High School Football Tonight with Round Three of the NCHSAA Playoffs and our Murphy Wainer Orthopedic Specialists Game of the Week

High School Football Tonight with Round Three of the NCHSAA Playoffs…Here is a look at tonight’s games and how are teams may fare as they hit the field this evening…

4-A West:
#10 Northern Guilford(11-1) at #2 Weddington(11-0) 7pm
Northern Guilford will go visit the defending 4-A State Champion Weddington Warriors, and this will be a very tall task for the NG Nighthawks here…Northern going with backup QB Kevin Willoughby through the first two games of the playoffs and it has worked to the tune of two wins….Willoughby really getting the job done, and first week, it was his passing, and then in Week Two, Northern turned more to its running game…Dwight Hall ran for 157 yards last week in the Nighthawks win over Marvin Ridge, plus the ‘Hawks got running room from Amare Akers and Willoughby…Going to be a totally different tune and song this week, Road ‘Hawks going in as the Road Dogs, and the NG defense will be tested hard by Weddington’s All-State linebacker TJ Davis…Davis is the son of former Carolina Panthers great LB, Thomas Davis…Grimsley went to Weddington last season in Round Four of the playoffs and the Warriors ended the Whirlies season on that night…It was also the Friday after Thanksgiving last year, and that’s the night the lights went out on the Whirlies at Weddington…Northern will need up huge effort up front from O-linemen big Sam Bagley and Big Tristan Swinney…Also on defense the NG linebackers, Noah Smith, Chance Crews, and Wes Noles will be very busy…Northern has an ace in kicker Kobe Guardado, and he might be the one who has to pull the ‘Hawks through at Weddington…

#8 Charlotte Catholic(9-2) at #1 Grimsley(12-0) 7:30pm
The Whirlies with the top seed and now facing the Cougars from Charlotte Catholic…Catholic’s only two losses coming to Providence Day and to Crest, back in early September…Not overly impressive numbers from Catholic, with their QB Charlie Smith only throwing for 1,041 yards and 8 TDs…Top Cougars running back Jake Anderson not even at 1,000 yards(897), but he has scored 20 touchdowns…Lots of balance on this Catholic squad and their top receiver Nick Bierman, is at 388 receiving yards with 4 TDs…Not real flashy, but Charlotte Catholic is always a very fundamentally sound football team…Former Carolina Panthers offensive lineman Frank Garcia has been coaching the linemen at Catholic now for at least 15 years, and he has those young men moving the pile(s)…On the other sideline, Grimsley with QB Faizon Brandon, RB Mitchell Summers, WRs Kaden Catoe and Khyan Battle and others should be ready to roll after last week’s early gut-check coming from the Southeast Guilford Falcons…Brandon with 26 TD passes and just 1 INT. for this season, then Summers has gone off for 132 yards rushing per game, with now 38 TDs…Catoe with 620 receiving yards and 8 TDs…You add in Bryce Davis, Andre Hill, Drew Searls, Ryan Debow, Kyrie Millner and many others on defense and you have yourself a primed bunch of Whirlies…Grimsley wants to keep living with that home-field advantage in the playoffs….

3-A West:
#5 Dudley(12-0) at #4 JM Robinson(12-0) 7pm…Game can be heard on GreensboroSports Radio…
Dudley looking very stellar last Friday night in their 42-0 win over AC Reynolds out of Asheville…Dudley was missing two of their top offensive players in CJ Neely and Jayden Brown, and the Panthers still did not miss a beat…The beat the brakes off of Asheville, with the Dudley Defense giving up no ground whatsoever…Up front with Rogers, Elliot, Ratliff, and Brown, allowing no gains by the opposition…LB Robert McCollum does not need us to call him…He is already there and in on every tackle, with fellow linebackers Adae Motley and Dre Deese also right there in the neighborhood…You not going anywhere, any time soon, versus that Dudley Defense…Add in that offense that has gone with the QB platoon system all year long, and it has worked to near perfection, and when you have WRs that run like backs, in Kordell Bartley, Nasir Newkirk, Antonio Lee, and Neely, then the formula is going to be successful…Last week LJ Southern and Rayshawn Wilson more than carried the load at RB….JM Robinson QB Jon Bissonnette is one to watch with his 1,180 yards and 23 TDs, while RB LJ Watson is at 1,020 yards and 17 TDs for the season…WR Brian Rowe stands at 870 yards receiving, with 11 TDs…Then you have Dominic Testa with 725 yards, while Xavier Burnett comes in with 630 yards receiving….That receiving corp looks to pretty dangerous as we size up JM Robinson…Last year in this same Round Three, Dudley topped JM Robinson, 50-28 at Dudley, and Dudley’s defense is better this year, than it was last season….This is our Murphy Wainer Game of the Week on GreensboroSports Radio…Murphy Wainer Orthopedic Specialists on
GreensboroSports Radio, following the Dudley Panthers tonight in the playoffs….

Also 4-A West:
#6 Mooresville(11-1) at #3 East Forsyth(12-0) 7pm

2-A West:
#11 West Stokes(10-2) at #3 Monroe(11-0) 7:30pm

1-A West:
#5 Corvian Community(12-0) at #4 Eastern Randolph(12-0) 7pm
#9 Starmount(11-1) at #1 Mount Airy(12-0) 7pm

PICKS:
Weddington
Grimsley
Dudley
East Forsyth
Monroe
Eastern Randolph
Mount Airy