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It was standing room only and in either game, nobody could get away from the other, but the rivalry would end up in a varsity split.
R-S Central and East Rutherford have two meetings at least between each other this season on the basketball court. The games between the men and ladies were competitive last week at East.
East Rutherford's Men (14-0, 7-0) beat R-S Central 65-54 to remain unbeaten. East Rutherford's Juwan Blanton led the way for the Cavaliers, while Malik Hamrick also reached double figures in scoring.
Zyrion Wilkins led Central (8-8, 5-3) with an incredible performance of 35 points, Josh Searcy added 14 points for East Rutherford.
East Rutherford will have a huge matchup on January 19th at Shelby. Shelby will make the trip to Forest City on January 27th for the rematch. East Rutherford is up to the 3rd in the 2A ncpreps poll.
R-S Central's ladies (14-2, 7-1) went on to take down East Rutherford (8-5, 4-3) 66-57 this past week. The Lady Hilltoppers sit sixth in the ncpreps.com poll among the 2A girls.
R-S Central will have a big rematch against Kings Mountain on January 31st. Kings Mountain is one of only two teams that have defeated Central's ladies this year. Both teams to do so were 3A.
R-S Central and East Rutherford will meet again at Central on 2/7/17 for the second and possible final meeting of the year. That all depends on the conference tourney and the playoffs as well.
Pittsburgh at Kansas City:
Kansas City does have three strengths coming into this one:1) They don't turn the ball over much, 2) They have Travis Kelce, 3) They have the home crowd.
The Steelers won by 29 earlier this year in the first meeting. The Chiefs will shore up some on defense, but the Steelers are on fire right now.
Sorry, Coach Hooper. Pittsburgh 30-24
Houston at New England: Give credit where credit is due. Houston had enough offense and absolutely smothered the Raiders on defense last week. Unfortunately, New England is in a different zip code. The two teams met already this year WITHOUT Brady playing and a 27-0 loss was dealt to Houston. Expect the same. New England 28-3.
Seattle at Atlanta:
Which bird moves onto the Conference Championship?
Seattle can play with Atlanta, but the Seahawks defense isn't as good as in year's past. Neither is the offense without Marshawn Lynch. Matt Ryan is among MVP talk and they have by far the better offense. Atlanta also have a better turnover ratio at +11 to Seattle's +1. Seattle still makes it tough. I will take the dirty birds from Atlanta...31-23.
Green Bay at Dallas
Dallas has the best offensive line in the league, a solid quarterback in Dak Prescott and an MVP type candidate in Ezekiel Elliott. Dallas is young and they know no-better. Green Bay has the most playoff experience among the teams.
The Packers made it look easier than I thought in the second half as they beat up on the Giants at Lambeau. The Packers do have a couple of injuries, but you heard it here first. Upset Special: Green Bay 24-21.
