On to Round 2 as Clinton welcomes South Granville to Darkhorse Stadium this upcoming Friday night. Clinton started slow defensively but were able to beat Beddingfield 39-18. South Granville advance past Roanoke Rapids in a thriller that had a couple lead changes in the last 4 mins and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the final minutes winning 20-16. These two have met in the playoffs recently in 2016 Clinton won a 2nd round 2AA playoff game vs South Granville 45-7. A quick snap shot of South Granville looks like a hard nose running team with a strong 1000 yard back in Khawan Bobbit the 6’1 210 pound back has run for 1293 yards and 11 TDs per latest Maxpreps stats which I believe is missing a game or two. Clinton had its issues in the first half last night containing the edge and RB Malik Woodard from Beddingfield. Should be a good game between the two I would not pay much mind to the 6-5 record as SG played in what seems like a pretty tough 3A/2A split conference. I’m sure
@tarheelg can elaborate much more on what South Granville brings to the table. Any other thoughts and predictions feel free. Go Horses!!!!!
The maxpreps stats are not missing a game or two (I can verify that because I'm the one who inputs them), but the RB you speak of did....his stats have been accrued in basically seven games, as he missed two entire games (Hillside & Carrboro), and played in two games where he only had 2-3 touches due to injury (Southern Nash & Webb)....the conference has two really tough 3A teams in Southern Durham & Vance Co., who play each other in 2nd Rd next week, but it was SG's non-conference schedule that had the Vikings rated as playing THE toughest schedule in the state for 2-3 weeks in a row on simmonsratings (before the last three conference games against Carrboro, Webb, Granville Central), Orange was week one, we played slow and sluggish in the first half but pulled away in the second half and defense shut them out (much like Clinton's win against Beddingfield it seems), then had the four game losing streak: 30-18 to Heritage a 4A playoff team, 34-28 to Lee Co., a 3A playoff team still alive in 2nd Rd, 34-14 to Southern Nash, a 3A playoff team still alive in 2nd Rd, in the game where our leading rusher was injured early in 2nd quarter, then had our worst game on paper with a shutout to 4A #1 seed Hillside 43-0 with our leading rusher and two other starters out due to injury, then had the bye week to get ready for conference games, started at Southern Durham in a defensive slugfest with their two D1 commit defensive ends making it really difficult to do anything on offense, and SG defense played its best game of the year, especially in 2nd half, SG beat SD 7-6....then the SG game vs. Vance Co. didn't go our way, they made some big plays on deep passes and got the win 27-13, Carrboro probably gave us their best shot in the 1st half, and played hard all game, and had a couple of plays and got a couple of eyerolling calls go their way, but like the SD game, defense played lights out in 2nd half and we eventually pulled away 28-3....our two county rivalry games are almost last on the schedule, (and also the only 2A opponents we played in the regular season) Webb played hard and made us work and had one good drive, one explosive play, and then a late garbage time TD...on senior night against Granville Central, we were finally able to pitch a shutout for all four quarters, and get the game clock into high gear in the second half, and those who read this board have an idea already of how the SG/RR 1st Rd game went
I was there for the 2nd Rd loss at Clinton in 2016 on Black Friday (have only missed 3 SG games over the last 18 years, none since 2009), and remember a competitive 1st Qtr where SG defense forced a punt, and scored a TD, but then Clinton dominated the next three quarters, where if I remember right, SG only got in the red zone one time in the second half and struggled all night to stop the Clinton offense...I remember a social media post by one of our assistant coaches from then (no longer with the program) that praised Clinton as what a powerful program looks like and where we wanted to get to (after a huge dropoff the year before that, going 4-8, and ending with a 35-7 loss in 1st Rd at Beddingfield), I know Clinton will be favored on simmonsratings and that most of the message board posters will be expecting Clinton to win, I'm hoping the Vikings will show up and compete and keep it close for more than one quarter like we saw in 2016 with a team that was still learning how to win...that team played a tough schedule and lost a shootout at Cleveland, won a hard fought game at Fike, dominated Chapel Hill, got dominated by Rocky Mount, won a crazy 1st Rd game at SW Edgecombe (almost as crazy as last night against RR), had solid wins that year against Southern Vance, Webb, Granville Central, Franklinton, and Louisburg but lost bitter; Murphy's law; make you want to vomit type conference games against Bunn and Roanoke Rapids...hoping this year will still be a close one, within striking distance in the 4th Qtr, I'll be on the visitor sideline with my clipboard, or press box if it's raining to keep my papers dry, already heard from a former poster on here from Midway that he might drop in, and I can't help but wonder if Willie Parker and/or James Faison might show up...I talked sports with them many times when we freshmen at UNC the same year; actually had an English class with W.P.; I've always had respect for the Dark Horses program, heard a story from the 1990s when a visiting team in either 1st or 2nd Rd and Clinton won 47-0 or something like that; and visiting team gets off the bus wearing 2-3-4 layers of clothes and still shivering and complaining about the cold but the Clinton guys were stretching and doing jumping jacks and all with no shirts on, see you Friday if all goes as planned
