By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
All seven of the Alamance County high school football teams would be under home lights Friday night if not for a switch in locations in a game involving Cummings. [See separate story this edition.]
Here’s a check on the games:
Northern Guilford at Eastern Alamance
Eastern Alamance leads the series 7-6 as these teams are former league rivals. Eastern (2-0) has won the last four get-togethers, including by 28-24 in the spring of 2021 and 41-35 last year.
Northern Guilford (0-2) lost at home to Eastern Guilford and at New Bern. The Nighthawks haven’t been 0-3 since 2016, when they were 0-6 with Eastern Alamance applying the sixth loss in that skid.
Chapel Hill at Southern Alamance
This marks the second week in a row that Southern (1-1) takes on a team that was a conference rival in the DAC-VII Conference the past two years. That changed with Southern reclassifying to a Class 3-A league, so this is a non-conference matchup.
The Patriots lead the series 4-2, winning 35-27 and 50-20 the past two seasons after not meeting since 2008.
Chapel Hill (2-0) takes on an opponent from outside of Orange County for the only time in the first four weeks of the season. The Tigers outscored Cedar Ridge and Orange by a combined 91-7 score.
North Stanly at Western Alamance
This is believed to be the first meeting between the teams. Western (1-1) needed a non-conference foe to fill a schedule vacancy when Southern Alamance became a league member. Warriors coach Jeff Snuffer said there were few options without a matchup with a school a two- or three-hour drive away.
Both teams have been in tight games. Western’s games against Reidsville (a 36-28 loss) and Cummings (a 25-24 win) were close late, and North Stanly (2-0) prevailed in home games with Anson by 17-12 and East Rowan by 37-31. The Class 2-A Comets are aiming for an 11th consecutive winning season.
This matchup came about with cooperation from Eastern Guilford, which had been slated for a Week 3 game with neighboring Western. But Eastern Guilford originally had an open date next week, so the Warriors and Wildcats will meet then.
Southern Durham at Williams
Both teams are in Class 3-A. They haven’t met since Southern Durham won both 2004 meetings, first as conference rivals and then in the third round of the state playoffs.
Southern Durham (1-1) lost 32-29 at Scotland County and won 14-0 against visiting Durham Hillside, which is the two-time reigning DAC-VII Conference champion and winner of 16 consecutive regular-season games until falling to the Spartans.
Williams quarterback Dan Mahan was hobbled by an ankle injury last week at Eastern Guilford and missed some game time, so his status is worth monitoring for the Bulldogs’ home opener.
Chatham Central at Southeast Alamance
Both teams are 0-2 going into the Mid-Carolina Conference opener. This is Chatham Central’s third straight road game. The Bears have an eight-game losing streak spanning to last year. Southeast is a first-year school looking for its first victory.
Bartlett Yancey at Graham
This begins a stretch of nine games in nine weeks for Graham (0-1), which was off last week. This is the Mid-Carolina Conference opener for both teams.
Bartlett Yancey (0-2) dropped non-league road games to High Point Andrews and Thomasville. A loss would leave the Buccaneers with an 0-3 mark for the first time since 2017.
Bartlett Yancey has won five straight in the series with the Red Devils, including last year by 38-6 at Graham.
Cummings at Jordan-Matthews
This is the third consecutive road game for Cummings (1-1), and the second one that was slated to be at home but moved because of a renovation project at the stadium’s track. This is a Mid-Carolina Conference opener.
The Cavaliers have won the last four meetings with Jordan-Matthews, including by 57-0 and 64-0 the last two years.
The Jets (0-2) have lost to visiting South Davidson and at Carrboro this season. Their last victory came in their final game of 2021.
