Updates coming up 7:30 kick!

Lost my feed but the Bulldogs go 3 & out then Panthers score first 7-0.

Murphy driving now. Panthers scoop & score from about the Franklin 15. 14-0 with about 5 minutes left 1Q

Murphy drives down & scores on a 4th & 4 from 19 yds out pat no good 14-6 late 1Q

Panthers march down & score again....not a lot of D in this one so far! 21-6 11:53 2Q

Murphy drives deep but fumbles again & the Panthers are on the move again. Couple penlaties force a punt.

Panthers D stiffens for a 3 & out. 1 play later & the Panthers score on a 39 yd run. 28-6

Murphy drives down but runs out of downs right before the half. Halftime 28-6 Panthers

Murphy D stiffens to start the 3rd with a 3 & out. Murphy starts on their 46.

Murphy driving just inside the 10. After getting to the 5 the Panthers D stiffens & The Dogs face a 4th and goal from the 15.......Murphy scores on a pretty play in tight coverage. (Jackson Perone Franklin's QB who plays DB is down) appears to be cramps. 2pt conv good 28-14 Panthers with 4:34 in the 3Q

Soph QB in for Franklin so a heavy dose of run coming. Panthers down to the Dogs 34. Panthers can't keep it going Murphy ball late 3Q.

Murphy driving with a 3rd down in Franklin territory to start the 4th. Panthers hold.

Panthers grinding out yardage and running clock in the 4th. Dogs get the ball back but are running out of time.

Franklin puts this one to bed with a 43yd TD run pat no good 34-14 late 4Q.

Final: Franklin 34 Murphy 14

All 7 SMC teams won their opening week games last night with Andrews,Hayesville,Swain County and Robbinsville winning on the road....Cherokee, Murphy and Rosman won their home openers....

Impressive starts for Andrews,Cherokee,Hayesville,Rosman and Murphy with the Bulldogs pulling off the biggest win of the night with a 34-28 victory over a very good 2A Hendersonville team that is picked to win the WHC....Cherokee with a shutout at home, while Andrews shutdown the passing attack of Brevard with a 20-6 victory...Hayesville traveled across the border, and shutdown Towns County Ga., and my Rosman Tigers manhandled Shannon Forest as Rosman Sr. RB Gage Orr had a big night in the 49-8 romp by the Tigers...

It's always tough to win on the road as defending state champ Robbinsville found out in the opener as they escaped with a 1 point win over an obviously improved 2A Smoky Mountain team....Was surprised somewhat by the Swain/Hapeville Ga. score, but never underestimate the talent of a Georgia team, especially on the road...I'm sure that Coach Blankenship and Walsh are just glad to get back home with a "W"...

Overall it was a great opening night for the SMC, and could very well be the first time that I can remember all 7 teams in the conference opening up with a win on opening night!

Congratulations to all the SMC teams, and good luck next week against your next Non-conference opponent!

Roar Tigers Roar!

One week out of the way so we have a little better idea where teams stand. The big 3 all looked good from what I could tell. NB could be in the mix. Enka and Mcdowell both got a W. Roberson may me in trouble. Here are the week #2

Erwin at Mt Heritage
Reynolds at Shelby
Asheville at Newton Conover
Enka at Pisgah
Roberson at East Henderson
Avery at Mcdowell
North Buncombe at Madison

Erwin by 21?....I am making this pick with Damien Ferguson playing. He looked great Friday night throwing for 300+ yds and 5 td's. I am bias, but I was very impressed with Erwin vs a really good team. MH went on the road and beat a bigger school and they return all their players from two undefeated jv teams. If ferguson doesn't play I will take Erwin by 3.

Shelby by 6...Reynolds look to be one of the front runners in the MAC again with their win over a good WF club. Shelby is the defending state champion and this game is on their field so I think they will be too much for ACR.

Asheville by 7....Asheville got a big win over a good Franklin team last Friday and they travel to play another good team at Newton Conover. I think the Cougars will take this one in a close one.

Mcdowell by 21....Mcdowell has a decent team and Avery looks to be way down.

NB by 28....After seeing what West Henderson did to Madison I believe NB will have a field day with them. I told everyone the Hawks would give Pisgah all they wanted.

East Henderson by 1...Both teams look to have a down season so I will take the home team in a close one.

Pisgah by 14....Pisgah at home is always a tough win to come by. Enka got a w in the win column last Friday, but that will not happen this week.

What's it looking like this year?? Who are the favorites? Best returning players? Haven't heard much at all with the knowledgeable posters.

This Week - 19-0
For The Season - 37-3


Mallard Creek 24 (2-0) Butler 10 (1-1) - Mallard Creek by 20

Scotland (2-0) 42 Independence (0-2) 13 – Scotland by 10

Vance (2-0) 42 Providence 7 (1-1) – Vance by 12

Wake Forest (2-0) 50 Apex 3 (1-1) – Wake Forest by 22

Pinecrest 44 (2-0) Riverside 0 (1-1) – Pinecrest by 28

Richmond 43 (2-0) Anson 20 (0-2) – Richmond by 28

Millbrook 42 (2-0) Knightdale 20 (1-1) - Millbrook by 27

D.H. Conley 46 (2-0) Ayden-Grifton 35 (0-2) – Conley by 26

Garner 38 (2-0) Cleveland 28 (1-1) – Garner by 17

Dudley 48 (2-0) Ragsdale (0-2) 7 – Dudley by 28

Havelock 41 (2-0) New Bern 6 (1-1) - Havelock by 6

East Wake 40 (1-1) Fike 27 (1-1) – East Wake by 13

East Forsyth 49 (2-0) R.J. Reynolds 0 (1-1) – East Forsyth by 28

Seventy-First 19 (2-0) Hoggard 7 (1-1) – Toss Up

South Mecklenburg 35 (2-0) East Mecklenburg 10 (0-2) – South Mecklenburg by 16

Lake Norman 27 (2-0) Hopewell 6 (1-1) – Lake Norman by 17

Northwest Guilford 66 (2-0) Western Guilford 25 (0-2) – Northwest Guilford by 28

Ardrey Kell 21 (1-1) Myers Park 9 (1-1) – Ardrey Kell by 10

North Davidson (2-0) 19 Ledford 7 (1-1) – North Davidson by 6

A.L. Brown 67 (2-0) South Rowan 0 (0-2) – A.L. Brown by 24

It was a good game overall...Proud of riverside for fighting til the end...

Must be special !

2nd half defense by West was difference...stuff Bears on consecutive 4th and 1 plays....West's Hairston rushes for 125. and 3 scores...Bears Ian Holder accounts for 102 yards of O and 2 scores....soph Robert Brown 2-2 on FG's of 27 and 42 yards.....Bears have lost 3 of last 4 games at home......Bears at Elkin on Thurs night....

Solid week for the conference going 5-4 with a pretty surprising outcome from one of the top teams in the conference.

Western Alamance 52 Southern Alamance 21: Warriors offense putting points on the board big time the first two games. Darius Pinnix is a beast and Tre McCollum is a very good quarterback. Mix in a lot of other playmakers and the Warriors offense is one of the best in the area. Still to be seen how good the defense can be, but with an offense as strong as theirs it doesn't have to be great.

Eastern Alamance 34 Cummings 0: Eagles defense with another strong game. After two years of porous at best defenses, EA looks to be heading back to their dominant defensive ways. Of course the competition hasn't been great yet, so time will tell, but after giving up just 14 points through two games compared to 75 a year ago, its a good start. John Lamot with another solid game, one passing, three rushing touchdowns.

Page 52 Northern Guilford 14: Not surprised the Nighthawks lost (Page is the real deal this year) but very surprised at how lopsided it was. Northern will be fine against most competition this year, but allowing 52 points, most in school history, is not a good start. With big time offenses in Western Alamance and Eastern Alamance awaiting later in the season, Northern will have to shore up that defense.

Williams 28 Graham 10: Williams gets head coach David Grant's first victory against a Graham team that was without standout quarterback Jamie Newman. Offense seemed to play better, but hard to tell much from this one.

Morehead: 46 Martinsville (VA) 0: Good win for the Panthers, back to back shutouts is pretty impressive, no matter the level of competition. We will find out next week if the Panthers are legit as they take on county rival Reidsville.

Reidsville 25 Rockingham County 22 (OT): Speaking of Reidsville, the Rams were almost upset by the Cougars for the first time since 1989. RC led by two scores in the fourth quarter but couldn't hold on as the Rams kicked a field goal to tie it late and scored a TD after RC put up a field goal in overtime. Back to back three point losses for the Cougars who will look to get on the winning side against Eastern Randolph next week.

McMichael 28 East Davidson 10: The Phoenix looked to have shaken off the opening game loss to Reidsville with a solid win over East Davidson. The Phoenix will have another winnable game against Martinsville next week.

SE Guilford 41 Eastern Guilford 29: After a solid win to start the year over Southern Guilford, the Wildcats fell to 4A SE on an emotional night after losing a member of the student body this week in a car crash. EG will look to bounce back next week against Broughton.

High Point Central 51 NE Guilford 20: The good news, the Rams only trailed by one at halftime, bad news is they didn't score any more after the break. Perhaps the good start to the game will give NE some confidence with a winless Ragsdale team coming to visit next week.

Although probably still too early to get a real gauge, conference play does start in two weeks and my power ranking right now would look like:

1. Eastern Alamance
2. Western Alamance
3. Northern Guilford
4. Morehead
5. Eastern Guilford
6. Williams
7. Rockingham County
8. McMichael
9. NE Guilford

EA and WA really 1 and 1A in either order you like, just put EA in front after winning the conference last season.

special Thurs night football ( Time Warner TV Game of the Week)
AM 1300 WSYD AM 740 wpaq
wpaq740.com ....airtime 7:00. H and H auto Sales Game of the Week

Clinton @ SWO- Before the season, I thought this would be playoff type game but after last weeks shutout by J'ville, I don't see this one being close. Clinton 42- SWO 6

East Bladen v Whiteville- A long history between these two schools. Last year was a battle between Manning and Murchison. With both lost to graduation, it will be Carr and Bellamy vs Eian and Ethan Hines. I expect a track meet. East Bladen 38- Whiteville 28

Midway @ Princeton- Not sure what Princeton has coming back but I'm sure it's not a stud RB. Midway has a chance to pull this one off. Midway 28 Princeton 27

Trask @ S. Robeson- Heard SR only had 18 to dress out last week against W Bladen. Trask should win this one but it might be closer than people think. Trask 28 S. Robeson 13

WRH vs E Duplin- I was a little shocked at the ED/Richlands score last week. I will try not to let that affect my prediction. WRH 42 E Duplin 7

W Bladen @ W Columbus- WB got a good tune up game last week and will face a fairly athletic WC team. This maybe, again, closer than people think. W Bladen 34 West Columbus 28

Union- Open

Well it is my pleasure to announce we have repeat offenders, I mean winners! The best defensive award goes to PSHS offensive coordinator. For letting a smaller class school hold you to 8 points, you offensive minded coach you! In past red springs would give up 30 plus points a game. Maybe new year for them.

The best offensive coordinator goes to PSHS defensive coordinator.

Impressive win on the road tonight vs a scrappy bunch from Heritage. They are a pretty good team and should finish around 8-2 or so. Erwin played without their qb so we got to see the running game. Isaiah Poore looked really good. He has a real burst and should get the ball more. Time to get ready for another out of state team.

Where is it?

Both teams struggled on offense. Mooresville scored in the 2nd quarter on a short plunge from Jetton. Hough quickly answered back and the game was tied at 7 at the half. Mooresville managed to dodge several bullets by forcing timely turnovers in the second half. But all the offense could muster was a lone field goal to take the lead 10-7 in the third. Mooresville, again appeared to dodge another fatal blow by forcing a Husky fumble inside the Blue Devil 10 and returned the ball across midfield. But Hough stopped them on 4th down and drove downfield to go up 14-10. Mooresville had one last drive, but it ended with seconds left after Hough recovered a Blue Devil fumble and took a knee to end it. Mooresville faces Hopewell at home next week.

Anybody know what Newton has this year?

Ashley 0-1 @ Swansboro 1-0
Hoggard 1-0 @ 71st 1-0
Rose 0-0 @ Laney 0-1
N. Hanover 1-0 @ Socastee 0-1 (in Myrtle Beach)
S. Columbus 0-1 @ W. Brunswick 1-0
Pender 0-0 @ Topsail 1-0
S. Brunswick 1-0 @ Conway 1-0 (Thursday in Myrtle Beach)

At the half. 20-14 L-town.

Friday Aug 28
WPAQ740.com
7:30
H & H Auto Sales Game of the Week

Should be a great game between two programs with much respect for one another.

Butler took an early 7-0 and their defense held the Mavericks in check the whole first half. Penalties kind of hurt the Mavs in any drives.

In the second half, the Mavs took advantage of a fumble on the 2nd half kickoff and tied the game at 7-7.

Chauncery Bowman was the star of the 2nd half as he ran for 2 TDs.

This two teams could very well meet again.

West Henderson 42
Hendersonville 14

Was 42 to 7 going into 4th. Falcons look very good this year. The defense returned 10 starters and it shows. Good size, strength and discipline.

SC 43
Seh 24

Orange pulled out a thriller as Bryce Wilson made an amazing touchdown catch late in the game to pull Orange ahead. Then the defense had to take the field and hold as N Durham drove down the field and with two seconds left on the clock threw the ball to the end zone for a wild scramble. The full moon was in full bloom as 1) Orange had a touchdown ruled a fumble where Oranges running back had knocked the goal line pylon down. 2) Orange was flagged for delay of game after an official measurement when the official signaled the game ready and dropped a flag at the same time 3) The same official signaled a N Durham goal line touchdown from behind the play when both side judges made no signal. 4) And the 'Twilight Zone' award was given to N Durham in the form of a football after Orange had a running play where its runner fumbled and recovered his own fumble then handed the ball to the referee who signaled N Durham football. Even N Durham's defensive players asked the refs about that one.

I've only heard a couple of comments on WB. What are they looking like this year?