Pigskin Picks week 12

Week 11 came to a close, and so did this chapter of football for many area teams. Like my column yesterday said, I am extremely grateful for having this opportunity to deliver the stories about your favorite team(s) to you. For more on that, please read that column.

One of the highlights, though, has definitely been these picks. I started these in week two because I didn’t have a good grasp on the football programs in the area yet. Sure, I read, wrote, and edited the Pigskin Preview, but I hadn’t seen these teams play a real game. I wanted to get a baseline for how they operated, even though just the first week of the season isn’t the best barometer.

I went 3-1 last week, which has been a trend all year, as I was an exact 75 percent in my total picks on the season. I finished with an overall 39-13, which isn’t too shabby for my first year of Sampson County football. There’s still one regular season game for a local team this week, and I will, of course, make that pick, so either of these numbers could change by one.

My closest score of the season came in the Midway vs. Fairmont game on Oct. 11, when I predicted a 55-6 Raider win. En route to their victory, they grabbed one too many two-point conversions, and won, 57-6. I’ve had a couple that I was three points away from the correct score, and last week I was off by just four for Clinton’s final score.

Here are my records for the regular season for all teams, including Union, who still has one more game to play. That record will change after this week, but the rest will stay the same. For Clinton, I went 8-1; for Harrells, I went 7-2; for Hobbton, I went 6-3; for Lakewood, I went 7-2; for Midway, I went 6-2; and for Union, I am currently 6-2 with one game to go.

Before I get to this week’s lone rider for football action, I want to share how accurate my prediction for last week’s Hobbton game was originally before I had to trim it down for spacing. The Wildcats are a team that runs an offense I am very familiar with, and it’s one of my favorites. I know all of the strengths and weaknesses, and it shows.

Here is an excerpt for the Wildcats, which I wrote last week long before the game:

“There’s a formula to winning this football game for Hobbton, but everything has to be executed flawlessly. The first part is to obviously eliminate the rushing attack. Disruption of the offensive line is paramount — a good running team is nothing if they don’t have the holes up front to move through. Their quarterback only has 66 passing yards on the season, so the Wildcats can “pin their ears back” and “send the house” to thwart the ground game, without too much worry.

The second piece is to make their defensive line a non-factor, and out of all of the Sampson County teams, I believe Hobbton could do this the best. The defensive line wants to plug rushing holes and wreak havoc on a passing quarterback. The way to beat that? Hobbton’s dink-and-dunk offense. Quick routes plus quick throws means the defensive line can’t do what they’re used to doing. Light them up over the middle on slants until the linebackers stay parked over the middle, then hit every five-yard out-route in your playbook to torch them on the outside.”

North Duplin still grabbed up a lot of yards in the ground game Friday, but the most accurate thing I said was about the quick throws and eliminating the defensive line. I had full faith that Hobbton could have won that game days before it was even played, they just needed to execute flawlessly. Unfortunately, the Rebels took the game from them in the final moments, even with their go-ahead touchdown late.

But, enough about the past, and onto the future. Here’s a pick for this week’s single game.

Union @ West Columbus,

Friday, 7 p.m.

Both teams here took advantage of the NCHSAA extending the season due to Hurricane Helene as they’ve scheduled the game for this Friday. And it could have some playoff implications, too.

In the 1A division, all teams make the playoffs unless they opt out. Early predictions have Union at the 25-seed and West Columbus as the 19. A win from either team could shake this up. Those are, like I said, early predictions, and are in no way final; but they do offer a good chance of being correct when seeding happens next week.

Both teams will be looking to knock each other down a peg, or in this case, a spot in the playoffs.

Union has a strong running game, as evidenced by freshman Tobias Cromartie’s 905 yards on the ground this season. He averages just north of 100 yards per game and just shy of five yards per carry. Five of his games have seen him gain over 100 yards, and he has four touchdowns to go along with those yards.

West Columbus only has four games’ worth of statistics on MaxPreps, and it shows them having over double the rushing yards compared to passing. The Vikings have been outscored 408-86 so far this season and Union has been outscored 488-88, so they are about as evenly matched as it will get.

I’ll play homer here and take the Spartans to notch their first win of the season and boost their RPI right before the plays. Give me Union by a score of 26-18.