East Duplin, Jacksonville and Northside are in the driver\u2019s seat to win conference titles entering Friday\u2019s week nine of area high school football action.<\/p>\n
That said, the Panthers, Cardinals and Monarchs need to be careful not to overlook their opponents Friday as they present challenges to their conference title aspirations.<\/p>\n
The game of the week is the Dixon at Northside clash, while Jacksonville visits South Central and East Duplin travels to Clinton.<\/p>\n
Overall, Friday\u2019s local schedule features eight games involving nine teams as Croatan and Liberty Christian have open dates.<\/p>\n
Who wins Friday\u2019s week nine games? Here are my thoughts and predictions:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dixon (5-2, 1-2) at Northside (6-1, 3-0)<\/p>\n
Northside got a scare last week, falling behind 14-0 to West Carteret and finding itself in a 28-28 game before pulling away for a 42-28 victory.<\/p>\n
Look for the Monarchs to be wary of Coastal 5-A\/6-A Conference foe Dixon, which hopes to rebound from last week\u2019s 29-28 loss to Havelock.<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, but the Bulldogs\u2019 28 points last week was the fewest Dixon scored this season as an interception and a lost fumble came back to bite the team.<\/p>\n
The Monarchs have allowed 28 points in their last two outings, which means this has the potential to be a high-scoring affair.<\/p>\n
Northside has thrown the ball well this season, but continues to also flex its muscles with a solid running game.<\/p>\n
I look for the Monarchs to once again be well-balanced offensively and make several big plays, although I see the Bulldogs moving the ball at times. Dixon can make things interesting by taking an early lead, which is possible if the Bulldogs get the ball first.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Northside 42, Dixon 21\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jacksonville (6-0, 2-0) at South Central (3-4, 0-2)<\/p>\n
Jacksonville coach Beau Williams and several players stressed following last week\u2019s 35-21 win over J.H. Rose that they would not look past South Central, which has lost four straight.<\/p>\n
In fact, running back Amari Pearson anticipated this week\u2019s practice being more difficult, given the Cardinals will be heavy favorites against the Falcons.<\/p>\n
On paper, Jacksonville should take early control and win this Big Carolina 6-A\/7-A Conference game comfortably. The Cardinals have lately established early leads and then extended them by forcing turnovers, and I would not be surprised if Jacksonville followed that same recipe.<\/p>\n
However, it will be interesting to see how inspired the Cardinals play against an inferior foe, especially with a home game with D.H. Conley (5-2, 2-0) waiting next week.<\/p>\n
I look for a workmanlike effort from Jacksonville, although I can see the Falcons putting up resistance early before the Cardinals start to control things in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Jacksonville 34, South Central 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
East Duplin (5-2, 2-0) at Clinton (3-4, 1-1)<\/p>\n
I give East Duplin the edge in this East Central 3-A\/4-A Conference clash, although it won\u2019t be a cake walk as Clinton has three defeats by six points or less, including a 50-45 loss to undefeated Pender.<\/p>\n
The Panthers visit Pender (7-0, 2-0) next week, although I do not see East Duplin looking past Clinton, given the history between the two teams.<\/p>\n
The Panthers will be too strong for the Dark Horses as East Duplin moves the ball via the run with success and slows down Clinton\u2019s passing game.<\/p>\n
Prediction: East Duplin 31, Clinton 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
White Oak (4-3, 0-2) at J.H. Rose (3-4, 1-1)<\/p>\n
White Oak never quits, despite falling behind in the first half, as the Vikings have valiantly worked to get back in games, including in last week\u2019s 46-20 loss to New Bern.<\/p>\n
Big Carolina Conference foe J.H. Rose now awaits White Oak, which looks to end a two-game skid. I see this game being similar to other games this season for the Vikings.<\/p>\n
I expect J.H. Rose to establish a multiple-score lead in the second quarter and White Oak to show resolve in trying to make a comeback.<\/p>\n
In the end, the Rampants will be too strong in this one, but the Vikings will fight until the end.<\/p>\n
Prediction: J.H. Rose 35, White Oak 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
Richlands (1-6, 0-3) at West Carteret (4-3, 2-2)<\/p>\n
Richlands enters its Coastal Conference game at West Carteret having scored single digits in four of its last five games.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats, however, have a chance to end that streak against the Patriots, who have allowed 35, 51, 25, 51 and 42 in their last five outings.<\/p>\n
West Carteret is still favored as the Patriots showed just how dangerous they are by holding their own against Northside last week.<\/p>\n
If the Wildcats can generate an early score, they can make things interesting, but the Patriots\u2019 passing game may be too strong.<\/p>\n
Prediction: West Carteret 34, Richlands 17\u00a0<\/p>\n
Havelock (3-5, 3-1) at Swansboro (2-5, 0-3)<\/p>\n
Swansboro is catching Coastal Conference foe Havelock at a bad time as the young Rams have won two straight games following a tough start.<\/p>\n
The Pirates were open last week following a 46-30 defeat to Dixon. I see Swansboro holding its own early, but I expect Havelock to garner momentum by the second half and start to pull away.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Havelock 42, Swansboro 21\u00a0<\/p>\n
Southwest (0-6, 0-2) at Trask (3-4, 1-1)<\/p>\n
Southwest visits East Central Conference foe Trask, which has thrown just 14 passes, meaning this could be a quick game.<\/p>\n
The Stallions allowed 53 and 50 points in their last two games against the ECC\u2019s top two teams. But because Southwest has already seen the league\u2019s best, I am going on a whim and picking the Stallions to get their first win.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Southwest 20, Trask 14\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jones Senior (0-7, 0-2) at Lejeune (0-7, 0-2)<\/p>\n
Fittingly, Lejeune and Jones Senior enter their Coastal Plains 1-A\/2-A Conference game both having scored 26 points, although the Devilpups have allowed 286 to the Trojans\u2019 322.<\/p>\n
The two winless squads share one common opponent in South Lenoir, which topped Lejeune 28-14 and defeated Jones Senior 46-6.<\/p>\n
Neither team has found much offensive success, but I give Lejeune the slight edge as I think sophomore Grady Mahaffey will be a difference at quarterback and on defense.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Lejeune 22, Jones Senior 14<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"East Duplin, Jacksonville and Northside are in the driver\u2019s seat to win conference titles entering Friday\u2019s week nine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-4258","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\/4258","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=4258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}