Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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54 UCW SEPTEMBER 27 - OCTOBER 3, 2017 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Joe Grates spends most of his time teaching English and coaching football at Cape Fear High School, but once a week he sheds both those roles and moves into a completely different arena: media star. For the second year, with the help of a cast of student assistants, Grates puts together the weekly "Montee and Joe and the Jam" Cape Fear football show on YouTube. The idea originally came from Cape Fear athletic director Matt McLean, who sent Grates a link to a pro - duction being done by students at Greenville Rose High School. "He (McLean) kept pushing it and said this is doable,'' Grates said. McLean encouraged Grates to get students involved under his guidance. Last year, Julia Polk was the student who handled the production end of things while Montell "Montee" Moore of the Colt football team joined Grates as the on-air host of the show. "It started off with me and Montee just interview - ing a different person each day,'' Grates said. They did one special show for the annual powder puff football game, going out onto the field and creating a Sports Center- type desk and doing interviews there. When Cape Fear made its run to the state 4-A title game, Grates did a segment where he walked the halls of the school the week before the game and interviewed students and faculty. There are plans down the road to take the show further. "Matt had mentioned doing it yearlong, moving into basket - ball, baseball and softball and of course doing interviews,'' Grates said. "We have a green screen in the library we want to use, pushing the boundar - ies of what we do.'' Moore graduated in June, so he's been replaced by a pair of injured members of this year's football team, Chris Matthews and Austin Hunt. The rest of this year's crew includes director Ashlyn Hall, production assistants Elizabeth White and Kelsie Mullins and visual effects specialist Jacob Cole. Also lending a hand are Cassie Griffin and Nature Gore. Griffin said she loves video production and thought working on the show would be fun. Gore said she's been a stu - dent of Grates' for two years. "He's just the best teacher,'' she said. "He's fun and enjoyable and makes class not seem like class.'' A number of the students are in Grates' classes and cite his influence as a big reason they volunteered to help out. Grates said he didn't realize what kind of reach the show had until he went to a local restau - rant to pick up food for the state championship game. The res- taurant manager recognized him from watching one of the shows on YouTube. "It's fun and I love that the spotlight is on the kids,'' Grates said. "It's a feel-good type of thing.'' Cape Fear students bring 'Montee and Joe and the Jam' to Life by EARL VAUGHAN JR. HIGH SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS Typical Friday Game Produces State Record for Bullock by EARL VAUGHAN JR. Part of the magic of Friday night high school football is you never know when history might be made. There was already a ton of his - tory at E.E. Smith's D.T. Carter Stadium when Xeavier Bullock and his Golden Bull teammates took the field against Gray's Creek recently. But Bullock wound up creating his own memorable night by throwing eight touchdown passes in the 53-34 win. Bullock finished one scoring pass short of the state record of nine, which was set in 2012 by Raleigh Wakefield quarterback Connor Mitch. Bullock shares second place on the all-time list in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association record book with five other quarterbacks. Another former quarterback, Trey Edge of DK Sports, Inc., handled radio play-by-play of Bullock's game and came away impressed. Edge played quarterback at Terry Sanford and led the Bulldogs to the state 4-A finals in 1983. "They attacked outside and short and got the ball to their guys in space,'' Edge said. "Once he got the defense loosened up, he started flinging it 30 and 40 yards down the field. It was the greatest performance I've ever seen.'' Bullock completed 22 of 31 pass - es with no interceptions for 287 yards. His scoring throws covered 35, 34, 23, 21, 19, 15, 5 and 3 yards. Jurrod Hall caught three of the scoring passes, Bryan Davis and Rahsaan Young two apiece and Toshiro Spivey one. E.E. Smith offensive coordinator Jeremy Priebe said passing figured to be important for Smith going into the game. "Gray's Creek has a real tough defensive line,'' he said. "I thought we could attack them through the air, get some quick passes in.'' Bullock said the Golden Bulls sometimes have a problem starting slow. He was anxious to avoid that. "I want to execute and do whatever we can to put it in the box,'' he said. "We executed and moved the ball down the field. I give all the props to my teammates.'' While Bullock said he's honored to be thought of in the same company as former Smith quarterback leg - ends like Jimmy Raye and Charles Baggett, he added one big game isn't going to change him. "Mostly I want to stay humble,'' he said. "I don't want to get too excited about having a winning record, because last year we didn't do so good. We want to stay focused and continue executing like we did.'' Asked if Bullock's big night might put pressure on him to repeat the performance, Smith head coach Deron Donald said there is no pressure on Smith, just expectations. "We have expectations and work hard every day to make sure we meet those expectations,'' he said. "Xeavier accomplished it, but the whole team — the offensive line, receivers, running backs — every - body did their part to make it a reality. "We expect great things to happen because of the work they put in.'' EARL VAUGHAN JR., Sports Editor. COMMENTS? EarlUCWS- ports@gmail.com. (910) 364-6638. Assistant coach Jeremy Priebe, Xeavier Bullock and head coach Deron Donald Second row: L-R Cassie Griffin, Elizabeth White, Kelsie Mullins, Nature Gore, Ashlyn Hall First row: L-R Chris Matthews, Coach Joe Grates, Austin Hunt & PRESENT OUR WEEKLY LINE UP 6-8pm WCLN 107.3 CAPE FEAR HIGH SCHOOL COACH'S SHOW 7-8pm @ 301 Wingz, 407 Eastern Blvd Airing on WGQR 105.7 Bill Boyette w/ Coach Jacob Thomas TERRY SANFORD HIGH SCHOOL COACH'S SHOW 8-9pm @ Spinners, 2805 Raeford Rd Airing on WCLN 107.3 Trey Edge w/ Coach Bruce McClellan Coaches Corner w/ Don Koonce 105.7 starting @ 6:00pm 107.3 starting @ 6:00pm Followed by LIVE to The Fields Douglas Byrd HS @ Cape Fear HS on 105.7 Kick off @ 7:30pm Gray's Creek HS @ Terry Sanford HS on 107.3 Kick off @ 7:30pm Ending with Postgame Scoreboard w/ Sonny Jones August Athlete of the Month: Xeaiver Bullock, QB-E.E. Smith MONDAY 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 FRIDAY 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 10 20 30 40 40 30 20 10 50 WEDNESDAY