Bandys at Monroe: The Trojans have a mountain to climb just to stay in the game. If they could somehow pull the upset it would be not only historic for the school but for this area. Unfortunately, I can't see it happening. Monroe by 20.
East Rutherford at Bunker Hill: The Cavaliers did beat Chase and seem to have found some fire here at the end of the season scoring a bunch in their win over Polk County. Kind of have some sentiments for East Rutherford from the old days when they were a powerful member of the Southwest Conference in the WNCHSAA and their key players, Lewis Jolley, Gary Dotson and Jimmie Rogers. I also like their Coach Russ who is out of Burns and pitched for Cherryville Post 100, and I like his Daddy, too.
But this ain't about sentiments, though, is it ? Bunker Hill may be capable of playing with any 2A team in the state. The Cavs will not be a match for them. Like many of us fans in the CVAC, we've seen them play and know what they can do. The Bears by 20.
Chase at West Lincoln: The Trojans have a win over Mountain Heritage and played Brevard close, but West Lincoln will wear them down with their physicality (Yeah, that's a good word for it). WL by 14.
East Gaston at Maiden: EG is one of my personal favorite teams of all-times. The Blue Devils now have one of my favorite coaches, meaning I'll have mixed feelings (The word for it is ambivalence, AMD) about the outcome... Flyrod didn't pick a game of the week, but if he would have, this one, I believe, would qualify. Unlike us, the Blue Devils seem to get an extra boost from playing at home so I give them the nod in this one. If it were being played at the Arrowhead I'd probably have picked EG. Maiden by 1.
Lincolnton at North Surry: Frankly, I'm a little worried about this one. Their offensive line concerns me since our defensive line can sometimes be our Achilles Heel, but you wouldn't have known it last week. They have a flanker named Simmons, that can carry the groceries and a receiver named Simmons (Both are Simmons), who their very sharp quarterback McKnight likes to throw long to. We have our hands full but strangely enough, The Wolves can sometimes play better away than at home. Lincolnton by 1.
Postscript: I guess Newton-Conover didn't make it. The Blue Devils must have been this season's final nail...To the others that didn't make the playoffs, hope you'll keep your heads up and much respect for you. I know how it feels. It's like everybody's going to the movies and you're not being allowed to go with them. We'll do it again next year.
Side Note: My picks are in bold
Side Note: This is a question for anyone who cares to or has time to answer it, or anyone outside the CVAC that might notice it. I should know the answer to it and I'm thinking like I might have known this at one time, but I don't anymore.
The question is, during high school games, does an official operate or oversee the operation of the time clock (That appears on the scoreboard), and if not does an official on the field keep the official time on the field. If the answer to both of these are no then is the clock operated by local staff ?
The reason I ask this, at a recent game (It was not in Lincolnton) there was just a short amount of time left and so often I would look towards the scoreboard to see how much time was remaining, and repeatedly It looked to me like the clock was not running when based on my knowledge it should have been running, and I confess that my knowledge of when the clock should and should not be running is very, very casual, meaning I've never read up on it and I could surely be mistaken.
Something else, I talk about old age on here to the point of boredom, probably because I am old and in some strange cerebral way it is how I deal with it. One of the hardest things for me to accept is that my faculties aren't what they used to be and abilities I once had a lot of confidence in such as time, distance, periphery and overall perception, are just not as good as they once were but outside of obvious mix-up or malfunction or a maybe a single isolated time or two when the clock didn't start it never was so obvious as this time, but I confess this, too, I was wanting the clock to run to benefit my team. Thanks for any answer.
