Mount Airy- Pamlico County
- Thread starter sbbbfan
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congrats to Lady Bears...back to back champs.....13 straight years for NW 1A .....not sure on West years in a row but it’s a looooong time
20 in a row for teams from the West. The Pamlico coach commented on this after the game, saying she wasn't sure why the West was so far ahead of the East.
The worst thing for them is that MA steps up its game when it plays a better opponent. They're good no matter who they play, but they're as likely to beat a good team by 30 as a weak team. If an opponent showed they could actually fight back, MA dialed up the intensity to 11 on them. Against weak teams, they took it easy more often than not; they were more interested in getting people playing time than in mercy-ruling people this season. (Last year, MA's bench was so good that they mercy-ruled people anyway.)
I don't know if there are 10 West teams better than Pamlico, but I know the last two MA played were. Murphy would have beaten any 1A in the state the last two years except for MA, and Cherokee was pretty close to them. East Wilkes, who MA beat this year before Murphy, would have beaten Pamlico although it would have been competitive. EW wins eight of 10 from Pamlico if I had to guess.
Pamlico was way better than Highlands, the team MA beat in the third round. Alleghany was quite a bit better than Highlands, but ran into MA sooner. If they played Pamlico 10 times, Pamlico wins six or seven of 10.
The worst thing for them is that MA steps up its game when it plays a better opponent. They're good no matter who they play, but they're as likely to beat a good team by 30 as a weak team. If an opponent showed they could actually fight back, MA dialed up the intensity to 11 on them. Against weak teams, they took it easy more often than not; they were more interested in getting people playing time than in mercy-ruling people this season. (Last year, MA's bench was so good that they mercy-ruled people anyway.)
I don't know if there are 10 West teams better than Pamlico, but I know the last two MA played were. Murphy would have beaten any 1A in the state the last two years except for MA, and Cherokee was pretty close to them. East Wilkes, who MA beat this year before Murphy, would have beaten Pamlico although it would have been competitive. EW wins eight of 10 from Pamlico if I had to guess.
Pamlico was way better than Highlands, the team MA beat in the third round. Alleghany was quite a bit better than Highlands, but ran into MA sooner. If they played Pamlico 10 times, Pamlico wins six or seven of 10.
location! NW teams can go 30 mins in every directions and get a tough, quality game night in night out...not enough strength in the East for that to happen...West schools are more than prepared come playoff time
I really don't know how much of a factor that's been for MA, though. WSP has been one of the worst teams in the state the last two seasons, Bishop is still good but nothing like it was, and Atkins moved up to 2A after last year. This year, the NW1A was Mount Airy, two good-but-not-great teams in East and Bishop, and that was it. The 13 in a row probably ends next year, unless WSP or Bishop loads up again.
One of the reporters actually asked Jo Snow about the conference preparing them to win the championship in the postgame press conference on Saturday, and she was kind of stumped about how to respond. The best anyone did was Bishop losing by 15 and 13, and when they played them in the tournament final, MA won by 30.
Other than West Forsyth, the best teams they saw in the regular season were Forbush and North, both non-conference. Other than that, it was just the playoff teams.
One of the reporters actually asked Jo Snow about the conference preparing them to win the championship in the postgame press conference on Saturday, and she was kind of stumped about how to respond. The best anyone did was Bishop losing by 15 and 13, and when they played them in the tournament final, MA won by 30.
Other than West Forsyth, the best teams they saw in the regular season were Forbush and North, both non-conference. Other than that, it was just the playoff teams.
Bishop was a young team with just 2 seniors so they will be very good next year. East Surry was young too, and they picked up a huge transfer a couple of weeks ago that will make them even better. Mount Airy will still be good, just not as dominant as they have been the past 2 years. MA was not challenged very much this season, but losing tough games as 9th and 10th graders only prepared them for the last 2 seasons.
