Comment
Print
Before we talk about some football, here are a couple thoughts on other sports stuff.
Who would have thought an Earnhardt would be subbed by Jeff Gordon? I bet nobody saw that 20 years ago. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (concussion symptoms), who was out for Indy and this coming weekend at Pocono as well has Jeff Gordon behind the wheel of his race car.
Gordon did as good of a job as you would expect as he hung around the top 15 all day before winding up 13th. Gordon has won six times at Pocono. That could get interesting.
It was Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch who stole the show though. Stewart, who was in his last ride at Indy took home 11th after recovering from a lap down. On the other hand, Kyle Busch was in a different zip code and easily won at Indy. It's weird, Busch can be so unbeatable one week and just okay the next.
Congrats to the Junior Legion state champs from Rutherford County. They went undefeated in Swansboro last week to take home the title.
The Rutherford County 50/70 little league baseball team is in Florida after winning the state title. Right now, they are just one of three teams remaining in regional play and have only lost to Florida.
Meanwhile, the Forest City Owls have made a miraculous recovery as they have won six of their last seven games and sit just one game out of first in the second half of the west standings. Should they win the second half of the West, they will get an automatic bid into the Coastal Plain League Playoffs. The Owls are hitting the ball much better. Lately, we are seeing two hits from three or four in the line up a night and are now on a six-game win streak...the longest of the season.
High School Football
Let's get to a look at the Southern Piedmont 1A
Pine Lake Prep - There is no doubt, Pine Lake is the team to beat in this conference. They have nearly everybody back from a 10-win season a year ago and finish second in the conference last season. Taylor Hochman and Will Harwood picked up nearly 2500 yards rushing a year ago combined and both are seniors this season.
Bessemer City - This is the team that may scare Pine Lake the most. The Yellow Jackets return a number of players but could wind up anywhere from first to fifth in the conference. Ja'harie Guthrie (threw for 728 yards) on offense and Rod Littlejohn (23 tackles for loss) on defense should be tough to handle.
Community School of Davidson - They have their quarterback (Luke Watts threw for over 2,000 yards last year) for another season and they should be able to find receivers to fill the void like Jake Ficara. Their three best wide outs among running back Nick Bernardini have graduated.
Thomas Jefferson - The Gryphons lost a lot of their skill players especially in Nick Mintz (QB) and Jalen Simmons (WR). Also lost to graduation are David Bond, Stephen Hargro, Nick Norris, Zane Jackson and Seth McCraw. While there are a number of questions across the drawing board, lineman play should be solid. Nomi McMullens (FS/ATH) and Max Robbins (WR) do return. If there is good news, they should have linemen and blockers galore.
Mountain Island Charter - They had a lot of young talent last season and I expect them to be better and more competitive. Athletically, they could be among the top half of the conference.
Cherryville - They have really struggled over the past couple of seasons. The defense gave up 467 points last year and the offense could only muster 77.
Highland Tech - A numbers game has been the issue with the Rams. They have some athletes, but last year, they had less than 25 players overall. I expect about the same again this season.
