Let me take a crack at this.
*Monroe (3-0) @ Porter Ridge (4-0) 👀🏈 - Neither of these teams have been tested in their other non-conference games. With Monroe's apparent cancellation or moving of their game with WC. Neither team has played anyone yet with a winning record. None of the teams Porter Ridge has played seem to be very good at defense, especially Hickory Ridge with the Bulls having given up 199 points in 4 games. They do have a common opponent in Rocky River who until they played Berry was giving up 44 points per game. Monroe beating the Ravens 62-0 while Porter Ridge being a little easier on the birds with a score of 45-7. So what seems like it could possibly be a shoot out of two high flying offenses may come down to whoever has the ball last and or who turns it over. Skill player wise this could be fairly even, but the Redhawks QB is very fast. I cannot speak to Porter Ridges QB as I have not put eyes on him. Monroe struggles with team's that can play ball control and frustrate them, their defense is typically a little bit undersized along the front line, but they make up for it with speed and harassing the back field. If you can bully them up front you can find success. For Porter Ridge to win they need to put hats on the DL consistently and cover a LB enough to get the ball moving North and sustain drives and frustrate the Redhawk defense. If Porter Ridge lets Monroe dictate terms it's gonna be a long night. My pick would be 48-42 Monroe.
*Piedmont (1-3) @ Montgomery Cent. (4-0) MC should have this one circled on their calendars. The Timberwolves allowed the Panthers to come in and end a double digit losing streak against them last year. While MC non-conference slate so far has been graciously easy the Panthers non-conference so far has been a little tougher. Not that Piedmont has played world beaters or anything of that nature, and they only beat Central Cabarrus 21-13 and Central is terrible. If there was an award for looks the part but can't get it done it would be Central. MC offense seems to be humming along a little better at this point in the season than it was last year. With the Panthers being chronic underachievers in the football department for the better part of 2 decades I think I will give this one this year to the Timberwolves. I do think the game will be a little closer than the Timberwolves want it to be but in the end I think they win. Offensively and defensively MC by the numbers has the advantage Scoring 32 pt per game on average and giving up 7. Piedmont is Giving up 32 a game and Scoring 14 a game. I would say MC takes this one 28-14. I think it will be closer than the two scores indicate though.
*West Stanly (0-4) @ Mt. Pleasant(3-1): Bye far the easiest to pick. The Colts are bad, and please don't let a 3 OT loss fool you because North Stanly while having an ok record is not really that good. The Colts don't seem to have much of an identity except for ending streaks by losing to South Stanly for the first time in 12 year and Albemarle for the first time in 10 years (according to the Stanly News and Press). Until North Stanly the Colts had not managed to score more than twice in a game. Sustained drives are apparently not the Colts thing, and neither is stopping anyones run game. Which is going to put them in a rough spot Friday. The Tigers have notoriously been unkind to the Colts, going for over a decade while only being beaten by them once a couple years ago. Numbers wise this game falls to the Tigers. MP is averaging 28 ppg on offense and giving up an even 20 ppg on defense. The Colts are giving up 31 ppg on defense and scoring 18 on offense. The most MP gave up was surprisingly to Cabarrus County cupcake Central Cabarrus. The game between MP and Northwest is intriguing because many on the board here had Northwest winning by 21, no doubt turnovers played a major part in the MP loss. But the 16-14 score is eye opening being Northwest has some good skill guys and they are fairly fast and MP defense did more than just hold their own. The Colts have struggled to score and struggled to stop people from scoring. 21-7 at the half and did not score again until late the 4th against North Stanly while letting North Stanly come all the way back. The Colts need to hope MP starts slow, because if not this game could get rough. I'd say 34-0 Tigers.
*Forest Hills (2-2) Bye
*Anson County (2-2) Bye
*Parkwood (1-3) Bye
Hope the teams on their Bye weeks can get healthy and get ready for the rest of their seasons.
