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It was almost a clean sweep on the football field this past week. A 3-1 mark is outstanding, but it didn’t turn out exactly the way it was expected. Things certainly are heating up for second place among the SMAC 2A teams and a good shot at a playoff berth.
R-S Central (3-4, 2-3) has now won two in a row as they destroyed Kings Mountain, 56-20 last week. Matt Atchley again goes for 166 and three touchdown runs. Even Kaleb Hines rumbled 55-yards on a fumble return TD on defense and they picked up 422 yards on the ground last week.
They have East Burke (1-7, 0-5) on the road this Friday, by which those Cavaliers are banged up right now. If East Burke gets running back Larry Clark and tight end Drake Haas back, it would definitely be a tougher task for Central in Icard.
Chase (4-4, 1-4) got back to playing Trojan football as they ran past North Gaston, 14-13 last Friday. Josh Wright, D’Andre Kelly and Jordan O’Rourke nearly rushed for 300 yards in the win over a quality 3A club in the Wildcats. They also held the Wildcats to 170 yards overall. Chase is now playoff eligible, however, they have just one conference win at the moment. This weekend they will travel to Kings Mountain (2-7, 0-6) and have a pretty good shot at getting their second league win.
Meanwhile, the East Rutherford defense took care of Draughn, 10-6 on the road last week. The Cavs held Draughn to an impressive 160 yards total with Kameron Garrison’s touchdown and Harrison Wilkerson’s field goal nabbing the only points in the contest for East. East Rutherford (3-5, 3-2) host Crest (7-1, 5-0) for homecoming this weekend. The Chargers have a speedy backfield, so is the Cavaliers defense up to the task again this week?
Unfortunately, Thomas Jefferson (6-2, 2-1) was the only team to fall on Friday night. The Gryphons really are having a tough time with Community School of Davidson. The Spartans upset them in soccer a couple of weeks ago and now they do so in a 9-7 game on the football field. I figured it would be a tough game, but I would have never imagined that it would have been a defensive game.
Thomas Jefferson has the game to watch this week as they play their fourth consecutive conference game on the road. They travel to Bessemer City (4-4, 4-0) and if Thomas Jefferson does win, a three-way tie atop the league standings would likely be the case. They will have to contain a 95 percent running attack and mainly Cedric Mackey who has ran for over 1,000 yards this season so far.
Congrats on a good season by the R-S Central volleyball team (10-9 record). They were the only county team to make it into the playoffs this season. However, it ended in the first round of the playoffs as they lost 3-1 in the postseason in Claremont at Bunker Hill this past week.
As for NASCAR, they return to my personal favorite track, Martinsville Speedway this weekend in Virginia. It’s been a Jimmie Johnson world or perhaps they should consider renaming it Johnsonville the way things keep going at the half-mile track. Johnson will definitely be the favorite as he has eight wins there and completed every lap in 22 straight races at that facility. And somehow, crew chief, Chad Knaus and Johnson find a way to make the final adjustment on the last pit stop that nobody has figured out yet. In the latest outcomes there, that has been the major advantage for the #48.
Johnson just took the points lead back from Kenseth and this is not Kenseth’s best track at all. Kenseth hasn’t finished any better than fifth in his last 22 times here, but don’t count him out. Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Denny Hamlin are solid picks to challenge for victory or at least a top ten this weekend.
