Busy Ball Game Day with Eclipse Baseball Game and Football Tonight with Northwest Guilford over Smith, 17-6

Busy ball game day today, with the Greensboro Grasshoppers Eclipse Day Game and nearly 7,000 in attendance at First National Bank Field and on over tonight on to the newly renovated Claude Manzi Stadium for the Ben L. Smith Golden Eagles, hosting the Northwest Guilford Vikings…

The high school football game began at 7pm and they picked up where the game was stopped back on Friday night and that was with about 7 and a-half minutes to play in the first quarter and once they got going again tonight/Monday, Northwest Guilford grabbed the early lead 3-0 over Smith, on a field goal from around 20 yards out by NWG’s leg-strong kicker, Cody Creed…Creed is among the top high school kickers/punters in the state and we have three very good ones in Guilford County in Creed, Thomas Murray, from Page HS and Kenjee Patterson over at Dudley High School…

Creed is like an extra dimension for the Northwest Guilford football team and your kickoff team is going to be lucky if they get a chance to return a kick against NWG and Creed this season, since Creed booms almost all of his kickoffs deep into the end zone and the KO’s are like a KO Punch(Knock Out Punch), because under the North Carolina High School Athletic Association/NCHSAA rules, the kickoffs that carry into the end zone are non-returnable….

Northwest had the early 3-0 lead on the Creed seed(FG), but the Smith Golden Eagles were able to bear down under the leadership of the sophomore QB Jordan Williams, as Williams connected with Christian Cheeks on a TD pass and before you could say Roger Godell, it was Smith 6, Northwest Guilford 3, with a blocked PAT leaving the Eagles minus the extra point….Williams also found Chris Thacker on the TD drive, as well as Williams to Barry Ford allowing the Eagles to get it on down the field and with 5:24 remaining in the second quarter, Ben L. Smith was up at home, 6-3….

Northwest Guilford did not hit the ‘panic button’, the Vikings pushed the “Turner Tron”, as NEG QB Jacob Leonard hit NWG WR Tre Turner, for a 24-yard TD pass late in the second quarter and with Creed’s deed, the NWG PAT, Northwest took a 10-6 lead over Smith right before the half…

Halftime:Northwest Guilford 10, Smith 6…..

The second half highlight reel was not a long one, as both teams had opportunities to take over the game, but with fumbles and picked-off passes, the defense took the game ball, and ran with it in the second half….

Northwest posted what turned out to be the game-sealing touchdown with 6:25 left in the football game, as Caleb Andrews ran the ball in from five yards out and then Creed had one more chance to plead his ‘kicking case’ and he nailed the PAT, as NWG went on win this season-opening and new Claude Manzi Stadium opening ball game, 17-6…..

Final Score:Northwest Guilford 17, Ben L. Smith 6
NWG(1-0)/Smith(0-1)

First-year Northwest Guilford coach Kevin Wallace said he was “just happy for his team to get the win/victory and he had been losing sleep over this game all weekend long.”…

Coach Wallace said he had to play this game in his mind Friday, Saturday, Sunday and all day Monday and “he was glad to get it behind him and in the Win column and now his team can turn its attention to their next opponent, the Western Guilford Hornets, later on this evening as the clock strikes Midnight and Monday becomes Tuesday”….

At midnight tonight, the Northwest Guilford Vikings will go to work preparing for “the next team up”, as the Western Guilford Hornets head over to Northwest Guilford and they enter Billings Stadium this Friday night, to face the Vikings….Big Backyard Battle Brewing Here….

Coach Wallace said, “You can only watch so much game tape on the team you are facing in the first game of the season and when the game starts out on Friday and you don’t finish until Monday, that tape is running over and over and over again, and now he is glad to flip video over and start watching some Hornets in action and he can put his Ben L. Smith tape/project to bed, and get it out of his head”…..

Coach Wallace said, “he is ready to start getting ready for the WG Hornets”…..

Northwest could have played better tonight/Monday and Smith didn’t play all that bad and the Golden Eagles have hopes for a promising season if they can keep all of those key offensive players healthy and available and you can expect to see a lot from Jordan Williams, Christian Cheeks, Barry Ford and Chris Thacker this season…

Northwest Guilford will build on their success and hand the keys over to QB Leonard, WR Tre Turner, SB Cam Cloud and RB Caleb Andrews and don’t forget the extra dimension of the K/P Cody Creed and what his foot/leg brings to the table on a Friday or even a Monday night….

That is our word on the game tonight and hopefully we will have some more items coming up for you on Tuesday……