Week three of the high school football season in Chatham County can be best described as a week of really high highs and really low lows.
As far as the highs, Dalton Brown earned his first win as the coach of his alma mater Northwood, joining Kermit Carter (Jordan-Matthews) and Derrin Little (Chatham Central) as coaches to earn their first wins this season.
As for the lows, Jordan-Matthews and Chatham Central suffered huge losses Friday, dropping the county-wide football record to 3-7.
Here’s a recap of Friday’s football action, a preview of next week for each county team, conference standings and the latest football power rankings:
Chatham Central
Southeast Alamance (3-0, 1-0) dominated Chatham Central (1-2, 0-1), 69-0, Friday.
The Stallions scored in four different ways, including five rushing touchdowns, two more scores through the air, two fumbles recovered for touchdowns and a punt return taken to the house.
Chatham Central just couldn’t get anything going offensively as it had 13 plays go for negative yards, including three sacks. The Bears also had problems with turnovers, throwing an interception and losing four fumbles.
The good thing for Chatham Central is that it has good reason to wipe that game from its memory and look forward to Friday.
The Bears will travel to its biggest rival in Jordan-Matthews for an intra-county showdown at 7 p.m. The Jets are a more favorable matchup for the Bears who remember last season’s heartbreak on the last play of the 30-26 defeat.
If Chatham Central wants to win its second game this season, it’ll have to clean up the offensive mistakes and get ready for a physical bout on the defensive end. This year’s matchup will be a bit different from last year in that Nick Glover, a dynamic two-way player who made the game-winning defensive stop last year, now plays for Chatham Central, and the Jets are more dependent on their rushing attack.
Jordan-Matthews
Missing key players in Kenneth Dula and Rashaad McSwain Friday, Jordan-Matthews (1-2, 0-1) couldn’t keep up with Cummings (2-1, 1-0) in a 55-8 loss.
The game came down to the rushing attack.
Jordan-Matthews rushed for a net 55 yards and had nine negative plays while Cummings ended the night with 219 yards on the ground.
Cummings junior Devin Witherspoon led the way with 59 yards rushing and two touchdowns, scoring on a 38-yard run in the first half and a 12-yard rush in the second half.
The Jets only trailed, 7-0, going into the second quarter, but miscues on special teams, including a blocked punt returned for a touchdown and a kickoff recovered by Cummings deep in Jordan-Matthews’ territory, helped the game get out of hand quickly.
Jordan-Matthews went into halftime down, 42-0, and couldn’t recover from there.
It’s not yet clear if Dula and McSwain, two of the Jets most impactful two-way players, will suit up Friday against Chatham Central, but they’ll be a huge boost if they do. The Jets will need to have a better showing offensively if they want to beat their rival for the second year in a row.
Northwood
Northwood (1-2, 1-0) finally left the field as victors Friday night after beating North Moore (0-3, 0-1), 33-13, and it will now travel to Southeast Alamance (3-0, 1-0) to face a tough conference opponent.
The Stallions will be looking for revenge after the Chargers demolished them, 55-9, in their first ever meeting last year.
After having a really young team in 2023, Southeast Alamance will be coming with more experience and a great deal of momentum as it rides a three-game win streak.
Northwood’s defense has been a strength of its team this year and will be expected to perform well again Friday, but opponents have only averaged 11 points against the Stallions this season.
The Chargers’ offense will have to build on, if not replicate, their showing against North Moore to pull out a win. The game will kick off at 7 p.m.
Seaforth
Seaforth (0-1, 0-0) will return from a two-week hiatus Friday when it travels to Graham (0-2, 0-1) for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
The Hawks will look to replicate their defensive performance against Westover and clean up some things offensively in what should be a tune-up game.
Power Rankings
Last week: 1. Northwood; 2. Jordan-Matthews; 3. Chatham Central; 4. Seaforth
This week’s rankings: 1. Northwood; 2. Jordan-Matthews; 3. Chatham Central; 4. Seaforth
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings: 1. Southeast Alamance (3-0, 1-0); 2. Cummings (2-1, 1-0); 3. Northwood (1-2, 1-0); 4. Bartlett Yancey (1-2, 1-0); 5. North Moore (0-3, 0-1); 6. Jordan-Matthews (1-2, 0-1); 7. Graham (0-2, 0-1); 8. Chatham Central (1-2, 0-1); 9. Seaforth (0-1, 0-0)