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Can we agree this is shaping up to be the matchup of the season? They're clearly the two area teams that have played the best so far, with Page improving to 3-0 after its third straight 24-plus point victory and Dudley handling a good Grimsley team in absolutely every facet of a 40-0 win. Dudley will almost certainly be 4-0 heading into that game with Smith on tap next week, while the Pirates also have to be considered favorites (albeit by much less) over Ragsdale at home. Page probably has as good a chance as anybody to move the ball on Dudley, but I haven't seen any reason yet why the Panthers won't run the table this year. They absolutely dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. It's like watching a tidal wave crash into a sandcastle.

Onto the rest of Football Redux: Week 3...

-Roughest Week Award goes to Grimsley, which not only lost a game but likely its starting quarterback (Josh Patterson), tailback/backup QB (Lashawn Brown) and linebacker (Andre Oliver) to injury for at least next week's game. Coach Mark Saunders said it'll require so much reshuffling this week that he'll likely have to surrender his beloved late-night video game sessions. That's sacrifice.

-Close second for Roughest Week goes to Smith, which lost its second heartbreaker in three weeks and is now in you've-got-to-be-kidding-me territory with its losing streak at 24. This loss came after the Golden Eagles' kicker got cramps in the second half, forcing them to unsuccessfully go for two after their second touchdown of what turned out to be a 14-13 loss to Western Guilford. Go look up "snakebit" in your dictionary.

-What can you make of High Point Central, which improved to 3-0 with a five-overtime 12-6 win over Eastern Randolph on Thursday? Do you call the Bison lucky because Eastern missed kick after kick after kick, including an extra point in the third overtime and an 18-yard field goal in the fourth overtime that would have won it? Or do you call them gritty for stealing their second overtime win of the season after going 0-2 in that scenario last year? Probably a little bit of both.

-Another reason the Metro 4-A is looking tight right now: Northwest Guilford, which nearly took down a Ragsdale team that needs to be applauded for finding a way to win week after week. Northwest drove inside the red zone in the final minutes but couldn't deliver the knockout blow and fell 30-24. Still, the Vikings are clearly a force to be reckoned with behind that big offensive line. Who'd have thought they'd be the favorites against Northeast next week?

-Another interesting one to watch next week: Southern at Southeast. The Falcons looked more like the team we all expected to see in a 41-0 win over Southwest this week, but beating the Storm, which has quietly been one of the area's most efficient teams in rolling to 3-0, would provide a whole lot more validation.

-Tip of the cap to Eastern Guilford, which snapped a 16-year drought against Northeast and now, with Western Guilford (1-2), Hillsborough Cedar Ridge (1-2) and Southwest Guilford (0-3) on the horizon, has a legitimate shot to enter the conference season 6-0. For a team that hasn't had a winning season in a decade, that would be a monumental accomplishment.

-Finally, I'm dumbfounded by the story out of Thomasville, where someone stole the copper wiring from the light system, causing last night's game to get pushed back to Monday. All this for copper, which ended Friday trading at a lower price per pound on the stock market than bacon? When will people learn?