Cardinal Gibbons finds delight in springtime UNC-Chapel Hill visits
The abbreviated Spring 2021 N.C. High School Athletic Association football regular season and playoffs will preclude what was seemingly a guaranteed century milestone for Cardinal Gibbons Coach Steven Wright. A win by the undefeated Crusaders (9-0) in Friday’s 4A final against Grimsley of Greensboro would give Wright 99 wins at the Raleigh Catholic school.
Cardinal Gibbons will play at UNC for the second consecutive gridiron season. East Forsyth topped the Crusaders, 24-21, in the 2019 4A state final. Then, again, Wright and his student-athletes’ most recent visit to the Tar Heels’ campus among May’s first seven days yielded two program milestones.
On May 2, 2019, Wright, Defensive Coordinator Nick Drew, and three Class of 2019 student-athletes (Jalen Brooks, Dominic Carlucci, and Jake Strother) attended the NCHSAA Annual Meeting at the Dean E. Smith Center. The quintet accepted the Team Scholar-Athlete Award for Cardinal Gibbons having earned the highest Fall 2018 unweighted grade point average among all NCHSAA football programs. Before the Annual Meeting concluded, Brooks was honored as the 2018-19 NCHSAA Male Athlete Of The Year.
Nine, 19, 99…Cardinal Gibbons relocated to its current Edwards Mill Road campus in 1999.
Freshmen in spring games
Rolesville, Cleveland, and Cardinal Gibbons have used the delayed season’s developmental opportunities to the fullest. Each school has integrated ninth graders with meaningful roles in their state championship quests. Rolesville (4AA) and Cleveland (3AA), both first-time state finalists, have received offensive boosts.
Isaiah Jones has 442 rushing yards (6.8 yards/carry) for Rolesville (9-0). Cameron Goins has 183 rushing yards and 122 receiving yards for Cleveland (10-0).
Cardinal Gibbons’ Ryan Ziegler (86 rushing yards) returned a kickoff 13 yards in the Crusaders’ semifinals win over New Bern.
Rolesville, Cleveland, and Cardinal Gibbons all will compete in a single 4A classification’s Eastern Region next fall, and each school will return its starting quarterback and leading rusher.
Historically binding ties
Cardinal Gibbons and Grimsley (both known previously by different names) are among North Carolina’s oldest high schools. Both schools have won dozens of state championships in all sports, and multiple 4A Wells Fargo Cups.
Cardinal Gibbons (previously Cathedral Latin) and Grimsley (previously Greensboro) assumed their current names during the 1962 calendar year. Since then, both schools qualified for one football state final before this spring. Neither school has won a gridiron state championship, nor completed an undefeated season under their current names. Both schools are 9-0 to date.
Year of the Rams
Rolesville and Cleveland both have a “Ram” mascot. These newer schools are among the quartet of “Rams” — in four separate classifications — playing on this season’s last day.
Reidsville (2A) is among North Carolina’s most successful programs per state championships (eight). Havelock (3A) won three consecutive state championships from 2011-13.