By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Here’s a look at Friday night’s matchups involving Alamance County teams:
Eastern at Western
These teams have played monumental conference and postseason games through the years.
This year’s Eastern Alamance team should be accustomed to playing notable games given its schedule across the past month. The Eagles (3-1) had a week off following their loss at state-power Reidsville.
Eastern is set for its Central Carolina 3-A Conference opener in what will be its third straight road game. The Eagles have won two of the last three meetings with the Warriors.
Western Alamance (3-2, 1-0 Central Carolina 3-A Conference) opened league play by rolling last week at Orange.
Orange at Williams
This Central Carolina 3-A Conference game at Burlington Memorial Stadium marks the first home game for Williams (3-2, 1-0) since August.
“It is very important that we lock in and lock in now,” Williams quarterback Jaelan Brown said.
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Hear two of Williams top players on forecast for the remainder of the season:
Quarterback Jaelan Brown on “locking in” for second half of schedule:
And earlier interview with running back Kylei Richmond on the team’s growing confidence:
In its four losses, Orange (1-4, 0-1) has scored a total of 33 points. Williams averages 35.2 points per game.
The Bulldogs have been incredibly balanced. They’ve gained 956 rushing yards (with 13 touchdowns) and 939 passing yards (with 10 touchdowns).
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Southern Alamance at Cummings
This is the final non-conference game for each team.
Southern (2-2) will be the only Alamance County team to play all the other in-county teams this season. The Patriots haven’t played a team outside the county yet.
Cummings (2-1) hasn’t played since September 2 because of an off week before last week’s unexpected postponement because of a health issue at Chatham Central. Southern was also off last week.
“We’re both going to be fresh,” Cummings coach David Grimm said. “I hate coming off (open) weeks and now we’re coming off two.”
This game came about in an unusual way. Last season, Corinth Holders needed a non-league game on just a one-year deal (because new school Willow Spring didn’t field a varsity team until this year), so Southern filled that slot. The Patriots, who won 22-7 against visiting Corinth Holders, were in need of extra non-league games in 2021 and 2022 because DAC-VII Conference member East Chapel Hill isn’t playing a varsity league schedule as it tries to rebuild.
Cummings and Southern are meeting for the first time since 2019. Southern has won the last three games against the Cavaliers (in 2017, 2018, 2019).
Cummings last beat the Patriots in 2010, though the teams didn’t meet again until 2017.
Graham at Seaforth
Graham needs to get back on track since a ragged outing to open Mid-Carolina Conference play against Bartlett Yancey. The Red Devils (1-4, 0-1) will be on the road for three straight games.
Seaforth is a new school in Pittsboro, joining the Mid-Carolina Conference, so this will be the first clash between the teams. The Hawks (1-4, 1-0) won for the first time in program history with last week’s 20-0 home triumph against winless Jordan-Matthews.
