Northwest 1-A
- Thread starter davisdorm
- Start date
Is it sewn up at Mount airy wins? I heard starmount's got a lot coming back even though the scores were lopsided they played pretty tough for that one half.
Mayberry Academy
The Ramhouse
Ronda Redbirds
Saura Nation
Big Elkin Creek
Sparta
Danbury School
The Ramhouse
Ronda Redbirds
Saura Nation
Big Elkin Creek
Sparta
Danbury School
Haha, nice humor in the school names.
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I agree MA is undisputed number 1 with Starmount 2nd then I go South Stokes 3rd and EW 4th. SS beat EW last year in a good game. Alleghany Elkin and North Stokes round out the bottom 3. I was told Alleghany had some good middle schoolers move up but id say they spend a year down on JV before making the jump. KW may be able to shed some light on that.
Looking forward to going to Allegheny next year. I've never been.
In my opinion scoring will not be Mt Airy's problem again this year, but defense wins Championships. That is the question in my mind. Derk Dandy and Caleb Reed will lead the charge supported by Revals, Stroup and Mason. So the question is,,,who else steps up big time on defense?
Again I say, one and all will know A LOT about Mt Airy after the North Surry and East Surry games, first two games of the year.
And we are only 32 or so days away from the first scrimmage.
Again I say, one and all will know A LOT about Mt Airy after the North Surry and East Surry games, first two games of the year.
And we are only 32 or so days away from the first scrimmage.
It's MA's conference for at least the rest of this alignment. As much as I'm glad it's back to what it is we were all cheated once they moved East Surry got moved up to 2A. Them and Mount Airy last year woulda been a dandy. Until they come back and they have a fluke 1975 or 98 type year (they won't,) no worries on the 1 spot.
2 down is what is gonna make the conference fun.
Starmount on paper looks hands down the best of the rest. They found some momentum last year and played some very good ball. They finally re-embraced the run with the RB they got and found it when they needed it. After the Forbush and SW Randolph games they found the physicality they needed. They won flat out ugly (North Stokes,) and rolled beautifully and found ways to win when they needed (Andrews.) Problem with them is keeping consistency. They have never been able to do it year to year with Grinton. This year is the huge way to do that fully. But it's a curse they are going to have to snap. The big game for them isn't MA; it's the Bush on 9-2. Forbush will be the youngest they have been in a few years and will be beatable if Starmount can show up and be ready to thud. In middle school both these teams have had thrillers but Forbush has been lucky while the Rams haven't been. If they can knock the demon of their backs with a win that would be HUGE for this program. It won't make or break their season (conference play will,) but it will be a huge help.
For third I'm different than everyone else but I go with East Wilkes. I love Dave but South has a lot of holes and youth to fill. Carrick is gone and also gone is a very solid senior group who did well in basketball and other sports; that has been hard for South to fill. They had a real hard time overcoming losing the 2012 group with Frasier. That drop was rapid and hard; granted they aren't in the WPAC so they won't do as bad conference wise. Plus Dave is a better coach than Frasier was (who admittedly lost interest once Martin graduated, he was going to college to be a principal by that point.) South could very well be solid and their numbers have been good and i like the size of some of their lineman but they have to overcome that curse.
East on paper has more talent and should primed for a good year. However Wilmoth has to improve his management skills because he did a poor job of it last year. There's no reason why they should have lost to Elkin or South last year. Elkin is somewhat understandable as they are rivals but the South game wasn't. That was just bad management. They rebounded to a playoff win but the MA game was just sad to watch. They also have lost pretty boy Graham to Central so they are down a killer athlete. IMO a switch to a more pure run based offense would help this team a ton but I just don't see it. And in that way I don't see them contending for 2nd.
After that it gets less murky, still murky but less so.
Elkin has the best athletes of these bottom teams but they face serious depth issues and graduation. They will be very young especially on the line and they have to find a way to make offense more dimensional. All they did last year was run that poor QB to death and it was sad to watch. I called it then at the South scrimmage: "They better find someone else or he won't finish the year," and he didn't. He got thudded hard that day by HP Christian and so did North Moore and it never let up. This will be a solid test for Wood; the program badly needs a spark and it will be a test to show if he can motivate the kids up or not.
Alleghany has had it's issues the past couple of years with #'s. It seems that Lyon is having a hard time getting kids out after the last of the good group left. He's gonna have to step things up this year or else he may be facing the door. The program's dropped hard the past couple of years under his watch which is sad as he's a fun guy. Time will tell if it's truly on him or just a fluke deal with class size. There are some good players there. Their skill positions have more returning starters than Elkin does but like Elkin their line is going to be quite young. It'll come down to who has the last possession and i just see Elkin being better due to the QB. However if they are fiesty enough they could upset the Elks. Low teams like this are usually more fun to watch as they have nothing to lose. The North Wilkes game will show a lot; Alleghany coulda won it last year but they let it slip. NW loses that QB this year so they will be more one dimensional with that RB returning. It will depend on Alleghany's defense that night. If they win this one I think they have a serious shot to jump a spot.
Last is the Vikings of Danbury who sadly are gonna be back downards again this year. Last year's squad I felt badly underperformed which is unfortunate. A lot of that I blame on Fortner for running such a bad fit offense. They may have had a QB who could chunk it but they weren't a spread team. Shoulda ran a more option friendly offense with a lot of passing. The QB was a good runner and they had a good RB. D wise they weren't great but they done enough to win 4 games. It woulda made them less predictable on offense to be in another playbook and woulda helped come conference time. Jury's out on Fortner to see if he is the right coach or not. He's more than likely waiting to get the Forbush job once Funderburke retires, but he won't be in the spot to do so if they fall off the earth this year.
My overall Guess:
1.MA
2. Starmount
3. East Wilkes
4. South Stokes
5. Elkin
6. Alleghany
7. North Stokes
2 down is what is gonna make the conference fun.
Starmount on paper looks hands down the best of the rest. They found some momentum last year and played some very good ball. They finally re-embraced the run with the RB they got and found it when they needed it. After the Forbush and SW Randolph games they found the physicality they needed. They won flat out ugly (North Stokes,) and rolled beautifully and found ways to win when they needed (Andrews.) Problem with them is keeping consistency. They have never been able to do it year to year with Grinton. This year is the huge way to do that fully. But it's a curse they are going to have to snap. The big game for them isn't MA; it's the Bush on 9-2. Forbush will be the youngest they have been in a few years and will be beatable if Starmount can show up and be ready to thud. In middle school both these teams have had thrillers but Forbush has been lucky while the Rams haven't been. If they can knock the demon of their backs with a win that would be HUGE for this program. It won't make or break their season (conference play will,) but it will be a huge help.
For third I'm different than everyone else but I go with East Wilkes. I love Dave but South has a lot of holes and youth to fill. Carrick is gone and also gone is a very solid senior group who did well in basketball and other sports; that has been hard for South to fill. They had a real hard time overcoming losing the 2012 group with Frasier. That drop was rapid and hard; granted they aren't in the WPAC so they won't do as bad conference wise. Plus Dave is a better coach than Frasier was (who admittedly lost interest once Martin graduated, he was going to college to be a principal by that point.) South could very well be solid and their numbers have been good and i like the size of some of their lineman but they have to overcome that curse.
East on paper has more talent and should primed for a good year. However Wilmoth has to improve his management skills because he did a poor job of it last year. There's no reason why they should have lost to Elkin or South last year. Elkin is somewhat understandable as they are rivals but the South game wasn't. That was just bad management. They rebounded to a playoff win but the MA game was just sad to watch. They also have lost pretty boy Graham to Central so they are down a killer athlete. IMO a switch to a more pure run based offense would help this team a ton but I just don't see it. And in that way I don't see them contending for 2nd.
After that it gets less murky, still murky but less so.
Elkin has the best athletes of these bottom teams but they face serious depth issues and graduation. They will be very young especially on the line and they have to find a way to make offense more dimensional. All they did last year was run that poor QB to death and it was sad to watch. I called it then at the South scrimmage: "They better find someone else or he won't finish the year," and he didn't. He got thudded hard that day by HP Christian and so did North Moore and it never let up. This will be a solid test for Wood; the program badly needs a spark and it will be a test to show if he can motivate the kids up or not.
Alleghany has had it's issues the past couple of years with #'s. It seems that Lyon is having a hard time getting kids out after the last of the good group left. He's gonna have to step things up this year or else he may be facing the door. The program's dropped hard the past couple of years under his watch which is sad as he's a fun guy. Time will tell if it's truly on him or just a fluke deal with class size. There are some good players there. Their skill positions have more returning starters than Elkin does but like Elkin their line is going to be quite young. It'll come down to who has the last possession and i just see Elkin being better due to the QB. However if they are fiesty enough they could upset the Elks. Low teams like this are usually more fun to watch as they have nothing to lose. The North Wilkes game will show a lot; Alleghany coulda won it last year but they let it slip. NW loses that QB this year so they will be more one dimensional with that RB returning. It will depend on Alleghany's defense that night. If they win this one I think they have a serious shot to jump a spot.
Last is the Vikings of Danbury who sadly are gonna be back downards again this year. Last year's squad I felt badly underperformed which is unfortunate. A lot of that I blame on Fortner for running such a bad fit offense. They may have had a QB who could chunk it but they weren't a spread team. Shoulda ran a more option friendly offense with a lot of passing. The QB was a good runner and they had a good RB. D wise they weren't great but they done enough to win 4 games. It woulda made them less predictable on offense to be in another playbook and woulda helped come conference time. Jury's out on Fortner to see if he is the right coach or not. He's more than likely waiting to get the Forbush job once Funderburke retires, but he won't be in the spot to do so if they fall off the earth this year.
My overall Guess:
1.MA
2. Starmount
3. East Wilkes
4. South Stokes
5. Elkin
6. Alleghany
7. North Stokes
I like this over really well. If I were going to make a change it would be be moving South Stokes to 3 and East Wilkes down. I just have more belief that Diamont is a much better coach than Wilmoth. No offense but thank goodness Mt Airy Administration was smart enough, wise enough to have passed on him.
When you are there, see if you can figure out why the team from “Sparta” has a Trojan for a mascot. There has to be a story behind it, otherwise its just stupid.
I wouldn't be surprised if it happened by a lack of knowledge with someone associating a Trojan with Sparta not knowing the Spartans and Trojans fought each other.
They should have been the Spartans.
They should have been the Spartans.
Seen East Wilkes today, we 7 on 7'ed them with SC..
3's gonna be more open than I think it will be. They weren't bad per se, but they had a hard time defending the pass from both of us. If they play MA like that then it'll be a long evening. SC chunked it a lot and they had a hard time vs mesh, SC's QB can throw but they are young. We came out and threw it good too it was a solid start, but they played our younger JV kids well. They did have some decent size to them though; I guess running it will be their main strength. Hard to say if they had their entire skill core or not they didn't bring many kids.
I'll see South tomorrow so I'll know a little more on them.
No doubt on who's the better coach though. Wilmoth didn't vocalize much today.
3's gonna be more open than I think it will be. They weren't bad per se, but they had a hard time defending the pass from both of us. If they play MA like that then it'll be a long evening. SC chunked it a lot and they had a hard time vs mesh, SC's QB can throw but they are young. We came out and threw it good too it was a solid start, but they played our younger JV kids well. They did have some decent size to them though; I guess running it will be their main strength. Hard to say if they had their entire skill core or not they didn't bring many kids.
I'll see South tomorrow so I'll know a little more on them.
No doubt on who's the better coach though. Wilmoth didn't vocalize much today.
It's a shame that this group from East Wilkes will likely underachieve and not see their true potential.
Looked at Wythe HS, Mt Airy's scrimmage partner on Friday, August 12, on Maxpreps. Last year's squad was 6 and 4, scored a little over 18 points a game but allowed 16.5. In one way I like the idea of scrimmaging a team we will not see in the regular season. In another way, I would not mind seeing them scrimmage a North Iredell, Forbush, or a Winston Salem school that might allow us fans to see another of our areas teams. I certainly mean no criticism of the decision, just offering a thought.
I agree MA vs Forbush, or Glenn would be a fun matchup. Especially last fall when they were loaded.
But out of state schools are interesting too. Totally random the kids don't or won't ever know each other, just show up and play. NS and Forbush used to do that in the 80's and early 90's. Not an unsual plan.
Glenn, that’s kinda random isn’t it? But it would be interesting.