RM's Battle to lead East in 2025 East-West All-Star Football Game

Rocky Mount’s Jason Battle will lead the East football team in the 2025 North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star Game.

Battle, the head coach for the Gryphons, will be assisted by Will Bland (J.H. Rose), Ernest King Jr. (Westover), Scott Loosemore (Scotland), Ben Penny (Triton) and Johnathan Sherman (Gray’s Creek).

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Battle said. “I am humbled by it as well as I am really appreciative that somebody sees or respects what I do at Rocky Mount High. I think it’s a huge accomplishment in my career.”

Battle, a former all-conference three-sport athlete in football, baseball and basketball at Rocky Mount, replaced Richard ‘Dickie’ Schock, who resigned after the 2011 season with a 13-18-1 overall record (5-9 in the Big East 3A Conference) in three years with the Gryphons.

Since 2012, Battle has compiled a 95-50 overall record, including a 44-19 ledger in the Big East 3A and Big East 2A/3A Conference.

He captured conference championships in 2015 and 2020 when Rocky Mount completed a perfect 5-0 league slate in both seasons, respectively.

Battle and the Gryphons enjoyed a special two-year run of success in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, going 27-5 overall in that span and playing for state championships in consecutive seasons.

In 2015, Rocky Mount won the Big East 3A Conference title, outscored opponents 569-314 and finished the season on an 11-game win streak following a 3-2 start (the only losses were to Middle Creek and J.H. Rose). The Gryphons defeated Williams 28-13, South Johnston 34-20, Eden Morehead 35-31 and Eastern Alamance 42-21 in the first four rounds of the postseason. The final win was a 24-21 overtime thriller over South Point for the 3A state championship.

The following year (2016), Battle and the Gryphons finished in second place (4-1) in the Big East 3A Conference with their lone league loss coming to conference regular-season champion Southern Nash. After the loss to the Firebirds, Rocky Mount reeled off four straight state playoff victories: 30-28 over Southern Lee, 27-21 over Southern Nash, 49-20 over Southern Guilford and 34-33 over Havelock in triple overtime in the East 3A finals to return to the 3A title game against South Point, who claimed the title with a 16-7 triumph.

South Point finished 12-4 while the Gryphons ended 13-3 overall.

Battle has never had a losing season in conference play since he became the Rocky Mount head coach and has posted winning overall records in nine of those 12 seasons.

“I am so proud to hear that Coach Battle has been selected to coach the East football team,” said Rocky Mount High School Athletic Director Michael Gainey. “I know he will do an amazing job. The North Carolina Coaches Association does a great job in selecting coaches who have represented the state in a positive manner. This is quite an honor for Coach Battle and I, along with peers, are so proud of him.”