Week nine of high school football in North Carolina is upon us, as we approach the finish line and find out who’s in and who’s out of this new playoff format for the NCHSAA. Tonight around the Rock, there will be no teams in town, as McMichael travels to Forsyth County to play Walkertown, Reidsville heads east to Bartlett Yancey, and Rockingham County goes to Winston-Salem to face Carver. Morehead will receive a much-deserved rest as they take a bye week.
In this edition, we preview Rockingham County’s games and look at the playoff standings and scenarios for each team. And for the weekly reminderm the RPI is calculated by 0.4 times win percentage plus 0.4 times opponents’ win percentage plus 0.2 times opponents’ opponents’ win percentage. The top 48 teams in each classification based on RPI will be in the playoffs, arranged from east to west by latitude, and split down the middle to make two divisions, East and West. The top eight teams on each side will automatically advance to the round of 32 with a bye week.
Following a loss to Carver by the tune of 74-32, the McMichael Fighting Phoenix have dropped four games in a row. Heading into this game against the Walkertown Wolfpack, they are 2-5 and 0-3 in the conference. The Phoenix have not won an away game in 407 days.
McMichael is ranked 43rd in the 3A. They are still in the postseason, but there are only five teams separating them from being on the outside looking in come November. With a win percentage of 28.6% and an opposing win percentage of 42.5%, they need to snatch a win in one of their final three games. They play Walkertown tonight, followed by Bartlett Yancey and Reidsville showdowns. Those teams will help their OWP, but their must-win is likely BY if they want to feel secure about getting a playoff spot.
Morehead will take a bye week after a 0-55 loss in Reidsville last week. After this bye week, they will cap off the season against Rockingham County and Walkertown in conference games, as they sit at 2-2 in Mid-State competition.
That Reidsville loss benefited them in the RPI because of Reidsville’s stellar win percentage and opposing win percentage, so Morehead has now jumped from hovering around the mid-50s spot in the 4A to number 38 in just a couple of weeks. Their win percentage is lacking, as they are 2-6, and they do not finish with any cupcakes, as they will be playing Rockingham County and Walkertown.
Reidsville continues their push to the one seed with a game against the 1-6 Bartlett Yancey Buccaneers. With a 55-0 win over the Morehead Panthers in the rearview mirror, their upcoming seven days will be a bye week. A win here would clinch at least a share of the Mid-State title for Reidsville, as either Rockingham County or Carver, and possibly Walkertown, would possibly still be in the mix for another share. However, if Reidsville wins this week and beats McMichael on Halloween, they will be the undisputed Mid-State champions.
Reidsville has climbed to the number one spot in the 4A and looks to host the first few rounds of the playoffs. Nothing in their RPI résumé is lacking, as they have won 75% of their games, their opponents have won 76.5% of their games, and their opponents’ opponents have won 53.5% of their games. That OWP number could drop after playing McMichael and Bartlett Yancey, but Brevard, the only team closely trailing them for number one, has a very tough finishing schedule that could blemish their undefeated record. Another benefit is that even if they did finish behind Brevard, Brevard will be a team on the West side, so Reidsville could end up an East number one in that scenario.
Rockingham County will play in likely their most important game of the season when they take on Carver in the Twin City. 6-1 Carver has shredded non-Reidsville opponents this year. The two teams have fared basically the same against common opponents, with Carver losing 44-8 to Reidsville while Rockingham County lost 42-0. Also, Carver beat McMichael, 74-32, and the Cougars beat McMichael, 50-18.
RCHS is currently 3-4 on the year, 2-1 in the conference, and 33rd in the RPI. If they can get a win, their WP and OWP would drastically improve, and they would likely be in a semi-comfortable position for a home playoff game. Next week they play Morehead and then they take a break during the final week. It could be a blessing in disguise that they are seemingly out of position to compete for a bye week in the playoffs because it would result in a double-bye, and going into an elimination game with twenty-one days of rest might not be the ideal scenario.
Around the Mid-State, Walkertown is ranked 12th in the 3A, Bartlett Yancey is ranked 52nd in the 3A, and Carver is ranked 14th in the 4A. The following are the Mid-State Conference standings. The Mid-State championship is determined based on win percentage alone, with no tiebreakers and no championship game.
1. Reidsville – 4-0 conference | 6-2 overall, 1st in the 4A RPI
T2. Carver – 2-1 conference | 6-1 overall, 14th in the 4A RPI
T2. Rockingham County – 2-1 conference | 3-4 overall, 33rd in the 5A RPI
T4. Morehead – 2-2 conference | 2-6 overall, 38th in the 4A RPI
T4. Walkertown – 1-1 conference | 5-1 overall, 12th in the 3A RPI
T6. Bartlett Yancey – 0-3 conference | 1-6 overall, 52nd in the 3A RPI
T6. McMichael – 0-3 conference | 2-5 overall, 43rd in the 3A RPI=
Tonight, McMichael–Walkertown, Reidsville–Bartlett Yancey, and Rockingham County–Carver will unfold to make the playoff picture a little bit clearer. Also, Reidsville could come away from the night with a piece of the Mid-State Title if they take down BY in Caswell County.