As we sit and wait for the confusion that is the race for the Patriot Athletic Conference championship to sort out, there’s something else that all our headaches with hurricanes and rescheduled games have caused us to forget about.
As I write this, we’ve still heard nothing from the N.C. High School Athletic Association on those critical average daily membership numbers from the N.C. State Department of Public Instruction that determine enrollment and who goes in what class when the NCHSAA subdivides A and AA in each classification to fill the playoff brackets.
What has me worried is in a normal year, it always seems to take SDPI forever to get the numbers together.
This season, things look to have the potential to be super nightmarish. So many school systems have been out not just days but weeks, I have to think the SDPI is way behind in collecting figures from the hurricane-affected areas. That obviously has the potential to complicate the process of them turning things around and getting them to the NCHSAA.
Let’s all cross our fingers and hope some genius number cruncher in Raleigh is going to get things sorted out in normal time and when we’re hopefully ready to start plugging teams into playoff berths in about a week they’ll have something for the NCHSAA to work with.
The record: 70-17
I went 7-1 last week to improve to 70-17 for the season, finally hitting the magic 80 percent right figure at 80.5.
Westover at Douglas Byrd - The Wolverines will be aiming end the regular season on a high note by winning out the final two weeks.
Westover 28, Douglas Byrd 14.
E.E. Smith at Terry Sanford - This should be a comfortable win for Terry Sanford as the Bulldogs ready for a huge regular-season final at Gray’s Creek.
Terry Sanford 32, E.E. Smith 6.
South View at Gray’s Creek - This is way more than the Battle of the Bridge for these two. Both are in the thick of the race for the conference title and beyond that the top seeding for each of their respective classifications in the playoff derby should they miss out on the league title. Look for a lot of offense in this one.
South View 35, Gray’s Creek 34.
Seventy-First at Jack Britt - The Falcons need to right the ship quickly after the loss to Richmond Senior last week. They are still chasing at least second place in the Sandhills Athletic Conference which could include at least one home game in the state playoffs.
Seventy-First 27, Jack Britt 13.
Pine Forest at Overhills - The Trojans need to avoid a letdown after the big win over Terry Sanford, as well as looking ahead to next week’s big meeting with South View.
Pine Forest 24, Overhills 13.
Other games: NCISAA playoffs, Trinity Christian 28, Christ School 24; Village Christian, bye in first round of NCISAA playoffs; Cape Fear open.