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Tonight's Showcase games
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Published: September 5, 2008
BANDYS (1-1) at HIBRITEN (2-0), 7:30 p.m.
Hibriten wiped away a streak last season when it grabbed its first series victory over Bandys, winning 40-26 on the road.
The Panthers have a shot at another first against Bandys tonight – beating the Trojans in Lenoir, where they are 0-7.
Tonight's winner grabs the early lead in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A-3A Conference. And for Bandys, a victory would swing the door open for a shot at becoming a legitimate contender for the league title.
Next up for the Trojans, at home, is Hickory. A 2-0 start against the preseason league favorites would put the Trojans in control of their own destiny.
Hibriten plays at Hickory on Oct. 24.
Bandys has the league's top passing game. Junior QB Kyle Houser, who threw for 199 yards last year against the Panthers, is averaging 360 yards passing. Unofficially, he needs 280 passing yards to hit 1,000 for the season.
Houser's favorite target, junior Seth Cranfill, also returns (six catches for 76 yards vs. the Panthers last year). He leads the CVAC in receptions (15) and receiving yards (293), and the Trojans have had two other receivers with 100-yard games, Daimyn Niemi and Bradley Rowe.
The Panthers' star is senior RB Quin Smith (99.5 yards rushing per game), and a key tonight could be the play of QB Jamichael Walton.
Smith had 75 yards rushing in last year's win over Bandys, which featured a big game by graduated QB Billy Crane (127 yards rushing on 13 carries, another 148 yards passing).
A score-a-thon isn't out of the question, with Bandys averaging a league-high 450 yards per game on offense and the Panthers at 359.5.
Both defenses have struggled against the run, with Bandys ninth against it in the CVAC (233.5 yards) and Hibriten last in the league (236.0).
So whose defense can stop or limit whose offense?
N-C (1-0) at EAST BURKE (0-1). 7:30 p.m.
The skinny is that the Red Devils had last week off, getting two weeks to prep for the Cavs, and East Burke spent a night in Greenville, S.C., trying to stop Southside's passing game (413 yards, six TDs) but fell 46-35.
That begs the question: If what it takes to beat East Burke is a big-time passing game, can the Red Devils throw for more than the 20 yards they got in a season-opening 37-10 victory over East Lincoln?
While the makeup of Newton-Conover's offense is virtually the same as last year, when East Burke won 35-7 at Gurley Stadium, the Cavs don't have all the weapons they had last season.
FB Tyler Shatley, who ran for 90 yards and a TD in last year's win, returns for East Burke, as is Chase Houston (48 yards on three carries and a TD against the Red Devils last year).
QB A.J. Bazzle, RB Dorian Jones and FB Josh Thompson return for Newton-Conover.
Bazzle threw for 56 yards against the Cavs last season, while Jones had 40 rushing yards and another 61 receiving and Thompson gained 26 yards.
This was a light-the-fuse game for East Burke last season. The Cavs had 361 yards on offense, starting a six-game run in which they averaged 433.8 yards per game.
Newton-Conover, 4-4 at East Burke since 1982 and down in the series 12-7, has traditionally had interesting games in Icard. In their last three games there, the Red Devils have won by 11, lost by 51 and lost by one in OT.
One of the coaches will get an even-numbered career victory tonight, the Red Devils' Nick Bazzle his 70th in 10 seasons or the Cavs' Mike Biggerstaff his 130th in 18 seasons.
All of Bazzle's wins are at Newton-Conover.
Biggerstaff is in his seventh season at East Burke and the Cavs have won 44 times since he became the head coach. The majority of his other victories came during his tenure as the head coach at West Caldwell.
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