By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Previewing games moved up to Thursday night because of the threat of heavy rains on Friday night:
EAST BURKE (0-2) at FREEDOM (1-1), 6:30 p.m.
Freedom has a seven-game win streak in the Fat Friday series against East Burke.
It’s being played on a Thursday night but it’s still The Fat Friday Game, a traditional rivalry that plays version No. 44 tonight in Morganton.
Freedom leads Fat Friday — which got its name from former Morganton News Herald sports editor Durwood Pack back in the 1970s – with 25 wins to 18 for the Cavs.
The Patriots have a seven-game series win streak intact as new head coach Jim Bob Bryant, who coaches in his 200th career game tonight, gets to experience FF for the first time.
East Burke, 0-2 after falling 35-0 against West Caldwell and 50-6 at Maiden, hasn’t won a FF game since beating Freedom 38-16 in Morganton in 2009.
The Patriots rolled last Friday, winning 41-6 at Draughn just a week after falling 14-7 at home to four-time defending state champion Shelby in Bryant’s debut at Freedom’s head coach.
It’s been a great series since it started with Freedom winning the first three games by one, two and three points.
FRED T. FOARD (1-1) at NORTH LINCOLN (1-0), 7 p.m.
The Knights are 0-2 against Foard and playing the Tigers tonight for the first time since 2012.
The Tigers and Knights meet for the third time – they played season-openers in 2011 and 2012 with Foard winning 25-6 at Foard and 16-13 in Pumpkin Center, respectively.
New North Lincoln head coach Steven Pack, who coached at Burns last season, is very familiar with the Foard program. He coached for the Tigers for a dozen years and is close friends with former Knights head coach Matt Beam (now at Newton-Conover).
Foard plays its 15th game under head coach Derrick Minor and comes off the first road win of Minor’s tenure – a 23-17 come-from-behind win last Friday night at Bandys. Before that, the Tigers were 0-5 on the road under Minor with losses at Maiden, at West Lincoln, at Watauga, at Patton and at South Caldwell.
North Lincoln won its opener last Friday, 47-6 over the Carolina Wildcats from Pickens, S.C., and facing Foard will be much more of a challenge.
The Tigers are much improved after going 3-8 last season.
A stat worth noting: Since 1982, Foard is at .500 (14-14) in games in Lincoln County (1-0 at North Lincoln, 7-7 at West Lincoln, 5-4 at East Lincoln and 1-3 at Lincolnton).
WEST CALDWELL (1-1) at WEST IREDELL (1-1), 6:30 p.m.
West Iredell is coached by Monte Simmons, a former assistant coach at Hibriten.
A battle of the Warriors features two teams that won their openers handily two weeks ago but are now ready to rebound after blowout losses last Friday night.
West Caldwell, after winning by 29 points in its opener at East Burke, got ripped 55-0 at home last Friday night by archrival Hibriten.
West Iredell beat the Hickory Hawks for a 1-0 start but got buzz-sawed last Friday night by South Iredell, falling 56-14 at West Iredell.
West Caldwell has been without new head coach Devore Holman for most of the preseason and the first two games. He’s recovering from complications from a knee surgery he needed after hurting it while coaching the West All-Stars in Greensboro in July. Neil Ramsey has been in charge at West Caldwell in the first two games.
West Iredell’s Monte Simmons coaches his 25th game with the Warriors tonight. He’s in his third season, with four wins in 24 games, after a long stretch as an assistant coach at Hibriten.
ALEXANDER CENTRAL (2-0) at NORTH IREDELL (0-2), 7 p.m.
North Iredell is the opponent tonight as Alexander Central’s Butch Carter coaches in his 198th game as a head coach.
The 198th game for Butch Carter as a high school football head coach is tonight in Olin, where the Cougars go for a 3-0 start.
Carter, in his 17th season and his second with the Cougars, is 113-84. He can reach 10 wins (in 15 games) guiding Alexander Central with a victory tonight.
The last time the Cougars were in Olin, they fell 34-28 in overtime.
Last season, in Taylorsville, Alexander Central crushed the Red Raiders 55-8.
The games have been traditionally close in Olin – Alexander Central has won six and North Iredell has won five since 1984 – and the Cougars are up 13-11 in the 24 meetings with the Red Raiders since the 1983 season.
Alexander Central’s start includes beating Burns 28-23 at home to open the season and winning 28-6 at Wilkes Central last Friday.
North Iredell’s 0-2 start is via a 21-0 loss to Wilkes Central and a 37-13 loss to Forbush last Friday night.
West Lincoln head coach Tom Sain is fast approaching 40 wins there and will become only the second Rebels boss to get that many in school history.
CHERRYVILLE (1-1) at WEST LINCOLN (1-0), 7 p.m.
The Rebels go for their seventh win in eight seasons in the series — all of those during the head-coaching tenure of Tom Sain– and their fifth straight over the Ironmen.
Sain, in his eight year as West Lincoln’s head coach (38-45), is within two wins of becoming only the second Rebels head varsity football coach to reach 40 career wins. The other is the late Brennan Elliott (58 in nine seasons), and the only other West Lincoln head coach with at least 30 is Harold Warren (31 over 12 seasons).
West Lincoln and is coming off a 43-6 season-opening victory over Draughn.
The Ironmen fell 38-7 to Bessemer City in their opener and rebounded to beat Chase 22-19 to sit 1-1.
McDOWELL (1-1) at PATTON (1-1), 6:30 p.m.
Patton will face McDowell for the first time in varsity football tonight.
Patton faces the Titans for the first time in varsity football, and the Panthers are still without QB Joe Eakin.
In a social media post earlier this week, Panthers head coach Tom Eanes said doctors found a benign tumor during an exam related to a concussion Eakin sustained in Patton’s season-opening loss to Hunter Huss two weeks ago.
Patton, with Ty Causby starting at QB and RB William Brawley providing a big game, overwhelmed R-S Central 64-29 last Friday night.
McDowell, playing at home and on its new artificial surface for the first time, beat Avery County 43-6 last Friday night. That came a week after R-S Central edged the Titans by six points to open the season.
Eanes, in his fourth season at Patton, has 14 wins there and 140 in a 29-year coaching career.