It\u2019s week four of the high school football season, and by now teams have started to separate themselves into the contender category while others are still trying to figure their identity.<\/p>\n
This week\u2019s schedule features 10 of 11 local teams in action \u2014 Liberty Christian Academy (3-0) has an open date \u2014 with four games played locally.<\/p>\n
Who wins Friday\u2019s games? Here are my thoughts and predictions:<\/p>\n
James Kenan (2-0) at East Duplin (3-0)<\/p>\n
The game of the week features a pair of undefeated Duplin County rivals.<\/p>\n
James Kenan won the first meeting 19-0 in 1962 and leads the series 34-29. The Tigers have won two straight, 27-21 last year, and 43-20 in 2024. The Panthers\u2019 last victory was 28-7 in 2023.<\/p>\n
James Kenan has easy wins over Southern Wayne and Southern Nash, so it may be too early to determine the Tigers\u2019 level. East Duplin has wins over Wallace-Rose Hill and Princeton, and topped Richlands 34-13 last week.<\/p>\n
The Panthers are successful feeding the ball to Noah LeBlanc, so look for the senior to get many carries. East Duplin\u2019s defense may face its stiffest test against James Kenan, which averages 9.1 yards per rush.<\/p>\n
Prediction: East Duplin 21, James Kenan 14<\/p>\n
Southwest (0-3) at Dixon (2-1)<\/p>\n
Dixon looks for its second consecutive victory over Southwest and its fourth all-time series win.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs won 42-20 last year in what was the first meeting between the teams since Southwest won 55-0 at Dixon to open the 2021 spring season. The Bulldogs\u2019 other series wins came in 2015 and 1982.<\/p>\n
Dixon has won two straight following a season-opening defeat at Topsail while Southwest is 0-3 for the sixth consecutive year. The Stallions look to avoid being 0-4 for the second straight season.<\/p>\n
Southwest found success running with Ton Bolden in last week\u2019s defeat to Croatan while it appears Dixon found its offensive groove with Aiden Tilley and Lonnie Stowers combining for 772 rushing yards.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Dixon 36, Southwest 28<\/p>\n
Kinston (1-2) at White Oak (1-1)<\/p>\n
White Oak hopes to move forward following last week\u2019s loss at Swansboro.<\/p>\n
White Oak leads the series with Kinston 8-4, including last year\u2019s 32-26 road win. Kinston won 48-18 in 2016 and 22-13 in 2015. Kinston also won the first meeting 27-7 in 1975.<\/p>\n
While White Oak should move the ball via the run, the Piney Green Vikings must defend the pass and avoid mental mistakes.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Kinston 28, White Oak 21<\/p>\n
Washington (0-3) at Croatan (3-0)<\/p>\n
Croatan is certainly a big favorite against Washington.<\/p>\n
The Pam Pack won the inaugural meeting 29-14 in the second round of the 2021 spring playoffs, but the Cougars won 21-6 in 2024 and 59-14 in 2025.<\/p>\n
Croatan is 3-0 for the fourth straight year. And while the Cougars have a big game with Swansboro on Sept. 18, expect Croatan to handle business against the Pam Pack and score early and often.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Croatan 49, Washington 13<\/p>\n
Jacksonville (1-1) at Topsail (1-2)<\/p>\n
Jacksonville had plenty of time to stew over its 14-6 home loss to Northside on Aug. 27 as the Cardinals had an open date last week.<\/p>\n
Look for Jacksonville to take its frustrations out on Topsail, which has dropped two straight after a win over Dixon.<\/p>\n
Jacksonville is 5-0 against Topsail, including a 46-6 win last year. The other meetings were from 2013 to 2016 and none were decided by less than 21 points.<\/p>\n
Expect the Cardinals to reach that three-touchdown threshold in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Jacksonville 35, Topsail 14<\/p>\n
Richlands (1-2) at South Brunswick (1-2)<\/p>\n
Richlands wants to snap a two-game skid with a win at South Brunswick, which won its first game last week with a 35-14 victory over Trask.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats are still trying to be an offensive rhythm as Richlands averages just 11 points per game. South Brunswick appears to be led by one player in Amerius Revels, who has 477 of the Cougars\u2019 600 yards rushing.<\/p>\n
South Brunswick leads the series 4-2, including last year\u2019s 28-7 win. The Cougars also won between 2021 to 2023 while the Wildcats won the first meeting 28-27 in the first round of the 2007 playoffs and 28-14 in 2024.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Richlands 17, South Brunswick 14<\/p>\n
Northside (2-0) at New Hanover (1-2)<\/p>\n
Northside has two games it needs to prepare for as the Monarchs visit New Hanover on Friday and then visits Laney on Tuesday, Sept. 15.<\/p>\n
The Laney game was added after the Monarchs\u2019 season-opener at White Oak was cancelled amid inclement weather.<\/p>\n
Northside\u2019s 28-7 victory over New Hanover last year marked the Monarchs\u2019 first win in the series after the Wildcats won the first nine.<\/p>\n
Look for a similar margin on Friday. And while the Monarchs will have to turn around four days later, don\u2019t be surprised if they play well at Laney.<\/p>\n
Predictions: Northside 34, New Hanover 14. Northside 40, Laney 14.<\/p>\n
Swansboro (3-0) at East Carteret (0-3)<\/p>\n
Swansboro plays for its first 4-0 start since 2019 and for just the fifth time overall.<\/p>\n
The Pirates\u2019 other 4-0 starts came in 1964, 1966, 1998 and 2005.<\/p>\n
Swansboro is confident following last week\u2019s 20-12 victory over White Oak and should be a big favorite. The Mariners lead the series 24-12-1, but the Pirates won 34-28 in overtime last year.<\/p>\n
Swansboro won the first meeting 19-13 in 1965.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Swansboro 49, East Carteret 0<\/p>\n
Union (1-1) at Lejeune (0-2)<\/p>\n
It appears as if Lejeune players continue to play hard, as the Devilpups built a 14-0 lead over South Lenoir last week before falling 20-14.<\/p>\n
Expect the same effort against Union.<\/p>\n
The series is tied 4-4 after Union\u2019s 34-0 win last year. The Spartans won the first meeting 32-20 in 1973 while the Devilpups\u2019 last win over Union was 28-7 in 2002.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Union 28, Lejeune 16<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s week four of the high school football season, and by now teams have started to separate themselves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,110],"class_list":["post-395395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395395","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=395395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}