Real football starts; too early for hoops
This time of year is a crusher for a sportswriter — the dreaded overlap of football and basketball seasons. As I have told basketball coaches over the last couple of days: “It’s too early for this.”
But it’s upon us anyway. I am working on a very general basketball preview story, as well as a couple of lists with players and teams to watch. If all goes well it will be on Wednesday’s paper.
As for football, we had 30 area teams that entered the playoffs last week, and only 12 survived. Not terribly surprising because it’s obvious that about half the teams that reach the playoffs really aren’t playoff material.
However, it was a memorable night for some of our teams. East Wilkes, in particular, pulled off a big shocker by driving the field and scoring with nine seconds left to topple East Surry, which saw a terrific season disappear in the blink of an eye. The Cardinals won their first 10 games, then lost their last two. Poof.
All of the rain last week did afford me a unique opportunity. I was able to watch Reynolds play on Friday night, and Mount Tabor play on Saturday night. It was good advance scouting, because this week, I will watch these rivals knock heads for the right to advance in the Class 4-A playoffs.
It’s going to be a whale of a game. Reynolds played a very poor Asheville Roberson team last week and won 38-0. Could have been way more lopsided. Mount Tabor had a real live opponent on its hands and survived with a 14-7 win over Western Guilford.
So if last week is the barometer, then Mount Tabor is certainly coming in more battle-tested. Western Guilford had a handful of really, really good football players. Mount Tabor also has the revenge angle after losing 28-21 to Reynolds in the regular season.
I would hate to make a prediction on this one. Reynolds didn’t show me anything last week that would indicate its ready for the season to end. The Demons aren’t 12-0 for nothing afterall.