Thanks to Hurricane Helene, we have Thursday night football on the docket this week. The weather forecast suggests that we might be playing in the rain on that day, too, but such is life when there’s a storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.
This week’s slate
Thursday
Garner at Clayton, 7 (JoCo Sports Game of the Week and CRN)
South Garner at Cleveland, 7 (JOCO Radio)
Smithfield-Selma at Hunt, 7
South Johnston at Fike, 7
Southern Wayne at West Johnston, 7
American Leadership Academy at West Bladen, 7
Friday (for now, could move today)
Corinth Holders at Willow Spring, 7
North Johnston at Lakewood, 7
Clinton at Princeton, 7
clayton clash, take two
For the second time this year, the JoCo Sports Game of the Week, tuned by ChiroDuo Mobile Chiropractic, will try to broadcast from Clayton High.
The first was the on-again, off-again game between the Comets and Holly Springs on Aug. 30, which didn’t get played until a couple of weeks later.
Thursday night, former Smithfield-Selma coach Deron Donald brings his Garner Trojans across the county line to Nixon-Fowler Stadium. Garner is 3-1 and 1-0 in the Greater Neuse River 4A after dispatching South Garner, 26-7, last week.
Meanwhile, Clayton stands at 4-0 after taming Fuquay-Varina, 24-9, in Week 5. The Comets have won four of the last six in this series, including a scoregami-like 29-2 result last fall. Garner leads the series, 15-4, in the MaxPreps era (2004-present).
Aiden Smalls is enjoying playing in Scott Chadwick’s quarterback-friendly offense, with 444 rushing yards and five scores to go along with 494 more passing yards and five more trips to the end zone. Codie Whitmer (31 tackles) and Josh Kelly (16 tackles, four sacks) lead a stingy defense, but replacing starting running back Noah Smith, who’s out with an injury, will be a challenge. Freshman Kaleil Hamilton may wind up with most of the reps at that position on Friday night.
Both teams own fairly comfortable wins over Holly Springs, but the Massey Index has the Comets as a whopping 28.5-point favorite. I’d favor Clayton, too, but that seems excessive.
bouncing back
We wondered how the surprising Corinth Holders Pirates would respond to a step up in competition last week against Cleveland. Now, after suffering their first loss of the season, we’ll get to see how they handle some adversity against Willow Spring.
The Storm are 1-3 overall after last week’s 29-24 Greater Neuse River 4A loss at Southeast Raleigh, but two of those three defeats have come by a combined 12 points.
Still, the Pirates (3-1, 0-1) will be looking to restore their mojo in this one. Ironically, these two teams played in a downpour last season in Wendell, with Corinth Holders earning a 21-7 win.
The computer has the Pirates as a 16.5-point favorite, and while that seems a tad high, I’m inclined to agree with the sentiment.
picking up steam
Cleveland picked up a 30-point win in its conference opener last week, and if you believe the computers — and a mountain of recent historical data — the Rams might not have another close game until they host Clayton on Nov. 1.
Now, Scott Riley and his club isn’t looking at it that way. Instead, they’ll be focused on a visit from South Garner (1-2, 0-1 GNR 4A). The Titans are a relatively new school, but they’ve never beaten Cleveland in three tries with an average score of about 42-10.
Maybe that’s why the Massey spread is 36.5? Can’t really argue that one.
Who’s on first?
As last week’s game with Smithfield-Selma unfolded, it looked like South Johnston was going to pick up a nice, drama-free win in its Quad County 3A opener.
Instead, the injury bug started biting. It bit starting quarterback Tyler Williams, then his backup, starting tight end Maddox Sills. A JV player, who started both ways the night before, took a few snaps, and finally, Holt Langston, the usual starting running back, took snaps and ran read option and sweep plays the rest of the night.
I don’t touch base with coaches during the week unless I’m calling their game that week, so I don’t know what the plan at the quarterback position is for the Trojans (3-1, 1-0) — and they’ll have one fewer day to figure it out before visiting Fike (2-2), who nipped West Johnston, 39-32, last time out.
Massey has the Demons as a 6.5-point favorite, but with what we don’t know hanging out there, I have no idea what’s going to go down in Wilson on Thursday night.
meanwhile, across town
Smithfield-Selma will also be making the bus trip up I-95 Thursday to Wilson to face Hunt in a Quad County 3A contest.
The Spartans (0-4, 0-1) are still in search of their first win, and they’ll take aim at the 1-3 Warriors, who dropped their conference opener, 54-14, at C.B. Aycock last week.
Hunt’s lone win came against Beddingfield back in Week 2, but the computers still love the Warriors in this one (-33.5).
One of these weeks, the Spartans are going to break through. I’m not sure it’s going to be here, though.
the world turned upside down
Back in the spring, this week’s game between Clinton and Princeton looked like a clash between two of the better 2A teams in the East. But with a change in coaching staffs and an exodus of players, the Darkhorses are a shadow of their former selves. Clinton is 0-4 and has a grand total of one touchdown in those games.
Now, it’s worth pointing out that Northside, Wallace-Rose Hill, Lumberton and Whiteville are all pretty good, but still.
Equal time demands that we point out that this year’s Princeton team is not performing at its usual standard, either. Last week’s 41-24 loss at home to Richlands was the third of the campaign, balanced against a lone win at Rosewood.
This feels like a pivot point game for both of these teams, and the loser might find itself in a world of hurt the rest of the way. Somehow, the Darkhorses are a 6.5-point favorite in this one.
Personally, I don’t think they’ll be able to score enough to stay with the Bulldogs. I guess we’ll see, won’t we?
Speaking of pivot points
Every now and then, a game arrives on the schedule that can make or break a season. This could be one of those weeks for North Johnston (2-2).
The Panthers visit Lakewood (3-1) for a literal cat fight, and with a win, can enter Neuse 6 play on a two-game winning streak.
The Leopards have wins over Spring Creek, KIPP Pride and Lejeune, but it’s a 37-34 loss at home to Midway that’s most interesting.
You may recall a 29-22 loss to the Raiders by North back on Sept. 6, and if you do, you’d be tempted to apply the transitive property to any prognostication.
When Massey doesn’t do that, my ears perk up. The computer has North Johnston as a 7.5-point favorite, which is not what I was expecting. That tells me that those Lakewood wins might not be all that stellar.
It sets the stage for a fascinating night in Salemburg.
Back on the road
After a Homecoming win over South Wake, American Leadership Academy continues its string of road games this week at West Bladen.
The Knights are 1-3, and their only win came against winless East Columbus, 26-19, last week. That might be why the computer has the Patriots (4-1) as a 8.5-point favorite on the road.
I don’t think West Bladen is as good as Roanoke Rapids, so making ALA the favorite feels right. I did enjoy the Patriots’ offensive stats on MaxPreps, though:
