CHRIS HOBBS
Today starts his 43rd season of covering high school football in the Greater Hickory and at age 59 (on Tuesday) he still provides insight, analysis, statistics, etc., about area teams that you won’t get anywhere else.
Editor’s note: Welcome to the return of Top 5 Things To Watch, a popular thing I used to write for nearly 20 years in a different forum.
It will be a mainstay this season at HobbsDailyReport.com, so email me at HobbsDailyReport@gmail.com with comments or suggestions for things to research or take a look at.
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
As high schools open practice today (Monday) – games are coming on Aug. 18 – here are five things I’m curious about/watching to see what happens during my 43rd consecutive year of covering football in the Greater Hickory area:
WHO HAS THE SLEEPER TEAM?
That may not be the correct term, but you know what I mean – the team(s) that you’re curious about today (July 31) that something – my gut – tells me could likely far exceed early expectations, even though some mentioned already have generally high expectations (translation: they could be playing come Turkey Day).
One for each league:
South Fork 2A
As Matt Beam begins his fourth season as head coach at Newton-Conover, he hasn’t yet had the level of success that he’s 
known for.
The Red Devils have gone 7-4-1, 6-6 and 6-5 (so 19-15-1), and we can pretty much rest assured they’re going to be able to move the football and score.
If they are better defensively – and they vastly improved in 2016 from 2015 – this could be a big season in Newton. See the numbers, comparing the last two seasons (below), to see what I mean.
First chance to see’em: Aug. 18 Aug., home vs. Bunker Hill.
Northwestern Foothills 2A
Patton’s Panthers won eight games last year (8-5) and, from an offensive standpoint, could be a defensive coordinator’s nightmare.
They had five players rush for anywhere from 297 yards to 2,104 and four of those, with a combined 46 rushing TDs were underclassmen.
Not sure anyone has as solid of a 1-2 offensive punch due back as Patton does with Joe Eakin at QB and RB William Brawley.
First chance to see’em: Aug. 18, home vs. Hunter Huss.
Northwestern 3A-4A
Butch Carter, in his first season as head coach at Alexander Central, had some score-a-thons – some he probably loved and a few he couldn’t – and he has the primary stars from that back and a year more experienced.
If the Cougars can get away from such high-scoring games – they scored 46, 54, 75, 82, 55, 48 and 68 in their wins and gave up 55, 45, 35, 28 and 52 in their losses – they may well win the league title.
As you check the scores in 2017, if you see Alexander Central winning in more Carter-like traditional fashion – scores like 42-14, 18-6, 44-0 – could be a big year in Taylorsville.
First chance to see’em: Aug. 18, home vs. Burns.
WHO HAS THE BEST PLAYER YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT NOW?
First pick is Newton-Conover junior WR-LB Jaheim Mullen (5-foot-10, 160 pounds as a sophomore), the leading returning receiver in the South Fork 2A with (unofficial) totals of 42 catches for 448 yards and three touchdowns.
His stock is rising among college recruiters who see what we all see: Athletic, athletic, athletic.
Second pick is Jason Martin, a 6-0, 200-pound sophomore QB who started as a freshman at South Caldwell last season (136-240-15, 56.6 percent completions, 103.8 yards passing per game, 10 TDs).
Intrigued to see how he will develop under former Spartans QB Marc Kirkpatrick, their new head coach, in an offense that won’t surprise me if it is geared a great deal less toward the pass than it was last season.
THE TOP RETURNING OFFENSIVE STARS IN EACH LEAGUE ARE?
South Fork 2A: Another Matt Beam-coached player at Newton-Conover, senior RB-LB Tylor Stinson (6-0, 225), the only league player who gained 1,000 yards a year ago (209-1,621, 21 rushing TDs).
Northwestern Foothills 2A: Patton senior QB Joe Eakin (5-9, 175). Lord, this kid would be even scarier if he had another year after this one to develop.
He may have had the best junior season in the area last year – albeit a bit under the radar – with just shy of 197 yards of total offense per game for an 8-5 team.
Eakin ran for more than 100 yards in 10 of his 12 games last year that included back-to-back monster games — 24 carries for 315 yards and six rushing TDs at Wilkes Central and 20 carries for 379 yards for 379 yards and five rushing TDs at Hickory.
He ran for more than 2,000 yards and 29 TDs.
Northwestern 3A-4A: Alexander Central senior RB Bryson Godfrey (6-0. 175), whose 1,496 rushing yards led all rushers last year in the “old” Northwestern 3A-4A.
He also had 28 catches for another 427 yards and 20 TDs, all but six of those rushing.
Godfrey’s totals are modest. And if the Cougars weren’t as deep in the running game as they were last year, he could well have rushed for 2,500 yards.
Alexander Central had these underclassmen in the lineup as well: Devon Weiss (1,385 yards), Jacob Parson (674) and Gunnar Anderson (324).
ANTICIPATING THE BEST MATCHUPS OF THE YEAR
If forced to pick one non-league and one league game in each conference – and it’s a guess this early – they would be:
South Fork 2A
Non-conference: Bandys at Hickory on Sept. 15, as the Trojans and Red Tornadoes meet for only the fifth time and for the first time since 2008. Hickory leads 3-1, its only loss coming 22-20 at Bandys in 2006.
Conference: First South Fork 2A game for both, Sept 22, Lincolnton at Newton-Conover. Very good measuring stick for both.
Northwestern Foothills 2A
Non-conference: Freedom at Patton, Sept 8. Patton won by seven last season, and the Patriots were pretty good.
Conference: Patton at Hibriten, Nov. 3. Ya gotta love those league schedules that have THE anticipated game on the final night of the regular season.
Northwestern 3A-4A
Non-conference: South Caldwell at Hibriten, Sept. 8. This one gets picked because it is a bit sentimental – great memories of former head coaches Don (Red) Kirkpatrick at South Caldwell and Ted Luckadoo at Hibriten.
Never forget Luckadoo saying prior to the game in the late 1970s that “We better bring our big rocks” as a reference to David (Hibriten) against Goliath (the Spartans).
South Caldwell won by a ton — at Hibriten when the Spartans’ Tony Smith scored five times — and the first postgame words out of Luckadoo’s mouth as I approached him: “We must have forgotten our big rocks!”
Conference: Alexander Central at Freedom, Nov. 6. Until someone knocks the Patriots from their perch, they’re the team to beat in the new league.
They haven’t played since 2012 and Freedom has won three straight in the series and 13 of 14. And dating back to 1985, Alexander Central has no wins (0-12) in Morganton.
FIVE BEST PLACES TO FOLLOW PREP FOOTBALL THIS YEAR?
Hmmm… HobbsDailyReport.com, HobbsDailyReport.com, HobbsDailyReport.com, HobbsDailyReport.com, HobbsDailyReport.com.
What? My picks surprise you?
NEWTON-CONOVER’S DEFENSE
A look at some of the key stats (unofficial) for the Red Devils defensively the last two seasons:
2015 2016 Net
Team record 6-6 6-5 —
Points allowed per game 29.0 25.9 -3.1
Opp. rushing per game 283.5 173.4 -110.1
Opp. passing per game 126.6 103.1 -23.5
Opp. total offense per game 410.1 276.6 -133.5
Opp. rushing TDs 36 24 -12
Opp. passing TDs 14 10 -4
Opp. total TDs 51 39 -12
Opp. passing percentage 52.2 54.4 +2.2
Turnovers forced 16 16 same
Defensive TDs scored 0 1* +1
Opp. game 200 or less rush 1 7 up 6
*–4 safeties
SOURCE: HobbsDailyReport.com files/research