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Pamlico's Greg Moye poses before practice on Wednesday.
Natalie Sayewich/Sun Journal
Moye’s return a big boost
Senior comes back from injuries from car accident to help lead Hurricanes into 1-AA playoffs
BAYBORO — Learning to take hits and get back up is a big part of football.
Pamlico County linebacker and center Greg Moye took a hard hit just before the beginning of the season, but he got back up.
On Saturday, Aug. 11, the Hurricanes had a preseason scrimmage at 8 a.m. that had been postponed from the previous evening due to poor weather conditions.
Moye was running behind schedule that morning.
“I was on my way to a scrimmage game against Croatan,” Moye said, “I woke up late and I was in a rush.”
Moye got to the end of his road in his mother’s Honda Accord, and stopped at a stop sign.
He looked left, then turned to his right where he saw a friend’s mom pulling in. After waving to her, he proceeded, looking back to the left as he pulled out. That’s when he spotted the other car, just before it hit the driver’s side of the Accord.
The accident broke Moye’s left hip. He spent four or five days in the hospital and a week in a wheelchair.
“When I first got to the hospital, after I got all my x-rays and MRIs, the doctor came in and told me I wouldn’t be playing this season.
“When they transferred me to Greenville, the doctors there told me I might play a couple of games at the end of the season. Finally, when I went to Dr. (William) Wheatley (of East Coast Orthopedics), he said, I might be back in about six weeks.”
But Moye wasn’t the only one that felt the impact of the hit that Saturday morning.
“We had to restructure our offense quite a bit,” Pamlico coach Pat Whitford said. “Not having Greg in at center to make the shotgun snaps. That was something that everybody saw, but really, we missed him on defense.
“Greg reads the ball real well and is rarely in the wrong place. So, to have him back at linebacker definitely frees us up to do some stuff with some other guys.”
Moye was cleared the game against conference rival Jones Senior on October 12, nearly nine weeks after his accident.
“He’s a big help,” linebacker Logan Morris said, “He’s one of our bigger linebackers. We need him in the middle.”
Though he played only a small portion of the third quarter against Jones Senior, Moye said it helped him.
“It wasn’t hurting me at all, so it gave me a lot more confidence for the next week,” he said.
Now, Whitford said he’s back playing at the level he was before his accident, or better.
“Probably better, because that was early in the year,” Whitford said. “He’s definitely at mid-year speed now.”
Though the coaches might not see the difference, Moye sees it in himself.
“I think maybe I’ve lost a step in my speed,” Moye said. “The muscles around where I hurt my hip, the doctor said, are going to be stiff. They’re still loosening up out there. The next morning, they’ll be tightened up again.”
Moye said he was excited about Friday night’s game against North Johnston, not necessarily because it’s a playoff game, but just because he gets to play period.
“I love playing football. I just want to hit somebody”
After the hit he took early in the season, perhaps he has earned it.
Natalie Sayewich can be reached at (252) 635-5668 or at nsayewich@freedomenc.com
