TONIGHT'S GAMES: Top 5 things to watch

Record Sports Editor Chris Hobbs asked former Maiden and Bunker Hill head coach Tom Brown to help him pick the top five things area fans should look for in each week’s high school football games this season:

FREEDOM’S FINALE: Even though Freedom can come out of its final regular-season game with back-to-back 10-win seasons, the Patriots aren’t going to next week’s state playoffs.

Freedom (9-1, 4-1) plays at rival Patton (0-9, 0-5) at 7:30 p.m., but is playoff ineligible due to having five players ejected from last week’s Chase game.

Under North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) rules, any team that has three or more players ejected from a game forfeits its playoff privileges.

It’s a tough pill to swallow for the Patriots, who likely had the best chance since the 1987 Freedom team (11-2) to make some postseason noise.

 “I feel sorry for the kids. … all the investment they’ve put in the program and to have it snapped out from under them is devastating,” said Coach Brown.

Brown said when the NCHSAA added a limit on number of ejections in its push for better sportsmanship, staying cool and collected in a game was something he talked about at every practice.

 “If only for two or three minutes because they (the NCHSAA) told us an ejection report is final,” he said.

THE ‘IT’ FACTOR: As Maiden (6-4, 5-1) heads to Draughn (8-2, 5-1) in a 7:30 p.m. showdown of teams tied for second in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A, Blue Devils running back Will Jenkins has it.

“You don’t have to be 6-foot-2, 215 pounds,” Coach Brown said of Jenkins, who is 5-7, 180. “He’s a strong little rascal.”

Jenkins, averaging 11.6 yards per game for the season, has boosted that to 15.3 per carry in the last three games. He’s had 645 yards and nine of his 14 rushing TDs against Bandys, East Burke and Bunker Hill.

It’s a big game in Valdese.

“A typical good defense (Draughn) vs. good offense (Maiden),” Coach Brown said.

SAFE AND SECURE: Hickory (6-3-1, 3-2) has the luxury of knowing it will get a No. 1 seed into the 3A playoffs no matter what happens after a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Fred T. Foard (2-7, 1-4).

The other 3A teams in the Northwestern 3A-4A each have four conference losses, and the teams ahead of Hickory are South Caldwell and Watauga, both 4As.

Could Foard, as it did against St. Stephens, step up and surprise the Red Tornadoes?

“Hickory has enough athletes to put 22 eyes on one guy,” said Coach Brown, with that one guy being Tigers running back Tre Robinson. “(Robinson) is the real deal, but he’s the only dimension they’ve got.”

GREATLY IMPROVED: Bunker Hill (6-4, 2-4) visits Bandys (7-3, 3-3) at 7:30 p.m., and the outcome determines if the Trojans finish alone in fourth place in the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A.

Look for plenty of running – three of the top rushers in the CVAC 2A are in this game – and for how a much-improved Bandys defense handles Bears running backs Reggie Davis and Justin Lynch.

A year ago, Bunker Hill ran 57 times for 613 yards in a 49-20 victory over the Trojans.

Should that be a concern for the Trojans, who allow a league-low 110.2 yards per game rushing?

“No way,” the Bears run for that kind of yardage again, Coach Brown said.

FROM SECOND TO LAST?: That’s the fate that awaits Newton-Conover (4-6, 1-5) if it doesn’t beat West Caldwell (0-10, 0-6) in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Gurley Stadium.

The Red Devils have been hit hard by injuries and things off field – through suspensions – that have sliced heavily into their roster.

Newton-Conover returned four starters -- three on offense, the other on defense – from last season.

“They aren’t nearly as strong on defense as in the past,” said Coach Brown. “There for a while, they had to of them (defensive linemen) that would eat your lunch. You couldn’t block them.”