By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The second round of the high school football playoffs will be held Friday night.
Here’s a look at match-ups for Alamance County teams:
Class 6-A: Harnett Central at Southern Alamance
Southern (8-2), the No. 6 seed in the East Region, has won four in a row. Its two defeats came by three-point margins.
No. 11 seed Harnett Central (9-2) is amidst its best season since 2009.
Southern tied for second place in the Mid-Carolina Conference and received a first-round bye in the state playoffs. Harnett Central was the third-place team in the Carolina Pines Conference.
Harnett Central beat Western Harnett (4-7) for the second time this year in the first round, with a 54-14 playoff result. That was the eighth time that the Trojans scored more than 40 points this season.
Southern eclipsed the 40-point mark five times.
Class 6-A: Erwin Triton at Williams
Seventh-seeded Williams (6-2) had a first-round bye in the East Region. The Bulldogs played in five consecutive weeks prior to having last week off.
Erwin Triton’s 28-24 victory against No. 23 seed South View (3-8) in the first round gave the Hawks (10-1) their fourth victory by a single-digit margin this year.
Williams has held four opponents to less than 10 points this season.
The Bulldogs are beginning the playoffs with a home game for the fifth consecutive season.
Class 5-A: West Carteret at Southeast Alamance
Southeast (10-0) is the top seed in the East Region. This is the school’s fourth season, with the Stallions one victory shy of the school-record 11 wins in 2024.
No. 16 seed Western Carteret (5-6) has won two games in a row for the first time this season.
Western Carteret advanced with a 21-14 decision against No. 17 seed Currituck County (4-7). Western Carteret scored the only 14 points of the second half.
Southeast is starting the playoffs with a home game for the third year in a row.
Class 5-A: Orange at Eastern Alamance
These neighbors have a postseason history going into their meeting in the East Region’s second round in Mebane.
Seventh-seeded Eastern (7-2) had a bye last week and has played one game since October 16.
No. 10 seed Orange (7-4) is coming off its first postseason victory since 2016, extending its winning streak to five games by beating No. 23 seed Richlands 35-21. Second-year coach Fritz Hessenthaler, formerly of Southern Alamance, directs the Panthers.
Orange has lost its last four meetings with Eastern since winning a 2012 third-round game in the state playoffs by 14-13 in Hillsborough.
In the regular season, Eastern defeated Eastern Guilford and lost to Southeast Alamance. Orange lost to both of those teams.
In dispatching Rich-lands (2-9), Orange rode Markus Thomas’ 246-yard, three-touchdown rushing effort.
Last year, Orange lost in the first round at Southeast Alamance.
Class 5-A: Western Alamance at Croatan
This will be more than a 400-mile roundtrip for the Warriors in the second-round game in the East Region.
Western (6-5) must win to avoid its first non-winning season since 2021.
Croatan (9-1), which had a first-round bye, is entering the playoffs with one loss for the second year in a row.
