By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
Heavy rain wreaked havoc on the Week 7 schedule last week and when the sun came out again it revealed a whole new picture in the Four Rivers Conference.
Heading into Week 7 Plymouth, Southside and Riverside each owned a share of first place with perfect 5-0 (1-0) records. However, a wild Week 7 has changed all that.
With practice schedules altered, area teams had to wait till after the weekend to play their games which is tough on coaches because it makes it harder to predict how their team will perform.
Plymouth, the fourth ranked team in the state, passed its test as it ran past South Creek 47-0. Riverside, which entered its contest with a No. 8 ranking, struggled against Camden and fell 18-7. Southside faced a tough task in having to play the reigning conference champions Manteo on the road Monday and also suffered its first defeat of the year as it lost 42-22.
Those loses allowed Perquimans (4-2, 2-0) to leap frog up to first place where its undefeated conference record has it tied with Plymouth. Going into Week 8 there is now a logjam at the two spot where Southside, Riverside, Manteo and Camden are all tied with 1-1 conference records. Rounding out the conference is Northside (2-4, 0-2) and South Creek (0-6, 0-2).
Week 8 is loaded with great conference games with the best taking place at Southside, where the school will host Plymouth tonight. Also on the schedule is No. 10 Riverside at Perquimans, Camden at Northside and Manteo at South Creek. Here is a look at the matchups:
No. 4 Plymouth (6-0, 2-0) at Southside (5-1, 1-1)
Easily the game of the week and quite possibly the game of the year up to date in the Four Rivers Conference. Vikings’ coach Robert Cody and his staff have his team playing at a fantastic level right now and looked poised to make another run at a state title.
Led by running backs Ronnell Blount, Carl McCray, Cevin Norman and Elmer Cooper, Plymouth has been brutalizing teams with its running game as the Vikings have not scored under 36 points all season.
Equally impressive has been the team’s defense. Plymouth has not allowed a score in the last eight quarters of football and only once has it surrendered over 25 points. That occurred in Week 2 when West Montgomery scored 26. On Monday, Plymouth rolled past South Creek 47-0. Overall, the Vikings have out-scored its opponents 295-76 this year.
The Seahawks have had an impressive season as well. Southside has transitioned from former coach David Hines’ spread attack to current coach DeWayne Kellum’s wing-T offense fairly smoothly.
While the offense has looked good, it has been the defense that has really shined this year. The Seahawks have pitched two shutouts on the year and had not allowed a team to score over 20 points until its 42-22 loss to Manteo on Monday.
Southside has been bit by the injury bug a bit this year on both sides of the ball, with the most notably injury coming to star QB Terrell Moore who hurt his ankle on the final play of the Anchor Bowl in Week 3. Moore has not played since then, but is expected to return at some point this season.
Camden (2-4, 1-1) at Northside (2-4, 0-2)
Inconsistency has been the theme for Northside as the team has shown signs of having a potent offense by scoring 40 points twice this season. On the other hand, the Panthers have also been shutout twice and had an eight-point outing once. How they fair against Camden tonight will largely depend on which team shows up.
While the offense has been up and down, the defense has consistently been a concern. After topping Creswell 30-20 in the season opener, Northside has allowed opponents to score over 30 points in every game, which includes three 40-point or higher affairs.
On Monday, Northside lost a shootout with Perquimans 54-40 and tonight it will host and Camden team that stunned Riverside 18-7 earlier this week.
The Bruins have also had their fare share of struggles on the defensive end as well as they have let up over 30 points in every game but two this year. One being last week’s win over the Knights, and the other time was a 29-19 loss to Southside.
No. 10 Riverside (5-1, 1-1) at Perquimans (4-2, 2-0)
Riverside has been cruising along this season as it has scored wins over 2-A programs as well as 1-A teams, but on Monday night it hit a pothole as it fell 18-7 to Camden.
The Knights’ 7-point output is by far the lowest of the season as the team has averaged over 30 points per game this year.
Coach Asim McGill and his crew will look to get his team back on track tonight and keep pace with the upper tier teams in the conference when it travels to Perquimans. With Plymouth maintaining its perfect record, the Knights must try and keep pace with the Vikings until their showdown next week, or hope Southside can put a dent in their record tonight.
Riverside is still likely to be without star wide receiver K.J. Brown who hurt his knee in Week 6. McGill, who is one of the top offensive minds in the conference, has a good amount of weapons on his team and will likely find ways to allow them to pick up the slack in Brown’s absence.
Perquimans has been a bit inconsistent this season but if it plays well can be a tough matchup for Riverside. The Pirates scored 74 points in its first two games of the year, but then failed to reach the 20-point mark in its next three games, which included a 12-8 win over South Creek.
However, Perquimans lit up the scoreboard in its last outing with a 54-40 win over Northside.
Manteo (4-2, 1-1) at South Creek (0-6, 0-2)
The schedule does not get any easier for first-year coach Jeremy Jones and his South Creek crew. One week after getting run over by No. 4 Plymouth 47-0, the Cougars must now face reigning Four Rivers Conference champions Manteo, which is coming off of a quality win over Southside.
Adjusting to Jones’ triple-option offense has been tough for South Creek, which has run the wing-T for several years when the school was known as the Roanoke Redskins and coached by Brian Paschal.
The Cougars scored six points in their season opener, then were shutout the next two games. After some adjustments to the practice schedule, South Creek gave Northside a run for its money losing 40-33. However, the offense only posted 8 points the next week against Perquimans and then was blanked by Plymouth.
For the Cougars, it is just a matter of when it will all click. For Jones and his staff, the hope is that it will be tonight when they take on the Redskins.