History repeated itself on Friday evening as the Reidsville Rams defeated the Rockingham County Cougars for the forty-sixth time in forty-eight matchups. Also, last year repeated itself with Morehead pulling off a surprising rivalry victory at MacField Stadium, taking down McMichael 13-12. This was a massive week in defining Rockingham County and the Mid-State Conference as a whole.
The Morehead Panthers walked into Mayodan and shocked McMichael last season, 27-0, in a match so memorable one fan was spotted wearing a shirt with the scoreboard from the game on it. This year, Morehead walked into Mayodan and shocked McMichael, albeit in a much closer, 13-12 game. It was a grind to the finish for the Panthers, and the low-scoring affair came down to the last play, when Morehead was able to run the clock out on fourth down. The Panthers started their season 0-5 under their new coach Tony McCants, who finished his tenure at McMichael in 2023. But, after last week’s win against Bartlett Yancey and this win against McMichael, they have catapulted themselves to 2-5 overall, 2-1 in the conference, and a second place spot in the Mid-State 3A/4A/5A. The Fighting Phoenix, on the other hand, have followed up a promising 2-1 start to the year with a three-game losing streak. Seven days from now, McMichael will try to break the losing streak when they take on Carver, whereas Morehead will travel to the Football Capital of NC to take on Reidsville.
The Reidsville Rams continued their long history of defeating county opponents by traveling to Wentworth and taking care of business. With three touchdowns scored in each half, the Rams earned a 42-0 conference win at Cougar Pride Stadium off of a dominant defensive performance in which they only allowed sixty-seven yards of offense, and offensively, they relied on Oregon commit Kendre Harrison and his incredible ability. The Reidsville Rams have now taken a dominant lead in the Mid-State Conference, and after 72 conference wins in a row, there is seemingly nothing stopping them on the way to another conference title. The Rockingham County Cougars drop to 1-1 in the conference and 2-4 overall. Next week, Reidsville and Morehead will do battle while Rockingham County stays in Wentworth to take on Bartlett Yancey.
In other Mid-State news, as Carver enjoyed a bye week, Walkertown defeated Bartlett Yancey, 56-23. Walkertown scores their first conference win of the season, improving to 1-1 in the conference and 5-1 overall, whereas BY holds a 1-5 record and an 0-2 conference record during this five-game losing streak. Carver is 5-1 and 1-1 in the conference.
Here is a look at the Mid-State Conference Standings.
1. Reidsville (3-0 conference, 5-2 overall)
2. Morehead (2-1 conference, 2-5 overall)
T3. Carver (1-1 conference, 5-1 overall)
T3. Rockingham County (1-1 conference, 2-4 overall)
T3. Walkertown (1-1 conference, 5-1 overall)
T6. Bartlett Yancey (0-2 conference, 1-5 overall)
T6. McMichael (0-2 conference, 2-4 overall)
Next week’s conference showdowns include a 1 vs. 2 in Reidsville vs. Morehead, Carver going at it with McMichael, and Rockingham County attempting to hold things down in Wentworth against Bartlett Yancey. It is unclear whether Walkertown will be playing on what was scheduled to be their bye week after their game with Rockingham County was canceled last week.