Comment
Print
As they say, it’s not how you start, but how you finish! R-S Central had to come back from 14 down in the first half and held off East Rutherford in the classic county rivalry, 20-17.
The Cavaliers scored a field goal just three seconds before the end of the first half to go up 17-7. East then kicks off to Matt Atchley and it will be forever known as “The four point swing, in three seconds of Cavalier doom.”
The chances of the kickoff being returned on the final play of the half is not good, but Atchley switched the momentum and took it all the way to house as the game closed to 17-14 at that point. From there, Central got a Desmond Whitesides rushing TD to go up in the second half and the defense gated East in the rest of the way. Malik Whetstone actually made a fantastic catch to score Central’s first touchdown.
R-S Central (5-4, 4-3) earns the County Championship title, has won four games in a row and are playoff bound…all for the first time since 2009. They travel to an unhappy Burns team who lost for the first time all season to Crest last week.
On the East side, despite outplaying Central for most of the night, big plays allowed by the Cavaliers hurt their chances in this one. They have now lost three close games this season. All is not lost, Tray Greene and Jordan Strickland are doing a great on the defensive line, but they have only scored 37 points in the last five games. East Rutherford (3-7, 3-4) is in a must-win situation and welcomes Chase to Bryan Harrill Stadium this Friday. If East were to win, they would be playoff eligible, but not a secured bid. Lose and the season is over.
Meanwhile, Chase nabs its sixth win of year as they took care of East Burke 27-8 last Friday. Chase rushed for 235 yards and held East Burke scoreless in the second half.
If East Rutherford’s line can dominate Chase, I think the Cavaliers will win. Chase (6-4, 3-4) has some confidence coming into Friday and is the better closer. If East is lethargic at all, Chase could easily win this one. Expect a tight game.
Thomas Jefferson manhandled Pine Lake Prep last week and will host Highland Tech this Friday. They have already beat Tech once this season 46-0. TJCA also will walk away with it’s best season on record as they now have seven wins this year.
At press time, Thomas Jefferson’s 1A soccer title dreams moved onto round three as they received another visit from Community School of Davidson. The two split games early this year. Win and they will host Elkin or Highlands on Saturday (Nov.9).
Congrats on a great season by the Chase soccer team (16-4-1), but they fell in a 2-1 heartbreaker to Shelby in overtime during the second round of the playoffs. Chase had beaten Shelby twice previously, but it wasn’t meant to be for a third time. It is however, the first time that Chase has won a conference title, a soccer playoff game as they beat West Stanly in round one and they can only get better in being such a young team.
R-S Central (12-6) also has a fairly young team and deserves congrats for going over ten wins in a season for the first time since 2009. The season ended in the first round of the playoffs last week as they fell 3-1 at Lake Norman Charter.
The Carolina Panthers have finally got things turned around. They have now won four in a row, but face their toughest task so far this season when they travel all the way to Candlestick and play the 49ers.
Don’t get me wrong, Carolina hasn’t been perfect, but if they can repeat what they did in the first half of the season and go 5-3, the playoffs are looking great. Shoot, they are even good enough to threaten the Saints for the division. However, they have a double-whammy in a sense on the schedule with the Patriots following the 49ers. The Panthers should be favored in four of the final eight games.
And there is two races to go for NASCAR this season as Phoenix is up this week. Both Kenseth and Johnson have won their before, but Johnson definitely has the advantage with a seven point lead in the standings and a three more victories at the Arizona track than Kenseth. Taking this a little further, Johnson has eight more top fives there and led 722 more laps there than Kenseth. Kenseth’s best shot is at Homestead, but he will have to keep within 10-15 points to really stay in range title hopes following this Sunday‘s event.
