N Wilkes at W Central
Last week the Eagles truly showed the team they are in Toast as they struggled to match NS’s physicality and their offense couldn’t get going at all until late in the game, but by then NS had a solid lead and WC couldn’t match up score for score. Their offense isn’t designed for that and when your outhit in it, it’s doesn’t make for a quality night. They got overly emotional and were out of wack a lot of the night, and the staff could never truly recover them mentally from it. Not a good conference debut for Cannon at all. NW meanwhile had a low point as a program dating back for a long time, as they let two games they had won in the first half slip away in back to back nights. JV they let a massive lead slip into an OT loss, on Friday they were up by 10 only to get shutout in the final 2 quarters, it wasn’t pretty. NW did it without their HC who was up at a ceremony in Pennsylvania oddly enough, which made the game even more bizarre. Still can’t believe he would do that.. But I digress.
This county matchup is now an affair of teams needing a comeback as the Eagles return home to Moravian Falls for homecoming. WC plays usually better at home, and they got a perfect draw as they host the Vikings who can’t seem to find any momentum at all. They have improved over the past 2 weeks but then they manage to have a performance like last week’s, it’s not good for morale. They need a good outing tonight or it will be a long year ahead for them. Things won’t be getting any easier for the Vikes either ahead so if they want to do anything they gotta do it this week.
But I just don’t see it. WC will be too fast for NW to handle, and the added homecoming element makes any home team play better.
Morehead at W Stokes
Last week the Wildcats managed to do just enough to get out of big ole’ Simeon with a win vs a improving HP Andrews squad. However if they want to be able to contend in their conference and get a higher playoff seed they are going to have to find consistency in the next few weeks in a hurry as they face some real athletic defenses and some solid defensive minded HC’s especially next week. This week will be their last real easy game for a little bit as they host a down and out Morehead squad for Homecoming. Morehead’s program is in utter nuke mode after a nightmare of a head coach replacement process, it took deep into the summer to find someone and the program’s very behind the 8 ball and it shows on both nights. However they have played their inner county rivals awfully hard and were less than 7 point losses vs Rockingham County and McMichael last week. So West definitely cannot afford to sleep here in this game.
If West’s offensive woes pop up once again it may be a closer game than we think it would be. Morehead has always managed to play with West since 2021, and are a thorn to them. But like with WC it’s homecoming and the Wildcats shouldn’t need any motivation.
N Forsyth at McMichael
The Winston Vikings managed to make it out of the matchup with their heads held high last week as they managed to make it a very respectable 28-7 loss to Reidsville last week despite being favored to lose much worse. This was also with HC Williams not on the sideline due to the death of his father, it coulda been very easy for the Vikings to fold early but instead they played it close the entire way, it was only 12-0 at the half. It shows signs that the Vikings are back and are for real in this conference. They cannot be overlooked.
Up this week is a long hall to McMichael for them to face the Phoenix. They are off a close win over Morehead from last week. The Phoenix’s record is quite deceiving as they are 3-2 yes, but their 3 wins are all over teams with either 1 win or 0 wins, besides their first win it wasn’t too sexy the other 2 nights. They haven’t impressed me much yet besides that RB they have.
It’ll be great test for both teams' defenses here, I’m just sold more on NF’s. They have excellent team speed and size off a solid senior class, but they play very well as a unit and have faced a way harder schedule. NF’s now in the more competitive portion of their schedule and I expect it to start off well tonight.
HP Andrews at Walkertown
Andrews let one slip away last week but they are showing every week that their program is on the comeback. Walkertown’s season has been very wacky, they went with a super hard non conference schedule and have gotten destroyed for their efforts but are off a bye. This is a important game for both schools, whoever wins this one gets some serious momentum. Walkertown needs it more after that murder’s row, but that’s not just gonna instantly happen. Andrews I think is just fundamentally better and has shown more heart, they coulda easily bent to West Stokes last week but didn’t. Walkertown’s efforts vs Salisbury and ND left way more to be desired. This will either be a nice win for Andrews or a close affair, I just think they are ahead of the curve more.
Bishop at Carver
Big night for both of these teams as Bishop takes the short trek to Carver to play a Carver squad who desperately needs a win here. This is their last great chance at getting one until WS Prep in the finale, so if they have any hopes at all of getting a playoff spot then they need to win right here tonight. That being said I’m just not so certain on that. Their offense has struggled to produce all year and their defense can’t seem to stop anything yet. Bishop meanwhile is on a three game losing streak however 2 of those 3 loses were games they shoulda won, especially the one point loss to Wheatmore. However despite those losses Bishop looks so much improved than as of recent years, Coach Holcomb’s already showing his magic and has improved them a ton from last year where they only won once. They will win more than one this year, in fact their conference schedule looks much better than it has for them to do so. This would be a great start.
If Bishop wins tonight they will be in uncharted territory as Carver’s won both of the conference matchups so far in the Catawba Shores. They have much more to lose than Carver does. It could be either surprisingly close or surprisingly a comfortable margin for the Villains. There’s not much margin for error here.
WS Prep at PL Prep