One of my favorite scenes from the BBC series “Sherlock” involves Moriarty, brilliantly portrayed by Andrew Scott, shouting, “I’m so changeable” at the end of a particularly stressful scene.

The point of that sidebar is to say that we’re moving the JoCo Sports Game of the Week to Smithfield-Selma.

Originally, we were going to Clayton for its game with Holly Springs, but there are already two radio (CRN and Curtis) and a TV (RDC) broadcast emanating from Nixon-Fowler Stadium.

As partial as I am to what Justin and I are doing, we don’t need to make it four.

With that bit of housekeeping out of the way, let’s dive in:

JoCo Sports Game of the Week

Smithfield-Selma dropped its season opener, 27-7, at South Garner last week, but that game was tied at 7 after three quarters.

Stanley Williams and the Spartans will look to snap a 12-game skid dating back to 2022 when Westover makes the trip up I-95 from Fayetteville. The Wolverines raced out to an 18-0 lead against Seaforth last week, and held off a late rally for an 18-16 win.

The Massey Ratings, which took a bit of a beating last week (more on that in a bit), have Westover as a 13.5-point favorite.

I don’t know. I think if we can get a clean game out of the home team, that spread might be way off again.

Pregame coverage starts at 6:40 Friday night, right here on JoCoSports.com.

labor day scheduling

A trend has developed in recent years on this week in the prep schedule of playing games on Thursday night, setting up a nice four-day holiday weekend.

As such, these Johnston County games are happening tonight:

Broughton at Corinth Holders, 7
Rosewood at North Johnston, 7
Princeton at Harnett Central, 7
Triton at South Johnston, 7

The rest of the slate is on Friday:

Holly Springs at Clayton, 7:30 (CRN, 102.3 and My RDC)
Heritage at Cleveland, 7
West Johnston at Western Harnett, 7
American Leadership Academy at Hobgood Charter, 7
Westover at Smithfield-Selma, 7 (JoCo Sports Game of the Week)

Let’s go from front to back:

let’s go for two

Raise your hand if you had Corinth Holders, with about seven weeks worth of Carl Smith Jr.’s tenure as its new head coach, just steamrolling Sanderson last week, 35-3?

Unless you’re Wendell adjacent, you’re lying. The aforementioned Massey Index had the Pirates as a 7.5-point underdog, so we’ll put that down as a 39.5-point miss. That’s big, but not the biggest from Week 1.

So, can they do it again at home against Broughton, which took down Cary, 35-14, last week? The computer, grains of salt in hand, has Corinth Holders as a 15.5-point favorite. If the Pirates can run the football and play defense like they did last week, they should be just fine.

Speaking of debuts

I didn’t think South Lenoir was very good, but North Johnston’s 30-0 thumping of the Deep Run dwellers was still a nice way to start the Kyle Schenk era at North.

This time around, the Panthers are back in the suburbs of Kenly to take on Rosewood, which lost an all-Wayne County clash with C.B. Aycock last week, 48-20.

The MaxPreps era tally between the two schools is split down the middle at eight wins apiece. North won at Rosewood, 14-6, last year, which broke a string of six-straight wins in the series for the Eagles.

North Johnston is a half-point favorite in Massey’s index, which makes this a true toss up. I’m fascinated by this one, and it has all the makings of a nailbiter.

on the road

Princeton left a few points on the field in a 21-20 loss at home against South Johnston last week in the last iteration of the JoCo Sports Game of the Week, and the Bulldogs will look to bounce back against Harnett Central over in Angier.

Central is in a similar spot, after coughing up a 16-point lead against West Johnston in a 37-34 overtime loss in Week 1.

The Trojans’ Koby Howard passed for 348 yards and four scores last week, and if you watched Princeton play last week, you know the issues the Bulldogs had defending the pass.

That will need to be cleaned up, and the two-point conversion percentage needs to tick up a bit as well. If those things happen, the Massey spread that favors Princeton by 1.5 points may wind up correct.

rivals clash again

South Johnston enjoyed its county win last week, but beating Triton is always at the top of the Trojans’ wish list.

Triton gained a paltry 40 yards in a 42-0 loss at home against Union Pines in Week 1, so the Hawks come in to this one reeling a bit.

Triton leads this series, 13-7, in the MaxPreps ear (2004-present), but the Trojans won last year’s meeting, 28-14, down in Erwin.

Tyler Williams was efficient in his debut as starting quarterback, and that defense was even better than I figured it would be. The computers think this is a touchdown game (South -6.5), but I’m inclined to lean a little more towards South.

Making liars out of computers

Last week, I made mention of the Massey spread between American Leadership Academy and Union being 33.5 points. After the Patriots romped to a 59-0 win in their first game as a NCHSAA member, turning that spread on its head to the tune of 92.5 points, ALA is flying high.

The computer, duly chastened after its diss of the Patriots last week, has swung the other way for ALA’s Week 2 visit to Hobgood Charter. The Patriots are a 35.5-point favorite this time against the Raiders, who fell, 38-6, to Mount Zion Christian in Week 1.

By November, these Massey numbers will be pretty good. Right now, we should remember to use the salt we talked about earlier.

Still, a 2-0 mark seems within reach.

comets blazing

Clayton started its 2024 campaign with a 36-21 win at Wake Forest last week, and it returns home to face Holly Springs in Week 2.

The Golden Hawks were on the wrong end of a 48-31 decision with Garner last time out, but rallied from a 28-10 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Clayton in last year’s contest.

With all of the new faces on offense, maybe revenge isn’t the right word, but I don’t think motivation will be an issue for the Comets this week.

Massey likes Clayton in a rout (-27.5), and based on what I saw on video from Holly Springs, I think I do as well.

all they do is win

Cleveland wins regular season football games with the regularity of a Swiss watch, and things ticked right on in Week 1 for the Rams with a 35-32 win over Hoggard.

This week, Cleveland travels around Raleigh to Wake Forest for a clash with Heritage, which fell to East Forsyth, 44-0, in the opener.

The Rams lead this series 3-0, including last year’s 42-36 win on Polenta Road. The computers have Cleveland as a 27.5-point favorite, and that might end up being light.