The Mighty and the Miffed
First off, I'll supply a sneak peek at my Mighty Nine poll for this week in high school football. It's the same as the overall voting. Don't believe me? Check Wednesday's News & Record or Thursday's RFS preps podcast with Jim Young and yours truly.
1. Reidsville (7-0) 2. Western Alamance (8-0) 3. Grimsley (6-0) 4. Glenn (6-0) 5. Thomasville (7-0) 6. Dudley (7-1) 7. Northeast Guilford (5-2) 8. Ragsdale (6-2) 9. Southern Guilford (5-2)Not quite: Southeast Guilford (5-2).
Obviously, not a lot of movement at the top -- yet again. #1 Reidsville and #2 Western Alamance are just that good. They remain at the top of the state AP 2-A and 3-A polls, respectively, as well. More on the Warriors in a minute.
Grimsley is up to #3 with Northeast Guilford's loss to Western, and unbeaten Glenn is the new #4 going into its home showdown with Carver in the game to essentially decide the Piedmont Triad 3-A. The Whirlies, of course, will be playing Page -- considered by a few around here to be a pretty big rivalry game (note understatement) -- on Friday night at Jamieson.
As Pirates defensive lineman Jamar Lynch put it: "We can't come out there and just play around and tippy-toe. We have to go in there and bust them in the mouth and get it done." Straight to the point, the way we like it. The game should be a good one.
On to #5 Thomasville: Jordan-Matthews, playing at home, will likely be the Bulldogs' toughest test before the playoffs. Don't be entirely surprised if this is the week The Streak ends. Hey, coach Allen Brown noted a few weeks ago that the streak can't live on forever. We're not convinced ... yet. Neither are AP voters: The Bulldogs remain #1 in the state 1-A poll.
Dudley is #6 and takes the week off. Northeast drops to #7 and should rebound from last week's loss to now-hated Western Alamance with a home win over Morehead this Friday. The Rams go to Dudley in a week.
Ragsdale stays at #8. And back at #9 -- a position that has been held by six different schools in 8 weeks -- is Southern Guilford, coming off a 34-3 thumping of McMichael. That's three wins in a row for the playoff-hungry Storm.
OK, to follow up on the post-game shouting match in McLeansville last Friday: I have received a few emails and had some conversation with folks who were there or listened in. The consensus seems to be that Warriors coach Hal Capps was at least right to go for a first down, if not necessarily to hit NE with a surprise TD pass, up 21-14 with 1:42 on the clock and the Rams out of timeouts. I agree: Kneel-downs would not have put the game away, even though it was 2nd down and not 3rd, as Capps recalled after the game. Take a knee and assume 25-30 seconds off for each instance, and the Rams get it back with at least 20 seconds left. Albeit deep in their own end needing a TD.
Northeast's Tommy Pursley is an old-school coach who perceived a pass in that situation legal, but hardly ethical. It felt to him like someone was running up the score on him at the end of a hard-fought game. In the heat of the moment, he pointed fingers and said some things to Capps & Co. By now, cooler heads have likely prevailed. We'll give Tommy another day before calling ... just in case.