friday night with a special gift for Coach Kevin Motsinger. His team pulled away from mistake-prone James Kenan in the second half for a 36-15 victory — and gifted “Coach Mot” with his very first conference championship in 19 years as a head coach.
Tigers regroup after SWO loss, focus on WRH
JACKSONVILLE — An unexpected thing happened to James Kenan’s football team last Friday night on the way to this week’s anticipated showdown with Wallace-Rose Hill for an anticipated piece of the East Central 2A Conference championship. The Tigers jumped to an 18-7 halftime lead over Southwest Onslow, a .500 team overall coming into the game, but then gave it all up in a 34-24 defeat.
Tigers sprint away from Hawks
WARSAW — How about a 99-yard touchdown run on a team’s first offensive play of the game? It’s rarer than rare, but that’s what Stephon Stanley did for James Kenan to jump-start a 41-6 rout of North Lenoir last Friday night on Bill Taylor Field. The Tigers had gotten into trouble by fumbling away their first touch on a Hawk punt at the home-team 28-yard line, and had to stop the underdogs’ push on a fourth-down play from the one.
Coaching legend Barrow lands in JK HOF
WARSAW — Former three-sport coach John Barrow will be one of four inductees into the James Kenan Sports Hall of Fame this weekend, following a two-decade stint from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s as right-hand man and defensive coordinator to head football coach Billy Byrd. Barrow also logged almost a decade as head basketball and head baseball coach, following Allen Swinson and Bill Helton, respectively.
JK HOF Brooks
WARSAW—The late, great gentleman John Brooks was a three-sport star athlete at James Kenan in the middle of the previous decade who set the school record for pass receiving yards in a season and helped the Tigers to a pair of East Region finals in football. Ken Avent III was a year behind Brooks, who perished last fall in an auto accident, and they played all three sports together.
Tigers return from break to crush Blue Devils
DEEP RUN — After spending its bye week taking a long, hard look at how it could play better, James Kenan’s football team resumed the march back toward more meaningful games with last Friday’s 56-6 romp past South Lenoir. “We spent our off week working on ourselves,” third-year Tiger coach Tim Grady said. “Trying to get us better, more efficient and less accident-prone mentally.” The Tigers made positive strides in that direction—although it’s hard to evaluate against a losing team.
Three-sport Carlton tennis swings into JK HOF
WARSAW — When you’re a standout athlete, sometimes you remember defeats even more than victories. Especially at state-level competition. Leigh Ann Carlton, a three-sport standout from 1989-92 — and soon to be one of four inductees in the seventh class of the James Kenan Sports Hall of Fame — has a memory like that. Carlton blazed her way to the 2A/1A combined state finals in tennis as a Tiger junior and senior.
JK's '13 title team goes to HOF as 4th unbeaten squad
WARSAW — James Kenan’s victory over West Montgomery in the 2013 1AA state championship game wasn’t as easy in the early going as the 42-14 final score made it seem. The Tigers were down 7-0 and 14-7 in the first half’s near-freezing rainstorm in Winston-Salem after yielding a 75-yard scoring drive in just five plays off the opening kickoff—then getting shocked again by an 88-yard kickoff-return touchdown. “Yeah, they hit us in the mouth early,” Tyler Pugh said last week.
Panthers rule: State champs dump JK remain unbeaten
WARSAW — After East Duplin’s 28-7 victory over James Kenan last Friday night — its 19th straight triumph — it’s time to take stock of what Battle Holley has going on as Panther football coach, now in his 13th season. Of course, the Panthers’ first-ever state championship last season, and their very first state-final appearance in 2017, are the touchstones of the program’s growing historical significance.
Tigers' 2013 title team, three others to be inducted into HOF
WARSAW — The 2013 state championship football team highlights four new members of the James Kenan Sports Hall of Fame to be inducted this fall. Joining those Tigers are three-sport standouts Leigh Ann Carlton and the late John Brooks, plus longtime coach John Barrow. kAmt249 :?5F4E66 H:== 36 AC@7:=65 :? D6A2C2E6 sFA=:? %:>6D 65:E:@?D 368:??:?8 ?6IE H66< 2?5 =625:?8 FA E@ E96 D6G6?E9 4=2DD’ :?5F4E:@?D @? $2EFC52J[ ~4E] `c] %96 AC@8C2> H:== 368:? 2E e A]>] :? y@9? !] w2C>@? vJ> @?
Shocker:Wolfpack steamrol Tigers
WHITEVILLE — The Wolfpack’s home-field atmosphere can be quite intimidating. It has a brand new Jumbotron scoreboard, and the huge stands are full of their fans. But James Kenan’s third-year head coach Tim Grady wasn’t taking that as an excuse for his team’s first loss of the season Friday night — by a surprisingly wide 42-7 score to Whiteville. kAm“x E9@F89E E96J H6C6 H2J 36EE6C FA 7C@?E E92? E96 7:=> :?5:42E65[” vC25J D2:5 27E6C 9:D C64@C5 E9:D D62D@? 5C@AA65 E@ a\` 2?5 `f\g W]eg_X :?
JK FB 082423_dt_JK-FB bot rail below top story
WARSAW — James Kenan’s punishing ground game picked up right where it left off last season, running for 502 yards with many contributors in a 44-19 season-opening victory over 3A Swansboro at Bill Taylor Field. The Tigers rolled up three 500-plus games in 2022 on the way to a 9-3 record — their best since 2015 (12-2). That left third-year coach and JK alumnus Tim Grady wondering what might be possible when the team rounds into form.
Tigers return to limelight as feared contender
WARSAW — James Kenan has a continuing stable of horses and ponies in its backfield this season, many proven, with several exciting up-and-comers. But the same ol’ mantra about a good ground game still holds true: offense goes as the strength up front in the trenches goes. kAmp?5 E9:C5\J62C 9625 4@249 %:> vC25J :D 2D 6I4:E65 23@FE E96 8FJD 492C865 H:E9 4C62E:?8 52J=:89E 2D 96 :D H:E9 E96 @?6D CF??:?8 E@ :E]k^Am kAmw6 2?5 %:86C }2E:@? 92G6 56D:8?D @? 4C2D9:?8 E96 A2CEJ 2?5 A:4<:?8 FA H:?D :?
Call to Arms: Revitalized JK 'tired of losing to county rivals'
WARSAW—A call to arms makes a fitting season wrap-up for James Kenan’s resurgent football program. “Tiger football is tired of losing to our county rivals and we’re on a mission to turn that around,” said former Tiger bruiser and second-year coach Tim Grady. “We’re not just sitting back saying it – we’re working as hard as we can to it. “But, you know,” he added, “if you want to be the man you’ve got to beat the man.” Changes helped the Tigers make solid strides in that reckoning this season.
Gaby powers Panthers past Tigers
BEULAVILLE – It’s the Chinese Year of the Tiger, which seemed appropriate for James Kenan’s resurgent football Tigers to post their signal victory since a pair of third-round wins over Tarboro in 2014 and ’15. East Duplin decided that’s fine this year for China, but was having none of it. The Panthers had an answer for everything James Kenan did last Thursday night, rolling to a 31-17 second-round 2A East Region playoff victory.
JK FB Tigers pop Camden, head for rematch at East Duplin
WARSAW—James Kenan surprised its football fan base – maybe shocked is the word – when it went almost exclusively to the single-wing offense this year. The attack mode was the early-to-mid-20th-century bread-and-butter for most high schools and colleges. But it hadn’t been seen much in these parts since Wallace-Rose Hill post-World War II mastermind coach Thell Overman retired from the sideline after 30 years (1946-75) and 228 gridiron victories.
Two-Day Thriller: ’Dawgs top Tigers in OT after in-game, next-day suspension because of fired gunshot in endzone
WALLACE – A gunshot was fired into the air Friday night behind the end zone at the scoreboard end of the Jack Holley Football Complex at Thell Overman Field. No one was injured, but fans in the area started running away, down the field and toward the exits. The gunman apparently escaped through a nearby gate in the cinderblock wall.
JK FB Tigers break away for senior-night win over Stallions
WARSAW – Three scrimmage plays into last Friday night’s game, James Kenan led Southwest Onslow 7-6. Early in the second quarter, they were up 22-13 – and the tune-up for this week’s anticipated showdown at Wallace-Rose Hill for a piece of the East Central 2A Conference title was still up for grabs. But the Tigers fixed the final score at 43-21 by their second possession after halftime. They now lead the SWO series 6-2.
Phillips’ 1,000 points, ‘the look’ rate JK Hall of Fame
WARSAW – It was the look. Dezarae Phillips wasn’t a mean customer around James Kenan High a decade ago, she just looked the part on the basketball court. Steely eyes. Furrowed brow. Penetrating stare. Cut right through you, it would. “That was Dez,” said her coach, Wendy Lanier. “She was fun to be around, but that look was intimidating and I told her to use it.” As if she needed urging. “Dad got on me about my face in games, from rec ball on up,” Phillips said.
Tigers building roster depth in run of feast weeks
LAGRANGE – James Kenan’s football team has had seven weeks of feast and one of famine so far in its best season in seven years. And second-year coach Tim Grady is inviting more and more kids to the big table. Friday night’s 51-6 ripping of North Lenoir offered the latest opportunity. “We’re playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores in the second half of these games,” Grady said, “trying to play character football. “In the fourth quarter Friday, we brought in a whole new set of players.
JK HOF inductee Bostic: lineman, Lauren designer
WARSAW – Walter Bostic traveled around the world two or three times a year for several decades as global vice-president for iconic designer Ralph Lauren’s apparel division. Before that, his career almost went down several times while he was trying to find his niche in textiles when the industry’s production was moving to China.
JK FB: Tigers rush for 400 in ‘chippy’ victory over Kinston
WARSAW – James Kenan matched its victory total from last year at six and finished its scoring just after halftime in a 35-12 homecoming victory over Kinston on Friday night at Bill Taylor Field. But mostly after the score spelled sure defeat for the Vikings (35-0 early second half), play often degenerated into a pushing and shoving match, with slaps on the back of helmets and unsportsmanlike penalty flags flying.
Bostic scores 3 TDs as Tigers prep for Kinston
DEEP RUN – The game was barely a minute old when James Kenan’s Manny Bostic took a direct snap at fullback in the single wing formation and burst through the middle. Forty-six yards later, he was angled out of bounds to the right at the three-yard line, scored on the next play, and the expected rout of South Lenoir was on. Bostic scored four touchdowns – three rushing, one receiving – plus a safety from linebacker as the Tigers smashed the Blue Devils 50-7.
‘Guitar Man’ Knowles rode football to JK Hall of Fame
KENANSVILLE – Billy Knowles, Walter Bostic and Allen Fountain hit James Kenan as freshmen in the fall of 1959 as a wrecking crew that promised rugged line play well into the 1960s. Two years ahead of them were such linemen as Colon Quinn, Mac McNeill, Bobby Best, Virgil Lanier and Shannon Brown. Those guys were part of a core of movers and shakers who would provide much of the muscle of the Tigers’ 1960 undefeated Class 1A state championship.
Record-setting Duke RB makes JK Hall of Fame
WARSAW — The late Stanley Broadie was a three-sport all-conference athlete at James Kenan High in the mid-1970s, excelling in football, basketball and track. But his crowning achievement in athletics was setting the then-freshman record for rushing yardage at Duke University. It was the sixth year that freshmen were eligible for varsity in the NCAA. Broadie perished in a car wreck in 2019, leaving behind an interesting story in football and life.
JK FB
TABOR CITY – James Kenan charged back from its first loss of the season with a devastating running attack and rolled South Columbus 55-19 last Friday night. The Tigers (4-1) ran for 443 yards and scored on their first eight possessions in the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Stallions (1-4) are rebuilding after two decades as a 2A East Region power, first under coach Joey Price (1997-2008).
Tigers rebound by taming Stallions
TABOR CITY – James Kenan charged back from its first loss of the season with a devastating running attack and rolled South Columbus 55-19 last Friday night. The Tigers (4-1) ran for 443 yards and scored on their first eight possessions in the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Stallions (1-4) are rebuilding after two decades as a 2A East Region power, first under coach Joey Price (1997-2008).
Warren's relay quartet sprint their way in JK HOF
WARSAW— Cornelius Warren had been a successful track coach for almost two decades when he took an English teaching job at James Kenan High in 2007. But it took weeks for Kenneth Houston – his good friend and JK principal, and also George Garner, boys basketball coach – to convince him to coach track. Warren had coached state champions at alma mater Goldsboro High in 1999, and had operated a youth track club for years in his hometown. He just didn’t want to be stretched too thin in his new job.
James Kenan names nine to Athletics Hall of F
WARSAW – Eight former Tiger athletes and a coach will be inducted into the James Kenan High School Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the school on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 6 p.m. Admission is free. This year’s class will also continue an induction weekend tradition of being announced and marching out on the football field at halftime of the football game the night before. The oppoonent is Southwest Onslow. It’s the sixth JK HOF class and first since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disqualification mars JK’s third straight win
WARSAW – James Kenan won its third straight game to open a season for the first time since 2015 last Friday night with a 46-26 big start/late pullaway past Eastern Wayne (1-2) at Bill Taylor Field. But not before the intense competition was marred by a benches-clearing squabble late in the third quarter that saw JK second-year head coach Tim Grady disqualified from the rest of the game.
Bostic’s 4 TDs ignite Tigers past Dixon
WARSAW – Emanuel (Manny) Bostic’s time arrived last Friday night. The senior running back played a key role last year in James Kenan’s resurgent football season when he enthusiastically manned one of several key support backfield roles behind then-senior Andrew Pender, who is now playing wide receiver at Presbyterian College. But Bostic had his breakout game in last Friday night’s home opener, a 43-3 dispatching of Dixon.
Tigers KO Chargers with second-most points in a game
LITTLEFIELD – James Kenan rolled up the second-most points in its 66-year football history and cruised to a 69-21 rout of Ayden-Grifton in both’s season opener Friday night. Second-year coach Tim Grady engineered this one – and he was a junior lineman on the top one, 75-0 at North Johnston in 1998. “Ha! – I was on that ’98 team!” Grady blurted Saturday while working out at JK’s Bill Taylor Field with his family in tow.
Tigers on prowl: experience, depth brighten future
WARSAW – James Kenan snapped out of the football doldrums last fall with its first winning season since 2015. Now, second-year head coach and Class of 2000 alumnus Tim Grady has solid plans for that to signal the start of the Tigers’ return to playoff relevancy. That will be tougher in 2A instead of 1AA in the glory years under coach Ken Avent Jr. (2006-16). But Grady definitely sees it coming. “I feel like there’s been a misconception that we lost most of our talent from last year,” Grady said.
Grace on Purpose helps area teens with college, life
KENANSVILLE – James Kenan basketball Hall of Famer Anita Rogers Miller has continued her impact on area sports in a teaching and coaching career that reaches beyond those roles. Her latest venture – with the help of her husband Steven Miller, also a former Tiger athlete, and current JK girls basketball coach Kenny Williams – is entitled Grace on Purpose 4 Purpose.
Rebels rapped by Wildcats, both school make playoffs
NEWTON GROVE—A third straight blowout loss sent North Duplin home from Hobbton on Friday night after a 53-12 loss with distant thoughts of making the state playoffs. If any. They had just finished in a three-way tie for third place in the six-team Carolina 1A Conference with Hobbton and Lakewood, whom they edged earlier 35-34. But make it they did. For the 21st straight year, covering every season since the year 2000.
Covid outbreak ends season for Wildcats
RICHLANDS—Pat Byrd was more concerned about what his seniors missed than anything else when his Richlands football team had its Friday night season finale with Southwest Onslow canceled on Thursday. Byrd has called this spring season of extreme ups and downs “Covid football.” This was the final blow. There was a positive Covid-19 test within his program, which calls for quarantining at home for two weeks. The Wildcats weren’t in the running for a state playoff spot, so that was that.
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