GAME PREVIEWS: Watauga at Alex Central, N-C at Bandys highlight schedule

By CHRIS HOBBS

HobbsDailyReport.com

Previewing tonight’s varsity football games (all statistical references are unofficial totals):

SOUTH FORK 2A

NEWTON-CONOVER (4-1, 1-0) at BANDYS (2-3, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

The Red Devils go for their third straight victory in a series that is 5-5 through its last 10 games and led 31-15 by Newton-Conover.

Newton-Conover returns the stars of last year’s 31-29 home win in RB Tylor Stinson (68-616 yards) and QB Shamar Baker (988 passing yards). Stinson had 173 rushing yards on 16 carries, two for scores, and Baker threw for 110 yards and a TD (to Myles Baker, who also returns) in that win.

RB Ethan Howard (101-679) leads the Trojans, who have traditionally had a tough time with the Red Devils at Butler Stadium. Newton-Conover is 12-6 there.

Bandys has been without starting QB Lake Hojancki all season (broken collarbone), and his return is a week-to-week decision.

MAIDEN (5-0, 1-0) at WEST LINCOLN (3-2, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.

The Blue Devils chase their 20th straight victory in a series they lead 23-2 since 1980, and they have won 19 consecutive times at West Lincoln.

West Lincoln hasn’t beaten Maiden since 1985, an 8-6 win at West Lincoln that Kip Childers led.

Maiden won 59-22 last season, also at West Lincoln, when graduated QB Caleb Farley had 349 yards of total offense.

The Rebels have a solid 1-2 running game punch – Nakathon Phansook (98-504) and Brendan Ikard (73-661) – and the Blue Devils have another outstanding gotta-game-plan-for-him QB in Keygan Mayfield (47-408 rushing, 638 passing yards).

Maiden has won 13 of its 17 games since Will Byrne took over as head coach.

NORTH LINCOLN (1-4, 0-1) at LAKE NORMAN CHARTER (3-2, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

A game that features two of the top QBs in the South Fork 2A, Jackson Newton for Lake Norman Charter and Reed McRorie for North Lincoln.

McRorie is having a big year already with 1,125 passing yards, completing 55.6 percent of his throws, and RB Clayton Cribb (69-530) leads the North Lincoln running game.

It’s a battle of the Knights. And although it is very early in the conference schedule, the loser will be behind the eight-ball early … two losses aren’t likely to keep a team among the contenders for a conference title.

LINCOLNTON (1-4, 0-1) at EAST LINCOLN (2-3, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.

The Mustangs go for their third straight victory under first-year head coach David Lubowicz when they entertain a big-time rival.

RB Chandler Jones (67-331) and QB Chase Jones (37-72-4, 405 yards) lead an East Lincoln offense that’s still developing.

Lincolnton has struggled early but has RB Tyshawn Harris (121-606) and QB Terrell McClain (483 passing yards) in the mix.

A year ago, at East Lincoln, the Wolves won 42-35 behind big performances from WR Sage Surratt (20 catches for 177 yards), now at Wake Forest, and QB Cordel Littlejohn, who threw for 279 yards and three scores to Surratt. Littlejohn transferred after the season and is now starting at a big high school in Georgia.

Chandler Jones had two short-yardage TD last season in the loss for East Lincoln while QB Marcus Graham, now starting at Mountain Island Charter, ran for 153 yards in the loss.

NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A

BUNKER HILL (0-6, 0-1) at FRED T. FOARD (4-2, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

WESTThe Bears and Tigers battle for the 38th time since 1980, with Foard up 21-16 in those games although the Bears have won five of the last seven meetings.

Foard has the key players back from last year’s 28-13 win at Foard – QB Jack Colosimo and RB Tate Beaver. Colosimo threw for 177 yards and two TDs and Beaver had 34 carries for 145 yards and two scores in that win.

This season, Colosimo (499 passing yards), Beaver (97-542) and RB Corey Siemer (73-446) have boosted the Tigers’ offense. They’d won four straight games before falling last Friday night at Patton.

Bunker Hill has lost 16 of its 17 games under head coach David Haynie.

PATTON (4-2, 1-0) at DRAUGHN (1-5, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

Patton meets Burke County rival Draughn for the eighth time and goes for win No. 6 in the series.

Despite losing QB Joe Eaton to injury early in the season, the Panthers have stepped up and played well under head coach Tom Eanes, who goes for career win No. 144 tonight.

RB William Brawley cleared 1,000 rushing yards last season, and Ty Causby has provided a steady hand in lieu of Eaton, rushing 78 times for 439 yards.

Patton is 3-1 at Draughn.

Brawley ran for two scores and Traveon Lytle, who also returns, had a 47-yard TD run in last year’s 24-7 win at Draughn (his only TD of last year).

WEST IREDELL (3-3, 1-0) at EAST BURKE (1-4, 0-0), 7:30 p.m.

The Cavs become the last area team to start conference play when they face West Iredell for the first time.

East Burke is coming off its first win under head coach Mark Buffamoyer –32-26 in overtime over West Lincoln — and then had a bye week last week.

Grant Fulbright leads the Cavs with 350 rushing yards on 43 carries.

This will be only the third time East Burke has played an Iredell County team over the past 37 years; the Cavs lost to South Iredell in 2010 and 2012.

NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A

WATAUGA (5-0, 1-0) at ALEXANDER CENTRAL (5-0, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.

There’s lots of football still to be played, but could this outcome decide who wins the Northwestern 3A-4A title … yep.

Their game last season in Taylorsville went 46-35 Alexander Central, and another 81 combined points tonight might be by the early part of the third quarter unless one of the team finds it has the superior defense.

Alexander Central’s core stars from last year’s win – RB Bryan Godfrey, QB Gunnar Anderson and RB Devon Weiss – are all back while Watauga has restocked an offense that is led by QB Anderson Castle (787 yards total offense).

Godfrey had a 91-yard kickoff return in last season’s victory, which snapped the Cougars’ three-game losing streak in a series that (since 1980) is led by the Cougars 22-18.

Weiss has 43 carries for 400 yards this season as one of four Alexander Central rushers with at least 300 yards, and Anderson already has 820 yards of total offense.

So what gives? The Cougars traditionally play well at home against the Pioneers – 14 wins in the last 19 games there with wins in three of Watauga’s last four trips there.

If you’re an Xs and Os fan and appreciate how much coaching decisions and their timing can play a role in a game, this one could be fun to watch.

Ryan Habich (Watauga, 88 in 10 years) and Butch Carter (Alexander Central. 116 in 17 years) have 204 combined coaching victories

FREEDOM (4-1, 1-0) at HICKORY (4-2, 1-0), 7:30 p.m.

Worth the price of admission, year in and year out, for the sheer number of athletes on the field at one time.

There’s an added twist this time – the head coaches, Jim Bob Bryant of Freedom (164) and Russell Stone of Hickory (266) – have a combined 430 career wins.

Freedom has won five straight in a series it leads 15-13 (their first game was in 1975) and it has also won three in a row at Barger Stadium.

The potential for a game like last year’s is there. Freedom won 42-35 behind RB C.J. Hayden, who returns, when he ran 21 times for a season-high 199 yards to offset HHS QB Derrien Phillips’ 217 passing yards that included four throws fo 106 yards to returning WR Jaekwon Staton.

Hayden has 454 rushing yards this season while Phillips has 1,316 yards of total offense and Staton has 23 catches for 410 yards.

McDOWELL (1-4, 0-1) at ST. STEPHENS (1-4, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

It the Indians and Titans have met in varsity football, it would have to be prior to 1980.

It’s game No. 52 for Wayne Hicks as head coach at St. Stephens, and he’ll count on RB Xavier King (73-410) and QB Justin Bullock (40-83-5, 574 yards) to lead the way against the Titans.

RB J.C. Olivio (80-421) and QB Ben Ballew (393 passing yards) pace McDowell.

Odd stat of the week (since 1982): St. Stephens is 7-14 in games against single-county schools – 5-2 against Watauga, 2-12 against Alexander Central and 1-0 against Swain County.

WEST CALDWELL (3-2, 0-1) at SOUTH CALDWELL (0-5, 0-1), 7:30 p.m.

The Warriors and Spartans battle for the 37th time since the 1981 season, with West Caldwell up 23-13 in those games after snapping a 12-game losing streak in the series a year ago.

West Caldwell won 44-0 last year at home behind graduated QB Titus Tucker’s four TD runs and 243 carries for 148 yards and a TD from returning RB Jeremy Boyce. The Warriors outgained the Spartans 448-137 in that victory.

The Warriors again have more offensive threats than the Spartans do so it will be interesting to see if they can collect their first win in Hudson since 2003, a season-opening 22-7 decision that included rushing TDs by Jay Barnett, Matt Price, Elliott Collins and a field goal by Keith Howell.

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