WHC week 5

wncbowhunter

All-Conference
Dec 21, 2002
1,285
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Avery- close
Hendo- not so close
Owen- comfortable

Hope I am wrong about Mitchell but….. well I just will keeps thought to myself. It’s better that way.

Go Mountaineers
 
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WHCSavant

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Aug 28, 2026
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Mountain Heritage- BYE. This will be the cougars second bye week in a row following the Swain forfeit. Hopefully they take this opportunity to heal up and adequately prepare for the mighty Madison Patriots the following week.

Madison @ Avery- Avery 42-14. This game will be mess for anyone involved and I pity those who travel there to sit through it. Avery has proven to this point that they are capable of beating terrible teams and will lose to anybody competent. Fortunately for them, Madison is closer to terrible than competent. On a positive note, Avery has proven the ability to score. Their defense is pretty awful, but the offense can move the ball a little bit. Against a bad Madison team, expect Avery to score 30+. Madison on the other hand has not proven they can do anything particularly well except beat one of the worst teams in the state in Andrews. Madison potentially scores a couple touchdowns purely because Avery's defense is so bad, but Avery should win this one by a comfortable margin.

Polk @ Owen- Polk 28-21. The battle of mediocrity is upon us. Polk and Owen are the classic definition of "OKAY"." Are they good? Certainty not. Are they awful? Not entirely. Owen comes in at 2-2 with wins against horrendous teams in Rosman and Patton. Losses against respectable teams in Cherryville and West Henderson in which they lost comfortably, but didn't get blown off the field. Polk on the other hand comes in at 1-3, but with losses to slightly better teams. The common denominator here is both of them beat Patton, who I believe will lose on their bye week. Owen won by a score of 38-21 and Polk by a score of 45-0. That result alone should tilt the scales in favor of the Wolverines. Expect Polk to come out running the ball and try to grind this game out. I see them winning a fairly tight game, but controlling the majority of it.

Hendersonville @ Mitchell- Hendersonville 35-21. This is easily the biggest game in the WHC this week. This game will go a long ways in determining who will finish 1st-3rd. Mitchell and Heritage appear to the only WHC teams even capable of giving the Bearcats a game, so a win here essentially locks in a 1st or 2nd place finish for the Bearcats. On paper, this game should not be close. Hendersonville is coming off a shootout win against a solid Erwin team on the road, whereas Mitchell barely survived against a mediocre Robinsville team. They have speed at every position, an explosive offense, and are capable of running past Mitchell backwards. However, as many better teams have learned over the years, there is black magic in Ledger, North Carolina. Mitchell for the last several years has been very efficient at home and rarely losses in Ledger. Furthermore, Hendersonville historically does not always fair well away from home. Mitchell's defense has been very stout early on the year and has proven it is capable of keeping the Mountaineers in a game. On the otherside of the ball, the offense has sputtered and their QB is currently nursing a bad ankle. In some offenses that would not be a huge deal, but Mitchell can not survive without a mobile QB. All indicators point towards a Hendersonville win and I go that way myself. However, if the Mountaineers can hold the ball, chew clock and the Bearcat mental mistakes show up, an upset could be brewing in the mountains.
 
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bengal4life

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Oct 27, 2024
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2 weeks ago I was confident mit would beat hendo. This mitchell team has lot of injuries now, but you have play with what you have. I watch very bad north henderson team without their star playing out and freshman qb give hendo real battle. As for Erwin everyone knows they are terrible on defense, heritage choke in that game . Guarantee mitchell will be best defense the Bearcats have played so far . Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball on hendo , if mit can keep it close still 4 th they have chance to win.
 
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2 weeks ago I was confident mit would beat hendo. This mitchell team has lot of injuries now, but you have play with what you have. I watch very bad north henderson team without their star playing out and freshman qb give hendo real battle. As for Erwin everyone knows they are terrible on defense, heritage choke in that game . Guarantee mitchell will be best defense the Bearcats have played so far . Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball on hendo , if mit can keep it close still 4 th they have chance to win.
So did Mitchell struggle vs a winless 1a team last week?
2 weeks ago I was confident mit would beat hendo. This mitchell team has lot of injuries now, but you have play with what you have. I watch very bad north henderson team without their star playing out and freshman qb give hendo real battle. As for Erwin everyone knows they are terrible on defense, heritage choke in that game . Guarantee mitchell will be best defense the Bearcats have played so far . Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball on hendo , if mit can keep it close still 4 th they have chance to win.
 
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WHCSavant

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2 weeks ago I was confident mit would beat hendo. This mitchell team has lot of injuries now, but you have play with what you have. I watch very bad north henderson team without their star playing out and freshman qb give hendo real battle. As for Erwin everyone knows they are terrible on defense, heritage choke in that game . Guarantee mitchell will be best defense the Bearcats have played so far . Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball on hendo , if mit can keep it close still 4 th they have chance to win.
You appear to be very down on Hendersonville and high on Mitchell and I'm curious as to why? Hendersonville may be a tad overrated, but @West Henderson and @Erwin are solid wins on their resume. Their game against North I'll give you was a bad night, but they still beat a bigger school by 9. They are averaging 36 points a game and only allowing 13. Mitchell on the other hand does not have a signature win and their opponents records are a combined 3-11. In addition to that, they are averaging 25 a game on offense and allowing 11. Defense has been very strong, but they are not exactly playing high powered teams either. With the teams they are playing, they should be averaging over 30 a game. With all this in mind, to say "2 weeks ago I was confident Mitchell would beat Hendo" and "Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball" are pretty bold statements considering Mitchell struggled to score on a winless Robinsville team. I'm giving Mitchell a punchers chance in this one, but that's a far cry from saying I am confident they'll win.
 
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Patriot766355

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Aug 3, 2026
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Mitchell historically plays a weak non-conference schedule, which makes their record look better than it actually is. I expect Hendersonville to win this game definitively.
 

Owen Stampede

All-Conference
Jul 20, 2006
4,454
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You dog on Owen but they have yet to play a full game. They have played terrible even in wins. If they put it together who knows what they can do. West essentially got 2 onside Kicks on Owen and Owen had the ball inside the 10 when time ran out in the first half vs them. That score is not indicative of the game at all. Anyway I think anyone could beat Hendo or lose to them. The conference is not a runaway for anyone
 
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Owen Stampede

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So Hendo can play bad vs North but nobody should say anything about it but other teams can play bad and they just suck. That’s laughable. You probably haven’t seen anyone play but Hendo
 

bengal4life

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Oct 27, 2024
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You appear to be very down on Hendersonville and high on Mitchell and I'm curious as to why? Hendersonville may be a tad overrated, but @West Henderson and @Erwin are solid wins on their resume. Their game against North I'll give you was a bad night, but they still beat a bigger school by 9. They are averaging 36 points a game and only allowing 13. Mitchell on the other hand does not have a signature win and their opponents records are a combined 3-11. In addition to that, they are averaging 25 a game on offense and allowing 11. Defense has been very strong, but they are not exactly playing high powered teams either. With the teams they are playing, they should be averaging over 30 a game. With all this in mind, to say "2 weeks ago I was confident Mitchell would beat Hendo" and "Mitchell even with all the injuries will be able to run the ball" are pretty bold statements considering Mitchell struggled to score on a winless Robinsville team. I'm giving Mitchell a punchers chance in this one, but that's a far cry from saying I am confident they'll win.
Charlotte latin would destroy Hendersonville, they have more speed also have d 1 runningback , and lot better defense. Hendo has beat no body lol
 

bengal4life

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Oct 27, 2024
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So Hendo can play bad vs North but nobody should say anything about it but other teams can play bad and they just suck. That’s laughable. You probably haven’t seen anyone play but Hendo
Lot of them posters can't get over the beatdowns owen use give them. They want owen to be down , but deep down they fear them . Here is the deal , owen football is on the rise , this owen team is solid .
 

Owen Stampede

All-Conference
Jul 20, 2006
4,454
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The truth is Owen has immense potential that they have yet to reach. They are still very young. They haven’t been healthy all year and they have only played about 4 good quarters in the 16 they have played so far. The first quarter vs Rosman and West, the 2nd quarter vs Cherryville and the 3rd quarter vs Patton. When they are able to put things together look out! I believe we will be at full strength this Friday unless something happens in practice between now and then. We also may have something figured out in areas of weakness. A few plays in each loss and Owen could be sitting much better right now but it is what it is to this point. The WHC is all 0-0. It’s a new season. Let’s go Horses!!
 
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wncbowhunter

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Dec 21, 2002
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Here is my thoughts for what it’s worth… (Absolutely nothing at best). Been around this site longer than a lot of folks and have tried to not look through purple glasses for years so here goes.

Football in general is down across WNC. Numbers are down for a lot of schools. The WHC is no exception to this, agree with those who are taking bout the “old” Owen team. Don’t stop there the “old“ Hendo teams would dog walk the current WHC as well. Shoot the Heritage teams and Mitchell teams of the past 12 - 15 years (not counting the past couple) were more talented than any team this year. A ton of the Ollis coached teams at Polk, a few Avery teams and a couple of Madison teams would cause havoc this year. Not trying to be mean or disrespectful but it is down.

Not just the WHC but look at the SMC as well. Maybe Murphy is getting healthy and can make some noise but the rest of the conference is down.

I have the utmost respect for the young men out there giving it all everyday. There are plenty of good to GREAT players but the biggest difference I see is depth. I hope the conference and all of WNC proves me wrong and makes some very deep runs in the playoffs this year. But no matter I will do my best to be in the stands on Friday nights cheering them on.

As far as the WHC this year, here is how I see it.
1. Hendo- too many athletes
2. Green team- based solely on their offense (yuck, yuck 🤮)
3- the rest:
Mitchell so many injuries, can the line make up the difference ???
Owen, can they put together complete games
Polk- Hang in there and see what happens
Avery- has put up some numbers but give up 62 to McDowell ???
Madison- well…… nothing to say.

Go Mountaineers
 

Old Mountaineer

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Nov 4, 2018
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Mitchell historically plays a weak non-conference schedule, which makes their record look better than it actually is. I expect Hendersonville to win this game definitively.
I've known in the past that Pitman has tried to play stronger teams but the issue has been like for other 1A schools the larger schools wouldn't take a chance of playing them and hurt their RPI even playing down can hurt it even if you blow them out . About 4 or so years ago they actually had one coach of a 3A school just told the straight forward that he wasn't taking a chance to be unspet by a 1A school. So between that and location or just not having a vacancy in their schedule etc it's just been difficult to find teams to play and you just have to take what you can get.
 
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ncfootball_17

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I've known in the past that Pitman has tried to play stronger teams but the issue has been like for other 1A schools the larger schools wouldn't take a chance of playing them and hurt their RPI even playing down can hurt it even if you blow them out . About 4 or so years ago they actually had one coach of a 3A school just told the straight forward that he wasn't taking a chance to be unspet by a 1A school. So between that and location or just not having a vacancy in their schedule etc it's just been difficult to find teams to play and you just have to take what you can get.

Just for clarity, I'm going to use Watauga as an example. FYI - I could care less if they would or wouldn't beat Mitchell or any other team. I just had to go to Boone today and talked about them with the guy at the gas station.

Classification has no part in RPI. Lets say Watauga and Mitchell play and Watauga wins (rather it's 100-0 or 3-0, it doesn't matter). If Mitchell is 9-1 and their lone loss comes from Watauga it is going to improve Watauga's OWP. Now if Watauga loses, their WP is going to go down but their OWP is still going to go up in the RPI equation. For RPI, you want to play good teams and obviously win. Playing a bunch of .500 and under teams is going to lower your RPI.

Most bigger schools don't want to play smaller, as they don't want to be "embarrassed" if they lose.
 

Old Mountaineer

All-American
Nov 4, 2018
4,010
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Just for clarity, I'm going to use Watauga as an example. FYI - I could care less if they would or wouldn't beat Mitchell or any other team. I just had to go to Boone today and talked about them with the guy at the gas station.

Classification has no part in RPI. Lets say Watauga and Mitchell play and Watauga wins (rather it's 100-0 or 3-0, it doesn't matter). If Mitchell is 9-1 and their lone loss comes from Watauga it is going to improve Watauga's OWP. Now if Watauga loses, their WP is going to go down but their OWP is still going to go up in the RPI equation. For RPI, you want to play good teams and obviously win. Playing a bunch of .500 and under teams is going to lower your RPI.

Most bigger schools don't want to play smaller, as they don't want to be "embarrassed" if they lose.
Right sorry I'm old lol . I looked back at my notes from when the RPI started and there was some comparisons to other states like KY where their RPI isn't as straight forward as NC the higher classification schools get less points when they play smaller schools and NC decided they didn't want to go that route for the very reason we're talking about so smaller schools wouldn't have such a difficult time scheduling non-conference games. Plus like we're in a 3a/2a conference.
 
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wncbowhunter

All-Conference
Dec 21, 2002
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MIT/Hendo thoughts:

Congratulations to the Bearcats. The QB can flat sling it. Makes good reads, only had a couple of bad throws.
Thought Mitchell played very well last night . Just have to learn to score. Credit to Robb and Hendo but Mitchell has been in the red zone like 7-8 times in past 2 games and came away with no points. (Several inside the 5. Have not seen or heard official stats but Mitchell had to have the advantage in total yards last night. However the only stat that matters is the scoreboard.
Mitchell controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Hendo had very few rushing yards. But to be fair, one of there fans told me that their starting rb was injured and did not play.
I think Hendo will put up some more impressive numbers this year as they have a tremendous amount of offensive talent.
Mitchell needs this kind of effort the rest of the year.

Go Mountaineers
 
Mar 26, 2021
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MIT/Hendo thoughts:

Congratulations to the Bearcats. The QB can flat sling it. Makes good reads, only had a couple of bad throws.
Thought Mitchell played very well last night . Just have to learn to score. Credit to Robb and Hendo but Mitchell has been in the red zone like 7-8 times in past 2 games and came away with no points. (Several inside the 5. Have not seen or heard official stats but Mitchell had to have the advantage in total yards last night. However the only stat that matters is the scoreboard.
Mitchell controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Hendo had very few rushing yards. But to be fair, one of there fans told me that their starting rb was injured and did not play.
I think Hendo will put up some more impressive numbers this year as they have a tremendous amount of offensive talent.
Mitchell needs this kind of effort the rest of the year.

Go Mountaineers
Hendersonville has the most complete offense in WNC. There isn't "a guy." They have multiple weapons and you can't really take a certain one away. If they indeed played without the starting RB, then that says alot. He has been one of the top RB's in WNC over the past year and a half. To go to Mitchell and get a win without him says alot.

To go to Mitchell and hold them to 7 is probably a tough thing to do as well. Have to give credit to the defense also. Can't really just blame whatever shortcomings Mitchell has. I'm sure Hendersonville didn't play perfect on offense because they typically score in bunches. It was a style clash and Hendersonville found a way to get it done.
 
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bengal4life

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Oct 27, 2024
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Hendersonville has the most complete offense in WNC. There isn't "a guy." They have multiple weapons and you can't really take a certain one away. If they indeed played without the starting RB, then that says alot. He has been one of the top RB's in WNC over the past year and a half. To go to Mitchell and get a win without him says alot.

To go to Mitchell and hold them to 7 is probably a tough thing to do as well. Have to give credit to the defense also. Can't really just blame whatever shortcomings Mitchell has. I'm sure Hendersonville didn't play perfect on offense because they typically score in bunches. It was a style clash and Hendersonville found a way to get it done.
Hendo does have good offense, but you know mit best player their qb didn't play,they drove deep in hendo territory every time , mistakes killed them jumping off sides multiple times, their offense out of sync. Love seen the game with owen Riddle playing qb it would have been much different. Good luck to hendo hope you make noise in the playoffs
 
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Hendo does have good offense, but you know mit best player their qb didn't play,they drove deep in hendo territory every time , mistakes killed them jumping off sides multiple times, their offense out of sync. Love seen the game with owen Riddle playing qb it would have been much different. Good luck to hendo hope you make noise in the playoffs
I'm guessing you missed the part where one of Hendo's best players didn't play either. Two way player as well. Also I'm sure Mitchell wasn't the only team that made mistakes. Can't be one sided
 

bengal4life

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Oct 27, 2024
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I'm guessing you missed the part where one of Hendo's best players didn't play either. Two way player as well. Also I'm sure Mitchell wasn't the only team that made mistakes. Can't be one sided
Anyone that watches football know the qb is most important position, take your qb off see how good you guys play. Wish mitchell was 3 a love play you guys again.
 
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Anyone that watches football know the qb is most important position, take your qb off see how good you guys play. Wish mitchell was 3 a love play you guys again.
Im not a Hendersonville fan. I just don't like how you act as if you know everything about them and the games they play. I never said your qb wasn't important. Hendersonville's RB is very important to their team. He plays everywhere.
 
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Jul 20, 2026
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Hendersonville has the most complete offense in WNC. There isn't "a guy." They have multiple weapons and you can't really take a certain one away. If they indeed played without the starting RB, then that says alot. He has been one of the top RB's in WNC over the past year and a half. To go to Mitchell and get a win without him says alot.

To go to Mitchell and hold them to 7 is probably a tough thing to do as well. Have to give credit to the defense also. Can't really just blame whatever shortcomings Mitchell has. I'm sure Hendersonville didn't play perfect on offense because they typically score in bunches. It was a style clash and Hendersonville found a way to get it done.
Hendo has a pretty decent offense. But, last time I checked T.C Roberson, Franklin, Tuscola, Christ School, Enka, Asheville are all averaging more ppg and have a better offense than Hendo, but carry on...Their might be a lot more, considering where you draw the WNC line, but that's what I found in about one minute on the old interweb.
 
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Mar 26, 2021
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We don
Hendo has a pretty decent offense. But, last time I checked T.C Roberson, Franklin, Tuscola, Christ School, Enka, Asheville are all averaging more ppg and have a better offense than Hendo, but carry on...Their might be more, but that's what I found in about one minute on the old interweb.
Know
Hendo has a pretty decent offense. But, last time I checked T.C Roberson, Franklin, Tuscola, Christ School, Enka, Asheville are all averaging more ppg and have a better offense than Hendo, but carry on...Their might be more, but that's what I found in about one minute on the old interweb.
We don't know what happens in every game for every team. There is always context with everything. Internet doesn't tell you that kind sir. Who you play matters....I said most complete...scoring points doesn't make you complete. They avg 35 or so points. My point was. They don't just throw to one person from the looks of it. They don't just do one thing. They spread it around.
 
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Okay 🤣 Well, I thought I'd be talking to a brick wall and I am... So, my apologies. Good luck to y'all the rest of the way. If "most complete" ends up meaning "most points" then y'all should be the last team standing. Lol. Nothing at all against the Hendo program, good luck to them the rest of the way... You'll need that energy down the road.
 
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Okay 🤣 Well, I thought I'd be talking to a brick wall and I am... So, my apologies. Good luck to y'all the rest of the way. If "most complete" ends up meaning "most points" then y'all should be the last team standing. Lol. Nothing at all against the Hendo program, good luck to them the rest of the way... You'll need that energy down the road.
I guess you're the brick wall...considering you missed where I said I am not a hendo fan. You're right though....good luck to pisgah the rest of the way too 😂😂
 
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If you're not a fan of Hendo then I guess I'm currently as about coherent as Mitch McConnell on the senate floor 🤣 It's not a crime to admit that you're a fan, father, relative, or even a player... Also, as far as Pisgah goes, not that it's even relevant to the convo above, but I'm a realist. They're decent at best. They'll lose several more games this season. Definitely not world beaters by any means. So yeah, good luck to us? I guess 🤷 Lol.
 
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If you're not a fan of Hendo then I guess I'm currently as about coherent as Mitch McConnell on the senate floor 🤣 It's not a crime to admit that you're a fan, father, relative, or even a player... Also, as far as Pisgah goes, not that it's even relevant to the convo above, but I'm a realist. They're decent at best. They'll lose several more games this season. Definitely not world beaters by any means. So yeah, good luck to us? I guess 🤷 Lol.
No need to lie nor go back and forth. Yall just seem more worried about them than your own teams. I digress though. Good luck.
 
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