The top of the Quad County 3A is settled, with C.B. Aycock moonwalking to the title with a spotless record. Second place will be sorted out tonight when Fike and Hunt meet in Wilson County’s biggest rivalry game.
That leaves our friends at South Johnston and West Johnston, tangled in a three-way dance with East Wake for third.
East Wake is a 23.5-point favorite at Smithfield-Selma tonight, so it seems pretty likely that the Warriors will improve to 4-3 in league play.
That leaves West and South. West Johnston, which High School OT ($) currently has as a 25 seed, would earn third place with a win, no matter what East Wake does by virtual of a head-to-head tiebreaker.
South Johnston is currently on the right side of the 32-team bubble at 31, but the Trojans won’t be there tomorrow morning. A loss would end their season, even if East Wake lost, thanks to a tiebreaker.
A win for South Johnston over its neighbors would likely push it to the mid 20s (about where West is now), forcing West to a place it has come to know all too well in recent years — the playoff bubble.
I’ve got a question in to the bracketologists in Raleigh, but I think West Johnston can still get in with a loss tonight. But it will be very, very close.
So, let’s break it down:
The Massey Index has South as a 6.5-point favorite, but as mercurial as these teams have been, I think we’d be better off throwing darts.
The Trojans were on the wrong side of a 27-20 contest with East Wake last week, a result that has effectively removed the safety net for making the 3A playoffs.
Quarterback Tyler Williams is the key for South, since it is 5-1 in games that he has started. He’s completing just under 60 percent of his passes and has tallied 1,014 yards, 6 TD and 6 INT on the season.
Rushing the ball has been a committee approach this season. Holt Langston leads with 695 yards and 12 scores, but moving the ball on the ground has been an adventure at times.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats start and stop offensively with senior quarterback Josiah Wells. He’s passed for 1,061 yards and eight touchdowns while leading the team with 931 rushing yards and 14 more scores.
Defensively, the Wildcats are paced by Jamari Giles (103 tackles, 28 tackles for loss, four sacks), Kaden Trotter (78 tackles, 16 TFL, 6 sacks) and Chrystian Cokley (60 tackles, 3 INT).
The thing that gets me about this team is its volatility. With a little more consistency from quarter to quarter, this could be a 7-2 football team. Still, despite what the Massey Index says, I think this matchup favors West Johnston.
The Wildcats’ biggest weaknesses are its passing game and its run defense, but these aren’t areas in which South Johnston usually excels.