Here’s how we see the teams lining up after last Friday night’s action:
#1)Grimsley(7-1)-fell 24-23 to Page but still hold down our top spot and that decision is open to discussion. The Whirlies have Northwest Guilford coming in for Homecoming this week.
#2)Dudley(7-1)-the Panthers were off last week and now have Northeast Guilford coming in this week for a crucial match-up at Tarpley Stadium.
#3)Northeast Guilford(6-2)-the Rams are 2-1 in the Triad 3-A, while Dudley is 3-0 and Western Alamance is 4-0. If NEG beats Dudley and then the Panthers turn around and beat WA then all three could end up tied at 6-1. Stranger things have happened.
#4)Ragsdale(7-2)-the Tigers whippped up on Randleman and then Kyle Petty’s boys didn’t want to shake hands with Ragsdale after the game. Petty was the Randleman QB back in the 70’s and Randleman was called for 75 yards of penalties on Ragsdale’s last scoring drive of the game last Friday night. This week Ragsdale should cruise again as they make the trip to 0-9 Southwestern Randolph.
#5)Page(4-4)-a huge win over Grimsley gets the Pirates moving forward and this week Page at 2-0 in Metro 4-A action goes to East Forsyth also 4-4/2-0. Should make for a nice road-test for the Pirates and good battle between QB Will Newman of Page and East Forsyth’s quarterback Danny O’Brien who visited Notre Dame earlier this season. O’Brien is 6’3/195 and runs a 4.7 40 and he and Newman are both just juniors.
#6)Southeast Guilford(6-2)-the Falcons had their largest offensive output in recent years with the 53-0 win over SWR last Friday and now hit the road to visit 3-5 Rockingham County this week.
#7)Southern Guilford(6-2)-The Storm outlasted Atkins 28-21 last Friday in Winston-Salem and now they come home to C.K. Siler stadium to face an unknown factor in 4-4 West Stokes tomorrow night. I don’t even know the Stokes nickname but I do remember the South Stokes Sauras and here’s the West Stokes calling-card; the “Wildcats”. Thanks to Ron and NCPreps News.
#8)Western Guilford(5-3)-WG got their homecoming win over Rockingham County and now they get to do a complete 360 degree turn and visit the state’s top ranked 3-A team (8-0) Western Alamance on Friday night.
#9)Eastern Guilford(4-4)-EG made the trip to Reidsville last week and they lived to talk about it and now our Guilford County Cats will try and re-group this week with the 2-6 McMichael Fighting Phoenix comng down to Gibsonville to face the Wildcats.
#10)High Point Central(3-5)-the Bison made it a successful road trip last week with senior QB Ricky Mitchell at the helm and HPC left NWG with a 22-21 victory as time was running out. This week the Bison will play host to Ben L. Smith at Simeon Stadium in High Point and from what we’re seeing the “L” could stand for losers with Ben lacking a win at 0-8, but it doesn’t and Smith is still looking. The Golden Eagles did put 21 points on the board last week at EF and only trailed 14-8 after one quarter before falling 33-21.
#11)Northwest Guilford(2-6)-some say NWG is the best 2-6 team in the state but how good can that make you feel after hearing it several hundred times. The Vikings let the Bison out of the bag and off the hook last week after having a 21-14 lead over HPC with just 10 seconds left in the game. Now NWG will meet a Grimsley team also coming off of a one point loss, 24-23, to Page. There will be frustrations all over the Jamieson Stadium field.
#12)High Point Andrews(2-5)-HPA got it in gear with last week’s 35-7 victory over Ronald Reagan. The level of focus will have to change in a hurry as this week the Raiders travel to meet 7-1/2-0 WS Carver.
#13)Southwest Guilford(2-6)-the Cowboys may be taking a page or two out of the Daily Tar Heel sports section with shouts of “when does basketball season begin”, ringing through the woods out off of Highway 68 at Skeetclub Road. Last week the ‘Boys fell by 9, 26-17, to Parkland and now it’s on to Reagan where SWG has a good chance against the 3-5 Raiders.
#14)Northern Guilford JV’s(5-2)-lost to Dudley last Thursday after stopping WG the week before.(Northern Guilford played the Rockingham County Cougars last night{0ct. 17} at High Point’s Simeon Stadium)
#15)Smith(0-8)-Golden Eagles lost to East Forsyth and will travel to High Point to face Central this Friday.
Why does the N&R have Southeast behind Southern in the Might Nine even though Southeast won the head to head game. That’s no love.
It’s a case of the what-have-you-done-for-me-latelies. Southern hasn’t lost since the Southeast game – that’s four straight, plus a bye week. Southeast lost to Ragsdale a couple of weeks after beating Southern. The problem for both teams (assuming that not being ranked in the Mighty Nine is a problem, and it’s really not) is that the top eight teams are pretty well locked in there.
The ninth spot has turned over a bunch this year. Western Guilford, Ledford and Eastern all have been in the 9 spot so far, then lost soon after. Until Southern held onto it for two straight weeks, we were starting to think it was cursed.
Just an update on Will Newman – he is 6’1.5″ and runs a 4.5 flat and that was last year.
Good news on Newman, that 4.5 to go along with the arm he has will get him plenty of looks. The “who beat who” is the always the craziest thing about these polls. Grimsley beat Dudley, Dudley beat Page, Ragsdale beat Page and Southeast, Southeast beat Southern, there’s so many of these things to take into consideration and many of the teams don’t play each other at all and then all of the sudden somebody like Page gets hot. Rankings are fun to try and break down.
I think all the inexperienced youngsters for Page are starting to bloom and really gel right now. Its only going to carry over into next year when they all return.
Why is GHS at #1 up for discussion? GHS has beaten the # 2, 4,10, 11, and 12 teams. Yes we lost to Page but those games are always close, and we only lost by one point. The one team that could contend for the #1 spot would be NEG. Who unfortunately, we don’t play this year( and they did beat Dudley) I know this happened after the rankings came out. I’ll admit my knowledge of SEG, Western, Southern, Eastern and SWG is not that vast, but what I do know is that GHS would most likely win against those smaller schools. Overall, Guilford County is not producing strong football teams like it should. But, in my humble opinion GHS is clearly the #1 team in the County, based on performance and overall record. I’M sure others have differing opinions, and I’d love to hear them. GO WHIRLIES!
A lot of the 3A smaller schools in Guilford county will probably be 4A when the realignment comes in a year or two. The Metro 4A conference will probably be 7 teams strong with most of them if not all of them being in Guilford County.
I hope so Page 44, I would love to see a true Metro Confernce with GHS, PHS, Dudley, Smith,HPC, and NWG even though their are on the outskirts of GSO. Maybe the Seventh team could be SEG ( which used to be in the Mero when I attended GHS) or SWG. But my ultimate Metro Conference Would Be Grimsley, Page, Reynolds, MT. Tabor, NWG, and HPC. All of theses schools have strong athletic programs (in all sports) as well as strong academic standings.
Back to the Metro conference, an all Guiford County Confernce would be nice ( it would save money on travel costs) as well create more tension between the City teams (GHS, PHS, Dudley, and Smith) I’ ve heard that HPC’s numers have fallen off , but hopefully they will remain 4a, so High Point will be represented in the Metro conference. I’ ve also heard the same about Smith. NWG, I believe is the largest HS in the County, so they a given to be in the ” Guilford County” 4a Conf. I also believe SEG and SWG are both growing, but what about Ragsddale? It would be nice to have a Jamestown representative. But honestly, as I stated in the previous posting, I would LIkke to see a Metro 4a that has teams from Guilford and Forsyth County. At GHS, I wrestled and ran cross country. Of course, its always nice to perform at home, but the bus rides down 40 were always eventfull. Plus, its nice to go into another ciy and ride back to GSO victorious. Then again all of that traveling costs money (and we all know gas ain’t cheap). I would like to see the four prominent schools from GSO and W.S. in the Conference (GHS,PHS,Reynolds and Mt. Tabor). Reynolds, like Grimsley is an old school with a lot of tradition. Mt. Tabor seems to be strong every year in all sports. Obviosly we need Page for the rivalry as well the fact that they have a strong athletic program as well. The conference would then need 2-3 more schools. NWG, is a given (size and location), HPC to rep. High Point, an then hopefully Ragsdale or SEG could make it to 4a. Grimsley, Page, Reynolds, Mt. Tabor, NWG, HPC, Ragsdale and SEG. That would be a quality conference, even though I know it won’t happen. Forsyth County could have there 4a conf., and we (Guilford) could have our own. That seems like the most logical idea, but I’m still in favor of a multi- county Metro 4a. I just want this conference to remain as one of the tops in the state. So far, it seems to me at least one team represents the Metro in the playoffs in each sport, every year,often times goin deep. But if it does go all Guilford we need to keep the Metro name. It just sounds “classy” like this conference has always been known for on and off the field).