This is an exciting night, with the NCHSAA 4-A West Regional Championship Game going on over at Grimsley High School’s Jamieson Stadium…I really can’t wait to get over there and see what is going on down there on the Joe Franks Field, with the #1 4-A West Seed Grimsley(14-0), facing the #2 seeded team from the West, the Weddington Warriors(13-0)…
Should make for a great game/adventure, with the same two teams meeting in the playoffs for the past two seasons…Last year Weddington defeated the Grimsley Whirlies, 44-27, at Weddington(Matthews, N.C.) and that game was in Round Four of the West playoffs…The year before(2022), Grimsley got the best of Weddington, and Whirlies went on to play for the 4-A Championship in Chapel Hill, with the Whirlies falling to New Bern, and then later the New Bern Bears had to vacate the Title…
Grimsley and Weddington, no strangers at all….Plus Weddington also topped our local Southeast Guilford Falcons, 27-14, to claim the 3-AA State Title back in 2018, while Weddington was working over our Wildcats from Eastern Guilford, to earn the 3-AA Championship in 2016…That score was 33-20, with Weddington over Eastern Guilford…
Weddington has not been very nice to our Guilford County teams…Taking down Grimsely, Southeast Guilford, and Eastern Guilford during the last several seasons…Man, we owe those guys, you think??? Right, as they care that we got caught up on the wrong end of the stick…Weddington don’t care Daddy…They came, they went, and they Conquered…
Our local Grimsley guys need to get it straight with these Warriors straight from the start…Got to get off to a good start in this game…Grimsley needs some of that “Mitchell Summers Running Magic” in this game…As he goes, usually so goes Grimsley….And Mitchell Summers has been going good so far all year long, in 2024…He got off to decent start last year at Weddington, but then Grimsley got behind and they had to scrap what they were doing with Summers, with the main reason being, Weddington came out and took it to the Whirlies in the beginning of the second half, Grimsley fell behind, and the Whirlies had to take to the air, in an effort to get back into the game….Unfortunately for Grimsley, that plan did not work…Grimsley fell behind, and they went to the air trying to come back versus Weddington, and it did not go the Whrirlies way….
Last year Grimsley had two primary receivers for quarterback Faizon Brandon to throw to, Alex Taylor and Terrell Anderson, but this year Grimsley has a posse of receivers to go to, including DJ Howerton, who caught two TD passses for the posse last week vs. Hough, including the game-winner on a Throw-Back late in the fourth quarter…Grimsley also has go-to guys like Hudson Cooper, who when healthy is a big-play/chunk receiver who can get you the key yards…There’s Khyan Battle who has made some very big plays and come up with clutch catches this season, and don’t forget Patrick Carter, who had a 62-yard huge play reception for the Whirlies last Friday night, to help get them to the game tonight against Weddnington…So we have mentioned Carter, Battle, Cooper, Howerton, and that makes four receivers, so who are we leaving out???? The top receiver per yardage on the team….Kaden Catoe…With over 700 receiving yards and a Whirlie receivers-leading eight(8) touchdowns…
Five quality receivers, and let’s hope they are all healthy tonight…Five solid pass catchers, but there is only one Mitchell Summers(RB) and one Faizon Brandon(QB)…Summers with 2,073 rushing yards on 240 carries and he has 43 TDs for the season…Over 6,000 yards rushing during his Grimsley career, and he has scored 110 touchdowns…You sure hope he can get off to good start again tonight….Then you have Brandon…Brandon has been branded as the top Quarterback in the Nation for the Class of 2026….He will probably play his last high school game, in December of 2025…He has the arm, plus he can run, and to top it all off, “He Sees the Field with Eagle Eyes”….What is he, about 6’3, and that will help him see all his checks out there, and he does see them well…He sees the entire field, and that also allows him to know when to run….Brandon with 582 rushing yards for the year, and with 8 rushing TDs…Now when the ball goes to the air, Faizon is letting it fly in the right direction…With Brandon, you are talking about 2,374 passing yards, and that adds up to 30 TD passes, with only 1 interception, with a completion rate of 75.8%….
Man, I have to tell you, it looks like on paper that Grimsley has this offensive thing covered…But the game is not played on paper, but what you see on paper, all the Grimsley numbers and stats, the Whirlies got those done and accomplished on the field….They really have been getting the job done, all season long…
Now let’s see if the Grimsley Defense, led by Bryce Davis, Andre Hill, Ryan Debow and many others, can stop this Weddington Warriors offense….Last week vs. East Forstyh, a game that the Weddington Warriors won, 37-21, the Warriors RB Nick Diamond ran for 279 yards on 27 carries, and he scored 2 TDs…The Grimsley Whirlies don’t have to worry about Neil Diamond, Nick Diamond is the one they must rough-up…Make it a rough night for Diamond running…Diamond is averaging 101.1 yards per game this season, and he has 13 TDs…A far cry from Mitchell Summers’ numbers, but Diamond has only played in 6 games this season…He has my attention, what about you???
Weddington QB Gregory Fee was 12-19 for 177 yards last week in the Warriors win over the East Forsyth Eagles…Fee had 3 TD tosses, but he was picked off 2 times…Each Grimsley DB, must be ready to pay the Fee, because you can see, The House can be reached when Fee goes upstairs…The Fee plea has been for 25 TD for this season, and he has been picked off 6 times, plus he has thrown for 2,156 yards on the year…Top receiver last week for Weddington was Joseph Madden and not John Madden, as he had 71 receiving yards and a Touchdown…Next up was Javon Barber with 65 receiving yards and 1 TD…Season-wise it is Madden with 373 yards and Barber with 463 yards…Kelson Tate with 425 yards and Jon Manley with 325 have also put up good receiving numbers for Weddington…Another RB that gets it done for Weddington is Anthony Barrino, who had 62 yards rushing in the East Forsyth game, while Brody Anson only had 22 yards rushing vs. East, but Anson leads the team for the season, with 794 rushing yards, and he has 8 TDs…
**********As a team, Weddington ran for 380 yards vs. East Forstyh, with Diamond running for 279 of those yards…Diamond wears #34, and the Whirlie defenders must get a lock on this young Diamond-in-the-Rough for the full 48 minutes….I want to know where this kid is at all times…Getting off of the bus, to the locker room, on to the field for warmups, at the first whistle, all the way to the last whistle of the game…
So it does appear that Weddington has a very solid running game….380 yards on the ground vs. East last week…So where is Weddington vulnerable??? Here is a note/stat that caught my eyes from last week vs. East Forsyth…The East Forstyh QB Bryce Baker, and he is a very good one, Baker threw for 256 yards and 2 TDs, with 0 INTs vs. Weddington…It was a 17-31 passing night for Baker…Could have used a TD or two more…Weddington did hold him to 15.1 yards per pass average…So the air may fare well for the Whirlies vs. the Weddington Warriors…The number that also stands out is that East Forsyth only had 22 yards rushing on 24 carries vs. Weddington…QB Baker was negative 32 yards rushing vs. the Warriors…QB could not run vs. Weddington…
So the passing game works, but yards are hard to come by on the ground vs. Weddington…Got to get Mitchell Summers off and running early so he can get his feet up underneath him, and have his flow….TJ Davis, the son of former Carolina Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis, and the Harris kid are very tough on defense for Weddington….
This game should be a battle, with both teams trying to get off to a very good start, and working to establish whatever the other team will give them…Pass or Run, Run or Pass…Found out what you can do, and go with it…The winner of this game will face the Rolesville-Cardinal Gibbons winner for the 4-A State Championship next week in Chapel Hill at the Kenan Stadium, inside the new house that Bill Belichick is building for the Tar Heels…
We will be at this game tonight, working to get a lot of video for the site later on for Friday night/Saturday morning…I think you will be pleased with what we post and our coverage of the game…We have just given you the most detailed Pregame Report on Grimsley vs. Weddington, that you will find anywhere in this entire state of North Carolina…Like someone told me many years ago, the old fellow said all we post it Horse Manure…And told him back then, that he may be right in his evaluation, but one thing is certain, we may only post Horse Manure, but BABY WE HAVE PLENTY OF IT…
See you later on tonight, down on the field at Jamieson Stadium, for Grimsley vs. Weddington…
Looking forward to a great game!! Go Whirlies!! Come on over Metro fans and root on the last team standing. We would do and have done the same for you over the years.
It is the only game in town. Need to get out there and support the Greensboro Grimsley Whirlies. Let’s all rally around the troops.
Is the game televised?