We flirted with a record low temperature this morning, and if that isn’t an indicator of the approach of high school football season, I don’t know what is.
Here’s the full slate:
South Johnston at Princeton (JoCo Sports Game of the Week)
Clayton at Wake Forest (CRN)
Hoggard at Cleveland (jocoradio.com)
Sanderson at Corinth Holders
North Johnston at South Lenoir
South Garner at Smithfield-Selma
Harnett Central at West Johnston (102.3 FM)
American Leadership Academy at Union
Starting with a banger
Some teams ease their way into a new season. South Johnston and Princeton are taking the dive headfirst into a cold swimming pool approach and playing each other.
The two teams met in Week 1 last fall, with the Bulldogs earning a 36-28 win at South behind 261 rushing yards and four scores from Kadyn Haire.
Rumor has it that Haire has bounced back from his Week 2 knee injury last fall, and we might see him and Austin Lewallen, who stepped into the starting lineup and responded with 2,643 yards and a dozen touchdowns last season, in the same backfield.
Those are the proven commodities for Princeton. The unknown ones include center and the linebacking unit.
Oddly enough, defense is where South Johnston figures to be at its best early on this season. Three of the top six tacklers (Kaleb Williams, Mason Weaver and Ryan Blackmon) return.
The other side of the ball is shrouded a bit in the fog of war. Replacements will need to be found at quarterback and receiver, and in total, 2048 passing yards, 1,395 rushing yards, 115 receptions, 1,822 receiving yards and 43 total touchdowns all graduated from the program.
In the MaxPreps era, South Johnston leads this series, 4-1. The Massey Ratings, which at this point in the season aren’t going to be horribly accurate, have the Trojans as a 6.5-point favorite. The over/under is 62.5 points, and that feels light to me.
Kickoff is at 7, and our pregame show will be on the internet at 6:45.
Speaking of challenges
Clayton will make a fairly short trip (as the crow flies, anyway) over to Wake Forest for a date with the Cougars. Those two teams met at Nixon-Fowler Stadium last season, and the lights on the scoreboard got a real workout in a 54-42 Comet victory.
Clayton head coach Scott Chadwick is known throughout the state as an offensive mind, and he’ll get a chance to show off his wizardry with an entirely new unit on that side of the ball.
That might be why the computers have Clayton as a 6.5-point underdog, but it doesn’t know the whole story.
Transfers Aiden Smalls (Cardinal Gibbons) and Damarius McKoy (Apex Friendship) solidify the quarterback and receiver positions, respectively, and Noah Smith will try to replicate the 1,500 rushing yards he had in JV on the varsity level. As long as I’ve been around here, Clayton always winds up with talented offensive linemen, so I think it will all be OK in the end.
Keyshawn Stancil (39 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 5 sacks) and three-year starters Codie Witmer (48 tackles), Tyrell Jeune (44 tackles) and Malachi Adkins (38 tackles) anchor the defense, and that unit should be able to cover up any early offensive errors.
Primetime matchup
I always have to weigh the choices of other media folks when making my own, but in a vacuum, I’d be at John Jacobs Stadium for another clash between Hoggard and Cleveland.
As it stands, the folks at jocoradio.com and (probably) High School OT will be on hand, so I’ll have an eye on it from the press box over in Princeton.
Cleveland and Hoggard met twice last season, with Cleveland winning in Wilmington in the season opener, and the Vikings paying that back in spades with a 51-35 playoff win on Polenta Road.
Jackson Byrd, a recent ETSU verbal commitment, is starting his senior season and, most likely, a state player of the year campaign. He tallied 3,624 yards and 37 touchdowns while rushing for 417 yards and 11 more scores as a junior, and he figures to move up a few more places in a star-studded school record book before he matriculates to Johnston City, Tennessee.
I don’t know much about Hoggard’s offseason, but I do know the Vikings will be breaking in a new quarterback. The computers have the Rams as a 7.5-point favorite, and I tend to agree.
A pirate looks at sanderson
The Carl Smith era begins this week with a home date with Sanderson. The Spartans handled Corinth Holders, 35-7, in last year’s season opener in Raleigh — but that was two Pirate coaches ago.
The truth is that we don’t know how the Pirates have gelled in the six weeks or so that Smith as been at the helm, but this game will get us a little closer to figuring that out.
The Massey folks have Sanderson as a 7.5-point favorite, and I can’t disagree. I am fascinated, though, about what might be cooking over in Wendell.
speaking of new eras
North Johnston signaled its intent last year with a 22-0 win over South Lenoir in last year’s season opener, but the Panthers will have a new coach when they make the trip to Deep Run in Week 1.
Kyle Schenk, with a Kansas 1A state championship at the top of his resume, will start the North Johnston section of that CV against another team with coaching staff turnover.
North has some things to work out — and a culture to build — but it shouldn’t have much trouble with a Blue Devil squad that my sources in Lenoir County tell me is in a bit of disarray.
For what it’s worth, the Massey Index number is North Johnston -18.5.
Let’s stop streaking
Smithfield-Selma is on a statewide list no one wants to be on with its 11-game losing streak. But if passion and intensity count for anything, the Spartans won’t be on that ledger much longer.
SSS alumnus Stanley Williams is the fourth head coach in the past three years, and there’s an energy around the program that I haven’t seen since Deron Donald made the move down U.S. 70 to Garner.
This might not be the week, if you believe the Massey computer ratings. The machine has South Garner as a 35.5-point favorite.
two roads diverged
When these teams last met, West Johnston took a harder-than-expected 24-16 win over in Angier in last year’s opener.
Since then, the Trojans slipped into the playoffs and won a game to finish 6-6, while West Johnston’s 13-6 loss to East Wake on a short week put it behind the eight ball with Quad County 3A playoff tiebreakers and kept it on the wrong side of the playoff bubble.
My friends in Dunn tell me that Harnett Central has its lead running back and three offensive linemen back to offset some heavy losses on defense.
West Johnston can relate, since it’s dealing with the loss of its top seven tacklers. Josiah Wells will need to take the next step at quarterback, as well as manning one of the corners, for the Wildcats to nudge into the postseason.
The Massey Ratings have this one as pretty much a toss up (West -1.5).
The long march
American Leadership Academy will join a NCHSAA conference next fall — a small one — and have a pretty manageable schedule.
Until then, however, the Patriots will be playing as an independent. And as they will eight other times this fall, they’ll be on the road at Union for their first-ever varsity game as a member of the association.
The good news is that the Spartans, coming off a 2-9 season, are hardly a perineal power. Those two wins came against Spring Creek and Jones County, which are noted for their lack of football playing prowess.
The computers don’t think much of the Patriots’ chances, installing them as 33.5-point underdog. That seems harsh to me. Might be worth keeping an eye on.