Eagles prepare for eastern regional

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on March 5, 2014 1:47 PM

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FAYETTEVILLE -- Rosewood head girls' basketball coach Rick Grantham wished he could have brought his team to the Crown Arena on Monday afternoon.

He decided to involve the girls in another way.

While touring the facility, the click and flash on Grantham's cell phone camera were hardly noticeable. And the images quickly appeared on the RHSGirlsBasketball Twitter account.

Pic one -- an outside shot of Crown Arena.

"This is where the magic will happen. Let's Roll!!!"

Pic two -- an empty arena.

"Put some people in those seats!!"

Grantham expects to see a sea of purple- and gold-clad fans when the state-ranked Eagles (24-1 overall) face East Columbus (19-5) on Friday in semifinal-round play of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A eastern regional. Tip-off is 8:30 p.m.

The winner faces either No. 1-ranked Martin Riverside (27-0) or Pamlico County (23-5) in the championship Saturday. Tip-off is 6 p.m.

"In reality, you dream about stuff like this and I told our kids that at the beginning of the season," Grantham said. "When we came back to school after Christmas break, I thought we had enough to win our league and I told them that we should win the league."

Confident in his players' abilities, Grantham didn't stop there.

"I told them we could make a good run in the playoffs," he said.

Stunned players stared back at their coach.

"Really, are you serious?" they asked.

"I'm dead serious," Grantham said.

Rosewood has undoubtedly been on a roll since. The Eagles -- in dominating fashion -- captured their first-ever Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season crown since 2007, and fourth overall in program history.

They put their 20-game win streak on the line against the Gators, who have won 16 straight after a 3-5 start. East Columbus is making its second consecutive trip to Fayetteville and fourth regional appearance overall.

"After seeing Princeton the other night and the fact that Rosewood beat Princeton (twice), we're going to have our hands full," first-year EC head coach Jon Scharpenberg said.

"At this point, every team you play is very good. It's going to be a matter of trying to do what you do well and take away what the other team does well. We'll see what happens."

Grantham has received a few extra pats on the back, emails, text messages and congratulatory phone calls. The praise is humbling, but the salt-and-pepper-haired coach credits his players, who have entered the program's history books.

"It's neat ... not about me," Grantham said. "It's about those kids, what they deserve. It's their work."