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A semi-regular update on teams and players around the Triad and North Carolina that have been showing up on the sports world radar at the N&R.

Locals heading to AFC, NFC championships

There are Greensboro natives - both Dudley High School grads - with defensive roles in remaining NFL playoff teams.

Marques Douglas, who has been in the NFL for 11 seasons and played in the last nine, is a key cog as a defensive end for the Jets, the NFL’s No. 1 defense. They’re headed to Indianapolis for the AFC title game on Sunday. He has played that game before, last year with the Baltimore Ravens.

“We’re just a bunch of hard, though guys who refuse to lose and refuse to get beat,” he said in a phone interview this morning. “We don’t care about the flashy stats.”

That may be so, but he was second overall in tackles in the regular season among defensive linemen. And had this season he had a fumble recovery for a touchdown in the Jets December win over Indianapolis. It was the first of his career.

“I just want to go out and be an asset to my team,” Douglas said, taking the one-game-at-a-time strategy. “And our goal is, right now, we’re a 1-0 team. If we’re 1-0 again at seven o’clock on Sunday, we’re in.”

We’ll have a print piece about Douglas later this week.

And DeMario Pressley plays backup defensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints. A second-year pro who played at N.C. State, Pressley was injured during his rookie season. He has played in eight games this year, including the win over Arizona.

More locals in championships

Tomorrow Haley Dunne begins competing at the US National Figure Skating Championships in the junior ladies events. She once lived in Greensboro before moving to northern Virginia to be close to her current coach. You can follow her on Twitter, too.

Running hot

The Guilford College men’s basketball team (15-1, 6-1 ODAC) is on an 11-game win streak. And the Quakers this week moved up to No. 2 in the nation in the Division III men’s basketball rankings from D3hoops.com. The Quakers rose from No. 6 last week, and probably with a feeling of being vindicated for their only loss this season after a win over Virginia Wesleyan College Saturday.

Guilford took down Roanoke College on Monday in a 96-62 win, and face Bridgewater at home tomorrow. And if you can't make it over to Guilford for the game, you can catch it online.

Also hot

UNCG’s Ben Stywall continues to pull down double-doubles. He has eight so far this season after Saturday's game, and also moved to 14th all-time in scoring for the men’s program. Unfortunately, his good play isn’t necessarily making victories pile up, but there may be hope for the program later this month in games against potentially easier opponents in Samford University and Elon University.