Northern Guilford won it all in 2012 and play Dudley in regular season. Hillside had 9-3 record in 2013. Believe me I did read your post. I know Dudley play real good teams in playoff but they also did play solid teams in regular season too. Now they did not play great teams last year in regular season and didn't even play N. Guilford which won state in 3AA. It is funny to me that you said Richmond's caliber since 2012....Richmond didn't even reach State final......N. Guilford DID. I bet you even money that Northern Guilford will run Richmond off in 2012. By the way Hillside did very well last year and lost to NEW BERN in playoff by six points. NB won the state final last year.
In 2013, Richmond lost to NW Guilford badly in playoff and NW Guilford would not beat Dudley in same year for sure . I think you put Richmond on a pedestal that is a bit too high. Last time Richmond has been a factor was back in 2008. I understand that Dudley haven't play high caliber teams past couple years since Northern Guilford went off the schedule. Dudley have play Hillside for a good while. This game last night will pay dividends for both team I suspect.
"Since 2012" does not include the year 2012, which is where I drew the line in looking back thru Dudley's schedules. I think Northern Guilford was very legit during those years, as were some other teams.
Hillside in 2013 played in the worst 4A conference in the entire state (and still does), so their 9-3 record that year is equivalent to a 6-6 record if they had played in a better conference. BTW, the Charlotte Country Day club that walked into Durham and beat Hillside that year got smoked in several different games right after that, including by one 3A school.
I didn't predict Richmond to win last night because of anything that they did or didn't do over the last several years (which were down by their standards). I predicted them to win because they showed me some things a couple of weeks ago against Butler. Dudley hadn't played anyone good enough to expose their weaknesses or accentuate their strengths in 2015, and I thought that would be the difference in the game. This loss will help Dudley tons down the road.
I saw that NW Guilford team in person in the 2013 playoffs when they traveled to Mallard Creek. Overall, I was very impressed by them. I thought they played MC tougher than Butler had the prior week, and I thought they were deserving of the #6 ranking they had at the time. They might not have been good enough to beat Dudley that year, but there sure weren't many teams in the state that they weren't good enough to beat. If Dudley were overlooking them, that matchup might've been a surprise.