Monday marked the first day of practice for high school fall sports, and there are just two weeks left until most county teams will see their first regular season action.
It’s an exciting time for football fans across the area, as the four Chatham teams — Chatham Central, Jordan-Matthews, Northwood and Seaforth — are set to compete in the same conference for the first time ever. The schools will be joined by North Moore, Southeast Alamance, Bartlett Yancey, Graham and Cummings in the nine-member Mid-Carolina Conference.
The Bears, Jets, Chargers and Hawks are all set to play their first games on Aug. 18, but how do the rest of their schedules play out? Here’s a closer look at what you can expect each county team to face this fall.
Chatham Central
The Bears were the lone county team to make the state playoffs last fall, but it wasn’t much consolation after 2-9 during the regular season. This year, Chatham Central is led by a new coach in Derrin Little, who previously worked on the coaching staff at Greensboro College.
Central’s season starts Aug. 18 on the road at North Stokes. This is one of two non-conference games the Bears will play in 2023, along with their road game at South Davidson in Week 2. Little’s team opens Mid-Carolina Conference play Sept. 1 on the road at Southeast Alamance, which is competing as a team for the first time this fall.
Central’s first home game comes Sept. 8 against its first county opponent of the season, Jordan-Matthews. The Bears have won the last three meetings between the two teams, including a 19-6 win over the Jets last season.
After hosting Bartlett Yancey on Sept. 15, Chatham Central will hit the road for two of its next three games against Seaforth (Sept. 22) and Cummings (Oct. 6), with a home matchup against Graham sandwiched in between on Sept. 29.
The Bears will have their bye the week of Oct. 13 before returning to the field Oct. 20 for their home game against Northwood. Central then closes out the regular season Oct. 28 against North Moore.
Central’s opponents this fall had a combined record of 43-57 in 2022.
Jordan-Matthews
The only winless team in the county last season at 0-11, Jordan-Matthews is set to enter its third season under head coach Ryan Johnson in 2023.
The Jets open up this year with a home game against South Davidson on Aug. 18. Jordan-Matthews is 5-0 all-time against the Wildcats, but they have not played them since a 35-14 victory way back on Halloween night, 2008.
J-M’s second and final non-conference game comes on the road at Carrboro on Aug. 25. The Jets will play away from home again the next week as they play their first conference opponent, Cummings. Last fall, the Jets were demolished by the Cavaliers to the tune of 64-0.
Week 4 (Sept. 8) sees the Jets face off against rival Chatham Central in their third straight road game. The Jets will then play their next three games at home in Siler City, against opponents Northwood (Sept. 15), North Moore (Sept. 22) and Southeast Alamance (Sept. 29).
Johnson’s team has its bye the week of Oct. 6 before playing Bartlett Yancey on Oct. 13. The Jets then close out the regular season with a home game against Seaforth on Oct. 20 and a road game against Graham on Oct. 27.
Things should turn out better for the Jets in 2023 than they did in 2022, when they scored 51 total points across their 11 games. According to Johnson, Jordan-Matthews now has enough players to field a JV team, and the added depth should only help the team going forward.
Jordan-Matthews has not made the state playoffs since the 2013 season, a drought of 10 years.
Northwood
The Chatham team with the best record in 2022 was Northwood, which went 4-6 during the regular season but missed out on the 3A playoffs. Now, the Chargers are looking to establish themselves in a new conference filled with local rivals.
This will be Northwood’s first season under new head coach Mitch Johnson. His first game in charge will come Aug. 18 as the Chargers host Riverside-Durham, which went 6-5 overall in 2022. Northwood has not played the Pirates since defeating them, 27-7, back during the 2012 season.
The Chargers host another non-conference opponent, Union Pines, in Week 2 (Aug. 25) before hitting the road for their first league game of the season at North Moore (Sept. 1). Northwood has never played North Moore despite the two schools residing less than 40 miles apart.
Northwood plays its first home conference game Sept. 8 against Southeast Alamance before playing Jordan-Matthews on the road on Sept. 15. The Chargers are 11-6 against the Jets since the 2004 season and won last year’s matchup between the two teams by a score of 52-0.
On Thursday, Sept. 21, Northwood will host Bartlett Yancey. Then on Sept. 29, the team will travel to play Seaforth on the road. The Chargers and Hawks played for the first time ever last season, with Northwood edging out a 12-7 win at home.
Northwood is the only Chatham County team that plays each of the first 11 weeks of the season. The Chargers are on the road at Graham on Oct. 6 before returning to Pittsboro Oct. 13 for a matchup with Cummings. The final game of the regular season sees Northwood travel to play Chatham Central on Oct. 20.
The Chargers and Bears have not played each other since 2008, when Northwood was victorious by a score of 63-7.
Seaforth
The Seaforth football team is entering its second ever season in 2023, and hopes are high that the Hawks can improve on their 2-8 record in 2022.
Head coach Terrance Gary’s team opens this season with a home game against Purnell Swett on Aug. 18. The Hawks and Rams also met in Week 1 of the 2022 season, with Purnell Swett coming out victorious by a score of 32-0.
Seaforth hits the road for its final non-conference game against Southern Lee on Aug. 25 before taking a bye in Week 3, the earliest of any Chatham County team. The Hawks return to the field Sept. 8 for their first conference game against Graham.
After a Sept. 15 game against Cummings, Seaforth plays two Chatham teams in back-to-back weeks in Chatham Central (Sept. 22) and Northwood (Sept. 29). The Hawks defeated the Bears last fall but narrowly lost a game on the road at Northwood.
Seaforth opens the month of October with a road game against North Moore (Oct. 6). The Hawks will play two of their final three games at home, including matchups with Southeast Alamance (Oct. 13) and Bartlett Yancey (Oct. 27).
The Hawks’ only road game during that final stretch of the season comes Oct. 20 against Jordan-Matthews. Seaforth won its game against the Jets last fall by a score of 20-0.