Danny Pigge’s Pigskin Preview/High School Football Regional Championship Games with Weddington at Grimsley TONIGHT as our Murphy Wainer Orthopedic Specialists Game of the Week

The Grimsley Whirlies vs. the Weddington Warriors in Round Five of the NCHSAA Football Playoffs TONIGHT, at Jamieson Stadium, and this will be the 4-A West Regional Championship Game…Kickoff set for 7:30pm, and we will have a pregame show going on at around 6:50pm on GreensboroSports Radio…The Murphy Wainer Orthopedic Specialists Game of the Week, TONIGHT, with Grimsley vs. Weddington on GreensboroSports Radio…

Danny Pigge’s Pigskin Preview:
Danny Pigge LUTCF®, AAMS™/Financial Advisor/Associate Vice President/336.819.5706/danny.pigge@ampf.com

Taking our look at Grimsley vs. Weddington…

#1 Grimsley Whirlies(14-0)
QB Ryan Stephens(Grimsley) 118-188 for 1,960 yards, with 19 TD/2 INT……Stephens(Grimsley) with 125 carries for 1,003 yards and 24 TD’s…
[Ryan Stephens now with 2,963 Total Yards for the year…Stephens responsible for 43 touchdowns combined, between passing(19) and rushing(24)…]
QB backup Faison Brandon is 32-44 passing for 534 yards, with 8 TD’s/4 INT.
RB Mitchell Summers(Grimsley) 219 carries for 1,945 yards and 21 TD’s…
RB Ja’carion Maynard(Grimsley) 64 carries for 565 yards and 7 TD’s…
WR Terrell Anderson(Grimsley) with 57 receptions for 1,065 yards and 9 TD’s…
WR Alex Taylor(Grimsley) with 62 receptions for 957 yards and 12 TD’s…
K Jackson Henry is 64-70 on PAT kicks, plus he has gone 2-3 on Field Goals and he hit the game-winner vs. Hough last Friday night, in Overtime…
Top Tackler on Defense for Grimsley is Khalil Stimpson with 88 tackles, and the #2 tackler is Bryce Davis with 82 total tackles..Other top tacklers for Grimsley are Keshaun Jones, Jamaal Jarrett and Jamarie Davis…Bryce Davis leads the Whirlies in Sacks, with 12 sacks on the season…Fred Sellars leads the team in Interceptions with 5, and Deon McLaughlin has 4…Frederick Sellars also with 13 Pass Deflections…
VS.
#6 Weddington Warriors(13-1)
Weddington QB junior Tyler Budge 6’3/200 has gone 211-350 for 2,933 yards and good for 31 TD’s/13 INT….Budge with 242 rushing yards and 4 TD’s…
RB Nick Diamond with 72 carries for 573 yards and 9 TD’s…
RB Wesley McElveen with 79 carries for 499 yards and 1 TD…
RB Brady Ritter with 84 carries for 483 yards and 2 TD’s…
RB/QB Knox Willingham with 41 carries for 239 yards, and 7 TD’s…Willingham 10-22 passing for 127 yards, but with 5 TD’s/3 INT.(10 completed passes and five of them going for touchdowns)…
WR Evan Gilbert with 55 receptions for 852 yards and 9 TD’s…
WR Zymill Patterson with 53 receptions for 724 yards and 10 TD’s…Patterson also an excellent Punt and Kickoff Return man…
TE Griffin Reimer with 46 receptions for 530 yards and 6 TD’s…25 TD receptions among these top three receivers from Weddington…Brett Williams and Bryson Dermid both also with over 200 yards receiving each, and together combining for 7 TD’s…
P Kylan Odean with a 32.7 yards per punt average…
K Everett Scott going 55-58 on PAT kicks/6-10 on Field Goals…A long field goal of 43 yards…
MLB Jack Collins with 120 Tackles…
OLB Braden Barger with 82 Tackles…
OLB Evan Easterling with 81 Tackles…
DE Michael Luisa with 72 Tackles…
Weddington with 13 Interceptions as a defensive unit….
**********Looks like the key for Weddington will be the QB Budge on offense, and look out for Willingham, and on defense watch out closely for Jack Collins, at middle linebacker…**********
++++++++++The only loss this season for Weddington was to Providence Day, and the Warriors fell in that game, 54-32…Weddington head coach Andy Capone is (63-5) overall in his time at Weddington High School, and has led the Warriors to 2 NCHSAA State Titles, and four conference championships…

Weddington with a very solid QB in Tyler Budge, and his is very effective in the passing game, but they like to run the football too, with QB Knox Willingham…Willingham ran for a very big TD last week, in the Warriors win over Asheville Reynolds…Weddington with an excellent receiver in Evan Gilbert…The best part of Gilbert’s game might be the way he runs after he makes the catch…He can move all over, and he can up field, and to the end zone quickly…

Weddington has freshman Thomas Davis Jr. at linebacker, and Davis Jr. is the son of former Carolina Panthers’ LB Thomas Davis Sr. The Warriors also have the nephews of Thomas Davis Sr. at DT and DE…Those are twins, Andrew and Aiden Harris, and the Harris twins are also freshman, and these three freshman all are starters for the Weddington Warriors…

Looks like the Grimsley offensive and defensive lines will be big keys in this football game…On the O front it will be up to Graham Buckrham, Jamarius Matier, Henry Harden, Jaden Staten, Tyler Smouse, and Nolan Albright to control that Weddington defensive front…Conversely, on defense, Grimsley will need Bryce Davis, Jamaal Jarrett, Andre Hill, Terrell Anderson and Nate Dupis to to cause disruption and to create havoc, by getting into the Weddington Warriors offensive backfield…Grimsley must get to, and put pressure on QB Tyler Budge…Must give Budge a shove or two, and make Budge budge and leave the pocket, and force to throw on the run…Can’t let him stand back there and find Gilbert and the other key Weddington WR Zymill Patterson, wide open…Got to be ready to get a tight grip on Knox Willingham when lines up at QB too, for the Weddington Warriors…Got to take away those long runs by Willingham, and you can’t let him get started upfield…

If Grimsley can get RB Mitchell Summers running, and get QB Ryan Stephens running early on, then Grimsley can control the ballgame…If Summers and Stephens get going with the run, then that will allow Stephens to find Anderson and Alex Taylor open in the passing lanes…

Going to be a test of wills TONIGHT at Jamieson Stadium…And who will come out on top??? You know we are leaning toward the Grimsley Whirlies, and are just waiting to see how Grimsley will go about taking down the Weddington Warriors…It is almost GAME TIME again, in the Gate City…..

**********Other games from around the area, and across the state…**********
2-A West:
#3 Burns(13-1) at #1 Reidsville(13-1) 7pm

1-A West:
#6 Draughn(13-1) at #4 Mount Airy(13-1) 7pm

Other Games:
4-A East
#12 Raleigh Millbrook(13-1) at #2 New Bern(14-0) 7pm

3-A West
#11 South Point(13-1) at #4 East Lincoln(14-0) 7:30pm

3-A East
Fayetteville 71st(14-0) at Northern Nash(14-0) 7pm

2-A East
#12 Wallace-Rose Hill(12-2) at #2 East Duplin(13-1) 7pm

1-A East
#3 Rosewood(10-4) at #1 Tarboro(12-1) 7pm