East Wilkes at Mount Airy
Top matchup of the week here as the two top 1A teams in the area play relatively early. MA’s had a very interesting year to say the least. Many expected them to roll over anyone and they have to a point but they have faced more resistance than they are used to receiving and they have had to overcome a lot more than usual. Last week Ashe had the lead on them before coming back to take it back. MA’s got injuries all over and they got to find ways to overcome it so we will be seeing what the Bears have tonight. However despite the injuries the talent they have is still top notch.
East meanwhile’s had it’s best season since Adkins was midway through his run there. This team reminds me a lot of the 2015 squad they had. That team came out of nowhere and just dominated the Mountain Valley at will that year. This team is close like they were spiritually and play a very similar physical kind of ball. However I think that 2015 team was a little more athletic but these kids are no slouches either.
I expect this one to be very physical and hard played if it is capable of being. East owes the Bears a tough fight here; they let them roll over them 2 times last year and I know the seniors haven’t forgotten it. With MA’s injuries it makes them more dependent on JV aged kids in some spots and the question will be can they rise to the top while getting pounded like I know East can do. East meanwhile just doesn’t have the speed to equally match MA, however if Wilmoth has a great gameplan and executes it they may can do an old school ball control night and put MA on the ropes. Something special can happen when physicality matches a finesse team who isn’t expecting it.
I just think the Bears are too fast and too explosive for this to happen too. However I won’t be disappointed if it’s a close matchup. If East don’t lose theirselves headwise to the hype or expectations then I see them giving MA their money’s worth and then some.
East Surry at North Wilkes
The Cards rolled over Coach Diamont’s boys like expected last week but honestly the margin was unexpected. Either the Cards are that good or East toyed with them until they broke their spirits. Regardless a new week and season is here and The Pilot Cards travel to Hays for the first time in 26 years to play the Vikings, who used to be a solid rival for them in the dire days of the late 80’s and 90’s in the Northwest. NW’s had their best season in a good while so far despite being humiliated by the Ronda Cards 2 weeks back. However that part of the season is done and they have to take on a harder load moving forward in order to truly contend or not. Their RB will be back after a suspsenion this week but this isn’t the best game to return to. Cards by whatever they want. If NW makes it somewhat competitive here then they may be a surprise team in conference play, if not then same ole’ same ole.
West Wilkes at Surry Central
The Blackhawks got walloped down in Lexington last week despite a somewhat surprising first half. They managed to hang with the Spartans for a little while before their egos got ahead and personal fouls and bad calls came back to haunt them. CD took them to the shed in the 2nd half as a result of it and gave them a lesson. The question moving forward is to see if they learned anything from it or not. They have the best possible placement this week as they head to Dobson to play SC, who’s still trying to find any sort of mojo after an awful start to non conference play. This game might be more interesting than we think. These teams both have a ton of sophomores and SC played West the closest last year on their undefeated season. It was a 30-23 final in that matchup. The Blackhawks can’t afford to overlook Central here as a result. However I think West has better upperclassman than Central does and it will be enough to do the trick.
North Stokes at Elkin
The Elks gave NS all they could handle in the first half in week 3 as it was their big non conference Super Bowl game. However Elkin just didn’t have the horses or #’s to finish and North pulled it out with an epic offensive second half. The Elks have been on bye to rest as they were getting banged up and they are now fresh as they host the Danbury Vikings to open conference play. N Stokes was shutout in a game nowhere as close as I expected last week. After their W I figured the Vikes woulda had something for Patrick, guess not. This week will be a more interesting affair. Elkin has more offensive variety than they did last year which is a relief I’m sure to that QB he doesn’t have to option run it every play. N Stokes meanwhile depends on week to week. Will it be the Patrick County team or the Chatham Central team that shows up? This one may be close but I think Elkin’s a little better after seeing both head to head. However anything happens when these two play in down years.
South Stokes at Alleghany
An interesting matchup on the mountain between these two will happen tonight. Both of these squads are coming off rough losses especially South as they had a super demoralizing affair last week. Alleghany meanwhile played North Wilkes pretty hard but they let them slip late. This one was actually a hard pick. Alleghany’s lineplay has been superior. Meanwhile South has more athletes; classic contrast matchup here. Could go either way and I think it will be close but Dave has always had a good hand vs Alleghany and sometimes that is enough. However I won’t be upset if Alleghany wins here.
West Stokes at McMichael
Very interesting matchup in Mayodan tonight as 2 hard to figure squads will face off in another rivalry matchup. These two have played some very interesting matchups over the years and will so tonight again. Both of these squads have been very hard to figure despite winning records. West got waxed surprisingly easy by the Pilot Cards 2 weeks back, McMichael meanwhile struggled to put Carver away last week. On paper West’s situation looks worse but McMichael’s had way more challenges. They’ve been very inconsistent despite their winning streak. They had to go deep into OT to beat Bartlett Yancy, struggled to comeback vs South Stokes (who West beat easily,) and struggled with Carver last week.
On paper this looks even but honestly I feel West is the more consistent team here. Their schedule’s been tougher than McMichael’s and they’ve faced more challenges. However since this is the conference opener and a rivalry who really knows. If it comes down to coaching I’d bet more so on Johnson than the coach at McMichael.
Ashe County at Watauga
I feel for Ashe here; I really do. There’s no reason why they couldn’t find a non conference team to play here. They should be getting a competitive game here instead of playing Watauga. Hopefully they will next year.
Top matchup of the week here as the two top 1A teams in the area play relatively early. MA’s had a very interesting year to say the least. Many expected them to roll over anyone and they have to a point but they have faced more resistance than they are used to receiving and they have had to overcome a lot more than usual. Last week Ashe had the lead on them before coming back to take it back. MA’s got injuries all over and they got to find ways to overcome it so we will be seeing what the Bears have tonight. However despite the injuries the talent they have is still top notch.
East meanwhile’s had it’s best season since Adkins was midway through his run there. This team reminds me a lot of the 2015 squad they had. That team came out of nowhere and just dominated the Mountain Valley at will that year. This team is close like they were spiritually and play a very similar physical kind of ball. However I think that 2015 team was a little more athletic but these kids are no slouches either.
I expect this one to be very physical and hard played if it is capable of being. East owes the Bears a tough fight here; they let them roll over them 2 times last year and I know the seniors haven’t forgotten it. With MA’s injuries it makes them more dependent on JV aged kids in some spots and the question will be can they rise to the top while getting pounded like I know East can do. East meanwhile just doesn’t have the speed to equally match MA, however if Wilmoth has a great gameplan and executes it they may can do an old school ball control night and put MA on the ropes. Something special can happen when physicality matches a finesse team who isn’t expecting it.
I just think the Bears are too fast and too explosive for this to happen too. However I won’t be disappointed if it’s a close matchup. If East don’t lose theirselves headwise to the hype or expectations then I see them giving MA their money’s worth and then some.
East Surry at North Wilkes
The Cards rolled over Coach Diamont’s boys like expected last week but honestly the margin was unexpected. Either the Cards are that good or East toyed with them until they broke their spirits. Regardless a new week and season is here and The Pilot Cards travel to Hays for the first time in 26 years to play the Vikings, who used to be a solid rival for them in the dire days of the late 80’s and 90’s in the Northwest. NW’s had their best season in a good while so far despite being humiliated by the Ronda Cards 2 weeks back. However that part of the season is done and they have to take on a harder load moving forward in order to truly contend or not. Their RB will be back after a suspsenion this week but this isn’t the best game to return to. Cards by whatever they want. If NW makes it somewhat competitive here then they may be a surprise team in conference play, if not then same ole’ same ole.
West Wilkes at Surry Central
The Blackhawks got walloped down in Lexington last week despite a somewhat surprising first half. They managed to hang with the Spartans for a little while before their egos got ahead and personal fouls and bad calls came back to haunt them. CD took them to the shed in the 2nd half as a result of it and gave them a lesson. The question moving forward is to see if they learned anything from it or not. They have the best possible placement this week as they head to Dobson to play SC, who’s still trying to find any sort of mojo after an awful start to non conference play. This game might be more interesting than we think. These teams both have a ton of sophomores and SC played West the closest last year on their undefeated season. It was a 30-23 final in that matchup. The Blackhawks can’t afford to overlook Central here as a result. However I think West has better upperclassman than Central does and it will be enough to do the trick.
North Stokes at Elkin
The Elks gave NS all they could handle in the first half in week 3 as it was their big non conference Super Bowl game. However Elkin just didn’t have the horses or #’s to finish and North pulled it out with an epic offensive second half. The Elks have been on bye to rest as they were getting banged up and they are now fresh as they host the Danbury Vikings to open conference play. N Stokes was shutout in a game nowhere as close as I expected last week. After their W I figured the Vikes woulda had something for Patrick, guess not. This week will be a more interesting affair. Elkin has more offensive variety than they did last year which is a relief I’m sure to that QB he doesn’t have to option run it every play. N Stokes meanwhile depends on week to week. Will it be the Patrick County team or the Chatham Central team that shows up? This one may be close but I think Elkin’s a little better after seeing both head to head. However anything happens when these two play in down years.
South Stokes at Alleghany
An interesting matchup on the mountain between these two will happen tonight. Both of these squads are coming off rough losses especially South as they had a super demoralizing affair last week. Alleghany meanwhile played North Wilkes pretty hard but they let them slip late. This one was actually a hard pick. Alleghany’s lineplay has been superior. Meanwhile South has more athletes; classic contrast matchup here. Could go either way and I think it will be close but Dave has always had a good hand vs Alleghany and sometimes that is enough. However I won’t be upset if Alleghany wins here.
West Stokes at McMichael
Very interesting matchup in Mayodan tonight as 2 hard to figure squads will face off in another rivalry matchup. These two have played some very interesting matchups over the years and will so tonight again. Both of these squads have been very hard to figure despite winning records. West got waxed surprisingly easy by the Pilot Cards 2 weeks back, McMichael meanwhile struggled to put Carver away last week. On paper West’s situation looks worse but McMichael’s had way more challenges. They’ve been very inconsistent despite their winning streak. They had to go deep into OT to beat Bartlett Yancy, struggled to comeback vs South Stokes (who West beat easily,) and struggled with Carver last week.
On paper this looks even but honestly I feel West is the more consistent team here. Their schedule’s been tougher than McMichael’s and they’ve faced more challenges. However since this is the conference opener and a rivalry who really knows. If it comes down to coaching I’d bet more so on Johnson than the coach at McMichael.
Ashe County at Watauga
I feel for Ashe here; I really do. There’s no reason why they couldn’t find a non conference team to play here. They should be getting a competitive game here instead of playing Watauga. Hopefully they will next year.
