East Lincoln wide receiver Cameron Dollar makes a catch earlier this season. The senior hopes to help lead his team to a playoff win tonight.
DAVID KEEVER
Sports Editor
After a one week delay, the North Carolina high school football playoffs finally get underway tonight. Both East Lincoln and Lincolnton will open the 2016 playoffs at home.
For the third straight year, the Mustangs will host Smoky Mountain in their first round game. East Lincoln has outscored the Mustangs from Sylva 109-14 in the previous two meetings.
This year, however, will be the first time that Smoky Mountain comes to Denver with a winning record. The 7-4 Mustangs had some nice non-conference wins over Robbinsville and Swain County early in the season, and played a very good 3A Pisgah team to a 45-40 game just three weeks ago.
But East Lincoln is a veteran playoff team. This will be the 13th playoff game for the Mustangs since these seniors were freshmen, and they’ve won 10 of those previous 12. In fact, head coach Mike Byus is 27-9 in the playoffs since taking over the program in 2005.
Improved or not, Smoky Mountain will have a hard time containing East Lincoln quarterback Marcus Graham. If the sophomore is able to continue to pick up big chunks of yardage on the ground and limits his turnovers, the Mustangs should cruise into the second round, which could mean a rematch with fellow SD-7 member West Caldwell.
Smoky Mountain (7-4) at East Lincoln (9-2)
Last meeting: East Lincoln 54, Smoky Mountain 7 (2015)
All-time series: East Lincoln leads 2-0
Smoky Mountain (3-4) 5th in Western NC Athletic 2A/3A
East Lincoln (5-2) 3rd in SD-7 2A
2015: Smoky Mountain lost to East Lincoln in 1st round,
East Lincoln lost to Monroe in 4th round.
West Lincoln makes the playoffs for the fifth time in seven years under head coach Tom Sain.
Unfortunately, the Rebels are still looking for their first playoff win in school history.
Monroe is probably not the best place to be going in search of that elusive victory. The Redhawks are the defending 2AA state champions, and feel like they have a chance to get back and defend that title.
Monroe lost starting quarterback Zephaniah Wall to a season ending injury back in week three, but seem to have improved each week under sophomore backup Trey Shepherd.
The Rebels will have to hope that their running game is hitting on all cylinders. West Lincoln needs long, time-consuming drives with touchdowns at the end to try and pull of the upset.
West Lincoln (5-6) at Monroe (9-2)
First ever meeting
West Lincoln (2-5) 5th in SD-7 2A
Monroe (5-0) 1st in Rocky River 2A
2015: West Lincoln did not make playoffs,
Monroe won 2AA state championship
Lincolnton is in a position that they expected to be in. The Wolves are the number one seed in the 2A Midwest region, and should have three home playoff games as long as they can win.
But what Lincolnton didn’t expect was to give up over 500 yards and 65 points in their regular season finale against Maiden. The Wolves are fortunate that the poor defensive effort came in the regular season and not in the playoffs, where there are no second chances.
Now Lincolnton gets a chance to right the ship against a familiar opponent. The Wolves will play Thomasville for the fourth time in the last six seasons, and sixth time overall. Lincolnton’s only losses to the Bulldogs were a first-round loss at Thomasville in 1996 and a second-round loss, also at Cushwa Stadium in 2012.
The Wolves have raced out to quick leads in most of their wins this season, and need to continue to do that to put pressure on opposing offenses. With a lead, Lincolnton can play a more aggressive style of defense, which in turn can force turnovers and get the ball back in the hands of the offense.
The Wolves have had to think about their only loss of the season for the last two weeks. I would expect them to be more than ready to play when they kick it off tonight at 7:30 p.m.
Every team should be ready to go. There are no second chances now.
Thomasville (5-6) at Lincolnton (10-1)
Last meeting: Lincolnton 14, Thomasville 7 (2013)
All-time series: Lincolnton leads 3-2
Thomasville (3-2) 3rd in the Central Carolina 2A,
Lincolnton (6-1) 1st in SD-7 2A
2015: Thomasville lost to Mountain Heritage in 2nd round,
Lincolnton lost to Shelby in 4th round
West Lincoln quarterback Dallas Bridges tosses the football to running back Brandon Schesny in their game at Lincolnton earlier this season. The two seniors hope to help lead their team to a playoff win tonight at Monroe.
Images courtesy of Tonya Holmes / Special to the LTN and Tana Farmer / Special to the LTN
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