Senior running back Allen Wilfong will try to help Newton-Conover stop Maiden’s win streak in the series tonight at Maiden in the 50th game between the Catawba County rivals. Kickoff at Maiden is at 7:30 p.m. and Wilfong comes into the key South Fork 2A game with unofficial rushing totals of 157 carries for 786 yards.
Red Devils visit Maiden for 50th game of
storied series between Catawba County rivals
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
A brief look at Friday’s varsity football games involving teams from the South Fork 2A, Northwestern Foothills 2A and Northwestern 3A-4A. All statistical references are unofficial:
SOUTH FORK 2A
NEWTON-CONOVER (6-3, 4-1) at
MAIDEN (6-3, 3-2), 7:30 p.m.
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The Red Devils and Blue Devils have seldom played varsity football games that were not for high stakes, and the 50th game of the series fits right in.
Newton-Conover needs a win to keep its separation from Maiden and the winner of tonight’s West Lincoln at East Lincoln game, as that winner will be 4-2 in the league.
If Maiden wins, there’s a three-team tie for second place with one regular season game to go… and that picture could get even muddier if Lincolnton were to upset North Lincoln and then Bandys found a way to also beat North Lincoln next week.
The Blue Devils, led by QB Ethan Rhodes and gotta-know-where-he-is-at-all-times WR Dylan Abernethy, have won four straight over the Red Devils and seven of the last eight meetings, plus four straight at Maiden.
LINCOLNTON (3-6, 1-4)
at NORTH LINCOLN (8-1, 5-0), 7:30 p.m.
North Lincoln can wrap up at least a share of the conference title by winning or if Maiden knocks off Newton-Conover.
The Knights have clearly started to separate themselves from the rest of the league in the last two games, winning 42-0 over Maiden and 43-7 last Friday at Newton-Conover.
RB Jake Soorus is a leader for a solid North Lincoln offense but the best thing about the Knights, who have given up 85 points (the next lowest in the league is 148 by East Lincoln), is their defense.
Lincolnton is in a rebuilding year in its first season under head coach Joe Glass and escaped becoming the first league team that Lake Norman Charter beat since joining the conference. The Wolves scored in the final seconds to win 40-37 last Friday.
A win tonight and another next Friday at Bandys would get Knights head coach Nick Bazzle to 149 career victories heading into the state playoffs.
WEST LINCOLN (7-2, 3-2)
at EAST LINCOLN (7-2, 3-2), 7:30 p.m.
There will be a lot of talent on the field tonight in Denver, N.C., when the Rebels face the Mustangs with the two teams heading in at 3-2 each in the league and sharing third place with Maiden.
PONDER
RB Canon Bridges leads the conference in rushing, and West Lincoln has been solid from the get-go under first-year head coach Darren Ponder.
Ponder has added to the stability the Rebels built in the tenure of now-retired head coach Tom Sain, as they will deliver their fourth straight state playoff bid.
West Lincoln is 16-5 in its last 21 games and will post back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 7-3 in 1971 and 6-4 in 1972.
The Mustangs have lost two of their last three after a 6-0 start – including 28-26 at Maiden last Friday when the Blue Devils kicked a field goal as the game ended.
QB Justin Barnett leads East Lincoln, which looks in good position to grab its 15th consecutive state playoff berth.
BANDYS (4-5, 1-4) at
LAKE NORMAN CHARTER (1-8, 0-5), 7:30 p.m.
The Trojans go to Huntersville needing a victory for a number of reasons, chief among them to keep solidly alive their chances of reaching the state playoffs.
Bandys started 3-0, with the third win over 4A South Caldwell on the road, and hasn’t been the same football team since (going 1-5).
Lake Norman Charter has never won a South Fork 2A game (0-19) thought it flirted with getting one last Friday and fell 40-37 at Lincolnton when the Wolves scored in the game’s final minute.
Knights QB Jeff Womack is one of the leading passers in the league.
Bandys is without leading rusher Isaiah Gilchrist for the rest of the season after he broke his right ankle (non-game injury). The injury won’t require surgery but he won’t get back in the lineup.
The Trojans still aren’t throwing the ball much – that’s not the design of head coach Tom Eanes’ option offense – and they could be in a three-way tie for last place if the Knights pull an upset and North Lincoln beats Lincolnton.
The early-season wins and that MaxPreps rankings are in the mix to determine state playoff bids helps Bandys (under the older formats for qualifying the Trojans would probably already be out of the mix because they are in sixth place).
NORTHWESTERN FOOTHILLS 2A
BUNKER HILL (5-4, 4-1) at PATTON (3-6, 2-3), 7:30 p.m.
CLARK
Anyone giving Bunker Hill head coach Patrick Clark consideration for conference Coach of the Year?
Before the season began, there was speculation the Bears could be better. They’ve delivered on that and are going for their fifth straight victory tonight in Morganton.
A win over Patton would assure Bunker Hill it’s not going to finish any worse than tied for second in the league, which would be the Bears’ conference finish since tying for second place in 2000 (7-5, 4-2 Southern District 7 2A) under head coach Randy Faucette.
Patton is 3-0 against Bunker Hill, winning by eight, 43 and 39 points.
That we are this late in the season and the Bears are still alive mathematically in the chase for a league title should have Bears fans excited.
The last time Bunker Hill was a conference champ in football? That was 1980 when the players nicknamed their unit, which shared a title with Maiden, the AKM (A… Kickin’ Machine).
The last outright varsity football title at The Hill? 1968.
FRED T. FOARD (1-8, 1-4)
at EAST BURKE (2-7, 1-4), 7:30 p.m.
Note: Game postponed until Monday, 7:30 p.m.
The Tigers come off a bye week to take a run at getting out of 2019 with more than one victory in the second tenure of Ryan Gettys as head coach.
Foard’s only win this season is 26-14 against Patton while the Cavs’ wins are over Highland Tech and West Caldwell.
RB Corey Siemer continues to shine for Foard, which has one win in five trips to Icard since the first matchup in 1994.
East Burke has won the last two games in the series in its stadium, 13-7 in overtime in 2000 and 34-3 there in 2007.
The Cavs have one of the league’s best RBs in Josh Moore, who this season has already become their career rushing leader.
HIBRITEN (8-1, 5-0) at WEST IREDELL (5-4, 3-2), 7:30 p.m.
The Panthers really haven’t skipped a beat in their first season under head coach Sam Mackey.
If Hibriten wins tonight, it wraps up the conference championship. The Panthers have won three straight league crowns and go in to tonight’s game at 52-3 in their last 55 games.
West Iredell is 15-17 in its last 32 games under head coach Monte Simmons, a former Hibriten assistant who has 18 wins since taking the Warriors’ position five years ago.
The QBs in this game are worth watching – Eli Kitchens for West Iredell and Daren Perry for Hibriten.
The Panthers have four straight wins over the Warriors but trail in the series (since 1983) by 10-7.
DRAUGHN (5-4, 2-3) at WEST CALDWELL (1-8, 1-4), 7:30 p.m.
The Wildcats need a victory tonight in Lenoir to become the second-winningest team in school history (the 2011 team went 9-4).
Draughn has lost back-to-back games – by one point at Bunker Hill and by 56 to Hibriten – after a five-game win streak.
QB Braxton Cox is posting big numbers as Draughn sits in a tie for third place with West Iredell.
West Caldwell, with Mike Biggerstaff back as head coach, snapped a 21-game losing streak by beating Fred T. Foard.
NORTHWESTERN 3A-4A
WATAUGA (9-1, 5-0)
at FREEDOM (6-3, 3-1), 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY’S BROADCAST: Watauga at Freedom, 7:30 p.m.
The Pioneers arrive in Morganton needing a win to close the regular season and to go home as a repeat Northwestern 3A-4A champion.
Watauga has won three straight in a series dominated by the Patriots since 1980 (29-6 Freedom) but they’ll have to bring their ‘A’ game to close out the title.
If Freedom wins and Hickory wins tonight, there will be a three-way tie – the Patriots, the Red Tornadoes and the Pioneers – for first place with one week to go.
The QBs alone, Jayden Birchfield for Freedom and Anderson Castle for Watauga, are worth the price of admission.
Pioneers head coach Ryan Habich says his team is not as athletically gifted overall as the Patriots, but Watauga is winning by playing team ball. That might sound like a cliché, but the pieces have fit.
RB Jaiden Bond is one of the league’s top athletes and the Pioneers have enough of them to make a state playoff run.
What may determine just how far Watauga can go is the matchups; i.e. if the Pioneers draw multiple big (city) schools with deep rosters of athletes, those games will be challenging.
Freedom will get into the state playoffs but hasn’t played well in them the last few years.
ALEXANDER CENTRAL (6-3, 2-2)
at HICKORY (3-6, 3-1), 7:30 p.m.
The Cougars and Red Tornadoes don’t play many blowout games and tonight’s game at Barger Stadium could keep the scoreboard operator pretty busy.
Alexander Central got off to a hot start this season but then dropped its first two league games, virtually eliminating contending for a conference title.
Hickory, battling injuries and having to change quarterbacks at least four times, has played its way into the conference race for head coach Russell Stone (276 career wins, 14 at HHS).
Red Tornadoes RB Cody Young brings it as consistently as any offensive skill position player out there but HHS could be outmatched because the Cougars have multiple offensive threats (RB Steven Montgomery, QB Lance Justice, RB A.J. Miller).
With a win tonight and another next Friday against St. Stephens, the Red Tornadoes would be playoff bound with a 5-6 record.
Don’t be surprised if Stone gets some votes/consideration from his peers when they vote for league coach of the year.
SOUTH CALDWELL (4-5, 1-3)
at ST. STEPHENS (4-5, 1-3), 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY’S BROADCAST: South Caldwell at St. Stephens, 7:30 p.m.
The Spartans are going to make the state 4A or 4AA playoffs no matter what happens in this game on Springs Road tonight.
The winner of South Caldwell and McDowell (the only 4A teams in the league) automatically earn a state playoff bid … and some years, that’s not a great football team getting into the bracket.
The Spartans aren’t great this year but they have vastly improved from a year ago, led by QB Avery Raynor.
The Indians are still playing with an eye on a state playoff spot, and beating South Caldwell is a need if only for momentum.
St. Stephens closes next Friday against Hickory, a game that could have the Indians going for a 6-5 record.
With the MaxPreps rankings playing a role on who gets in, having back-to-back losses to teams that were under .500 when you played them would not be the numbers the Indians may need if they are to go to the football postseason for the 11th time in school history.