With the spring football season coming up on us soon who do you see as the teams to watch next season?
Your top 10.
Your top 10.
Teams to watch in 3a.
- Thread starter NCFB73
- Start date
I would think that the list has to start with the defending champs, Hickory, especially considering I believe they return a ton of talent.
Absolutely and they deserve to be the pre season 1 however the teams that would be 2-10 may of improved as well. 3a will definitely be fun.
Agreed. There are alot of good teams in 3a. Dudley, Crest, Kings Mtn. etc....
I believe Dudley was mostly juniors last year so I look for them to contend even more this year!
I was able to watch two of their games (via TV and video). I saw lots of talent and speed but not a lot of discipline. Regular season they run over people but in the playoffs, well lot of teams have talent and speed.
Discipline wins close games.
Reynolds will be loaded next year
Hickory, Dudley, Crest, AC Reynold, Kings Mountain, South Point. What will West Henderson bring back from last season?
Hickory and Dudley stand out! Everyone else got some work to do
West still has some good athletes coming through this year. Their primary QB was young ( soph). The group last year was exceptional. I expect them to fall off, not off a cliff, but less than they’ve been the past two years.
Truitt Manuel is a special athlete/leader that Mills River won’t duplicate often and there are some other strong seniors leaving with him, Dimsdale (RB) being one of them.
IMO, West competes to win conference this year rather than being the hands down favorite to win it like last year and a 4th round playoff run isn’t likely.
Hickory, Dudley, 71st, ACR, King Mtn, Crest, South Point, Oak Grove, Havelock, West Charlotte, Scotland.
Havelock more so now that they just added their missing piece, transfer QB from West Carteret. Threw for over 3,200 yards and 35 TD’s this past year.
Spot on, West will still be good as they had 4 sophomores starting on Varsity and their JV group was pretty darn good. Also, Truitt is the type of athlete that 99% of communities won't duplicate often, not just West. I can count on one hand the athletes I remember in NC dominating 3 sports the way he has. He's just a different breed.
AC Reynolds may have found their missing piece too.
I didnt watch much of Dudley this year aside from 1 game, but they always seemed disciplined to me, unless this is a new development this past season.
3A has no easy games anymore, unfortunately for the teams playing. Even the regular season is few and far in between.
Looking back at these condensed concentrated playoffs I think with the west bracket the team with the least injuries and least beat up has the best shot. That 3rd to 4th round takes alot out of some teams.
Yes, I didn't mean that as a shot at West. Everyone feels it when an athlete of that caliber leaves.
I saw them twice from field level. No discipline issues either time.
I saw he got an offer from App St and Toledo as well. He visited NCSU last week also. If we can just keep him and our TB healthy for a full season! 🤞
Agree. I think 10-20 teams would be legit as well. 3a is loaded.
Wow IMG to ACR…. Transfer Portaling for real this year!! 😜
I'm sure not all of them will end up as top teams and we'll have a few surprises.
This acquisition should put them in the Eastern Finals IMO if they have a bunch coming back from last season. They have one of the best coaching staffs in the state, if not the best in terms of experience. I expect it to come down to them vs. Dudley in Havelock. I say all this because if the kid had that many yards at WC, he will be even better at Havelock. Better athletes, football program overall will help him tremendously. Not to knock WC at all, they do great things with lesser athletes than most teams.
A few of them aren’t top teams to begin with and there won’t be any surprises. You will be able to tell which teams are legit early on. Hickory this past year was no surprise for some of us. They played East Lincoln tough the year before and returned a ton. They were also balanced offensively all year. It’s a 3-4 team race as of right now but we will have to wait and see how the portal shakes out.
Hickory was a dark horse last year they were mentioned as a top 10 team but no one was picking them to win the ship.
I never ruled them out as a team that couldn’t win the title. I figured it would be Dudley and Hickory to meet in the west finals once I saw the brackets and it would be a good game. There were a few other football platforms that had Hickory as one of the teams to win it.
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No platform can measure heart, desire and leadership. That's what put Hickory at the top. They have a lot coming back, but like all teams there are slots that need to be filled from within to make another run. Coaching is also top shelf for the Red Tornadoes.
Dark horses they are
what impressed me the most about Statesville is that most of them looked about 1 hamburger away from diabetes but they play hard like 4 star athletes.
As a former fat guy that might be a little offensive 🤣🤣
I believe Statesville big QB will graduate. I don‘t know who they will have for the spot for next season.
Don’t go sleeping on North Lincoln. I don’t see them winning it all, taking conference(which Hickory is in it) or even a 4th round appearance but bear in mind they gave Hickory a nice game for 2 quarters in the playoffs before slipping away rest of the game. They return 8 to 9 starters on both sides of ball with what will be one of the best RB duos in the western region both of which were only 9th grade and 10th. Top team in conf in rushing. Don’t expect much AFTER 2024 and any run they may make will have to be this fall. Will be Losing a lot next spring with a JV team that only won a couple games this past season to fill shoes
Not trying to rag on Statesville, but when they barely got by South Point in the first round, I was pretty sure they wernt going far.
South Point played that game without their starting fullback who also played a lot at linebacker, especially on big downs. SP’s qb also came into that game with bad wheels. SP wouldn’t have gotten by Crest in the second round without being full strength and even then it would have been a tough task.
South Point played that game without their starting fullback who also played a lot at linebacker, especially on big downs. SP’s qb also came into that game with bad wheels. SP wouldn’t have gotten by Crest in the second round without being full strength and even then it would have been a tough task.
