High School Football Reaches Halfway

We have approached the halfway mark of the high school football season as Rutherford County went 1-2 this past weekend. Two teams are at home this coming Friday.

East Rutherford

If your looking for the game of the week, here it is in Forest City.

The Cavaliers took the week off, but this coming weekend won't be easy. East Rutherford (3-2) host Polk and they have to scheme past one of the best football coaches in the state in Coach Bruce Ollis.

Polk (4-1) just lost to a very good Pisgah team, but Ollis and his kids know what they want to do and roll the dice with sneaky plays that most don't see coming.

East does have Calvin Jones, Jordan Harris and Demetrius Mauney, but can Polk control the game as an experienced Dillon Overholt is the signal caller?

While East Rutherford does have the speed and skills to win, this is a tough pick. Polk has won the last two meetings.

Pick: East Rutherford

Thomas Jefferson

The Gryphons grinded out a tough 26-7 win at Cherryville (2-3) this past weekend. It was close for most of the game, put Thomas Jefferson (5-0, 1-0) pulled away late thanks to a pick-six by Max Robbins and a defensive effort that held Cherryville to under 100 yards rushing. Zander Bell had a couple of big field goals too in the game.

The Gryphons will be at home against Pine Lake Prep (2-3, 0-1). Pine Lake has a solid coach in Brett Hayford, but they have struggled to score this year again.

Pick: Thomas Jefferson

Chase

The Trojans used a big second half comeback, but fell short to Brevard 34-26 last week.

Garrett Hampton, Kayshawn Woods and Xaiver Williams tried to overcome a 28-point deficit at the half, but couldn't find the end zone again during the final six minutes of play. Chase (1-4) now heads to Newland to face Avery County (1-4).

Chase will have to stop Avery duo run attack of Sam and Van McCollum. Chase has the better athletes and neither team has shown consistency on each side of the ball. I'm just going with my gut here considering Chase is actually playing with a little more fire as of late. Pick: Chase

R-S Central (2-4)

The Hilltoppers were tackled on homecoming night by Mitchell 41-7 this past Friday. It was a tough go all night on both sides of the ball as they lost the turnover battle and couldn't make key stops. Demarcus Johnson was the bright spot as he did make some solid plays on defense and rushed for over 40 yards Friday night. Hunter Bradley scored the Hilltoppers only touchdown of the night.

They have this Friday off, but welcome East Rutherford into Hilltopper Stadium on Thursday, October 5th at 7pm.

NASCAR

Right now, if your not driving a Toyota, your in a bad spot. The year seems to come down to Martin Truex Jr. or Kyle Busch at this point. I know there are those that tell Brad Keselowski to stop whining, but I think he might have a point. Toyota has been dominant. NASCAR refuses to make it an even playing field, so Toyota's will likely keep pulling into victory lane. Eight of the last 11 races have went to Toyota. This weekend they pull into Dover. Dover is treacherous. I feel like Kyle Larson will be tough, but Truex will have the car to beat on Sunday.