Friday Football Finish:We are Halfway through the Playoffs Season, and Guilford County still has two dogs in the hunt(Dudley and Grimsley both at [3-0] in Playoffs)

It is a six-week State Championship Season, for the teams that make it through the Six-Game Run for the ROSES…Three weeks have gone by, since back when they started this year’s playoff schedule…We are at the mid-way point, and we still have two teams in the “Hunt for the Title”….

Friday the Grimsley Whirlies took care of their business and the Whirlies pretty much ran off and left the G-men, in contention for the Whirlies Banners…Grimsley took care of their business, with the Whirlies’ 42-14 victory over Charlotte Catholic…Grimsley now moves on to face the tough Hough Huskies, next Friday night, at Jamieson Stadium, in Round Four of the NCHSAA 4-A West Playoff Action…On Friday night, Hough was just too much for the MC Mavericks, Hough wins out, by the score of 34-0 over Mallard Creek…Hough now has lots of team options and they’ll bring their show to Jamieson Stadium next Friday night…

We saw one of our local teams have their ticket smashed on Friday night, as the Weddington Warrior eliminated the Northern Guilford Nighthawks, 55-0…Excellent season for Northern Guilford(11-2) comes to a close, after the ‘Hawks loss at Weddington…Weddington(12-0) will load up again, and get ready to take on the East Forsyth Eagles(13-0) next Friday night, at Weddington..East Forsyth captured a real tight win in Round Three on Friday, with the Eagles winning, 35-30 over Mooresville…#1 Grimsley(13-0), #2 Weddington(12-0), #3 East Forsyth(13-0), and then #4 Hough(12-1) all fit for the fight, next Friday night…

In the 3-A West, who is the best…We will soon find out, but we do know this…Halfway through the HS Football Playoff Season, Grimsley is (3-0), and the Dudley Panthers are also (3-0)…Two teams left from Guilford County proper, and next Friday night the Battle of Guilford Courthouse will be contested on Greensboro/Guilford County soil/turf…

Friday night we witnessed the Battle at Concord, with the Dudley Panthers pulling out all their top weapons in the final quarter of this football game, and the Panthers win, and now move on to Round Four next Friday night, in the NCHSAA West 3-A Bracket…Grimsley(3-0) and Dudley(3-0), and this is the way we said it would be, going all the way back to this past July….Dudley surived and advanced Friday, due to the Panthers fourth quarter awakening…Dudley had been down all night, but they got it right in the last 12 minutes of the ballgame, and Dudley tops JM Robinson, 20-7…

Very interesting game, there on the battlefield down there in Concord…End of First Quarter:JM Robinson 7, Dudley 0…Halftime:JM Robinson 7, Dudley 0…End of Third Quarter:JM Robinson 7, Dudley 0…Final Score:Dudley 20, JM Robinson 7…

Sort of crazy isn’t it…Dudley could not find any Offensive rhythm during the first three quarters of the game, but lightning struck the Bell Tower, there at Concord City Hall, as the clock hit 11:58 left in the battle…Dudley got a 6-yard TD pass from Brayden Jeffries to CJ Neely…Andre Cummings kick was Good for Dudley, and the Panthers at just two seconds into the Fourth and Final period of this game, have tied the score up at 7-7…That 7-0 Robinson Bulldogs lead that had stood all night long was GONE…The Bulldogs scored their only points way back in the first quarter, on a 6-yard touchdown run by the Robinson QB, Jon Bissonnette…

Bissonnette was a player…He gave the Panthers fits all night long, as did the very reliable Robinson receiver, Xavier Burnett…Burnette had the Panthers beat on one route late in the contest, but he could not hang to the football, and he would have been on his way to the promised land, because the Dudley DB defender had fallen down….

Boy there were some big plays in this game, but none bigger for Dudley, than the catch made by Nasir Newkirk, where he made his magic step along the back line of the end zone, and near the left pylon, and to the good fortunes of the Dudley Panthers, the catch by Newkirk, was like the ‘shot heard round the world’…This was “The Catch” of 2024 for the Dudley Panthers…Newkirk able to haul in that pass and push the Panthers in front for the first time Friday night, as Dudley moved in front of JM Robinson, 14-7, with 6:11 remaining the contest…The Andre Cummings kick was Good again, and that hepled move that score in favor of Dudley by one score/touchdown…

Dudley has the lead with just over 6 minutes left to play…Then came the HUGE goal line stand by the Dudley Panthers’ Defense, led by Jalile Elliot, as Dudley was able to stop JM Robinson on Fourth-and-Goal from the Panthers’ four-yard line…Dudley got that stop and they got the ball back, with 1:50 left in this Third Round Playoff Game, there on the Football Battlefield, in Concord…
(Elliot, Ratliff, Brown, Lawrence, Rogers, McCollum, Motley, Deese and others strong and tough all night long for that Dudley “D”.)

So Dudley is up in the ballgame, 14-7, with less than 2 minutes to go in the game…And the Panthers let the air out of the ball, right??? No sir….Dudley’s Mr. Electricity, Kordell Bartley, a slot back/receiver/running back/defensive back takes the handoff from the Dudley QB, and takes it in a full sprint from that 10-yard line and he takes it 90 yards to the house to put a bow on this Early Dudley Christmas Gift, and Bartley has himself a 90-yard TD run, with just 1:41 left…WOW, what a run…

We said Newkirk with what might just be the “Catch of the Year” to give Dudley the lead and now it is Bartley with Dudley’s “Top Run from Scrimmage in 2024″…”The Catch” was the ‘Catch heard round the World’, and the run by Bartley might qualify as, “The Run heard Round the World”….Dudley now up, 20-7, and the PAT attempt by Cummings was blocked, it just never got going good at all, but hey, Dudley is winning good now, and this game is about OVER….

Game just about OVER, but not before Nasir Newkirk picks off a late Robinson Bulldogs pass, to seal the deal for Dudley…Dudley got the ball back with less than a minute to play, and they lined up in the “Victory Formation”, and let the clock run on out, and this game was officially OVER…
Final Score from the Football Battlefield there in Concord:Dudley 20, JM Robinson 7

Robinson leads 7-0 through 36 minutes and 2 seconds in this game, and then the Dudley Panthers take over and take the “Round Three Playoff Victory”…

Dudley’s opening drive of the game, came as the Panthers had the ball first for the night, and on their first drive/possession, it was Dudley’s RB getting tackled for a big loss, then the Dudley QB gets hit with an intentional grounding penalty, and to top it all off, the Dudley punter, Andre Cummings, gets his punt blocked, and Robinson cashed in on that huge early turnover, and the Bulldogs get that Binnsonette TD and the Ryse Szabo PAT kick to lead 7-0, and the score would stay the same way, until Dudley came to life, at the beginning of the Fourth Period, and then it was “Panther Time”, and Cats took over….

Some kind of nice win, and Dudley will be home next Friday night, versus the West Charlotte Lions(10-2)…West Charlotte the #8, and Dudley the #5 seed…Game at Tarpley Stadium, there on the James Benson Dudley High School campus, Lincoln Street:Greensboro, N.C…….Welcome West Charlotte to the ‘Boro…West Charlotte put a hurting on #1 seed Erwin on Friday, 58-0…The Lions not sleeping on this night, and you can’t sleep on those Lions any night…

Dudley Superlatives from the 20-7 win over JM Robison:
Top Offensive Player:Nasir Newkirk, with his catch to give Dudley the lead…(He also had a key Pick/Interception.)
Top Defensive Player:Jalile Elliot, with at least 4 Key QB Sacks, and in on plays that help keep the Robinson Bulldogs off balance…
The Finisher:Kordell Bartley with his 90-yard “Electric” Touchdown Run…He put the exclamation point on this game…
Top Play of the Game:Newkirk’s Catch, and Batley’s run a close second…

Good Night, and see you again, on The Saturday Morning Rewind……