By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Previewing tonight’s varsity football games, weather permitting:
Bunker Hill is at home tonight and hoping to snap a 27-game losing streak against Maiden.
MAIDEN (2-0) at BUNKER HILL (0-2), 7:30 p.m.
It would be hard to imagine Maiden’s confidence level being any higher than when it battles the Bears.
In a series that Maiden leads 32-5 since 1980, the Blue Devils have won 17 straight, their last 14 at The Hill and they’re 17-1 at Bunker Hill in that long stretch.
QB Keygan Mayfield has played well in two starts for Maiden since returning to the lineup – he played last season at Davidson Day – and the Bears have been outscored 86-7 so far.
For the history buffs: Bunker Hill’s last win over Maiden was in 1989 at Maiden (24-8), and the Bears haven’t walked off their home field with a win over the Blue Devils since 1988 (24-12).
Hickory battles Newton-Conover on Monday night, the 75th meeting in a series that began with a game in 1923.
NEWTON-CONOVER (1-0) at HICKORY (0-1), Monday, 6 p.m.
Newton-Conover has won three straight and seven of the last nine in a series that plays its 75th game – the first one was in 1923. The game has been moved to Monday night at 6 p.m. at Barger Stadium.
This could be the most entertaining game, and with plenty of subplots, as HHS makes its second attempt at the first victory for new head coach Russell Stone with the Red Tornadoes.
Both teams had a bye last week and thus two weeks to get ready.
Newton-Conover appeared to dig only a few pages into its playbook in a 51-0 romp past Bunker Hill to the season while HHS had a shot at winning its opener before Statesville rallied to win 27-26 in overtime.
Red Devils head coach Matt Beam, 20-15-1 at Newton-Conover, is excited about this year’s team – and for good reason – and these are the type of games that are very fan friendly.
Newton-Conover has won three of its last four trips into Barger Stadium, now trailing 25-47-2 in the series, and the Red Devils have had the upper hand in the battles for a while now.
Since 1998, Newton-Conover has won 14 of the 19 matchups… and since 1993, the Red Devils are 17-7 against HHS.
A win on Monday night would give Newton-Conover four straight over HHS, matching the Red Devils’ second-longest win streak (N-C won four straight from 2008-11).
The Red Devils’ longest stretch of handling HHS is five straight games, 1998-2002.
Hibriten’s Clay Lewis can reach 60 wins faster than any Panthers head football coach in history with a win tonight at Avery County.
HIBRITEN (2-0) at ASHE COUNTY (0-2), 7:30 p.m.
Clay Lewis, in his eighth season as head coach of the Panthers, could reach 60 wins faster than any head football coach in school history with a win tonight on the road.
Lewis is 59-22 since taking over as head coach when Chuck Cannon (95 wins in 11 years) retired, and Cannon didn’t reach win No. 60 until near the end of his eighth season (2006).
Hibriten, again explosive on offense (55-0 last Friday night over West Caldwell) is 7-0 against Ashe County and 4-0 on the road with wins there in 2001, 2003, 2013 and 2015.
Ashe County has been outscored 109-56, falling 56-35 at Avery County to open the season and 53-21 at home last Friday night against Watauga.
DRAUGHN (0-2) at BREVARD (1-1), 7:30 p.m.
The Wildcats need a win to avoid a 0-3 start, and this is the first meeting with Brevard in Draughn’s short varsity football history.
Draughn has scored 12 points in losses to West Lincoln and Freedom while Brevard, playing its third straight home game, fell 30-7 to Mountain Heritage and beat Rosman 27-12 last Friday night.
A victory would give Wildcats head coach Scott Lambert his 26th in two tenures as the Draughn boss.
OTHER AREA GAMES
Community School of Davidson (1-0) at Lake Norman Charter (1-1), 7:30 p.m.: The Knight will need to find a way to address CSD’s passing game, as senior QB Luke Watts had a big opener in a victory last week at North Moore (16-32-3 for 292 yards, 3 TDs plus 16 rushes for 112 yards) and completed seven passes for 143 yards to junior WR Austin Fekete.
East Lincoln (0-1) at Ashbrook (0-2), 7:30 p.m.: New Mustangs head coach David Lubowicz gets his second shot at his first East Lincoln victory. It’ll come in Gastonia against a Green Wave team that has been beaten by 30 points by Clover, S.C., and by two points last week against East Mecklenburg after scoring in the final minute to make it close.
Lincolnton (0-2) at North Gaston (0-2), 7:30 p.m.: The Wolves hope to avoid a 0-3 start as the face a third straight Gaston County foe.
Lincolnton fans are already concerned after back-to-back blowout losses to Cramer and South Point began the season.
The Wildcats’ losses are by three points to East Gaston and, last week, by 34 points to East Rutherford.
Watauga (2-0) at Avery County (1-1), 7:30 p.m.: The Pioneers go for a 3-0 start after beating Ashe County by 32 points last Friday night.
Avery County meet Ashe in its opener, winning by 21 points, but didn’t must much offensively last Friday and fell 43-6 at McDowell.
TONIGHT FROM BARGER STADIUM
Tune in to tonight’s Newton-Conover at Hickory game shortly around 6:30 p.m. on WNNC 101.3 FM for a pre-game broadcast leading up to complete play-by-play of that battle. The pre-game will include an interview with Chris Hobbs of HobbsDailyReport.com about his new website covering local sports in the Greater Hickory area and about his latest Blast From The Past story, a feature that appears on the website every Friday morning and that’s focused on an individual with ties to the opponents who are playing each Friday night. This week’s story: retired HHS head football and girls’ basketball coach David Elder.