Welp.
If McMichael hadn’t have reached 14 points, I would have been able to copy and paste last week’s somber title in, while replacing Week 10 with Week 11: “Rockingham County Week 10 | Reidsville wins big, while Rockingham, McMichael, and Morehead fail to reach double digits.” It was pretty much the same story this week, as Reidsville destroyed Morehead, 52-7, McMichael fell, 63-14, and Rockingham was downed, 25-0.
Starting with Rockingham, it was a do or die game when they headed to Winston-Salem to battle the Atkins Camels. In an interview with Doug Robertson before kickoff, he stated that he was pretty sure if they won they would move on, but if they lost they would likely be eliminated. With their two main quarterbacks, Luke Strittmatter and Parker Upchurch, sidelined with injuries, it was going to be an uphill climb from the get-go. But that uphill climb became much steeper on the first play of the game. Despite Coach Robertson stating that he wanted his team to win the special teams battle, the first play was a kickoff return by Zaire Friend. The Cougars offense continued to struggle, and so did the defense. At the end of the half, it was 25-0, and the four-possession ballgame was too much to overcome. No one scored in the second half, leaving a final score of 25-0 in what was likely the last Rockingham game of the season.
McMichael likely looked forward to their game with TW Andrews during the valleys of the season as a close game that could possibly be a sendoff win. However, it was anything but, as they failed, 63-14, to a three-win High Point Andrews. This ends a turbulent season for McMichael, who entered the season with three non-losing seasons in a row for the first time in school history but a new coach in Steve Tapley. The prospects for sophomore Kai Tart were high, but not enough to muster two wins for the Fighting Phoenix.
Reidsville and Morehead battled it out on Senior Night for the Panthers, and shockingly enough, these are the two teams in the county with the best odds of making the postseason. Reidsville, obviously, was a no-doubter for the playoffs, but Morehead having the second-best odds of a postseason berth in the county wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card. Reidsville won handily, 52-7, in one of their best performances of this rivalry of the past few years. There is still a very small chance of us seeing some of the red and black in the playoffs, but unfortunately, it looks like only one Rockingham team will be participating in the playoffs.
We’ll find out everything related to the postseason after next week, as the mountains have some teams who will be participating in games next week. I’ll be updating you on all things Rockingham County football week to week as Reidsville pushes for state title number 24 in 2024 following a successful quest for 23 in 2023 last year.