It was another exciting week for Chatham County sports last week in a variety of athletic venues.
At Jordan-Matthews, what a win it was for coach Sam Spencer and his Jordan-Matthews Jets. Getting a second win, especially a 2A PAC 7 Conference victory on Homecoming, means a great deal for the program going forward regardless of the rest of the season.
So with Northwood downing East Chapel Hill 24-21 and Jordan-Matthews blanking Trinity 12-0 on their Homecomings, in consecutive weeks, can Chatham Central make it a three-peat this Friday night in Bear Creek versus South Stanly? Hopefully the Bears can ride the momentum of the other county teams and get that elusive first win.
And blanking Trinity 12-0 at that was even more impressive as the Jets were all over the field.
In tennis, Chatham Central and Chatham Charter both had huge state playoff wins in the 1A ranks with the Bears besting Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy 5-4 in Bear Creek, and the Knights routing Riverside-Martin 9-0 three hours away down in Williamston.
Avery Headen and Lindley Andrew of Jordan-Matthews qualified for the NCHSAA State Tournament in the 2A ranks in doubles with a strong showing up in Carrboro at the Mideast Regional. Headen and Andrew start play up at the Burlington Tennis Center on Friday against Megan Smith and Lindsay Ray of Forbush High School.
Good luck to all these ladies this week!
Collegiately, what about Wake Forest! Moving to 6-1 on the season with a hard fought victory over Florida State last Saturday night in the rain was great to see. I’m happy for some long time Demon Deacon fans such as Siler City Mayor John Grimes, who played with the famed Brian Piccolo at Wake, and one of my former teachers, Jimmy Sizemore, both great people, and 100 percent, non-wavering fans of the black and gold.
In the NFL, guess who’s getting no attention? Yep, George Edwards and the Minnesota Vikings who have quietly compiled a 5-2 record in what is proving to be one of the toughest divisions in the league, and living up to their black and blue division reputation.
Edwards has long been overlooked as one of the top defensive coordinators in the league, which is ridiculous in my opinion. Once again the Vikings have compiled one of the league’s top defenses, and that will be on display in prime time this Thursday night when Minnesota hosts the Washington Redskins at 8:20 pm at U.S. Bank Stadium. I look for the Vikings to show the nation just how good they really are that night.
Finally, the World Series is set and should be quite entertaining when the upstart Washington Nationals battle the Houston Astros.
The downside to Washington is that they’ve had to wait a while as the Astros had to go six games to dispatch of the Yankees. Will that layoff kill all the momentum the NATS were riding? It remains to be seen. But however it plays out, it should be a great World Series as both clubs boast some serious talent up and down the lineup.
