The Lucky 13 Returns and Here Comes the Guilford Great Eight

Our first High School Poll of the year is here and we will have not only one, but two polls for you. The New and Record dropped the ball on the very popular Lucky 13 High School Football Poll so we will have it for you each and every week. We will also feature the first-ever Guilford Great Eight Poll that will showcase only Guilford County Schools. My background in covering Guilford County sports takes me back to the early 1970’s, so let’s roll with this year’s poll.

LUCKY 13 POLL
#1 Thomasville Bulldogs (These guys are a 1-A bunch but they play like they are a Junior College, Back-to-back State Titles says it all for the Benji Brown Bunch)

#2 Grimsley (The Whirlies started strong against Western Guilford, but they have to protect QB Josh Stewart because he likes to tuck it and run. An injury to Stewart and Greensboro Senior is in trouble. Josh’s dad Aaron was the QB when Western Guilford won the State 3-A title in 1977 and Aaron almost didn’t get to the game because his brother Stan Stewart shot him in the eye with a BB Gun when they were kids and Aaron’s eye was damaged but not destroyed. Aaron later played for East Carolina and Duke, in fact Aaron broke both his ankles in the same game on the Astro-Turf at Scott Stadium playing against Virginia and later came back for Duke and won the Brian Piccolo Award for courage in the ACC)

#3 Burlington Cummings (The Cavaliers play Dudley in Burlington this week and that will bring some separation to the top of our Poll)

#4 Eastern Randolph (Burton Cates, the Wildcats’ coach is a tough cat to deal with but maybe that’s why his team is so strong)

#5 Dudley (The Panthers have some super backs on offense in QB James ‘Tre Perry, RB’s Keith Lee, Aturis Bryant, Cedric Blacknall, and Derek Blacknall but they say the offensive line is thin and Dudley just barely pulled out a 7-6 win over WS Carver. Who would have ever thought Dudley would win a game on a MADE Extra Point)

#6 Glenn (Haven’t seen the Bobcats yet but Dickie Cline will be always be in the thick of things and his successful days at Ledford, Ragsdale, North Davidson, Ledford, and then Glenn have not gone unnoticed)

#7 Reidsville (The Rams thumped HP Andrews bad at Simeon Stadium last Friday night{36-7} and Jimmy Teague doesn’t rebuild, he just reloads)

#8 Western Alamance (Hal Capps will have his Warriors smoking and it won’t be grass, it will be his team burning up the place when WA takes the field)

#9 Northeast Guilford (The Rams got run at home versus Durham Hillside 32-7 and it goes to show don’t mess with anybody that has DURHAM in their name, but this week NEG will meet the Page Pirates and you gotta know Tommy Pursley will have his Rams ready. Sub-plot: Former Page coach Bob Via and his son Michael both now at NEG against their old school, Page)

#10 Ragsdale (The Tigers will be in action for the first time this week against High Point Central and Tommy Norwood better have his Tiger Troops ready)

#11 Burlington Williams (I don’t know one thing about this squad, but Coach Sam Story knows football and his team is not one to be messing around with)

#12 Southwest Guilford (The Cowboys rolled in their first game 34-7 over Northwest Guilford and SWG will give Glenn, Carver, Parkland, and HP Andrews all they want this year in the Piedmont Triad 3-A conference. SWG has QB Darrius Little, RB Albert Craddock, and Kicker Tyler Narron and all 3 are getting long looks from the college coaches. Craddock has already committed to UNC-CH.

#13 Southeast Guilford (Coach Fritz Hesenthaler is running the No-Huddle offense and the Falcons are the area’s most improved program according to SEG insider Kerry Gladson. Gladson was an all-conference LB back in the early 80’s and he knows the local gridiron scene and the Old Liberty Road section in particular. Gladson says Split End Justin Venable is SEG’s top player)

That’s a look at the LUCKY 13 and now here comes the Guilford Great Eight.
#1 Grimsley
#2 Dudley
#3 Northeast Guilford
#4 Ragsdale
#5 Southwest Guilford
#6 Southeast Guilford
#7 High Point Andrews
#8 High Point Central (Those not receiving Votes: Page, Smith,
Eastern, Western, Northwest, and Southern Guilford)

2 thoughts on “The Lucky 13 Returns and Here Comes the Guilford Great Eight

  1. T- ville does not deserve to be #1 they have not played a quality team in 3 years, if Benjie Brown had any class he would try to get moved to a more competitive conference, Elkin is the class of the 1a schools.

  2. Thomasville beat Clinton 36-0 last Friday. The Clinton Darkhorses were last year’s State 2-A Champions. To beat a team of Clinton’s caliber by that score is a very good argument for the Thomasville Bulldogs to be our area’s #1 team. For everyone’s information, Cody Walker one of the Grimsley Whirlies’ top defensive players was injured last week and will be out for the season. Our thanks to Jim Gentry for passing along the info…….

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