South Stokes at East Surry
The Pilot Cards jammed at will in a surprisingly easy win over West Stokes last week. I was honestly disappointed with this one; I expected it to be much closer. West is a good team but East was just on another level from start to end. It seems like they are heading to being the best team in the area again for another year. South meanwhile is having a better than expected year I must say. With all the seniors leaving I expected them to have some growing pains but alas they haven’t really. They played West really hard to a much closer game than last year, then destroyed Bishop like expected. Then last week they came out of nowhere to nearly upset McMichael (they honestly shoulda won.) Dave is secretly doing one of his better coaching jobs this year.
This week will be another Cardinal slaughter more than likely. Don’t be surprised if South finds ways to compete here. But it’s looking like they may be the hidden X factor of the Northwest.
MA at Ashe Co
The Granite ones are jamming as expected they would be. They took it nice on SC last week by letting them score late however their defensive performance is one of the best I’ve seen MA play. The fact they did it against Central’s option makes it more impressive; no matter how bad SC is their option isn’t ever easy to gameplan for.
This week they face a different beast as they head up the mountain to play Ashe and their air raid. Ashe had a surprisingly solid win out West Wilkes last week; in fact they controlled the game top to bottom which I found surprising. West has the size advantage and played Ashe’s line well however when push came to shove Ashe wanted it more and their offense was on fire behind the freshman. MA however won’t be in the same league.
This is more of a test to see if Ashe can play to the other 3A teams in their league. MA is like a mix of Watauga, Hibriten, and Freedom rolled into one in that way. If Ashe can play up for them and keep it close then they won’t have no problems in league play. In that way I can see why this was scheduled. MA is just way too fast for the Huskies to handle.
PL Prep at Starmount
Starmount just absolutely annihilated my mind last week with that score; and I’m sure they did everyone else as well. Forbush hasn’t been that badly beaten since when Johnson first started there a decade ago. Even if his mediocre years they played everyone super close. Starmount and Grinton just outcoached Funderburke and co from the ground up and it showed. Dezern’s having one of the best seasons a Starmount player has had and the team is starting to discover consistency.
Pine Lake Prep meanwhile is young and finding its way. They’ve had two 21-0 shutouts but those come against a private school and a 1A team who are struggling so it’s not a good judgment of quality. Their HC does a great job prepping them though so I wouldn’t call them an easy pushover.
These two didn’t play last year due to Covid so they don’t really know much about each other. Starmount went and played that really good SW Randolph team to a respectable L. This year meanwhile they will be very much playing for that W. This however like I mentioned before is a solid trap game for the Rams to see if they can keep their composure and manage consistency on and off the field.
Thomasville at Forbush
It’s starting to look like some simbalige of the Forbush of old has returned after the nuking they got last week by Starmount. Hard to say if it’s the fault of the players like Funderburke mentioned in the Yadkin paper in the post interview or it’s the fault of bad preparation, but needless to say the Falcons didn’t look good at all last week. Some of it’s to be blamed on the tough schedule but even when a team is bad they can rise to the occasion and put up a fight in rivalry matchups. Forbush didn’t do that last week and it blows my mind. These two squads always had tough battles through time. It's mind blowing.
Time will tell if it’s just a bad week or the tide is turning on the ‘Bush. This team is super young in quite a few spots and low in #’s they will have to find ways to overcome the weaknesses.
This week however isn’t going to be that time. A very stout Thomasville squad rolls into East Bend looking to have some funtime at Forbush’s expense. They destroyed a much improved HP Andrews team last game and is using his game as a way to prep for the battle vs Salusbury coming up soon. Last year TVille just ran at will all over Forbush in one of the few times the Falcons were dominated in that run; they had no answer for the Bulldogs at all.
However Tville can’t afford to be arrogant or lazy; Forbush badly needs the mental boosting before the conference starts. If the game repeats like last year that puts all the pressure on the West Wilkes game next week. If the Falcons don’t win then they are in a dire spot.
East Wilkes at Wilkes Central
The Ronda Cards played probably one of their best games in Wilmoth’s tenure last week vs a very mentally out of place North Wilkes team. The Ronda gang looked much more mature and well coached last week as they just ran all over the Vikings to a nearly complete game. It coulda easily went south with all the ruckus but they stayed focused when it mattered and it was beautiful. This week however will be a test to that consistency as they travel to play a very athletic WC team.
WC has had a weird season to say the least. In the opener they were humiliated on the mountain vs Ashe as the Huskies came alive and had an epic 2nd half. Ashe had nearly 600 yards of offense while the Eagles looked lost. Then they got a major lifeboat the next two games as they faced two teams in Avery County and Patton who are flat out struggling to survive turnout wise as they ran over them both games without a JV matchup. It’s ultimately very hard to judge these Eagles because they haven’t had a game where they were consistently tested in or faced supreme physicality.
This week and the next few weeks will offer that in spades. We will see if the Eagles will rise for the bell or not. Last year they did as East was lost without Graham and couldn’t move the ball. This year he Benedict Arnold’d back to WC in a move which I’m sure the Cards haven’t forgotten about all year. They honestly have way more incentive to play due to that.
I’m going with East as the winner here. It won’t be no epic victory I don’t think but I expect it to be a hard fought fight like these two always have. WC has the athlete edge but East has the physicality edge on all fronts. That has always been WC’s achilles heel. Also East is way more closer as a squad and in close matchups it tends to be a help. In the West game East could have easily folded if the players didn’t rally each other to keep going. Tha tbeing said a WC win wouldn’t be unexpected either. However barring something unusual I don’t see it being like last years. It’s gonna be close either way.
North Wilkes at Alleghany
Ladies and gents we have our first no pick of the season!
This matchup has been one of the more underratedly interesting ones in the area dating back for decades. In a lot of years this has been the only chance one team has to win or not. This year it won’t be but it still doesn’t make this any bit not interesting.
North Wilkes was doing really, really well until last week. It seems like the Vikings were trying to make a ego move and assert dominance over East Wilkes on their own field.. Until it all went haywire epically in their faces. Their star RB got stopped early and he just lost his head and got ejected which just killed their gameplan and night. Showing the Vikings can’t hang in the big games without him. This week they may have to play 100% without him and time will tell if they can do so or not.
Alleghany meanwhile is coming off an early rest after a let down vs one of their other rivals. They are desperate for a spark before entering a tough matchup vs South Stokes. They honestly have a great chance to surprise a lot of people tonight vs the Vikings. Their line is quite solid but they still have a lot of youth to overcome in certain spots.
Due to the nature of not knowing if the RB is out I’m gonna sit this one out. I don’t want to make a pick without full info. I do think both sides have a great chance of winning here and it will be a good matchup.
West Wilkes at Central Davidson
In another matchup we didn’t see due to Covid last year; the Blackhawks head to Davidson co to play the Spartans who are one of the best programs in our area. CD is everything West wants to be; they run an old school wing offense that they kick butt in, they have a lot of size, and teams fear them on a weekly basis. This is like a padawan meeting a Jedi Master and asking for training.
The Blackhawks are going to have a trial by fire and hands on experience in what they wanna be here. I’ll be surprised if it’s close because Central’s so much more advanced but who really knows.
North Stokes at Patrick Co VA
In another close and longtime rivalry these two teams never really like each other. They have had some doozies the last few years and it’s become a fun rivalry to watch. North Stokes shocked a lot of people including me with a solid win over Chatham Central last week, much more of a bigger win than last fall. The Vikings look to have turned the corner in terms of health and played like it. Patrick meanwhile has struggled on defense quite badly this year so far. In the opener versus old familiar name Monty Chipman and his Carroll county team they were run over and Floyd county did the same in the 2nd game. Their defense has been a major weakpoint.
The Pilot Cards jammed at will in a surprisingly easy win over West Stokes last week. I was honestly disappointed with this one; I expected it to be much closer. West is a good team but East was just on another level from start to end. It seems like they are heading to being the best team in the area again for another year. South meanwhile is having a better than expected year I must say. With all the seniors leaving I expected them to have some growing pains but alas they haven’t really. They played West really hard to a much closer game than last year, then destroyed Bishop like expected. Then last week they came out of nowhere to nearly upset McMichael (they honestly shoulda won.) Dave is secretly doing one of his better coaching jobs this year.
This week will be another Cardinal slaughter more than likely. Don’t be surprised if South finds ways to compete here. But it’s looking like they may be the hidden X factor of the Northwest.
MA at Ashe Co
The Granite ones are jamming as expected they would be. They took it nice on SC last week by letting them score late however their defensive performance is one of the best I’ve seen MA play. The fact they did it against Central’s option makes it more impressive; no matter how bad SC is their option isn’t ever easy to gameplan for.
This week they face a different beast as they head up the mountain to play Ashe and their air raid. Ashe had a surprisingly solid win out West Wilkes last week; in fact they controlled the game top to bottom which I found surprising. West has the size advantage and played Ashe’s line well however when push came to shove Ashe wanted it more and their offense was on fire behind the freshman. MA however won’t be in the same league.
This is more of a test to see if Ashe can play to the other 3A teams in their league. MA is like a mix of Watauga, Hibriten, and Freedom rolled into one in that way. If Ashe can play up for them and keep it close then they won’t have no problems in league play. In that way I can see why this was scheduled. MA is just way too fast for the Huskies to handle.
PL Prep at Starmount
Starmount just absolutely annihilated my mind last week with that score; and I’m sure they did everyone else as well. Forbush hasn’t been that badly beaten since when Johnson first started there a decade ago. Even if his mediocre years they played everyone super close. Starmount and Grinton just outcoached Funderburke and co from the ground up and it showed. Dezern’s having one of the best seasons a Starmount player has had and the team is starting to discover consistency.
Pine Lake Prep meanwhile is young and finding its way. They’ve had two 21-0 shutouts but those come against a private school and a 1A team who are struggling so it’s not a good judgment of quality. Their HC does a great job prepping them though so I wouldn’t call them an easy pushover.
These two didn’t play last year due to Covid so they don’t really know much about each other. Starmount went and played that really good SW Randolph team to a respectable L. This year meanwhile they will be very much playing for that W. This however like I mentioned before is a solid trap game for the Rams to see if they can keep their composure and manage consistency on and off the field.
Thomasville at Forbush
It’s starting to look like some simbalige of the Forbush of old has returned after the nuking they got last week by Starmount. Hard to say if it’s the fault of the players like Funderburke mentioned in the Yadkin paper in the post interview or it’s the fault of bad preparation, but needless to say the Falcons didn’t look good at all last week. Some of it’s to be blamed on the tough schedule but even when a team is bad they can rise to the occasion and put up a fight in rivalry matchups. Forbush didn’t do that last week and it blows my mind. These two squads always had tough battles through time. It's mind blowing.
Time will tell if it’s just a bad week or the tide is turning on the ‘Bush. This team is super young in quite a few spots and low in #’s they will have to find ways to overcome the weaknesses.
This week however isn’t going to be that time. A very stout Thomasville squad rolls into East Bend looking to have some funtime at Forbush’s expense. They destroyed a much improved HP Andrews team last game and is using his game as a way to prep for the battle vs Salusbury coming up soon. Last year TVille just ran at will all over Forbush in one of the few times the Falcons were dominated in that run; they had no answer for the Bulldogs at all.
However Tville can’t afford to be arrogant or lazy; Forbush badly needs the mental boosting before the conference starts. If the game repeats like last year that puts all the pressure on the West Wilkes game next week. If the Falcons don’t win then they are in a dire spot.
East Wilkes at Wilkes Central
The Ronda Cards played probably one of their best games in Wilmoth’s tenure last week vs a very mentally out of place North Wilkes team. The Ronda gang looked much more mature and well coached last week as they just ran all over the Vikings to a nearly complete game. It coulda easily went south with all the ruckus but they stayed focused when it mattered and it was beautiful. This week however will be a test to that consistency as they travel to play a very athletic WC team.
WC has had a weird season to say the least. In the opener they were humiliated on the mountain vs Ashe as the Huskies came alive and had an epic 2nd half. Ashe had nearly 600 yards of offense while the Eagles looked lost. Then they got a major lifeboat the next two games as they faced two teams in Avery County and Patton who are flat out struggling to survive turnout wise as they ran over them both games without a JV matchup. It’s ultimately very hard to judge these Eagles because they haven’t had a game where they were consistently tested in or faced supreme physicality.
This week and the next few weeks will offer that in spades. We will see if the Eagles will rise for the bell or not. Last year they did as East was lost without Graham and couldn’t move the ball. This year he Benedict Arnold’d back to WC in a move which I’m sure the Cards haven’t forgotten about all year. They honestly have way more incentive to play due to that.
I’m going with East as the winner here. It won’t be no epic victory I don’t think but I expect it to be a hard fought fight like these two always have. WC has the athlete edge but East has the physicality edge on all fronts. That has always been WC’s achilles heel. Also East is way more closer as a squad and in close matchups it tends to be a help. In the West game East could have easily folded if the players didn’t rally each other to keep going. Tha tbeing said a WC win wouldn’t be unexpected either. However barring something unusual I don’t see it being like last years. It’s gonna be close either way.
North Wilkes at Alleghany
Ladies and gents we have our first no pick of the season!
This matchup has been one of the more underratedly interesting ones in the area dating back for decades. In a lot of years this has been the only chance one team has to win or not. This year it won’t be but it still doesn’t make this any bit not interesting.
North Wilkes was doing really, really well until last week. It seems like the Vikings were trying to make a ego move and assert dominance over East Wilkes on their own field.. Until it all went haywire epically in their faces. Their star RB got stopped early and he just lost his head and got ejected which just killed their gameplan and night. Showing the Vikings can’t hang in the big games without him. This week they may have to play 100% without him and time will tell if they can do so or not.
Alleghany meanwhile is coming off an early rest after a let down vs one of their other rivals. They are desperate for a spark before entering a tough matchup vs South Stokes. They honestly have a great chance to surprise a lot of people tonight vs the Vikings. Their line is quite solid but they still have a lot of youth to overcome in certain spots.
Due to the nature of not knowing if the RB is out I’m gonna sit this one out. I don’t want to make a pick without full info. I do think both sides have a great chance of winning here and it will be a good matchup.
West Wilkes at Central Davidson
In another matchup we didn’t see due to Covid last year; the Blackhawks head to Davidson co to play the Spartans who are one of the best programs in our area. CD is everything West wants to be; they run an old school wing offense that they kick butt in, they have a lot of size, and teams fear them on a weekly basis. This is like a padawan meeting a Jedi Master and asking for training.
The Blackhawks are going to have a trial by fire and hands on experience in what they wanna be here. I’ll be surprised if it’s close because Central’s so much more advanced but who really knows.
North Stokes at Patrick Co VA
In another close and longtime rivalry these two teams never really like each other. They have had some doozies the last few years and it’s become a fun rivalry to watch. North Stokes shocked a lot of people including me with a solid win over Chatham Central last week, much more of a bigger win than last fall. The Vikings look to have turned the corner in terms of health and played like it. Patrick meanwhile has struggled on defense quite badly this year so far. In the opener versus old familiar name Monty Chipman and his Carroll county team they were run over and Floyd county did the same in the 2nd game. Their defense has been a major weakpoint.
