SIDNEY RICE'S TRIP THROUGH THE NFL PLAYOFFS ( PART 2 )

Well Sidney Rice's trip through the NFL playoffs came to a disappointing end for this season, as the Minnesota Vikings fell to the New Orleans Saints 31 to 28 in over-time on Sunday night in The Big Easy. The Vikings dominated the game in every phase eccept turnovers and the scoreboard. The Vikings had 5 turnovers to the Saints 1. The most critical of the turnovers came with just 19 seconds left, when Brett Favre trying to make a play, was intercepted trying to get the ball to Rice. The Vikings would have had a chance to try to win the game in regulation with a long field goal.

Sidney Rice had 4 catches for 43 yards and 1 TD in the game. For the two games that Rice played in the playoffs this season he had 10 catches for 184 yards and 4 TDs and an 18.4 per catch average. It was a very disappointing end to a fantastic breakthrough season for Sidney Rice and his NFL career. I really expect Rice to work hard during the off season and come back next season even better and continue to build his career toward NFL stardom. Good Luck Sidney, we here at Tribe Blitz and all of your fans back here in Gaffney are proud of you and we are pulling for you and your continued success in the NFL and in Life.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL UPDATE

The Tribe's boys basketball team of coach Mark Huff, suffered their first Region 3 loss of the season last Tuesday night as they fell at The Burial Ground 66 to 62 to Fort Mill. The Indians trailed by 10 points going to the 4th quarter, but were able to win the 4th quarter and have a chance to pull the game out but came up a little short. The Tribe very seldom loses at The Burial Ground but they just could not get over the hump in this one.

After suffering their first Region 3 loss of the season the Gaffney boys went on the road to Northwestern for a rematch of last season's Upper State Championship Game against the Trojans. The Indians survived, after squandering a 12 point lead in the 2nd half, as Dershawn Dawkins hit a game winning shot as time expired to give the Indians a 73 to 71 victory over the Northwestern Trojans. The Indians record improved to 15 and 2 over-all and 3 and 1 in Region 3 4A.

The Tribe's girls basketball team also went 1 and 1 last week as they were able to pound Fort Mill 56 to 27. The Lady Indians had balanced scoring and played very good defense in getting the win over the Lady Yellow Jackets.

On Friday night the Gaffney Lady Indians played at Northwestern against the unbeaten Lady Trojans. Gaffney had a 39 to 31 3rd quarter lead when Northwestern went on a 23 to 0 run to take control of the game and get the win 69 to 59. The Lady Trojans remain unbeaten at 17 and 0 and 4 and 0 in Region 3. The Gaffney Lady Indians record falls to 11 and 4 over-all and 3 and 1 in Region 3 4A.

TRIBE'S BASKETBALL GAMES THIS WEEK

The Gaffney Indians and Lady Indians basketball teams play two games at home in the friendly confines of The Burial Ground as they host Clover on Tuesday night and York on Friday night. I look for both to bounce back and have an unbeaten week as the second half of the Region 3 schedule kicks off.

FORMER INDIANS UPDATE

Donald Sims scored 28 points in leading his Appalachian State Mountaineers to an 87 to 74 victory over rival Western Carolina in Southern Conference action on Saturday night. Sims was also 9 of 11 from the field in the game.

Until Next Tuesday.