*** CHIEFS' TERRITORY ***

Volleyball Opens Season, Mistakes Costly on Gridiron
By: Wayne White

The 2010 NMB Lady Chiefs volleyball season opened this week with high hopes. On the heels of a 2009 season that saw Coach Estelle Barentine's squad go 20-5 and capture the Region VII-AAA Championship with an undefeated record, NMB has its sights set on moving further in the state playoffs.

"Last season, we had a great regular season and a good start to the playoffs," said Barentine of her Lady Chiefs easy victories in the opening two rounds of the AAA State Playoffs as the #1 seed. "It ended sooner than we hoped when we had an off night against a very good Bluffton squad. We have set goals to win the Region again and compete for the State Championship. At worst, we want to make sure that we are there on the final day."

The Lady Chiefs warmed up for the start of the 2010 season by competing in the Carolina Forest Preseason Tournament last weekend. After going undefeated and winning its four-team pool, NMB scored victories over Airport and Crestwood in the first two matches of bracket play. The Lady Chiefs bowed out of the tourney in the quarterfinal round with a 2-0 loss to Spring Valley, a team that they had beaten 2-0 earlier in the day.

"It was a long day that started with our first match at 8:15 in the morning," said Coach Barentine. "I think that we could have done better but it was a good early learning experience against some good competition. We did not lose until the quarterfinals and that was our sixth match of the day. We had sat out two matches before playing Spring Valley so we were a little cold and did not play our best."

Senior middle hitter Grace Jones was the lone Lady Chief selected to the All-Tournament Team.

In other athletic news at NMB High School, the miscues keep mounting for the NMB varsity football program. In a 44-0 loss to rival Loris at home last Friday, the Chiefs committed three turnovers and were flagged for nine penalties for 100 yards. Couple that with NMB's four turnovers and nine penalties for 75 yards in the opening 35-0 loss at Conway, and you have a not so good start to new Head Coach Perry Woolbright's coaching career.

"We are not good enough right now to overcome the numerous mistakes that we keep making," Coach Woolbright said following the Loris contest. "We are seeing some good things but just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. We had some great kickoff returns tonight that set us up with good starting field position. But, almost every time, we either fumbled the ball away or had a big penalty called against us that would take the momentum right away."

Timmy Bellamy, the Chiefs' starting quarterback and a dangerous return man, twice returned the ball outside the NMB 40-yard line. The first resulted in a fumble on the very next play while two 15-yard penalties nullified the other great start. The penalties and turnovers have cost the Chiefs many plays as NMB has ran 64 offensive plays and gained a total of just 127 yards. On the flip side, Conway and Loris have combined for 112 plays and 613 yards.

With all of that said, let's look at some of the positives so far for the Chiefs. Freshmen Delonzo Williams and Laquinn Bellamy have moved up the depth charts and earned increased playing time. With starting running back Brandon Johnson out against Loris due to an ankle injury, Williams drew the starting role after impressing the coaches during the week. Bellamy has seen increased playing time at inside linebacker and made a couple of hits Friday night that left a mark or two on some Lions. Two other bright spots are the kickoff return team and the right leg of Zack Crowl. Unfortunately, these are two spots that are getting way to much work.

Crowl, a senior that handles all of NMB's kicking duties, has gotten a ton of work punting in the early season. His average of yards per punt has been hampered this season by some poor snaps and blocking by the offensive line. Against Loris, Crowl's best punt of the season was credited for just five yards. On a ball that was snapped over his head, Crowl sprinted almost 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage, gathered the loose ball and punted on the run. The play did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff but does not look good on the stat sheet.

North Myrtle Beach will get its next opportunity to earn Coach Woolbright his first victory - and a chance to score the team's first points in 2010 - this Friday as the Chiefs host West Brunswick at 7:30 p.m. If you cannot attend the game, you can listen live on the Charlie Stuart NMB Chiefs Broadcast Network on the radio at WRNN 99.5-FM or online at www.NMBChiefs.com. The broadcast begins at 7:00 p.m. with the Golden Griddle Pancake House Pregame Show.

SCORING:

RUSHING (Carries-Yards):
NMB -- Clint Cole 1-4, Delonzo Williams 2-(-4), Trey Cox 4-12, Timmy Bellamy 13-34, Stephan Keel 2-10.
Loris -- RJ Brown 22-141, Fred Bryant 7-69, Denzell Strayhorn 2-9, Kentrez Hilton 5-(-9), DL Griffith (1-3), Steven Jenerette 2-(-5), Montell White 2-8, Jamarious Jordan 3-38, Quincy Brown 2-(-7).

PASSING (Comp.-Att.-Int-TD-Yds.):
NMB -- Bellamy 3-9-0-0-6, Cole 0-2-0-0-0.
Loris -- Hilton 2-8-0-0-50.

RECEIVING (Catches-Yards):
NMB -- Temarrick Hemingway 1-6.
Loris -- Sigiwan Jackson 2-38, Phillip Johnson 1-12.