If you were paying attention last week, you learned a few things about Johnston County’s high school football teams.

You figured out that Cleveland is still the king of the hill in whatever iteration of the Greater Neuse River conference there might be, you learned to doubt the ability of West Johnston’s defense to score enough points to win games and you absorbed the fact that South Johnston, when it marries all phases of the game, is pretty good.

There were other takeaways as well, of course, and you can hear those on the podcast. Click the link to hear it on Apple, or search for it wherever you find your podcasts.

Let’s talk a little Week 9, shall we?

Note: Clayton, American Leadership Academy and North Johnston are all on bye this week.

Leesville road at corinth Holders

Records: Leesville Road 5-2, 3-1 CAP 8A; Corinth Holders 4-3, 2-2

Last time out: Leesville Road swatted Enloe, 40-13, while Corinth Holders rallied to detour Athens Drive, 30-13.

Massey Rating spread: Leesville Road -30.5

Media Watch: Hudl, 102.3 FM and jocofootball.com

HighSchool OT playoff projection ($): Leesville Road is 5th, Corinth Holders is 12th (last team in)

Breakdown: My favorite song from “The Music Man” is “Ya Got Trouble.” Basically, it goes, “you’ve got trouble. Right here in River City. With a capital T, and that rhymes with P and that stands for pool.

Trouble is making its way to Wendell this week as a hungry Leesville Road team comes calling. The Pride is eying a second-place finish in the CAP 8A, and they need to sink the Pirates to keep pace with Rolesville as they both chase Millbrook.

If that Massey number didn’t worry me enough, the fact that Leesville Road blasted Athens Drive, 56-0, last month makes me downright twitchy.

But there’s a reason they still play the games, right? As Mrs. Paroo said in the show, “it’s a well-known principle that if you keep the flint in one drawer and the steel in the other, you’ll never strike much of a fire.”

You get the idea.

Prediction: Leesville Road 42, Corinth Holders 20

smithfield-selma at fuquay-varina

Records: Smithfield-Selma 1-7, 0-4 Greater Neuse River 7A; Fuquay-Varina 3-4, 0-3

Last time out: Smithfield-Selma was bitten, 57-21, by Southeast Raleigh, while the Bengals enjoyed a bye week.

Massey Rating spread: Fuquay-Varina -34.5

Media Watch: NFHS ($)

HighSchool OT playoff projection: Fuquay-Varina is 15th, Smithfield-Selma is not on the board

Breakdown: If the last game reminded me of Broadway, this one feels more like a movie. “300,” maybe. The Spartans continue their death march through a challenging schedule having faced Clayton, Garner and Southeast Raleigh (all projected as top seeds in 7A) in consecutive weeks.

This is the game that will determine who finishes last in this league, and if it took place last month, I wouldn’t feel like we were headed to a local version of Thermopylae.

Prediction: Fuquay-Varina 35, Smithfield-Selma 14

cleveland at southeast raleigh

Records: Cleveland 7-0, 3-0 Greater Neuse River 7A; Southeast Raleigh 6-2, 3-1

Last time out: Cleveland sailed past Garner, 49-28, while Southeast Raleigh handled another part of ancient Greece with a 57-21 win over Smithfield-Selma.

Massey Rating spread: Southeast Raleigh -16.5

Media Watch: NFHS ($) and jocoradio.com

HighSchool OT playoff projection: Cleveland is 1st in the East (bye), Southeast Raleigh is 4th (bye)

Breakdown: Southeast Raleigh would like this to play out as “Rocky,” as the Bulldogs have shown plenty of fight in 2025. The schedule is impressive, with single-digit losses to Cardinal Gibbons and Garner, not to mention that win over Clayton back on Oct. 3.

Cleveland probably has a different Sylvester Stallone movie in mind. “The Expendables,” maybe? You know, a talented crew shows up, wreaks a bunch of havoc, drops a few catchy lines of banter and sends everyone home happy? Sounds like the average Cleveland regular-season game for the last six years or so to me.

In all seriousness, Cleveland looks to be rounding into form, and one way or the other, we’ll know a lot more about the conference title race by the end of Friday night.

Prediction: Cleveland 38, Southeast Raleigh 21

south johnston at western harnett

Records: South Johnston 4-3, 2-2 Carolina Pines 6A; Western Harnett 3-4, 1-3

Last time out: South Johnston stung Lee County, 35-14, while Western Harnett was grounded by Triton, 41-22.

Massey Rating spread: South Johnston -36.5

Media Watch: Hudl

HighSchool OT playoff projection: South Johnston is 14th, Western Harnett is 24th (next-to-last team in)

Breakdown: As any parent knows, it’s folly to expect consistent, by-the-book results from a group of teenagers. That being said, it’s hard to get past the big Massey number and the transitive property (if a=b and b=c, then a=c) in this one.

South beat Lee County by 21 and lost to Harnett Central by four, while Western Harnett lost to Lee County by 28 and Harnett Central by 47.

If the Trojans carry over the form they showed last week, this one might be bowling shoe ugly.

Prediction: South Johnston 41, Western Harnett 7.

west johnston at southern lee

Records: West Johnston 3-4, 2-2 Carolina Pines 6A, Southern Lee 0-7, 0-4

Last time out: West Johnston fought off Harnett Central, 14-6, while Southern Lee fell at home to Union Pines, 45-13

Massey Rating spread: West Johnston -19.5

Media Watch: NFHS ($)

HighSchool OT playoff projection: West Johnston is 16th, Southern Lee is in the first five out

Breakdown: We said last week on the podcast that we didn’t think that West Johnston could score 20 points against Harnett Central, and we were correct. What we were wrong about was the fact that it was necessary in the first place.

The Wildcat defense continues to be rock solid — so much so that it actually scored both of the touchdowns in last week’s win.

Normally we’d need to talk about the fact that the offense has produced just six touchdowns in seven games, but when winless Southern Lee is looming on the schedule, we can have that chat next week.

Prediction: West Johnston 31, Southern Lee 0

princeton at goldsboro

Records: Princeton 4-3, 1-2 Swine Valley 2A/3A; Goldsboro 0-7, 0-3

Last time out: Princeton made handbags out of Spring Creek, 61-0, while Goldsboro fell at home to James Kenan, 48-6.

Massey Rating spread: Princeton -36.5

Media Watch: NFHS ($)

HighSchool OT playoff projection: Princeton is 10th, Goldsboro is off the board

Breakdown: Princeton’s defensive issues are well documented, but this is the soft underbelly of the Swine Valley 2A/3A schedule. Goldsboro is as winless as Spring Creek was last week, and this really is a pick-your-own score kind of game for the Bulldogs.

Another win, and hopefully, another week closer to being healthy for Princeton.

Prediction: Princeton 48, Goldsboro 7