As the regular season of high school football winds down, many fortunate programs are looking ahead to the state playoffs. But unfortunately in Robeson County, just St. Pauls is currently in position to earn a postseason spot, with no other program ranked higher than 39th in RPI for their respective classifications and just 32 spots available in each playoff regional.
So, with games past Nov. 1 appearing to be out of the question for four of the county’s five programs — albeit as St. Pauls looks to win a conference championship and play much deeper into the fall — the attention there turns to putting together a strong finish to the season.
All four have winnable games in one or both remaining weeks as they complete their regular-season slate, providing ample opportunity to give themselves some momentum to end this season and begin preparing for the next.
And while the games may not have the playoff implications that others might, that doesn’t mean that the players and coaches involved don’t still want to win; they might want it even more after a long season.
Here is a guess at who will accomplish those victories in Friday’s Week 10 matchups:
Last week: 3-1
Season: 27-4
Douglas Byrd at Purnell Swett
After playing the top five teams in the United-8 Conference in succession, Purnell Swett(2-6, 0-5 United-8 Conference) hopes to finish strong against Douglas Byrd (2-6, 1-4 United-8) and Lumberton — with one combined conference win from when they played each other — as the last two games on the schedule. Coach Josh Deese feels his Rams are ready to play better football now that they’re out of that gauntlet, through which they lost all five games and scored two touchdowns.
The question for Purnell Swett will be the offense and whether they can score enough points to give themselves a chance to win. The good news is that Douglas Byrd has struggled defensively outside of the Lumberton win. Offensively, while Deese says the Eagles like to “fly around,” they’ve scored more than 20 points only once, way back on Aug. 23.
Series history suggests a close, low-scoring game here. And while Douglas Byrd carries momentum off its Lumberton win, I expect the Rams to feel comfortable playing at home and breath a sigh of relief in a game they won’t have to be perfect in to have a chance, and the result will be their first conference win.
Purnell Swett 20, Douglas Byrd 14
Seventy-First at Lumberton
Seventy-First (8-0, 5-0 United-8) enters this game having won 38 consecutive regular-season games, most of which haven’t been close. While the Pirates (3-5, 0-5 United-8) have improved this season under first-year head coach Taurius Baker, in that same span of time dating back to the start of the fall 2021 season the program has won just six of its 37 games.
A loss last week to Douglas Byrd, which had not only lost six straight but hadn’t been in a close game since August, certainly doesn’t inspire confidence as the Pirates now face the Falcons, who are No. 1 in the state’s RPI rankings for the 3A East Region.
Lumberton’s tough games through the first three weeks of United-8 play, when they were outscored 100-6, are a foreshadowing of Friday’s matchup against the buzz saw that is Seventy-First, I’m afraid.
Seventy-First 49, Lumberton 7
St. Pauls at Clinton
While the St. Pauls-Clinton game doesn’t have as much meaning for Clinton (1-7, 1-2 Southeastern) as it has in the previous three seasons of Southeastern Athletic Conference play — when the game was a de facto conference championship each year — it is still plenty meaningful for the Bulldogs (6-2, 3-0 Southeastern), who seek to enter the regular-season finale against Midway with a perfect conference record, which would make that game this year’s “trophy game” in the league.
St. Pauls coach Mike Setzer also pointed out to me after last week’s win over Fairmont that he’s never won at Dark Horse Stadium as a head coach. The good news for the Bulldogs is that this isn’t the same powerhouse Clinton team that Setzer has often faced there, but instead a 1-7 squad after fielding essentially a whole new team this fall from last year’s 2A state runners-up.
Clinton has allowed 36 points or more in every game but one this season; while the Dark Horses offenses has been better of late, the St. Pauls defense is on a heater with three shutouts its last five games. St. Pauls is markedly better in all phases, and won’t have any problem here.
St. Pauls 42, Clinton 7
Red Springs at Midway
Midway (7-1, 3-0 Southeastern) has put together a very solid season, winning six straight games as it hosts Red Springs (2-6, 2-1 Southeastern) on Friday. As mentioned in the St. Pauls pick, if Midway and St. Pauls both win Friday, they’ll face off next week for the Southeastern title; Red Springs, meanwhile, still has a shot at a shared title if they win out and Midway beats St. Pauls.
After winning some close games through nonconference play, Midway has been dominant against Southeastern competition, outscoring the opposition 139-46. An explosive offense that came to be a Midway staple under previous coach Kyle Stevens has continued under first-year head man Barrett Sloan.
Red Springs is capable of putting together some big plays in this game, as they often do regardless of the opponent. But ultimately, Midway is the better team and that will show over 48 minutes.
Midway 34, Red Springs 20
West Bladen at Fairmont
This season has unquestionably been tough for Fairmont (0-8, 0-3 Southeastern), with nine straight losses (including the finale last year). When West Bladen (1-6, 0-3 Southeastern) visits Friday, the Golden Tornadoes can end that streak against the last team they beat, or the streak will essentially hit a full season as it reaches double digits.
The good news is that West Bladen has struggled nearly as much this season, with only a nonconference win over East Columbus to show for their efforts. Despite its record, Fairmont has moved the ball more effectively than the Knights, with 1,160 total yards this season against 723 for West Bladen. Both defenses have struggled, and it’s hard to see any advantage there.
Even with a prolonged struggle over the last few years, Fairmont has been able to beat West Bladen each year with only one exception, winning nine of the last 10 meetings. The Golden Tornadoes will continue that trend Friday to pick up their first win of the season.
Fairmont 24, West Bladen 18
Sports editor Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on X at @StilesOnSports.