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Real quickly, let's look at the playoff scenarios for Rutherford County with less than two weeks remaining before the playoffs.
High School Baseball
R-S Central (12-2) and East Rutherford (14-5) are deadlocked for the No. 1 spot from the 2A side of the SMAC. Both have an 8-4 SMAC record, but Central holds the head-to-head advantage right now. Both teams have been very difficult to gauge this season, but either way, both will make the playoffs. The two play each other May 3rd at East.
Chase has the third seed and only needs to win once more to at least secure a postseason spot. A conference win would be better or a Draughn and East Burke SMAC loss should get them in as well.
High School Softball
Not only are they fighting for the No. 1 SMAC spot from the 2A side, but they are also fighting for the conference championship. Yes, I am talking about R-S Central and East Rutherford with East holding the advantage. Central has won five in a row, East has taken six straight wins.
Mark your calendars for May 3rd. The two clash at East that night. East Rutherford (13-3, 11-1) could also get a challenge from Crest down the stretch since the first meeting went into extra innings. R-S Central (13-2, 10-1) could have a challenge from East Burke on the road down the stretch.
The Lady Hilltoppers are led by their pitching (Haley White and Madison Crain), but they can hit the ball as well and scrap up runs. The Lady Cavs are led by their pitching (Savannah Davis) and defense (Jordan Gray). Despite having hitting woes at the beginning of the season, they have improved every week.
High School Girls Soccer
R-S Central (11-2) has already wrapped up the No. 1 2A seed from the SMAC. The Lady Hilltoppers have been an unbelievable scoring machine. Kenley Wilson and Morgan Hill have 37 goals between the two of them and eight Lady Hilltoppers are legitimate threats to do so at any given time.
East Rutherford (7-7) will get the No. 2 seed in the 2A SMAC, but they do have a chance to gain a four game win streak and tie the record for number of wins in a season...with 11. Winning four in a row would also give them the most conference wins in a season. All four games on the schedule are winnable, but they do face R-S Central, who beat them by one goal earlier this season. Paris Baker leads them with 10 goals, Emily Elgin and Abigail Smith each have nine.
Thomas Jefferson (7-5, 5-4) is in a tough 1A conference and they sit fourth among the eight teams. Highland Tech sits two games back, but should the Lady Gryphons beat the Lady Rams again, they should be in. However, they would have to go on the road and be a 25-30th seed in the playoffs.
As for the NFL, Josh Norman is no longer a Carolina Panther. As a young guy, I get it. He wanted more money than the Panthers were to give, so he had other teams shop for him. He didn't have to travel too far as he landed with the Redskins.
Right now, Washington isn't a Super Bowl caliber team, many consider Carolina to be so. After this acquisition, Washington helped itself, but it doesn't solve their rush defense, linebacking core issues, or pathetic run game. Still, you wonder how Carolina is going to do in trying to fill Norman's shoes. Just for thought, the NFL draft is this week April 28-30.
And finally, Tony Stewart was back in a race car this past weekend at Richmond. A dune buggy accident left him injured for four months and put his NASCAR farewell tour on a two-month hiatus. Stewart seemed pretty sharp to me, staying among the top 20 all day before finishing 19th. If not for a tire issue, he might have finished better. He is already back to himself again. Smoke was already fined by NASCAR before even racing this past weekend due to giving his opinion on the lug nut rule in place this season.
Stewart disagreed with only having four out of five lug nuts on each tire. He thinks all five should be secured and it's ridiculous to put way more stress on the crews to have quicker stops versus being safer. Well said, Tony. Well said.
