It\u2019s high school football playoff time.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s right. It’s win and continue your season, or lose and pack up the gear until next year.<\/p>\n
Of the area\u2019s 10 area NCHSAA teams, nine were awarded a spot in the brackets. Fourth-seeded Croatan (9-1), third-seeded East Duplin (8-2), top-seeded Jacksonville (9-0) and third-seeded Northside (8-2) have first-round byes while White Oak, Richlands, Dixon, Southwest and Lejeune travel for their opening-round games.<\/p>\n
Who wins Friday\u2019s first-round playoff games? Here are my thoughts and predictions:\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 18 White Oak (4-6) at No. 15 Eastern Guilford (4-6)<\/p>\n
Consider this a fresh start for White Oak as the Vikings visit Eastern Guilford in the first round of the 6-A playoffs.<\/p>\n
White Oak has lost five straight, albeit against good competition and not because of a lack of effort. It’s not sugar-coating things to say that the Vikings have fought hard all season.<\/p>\n
They have held their own at times against the likes of Jacksonville, New Bern and J.H. Rose. Eastern Guilford has dropped three straight and four of five.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats seem balanced offensively. White Oak must get early stops to gain defensive momentum.<\/p>\n
This will be a back-and-forth contest as I see both teams scoring often in the first half before things settle in the second half.<\/p>\n
White Oak looks for its first playoff win since 2004, but I see Eastern Guilford scoring late to take the win.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Eastern Guilford 34, White Oak 30\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 21 Richlands at No. 12 Havelock<\/p>\n
Richlands got a playoff nod by winning its last two regular season games, but the streak will be tested at Havelock in the first round of the 5-A playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Rams downed the Wildcats 49-20 in September in Coastal Conference action. Havelock has won four straight, including last week\u2019s 19-7 upset over Northside, to share the league title.<\/p>\n
Richlands held its own at times in the last meeting with Havelock, but the Rams have continued to grow throughout the season and now they have momentum.<\/p>\n
Havelock will simply be too strong, but if Richlands can keep the game close in the first half, the Wildcats have the potential to make the Rams sweat it out.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Havelock 42, Richlands 17\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 18 Dixon (5-5) at No. 15 Rockingham County (5-4)<\/p>\n
Can Dixon\u2019s JJ Gulat surpass 3,000 yards rushing for the season against Rockingham County in the first round of the 5-A playoffs?<\/p>\n
The senior sits at 2,709 yards and 33 touchdowns. If Gulat rushes for the nearly 300 yards he needs for the milestone, I can see the Bulldogs earning a road win.<\/p>\n
This game is the only first-round match-up involving an area team that features two teams with at least a .500 record. Rockingham has won three straight while finishing tied for second in the Mid-State 3-A\/4-A\/5-A Conference.<\/p>\n
Dixon looks for its first playoff win in program history.<\/p>\n
Dixon\u2019s single-wing offense will provide scoring chances, but the Bulldogs must force turnovers if they are to win.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Rockingham 40, Dixon 32\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 22 Southwest (2-7) at No. 11 SouthWest Edgecombe (5-5)<\/p>\n
Will the real Southwest please stand up?<\/p>\n
School-name bragging rights are on the line when the Southwest Onslow Stallions visit the SouthWest Edgecombe Cougars in the first round of the 4-A playoffs.<\/p>\n
This is not the first meeting between the two squads as Southwest Onslow downed SouthWest Edgecombe 63-38 in the second round in 2017.<\/p>\n
I see the Stallions giving the Cougars a fight but with SouthWest Edgecombe being too strong. Southwest Onslow has struggled to score and that could be a difference against SouthWest Edgecombe, which has a forfeit defeat and two other losses by four points or less.<\/p>\n
I see the Stallions registering first downs to keep the ball out of the Cougars\u2019 hands, but SWO must take advantage of any redzone opportunities to emerge victorious.<\/p>\n
Prediction: SouthWest Edgecombe 27, Southwest Onslow 13\u00a0<\/p>\n
No. 21 Lejeune (1-9) at No. 12 Northampton County (3-7)<\/p>\n
Lejeune looks for its first postseason victory since its 2013 East Regional final trip as the Devilpups visit Northampton County in the 2-A playoffs.<\/p>\n
While I expect the Devilpups to play hard and the Grady Mahaffey to Cameron McKinnis duo to make plays, Northampton has the edge.<\/p>\n
This won\u2019t be a high-scoring affair as neither team scores many points. I see Northampton having a touchdown lead before pulling away in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Northampton 20, Lejeune 6<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s high school football playoff time. That\u2019s right. It’s win and continue your season, or lose and pack…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-34038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-jacksonville","9":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","10":"tag-jacksonville-news","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}