Welcome back to The Huddle, our notes & trends column for North Carolina high school football. It was an exciting week one with upsets, statements, and impressive highlights.

In the 1st Down section, I’ll share some teams that made some big statements with wins in the first week. In 2nd Down, I’ll shout out some teams that impressed me in ultimately losing efforts. In 3rd Down, I’ll list the head coaches who picked up their first career wins. In 4th Down, I’ll share more updated milestones.

1st Down: Biggest Statement Wins

• Rolesville, 4A: The No. 1 team in the state defeated previous-No. 13 Butler by a score of 64-14. I don’t think I need to say anything more.
• Grimsley, 4A: The departure of Grimsley’s 4-star receiver duo didn’t matter in week one as the Whirlies took down a good Mount Tabor team by a score of 34-12. Mount Tabor has two 4-star receivers right now, but Grimsley’s secondary seemed to lock them down well.
• Havelock, 3A: The Rams throttled 2A East contender Wallace-Rose Hill 51-14. Last year, Havelock barely won in a 28-27 season-opening contest.
• Asheboro, 3A: Things are looking good for the Blue Comets in their second year under Calvin Brown. Last year, Asheboro defeated 1A Albemarle 24-22. This year, it was a 38-14 blowout.
• Ashbrook, 3A: Didn’t see this one coming. Ashbrook handled Forest Hills 29-13. The Greenwave have always had some talent, it’s just been a matter of putting it all together. Forest Hills throttled Ashbrook 55-12 at the home field of the Greenwave in this game last year.
• Northeastern, 2A: Last year’s Northeastern team was lethal on offense, as always, but really struggled defensively. Well, a 58-14 win over Bertie will help mitigate some of those concerns. This game last year was a 47-46 shootout.
• Cape Fear, 3A: Whoa. Cape Fear blasted a consistent 4A program in Pine Forest by a score of 44-0. It is the first time Pine Forest has been shut out since 2019.
• Cardinal Gibbons, 4A: The Crusaders easily defeated 4A Jordan by a score of 43-24. Last year, Gibbons was forced to win in a 35-31 thriller.
• Mooresville, 4A: Mooresville found itself just outside our preseason statewide Top 25 and clearly was not happy about that. The Blue Devils put 66 points on a good Davie County team from the tough Central Piedmont Conference.
• Eastern Randolph, 1A: After falling to 3A Eastern Alamance by a score of 35-15 to kick off last season, the Wildcats shut out the Eagles 29-0 to start this season. It’s a very impressive win for a team that lost such a good starting quarterback and an ACC lineman to graduation.
• Franklin, 3A: Last year, Franklin lost to 1A power Murphy 41-14 to open the season. This year, it was a 33-13 win for Franklin, Murphy lost its best player, but many of the surrounding pieces were young players who we were expecting to have big seasons this year.
• Hickory, 3A: The defending state champions don’t have much convincing to do, but their defense was surprisingly ruthless in week one. Hickory defeated a good Hibriten program in a 48-0 shutout. None of Hickory’s 16 wins last year had the Red Tornadoes winning in a blowout. They gave up at least two scores in 15 of the games.
• Brevard, 2A: Wow. Brevard blasted Pisgah 35-0. Pisgah beat Brevard 24-10 to open the 2023 season and returned most of its starters from last year’s team this year. Brevard sent a message to the rest of the 2A West with this performance.
• West Cabarrus, 4A: The Wolverines won just one game last year. Northwest Cabarrus defeated West 21-0 to open last year. This year, Brian Hinson’s team downed the Trojans, who are still expected to be good, 28-21.
• Reidsville, 2A: The Rams defeated Western Alamance 28-3 to open the season. Last year, it was a 36-28 win for a Reidsville team that had prolific passer Al Lee and 5-star tight end Kendre Harrison. The Rams did just fine with Dionte Neal running the offense to open this season.
• Mount Airy, 1A: The Granite Bears lost their great head coach J.K. Adkins, Virginia Tech running back Tyler Mason, Virginia Tech defensive end Deric Dandy, and multiple other historically great seniors. Didn’t matter. The Granite Bears bashed North Surry 50-14 with a new-looking group.
• Fuquay-Varina, 4A: I had Fuquay-Varina written off this season after the graduation of 4-star Malcolm Ziglar. Turns out, the Bengals defeated my SWAC Conference favorite Middle Creek in a 34-27 game in week one. What do I know?
• Mountain Heritage, 1A: The Cougars crushed a good 2A program CHASE in a 56-0 shutout. In case you weren’t a believer before, Mountain Heritage can win the 1A state championship this season.

2nd Down: Moral Victories? These Teams Looked Good in Losses

• Richmond, 4A: We had a good feeling about the Raiders making their game with Seventy-First a competitive one, that’s why we made it our HighSchoolOT Game of the Week. But it looked even better for the Raiders than we could have imagined. J. Mike Blake was thoroughly impressed with the defense in the 35-28 loss. Seventy-First is loaded on offense. Richmond has good talent, but the team and community are meshing well with new head coach Brad Denson. Denson is a former state-champion quarterback for Richmond.
• D.H. Conley, 4A: Well, I didn’t see this one coming. I was very down on the Vikings coming into the season. They lost so many of their starters, including literal do-it-all Isaiah Crumpler, who is now at Rutgers. The JV team wasn’t particularly impressive either. Flash forward to week one: the Vikings took a good 4A team in Laney to the brink in a 21-17 game. Last year, this game was a 60-13 win for Laney, which traveled to Conley. On Friday, it was Conley traveling to Laney.
• Myers Park, 4A: The Mustangs were awful in the first half and found themselves trailing No. 6 Independence 24-0 at the break. Myers Park fought itself back into contention, ultimately losing 24-21 after a tipped interception in the end zone during the final minute.
• West Rowan, 3A: The Falcons trailed quickly and heavily against A.L. Brown before fighting back and even having a chance to win the game at the end. It was a 28-26 finish. Last year, this was an 11-point game.
• Stuart Cramer, 3A: The Storm ended up losing to East Lincoln by 23 points, but they had it as a tight game more than halfway through the third quarter. The young team trailed East Lincoln just 27-24 with a couple of minutes to go in the third. Even though East Lincoln pulled way, that has to be a confidence booster.
• Franklinton, 3A: The Red Rams narrowly lost to 4A Apex in their first game under new head coach Mike Justice. Elijah Ellison had 10 total tackles and two sacks.

3rd Down: Head Coaches Who Picked Up Their First Win

Of the 85 new head football coaches in North Carolina, 25 picked up their first win of their regime.

Here’s a list of all of them who reached the milestone. For any of these coaches who are not in their first stint as a head coach, that is also indicated.

• Darius Robinson, Berry Academy
• Keith Emery, Charlotte Catholic
• Pat Bowman, Cherryville
• Carl Smith, Corinth Holders (first with Corinth Holders)
• Caleb Pardue, East Surry
• Rocky Lewis, Fike (first with Fike)
• Tommy Green, Glenn
• Willie Gillus III, Hertford County (first with Hertford County)
• Kermit Carter, Jordan-Matthews
• John Holt, Lakewood
• Taurius Baker, Lumberton
• Zach Mayo, Mooresville
• Austin Taylor, Mount Airy
• Darrel Wilson, North Gaston
• Kyle Schenk, North Johnston (first with North Johnston)
• Michael Johnson, Person
• Jim Ryan, R-S Central
• Antwon Stevenson, Ragsdale (first with Ragsdale)
• Doug Robertson, Rockingham County (first with Rockingham)
• JT Postell, Smoky Mountain (first with Smoky)
• Tony McCants, Southern Alamance (first with Southern Alamance)
• Josh Pardue, Starmount (first with Starmount)
• Bryan Till, Union Pines (first with Union Pines)
• Tripp Honeycutt, Walkertown (first with Walkertown)
• Trent Lowman, West Stokes (first with West Stokes)

4th Down: Milestones and Streaks

For anyone who has been a regular reader of this column, you know I love some milestones.

American Leadership Academy in Clayton, a charter school, won its first-ever varsity football game in a 59-0 defeat over 1A Union High School.

East Henderson ended a 16-game losing streak with a 28-22 home victory against North Buncombe. Douglas Byrd snapped its 11-game losing streak with a 40-14 win over Red Springs. East Chapel Hill ended its 10-game slide with a win over Cedar Ridge, but that result also increased Cedar Ridge’s losing streak to 20 games. North Wilkes’ 11-game skid is over after the Vikings took down Elin 27-21. West Davidson ended its 16-game losing streak with a 27-20 win over Wheatmore.

Here are the updated active winning and losing streaks:

• Asheville School winning streak (7 games)
• Cedar Ridge losing streak (20 games)
• Chatham Central losing streak (18 games)
• East Rowan losing streak (12 games)
• Foard losing streak (35 games)
• Garinger losing streak (29 games)
• Hickory winning streak (17 games)
• Highland Tech losing streak (34 games)
• Morehead losing streak (14 games)
• Mount Airy winning streak (31 games)
• Patton losing streak (14 games)
• Reidsville winning streak (13 games)
• Rocky Mount Prep losing streak (17 games)
• Smithfield-Selma losing streak (12 games)
• Southern Guilford losing streak (12 games)
• Spring Creek losing streak (16 games)
• Stuart Cramer losing streak (13 games)
• Swansboro losing streak (14 games)
• Weddington winning streak (7 games)
• West Caldwell losing streak (32 games)
• Western Harnett losing streak (13 games)

Other streaks to watch this season:

• Cleveland has not lost a regular season varsity game since 2019. The Rams have won 44-straight regular season games and 43-straight JV games
• Reidsville has gone 380 games in a row without being shut out. They’ve scored at least 10 points in the last 120 games
• Northeastern has won 13 consecutive conference championships
• Watauga has not lost a conference game since October of 2017. The Pioneers have won 36 straight conference games

Quick Hits

• Donut Squad: These teams shut out their opponents in week 1 of the high school football season: ALA-Johnston, Asheville, Brevard, Cape Fear, Christ School, Cuthbertson, East Forsyth, East Rutherford, Eastern Randolph, Eastern Wayne, Erwin, GRACE Christian, Greene Central, Hickory, Hopewell, Hunter Huss, Lake Norman, Lumberton, Maiden, Midway, Mountain Heritage, Nash Central, North Johnston, Northside-Jacksonville, Oak Grove, Perquimans, Polk County, Randleman, Southern Alamance, SouthWest Edgecombe, Southwestern Randolph, Starmount, Tarboro, Trask, Vance County, West Stokes
• 50-Burgers! These 11-man teams eclipsed 50 points scored in week 1 of the high school football season: Pender (74), White Oak (68), Mooresville (66), Southern Nash (65), Rolesville (64), Southern Alamance (63), Pinecrest (62), SouthWest Edgecombe (62), Lakewood (60), ALA-Johnston (59), Northeastern (58), Charlotte Christian (56), Erwin (56), Lee County (56), Mountain Heritage (56), Mountain Island Charter (55), Hopewell (54), Dudley (53), R.J. Reynolds (52), Riverside (52), New Bern (51), West Henderson (51), Mount Airy (50), Nash Central (50), North Duplin (50), West Craven (50)
• We don’t do classification rankings, but here is how I would rank them:
  • 4A
    • 1. Rolesville
    • 2. Weddington
    • 3. East Forsyth
    • 4. Independence
    • 5. Grimsley
    • 6. Mallard Creek
    • 7. Watauga
    • 8. Hough
    • 9. Cardinal Gibbons
    • 10. Cleveland
    • 11. Myers Park
    • 12. Mooresville
    • 13. Richmond
    • 14. Butler
    • 15. Pinecrest
  • 3A
    • 1. Hickory
    • 2. Havelock
    • 3. Dudley
    • 4. Seventy-First
    • 5. West Charlotte
    • 6. Crest
    • 7. Jay M. Robinson
    • 8. A.C. Reynolds
    • 9. Southern Durham
    • 10. Oak Grove
    • 11. Cape Fear
    • 12. Vance County
    • 13. Scotland
    • 14. Southern Nash
    • 15. Northern Nash
  • 2A
    • 1. Reidsville
    • 2. Northeastern
    • 3. Shelby
    • 4. SouthWest Edgecombe
    • 5. Brevard
    • 6. Monroe
    • 7. Randleman
    • 8. Bunker Hill
    • 9. Maiden
    • 10. Wallace-Rose Hill
    • 11. East Duplin
    • 12. West Craven
    • 13. East Surry
    • 14. Nash Central
    • 15. Southeast Alamance
  • 1A
    • 1. Mount Airy
    • 2. Tarboro
    • 3. Mountain Heritage
    • 4. Wilson Prep
    • 5. Starmount
    • 6. Eastern Randolph
    • 7. Robbinsville
    • 8. Swain County
    • 9. Lakewood
    • 10. North Rowan
    • 11. Mountain Island Charter
    • 12. Mitchell
    • 13. Northside-Pinetown
    • 14. Murphy
    • 15. Corvian Community

Victory Formation

Here’s what to expect from me this week.

Tomorrow, I’ll release the Starting 22 for week one. This is a list of the players who had the best performances of the week at every position, kind of like an all-pro team but for one week in time.

On Wednesday, we’ll preview our HighSchoolOT Game of the Week, which we’re anticipating will be No. 7 Grimsley at No. 1 Rolesville.

Thursday morning will be when my statewide preview for week two drops. On Thursday afternoon, I’ll have my picks out for every game of the week.

On Friday morning, we’ll have JV scores.

I’ll also work on updating our former N.C. high school football players in the NFL list as 53-man rosters are established.

The lists of former N.C. high school football players on in-state college rosters and nationwide FBS rosters will also be out at some point before the season kicks into full gear on Saturday. Those lists take a bit more research.

Source: highschoolot.com