Carolina Gridiron Game of the Week for Week 10

It’s week 10 of the North Carolina high school football season. The weather's turning cold and the conference action is heating up. Teams are fighting for the top three spots in their conference to guarantee playoff berths. With only two weeks left in the regular season it's now or never for some football teams. There are sure to be some great games this week. Be sure to go out and support your local team this Friday night

Carolina Gridiron Game of the Week

Some conference races are coming down to the wire. This week's game features two teams looking to fight for the top spot in their conference. Both teams have won state titles in the last five years so it should be a battle. This week matchup features the Salisbury Hornets traveling to Thomasville to take on the Bulldogs in Central Carolina 2A conference action.

Salisbury, the defending 2AA champion and #12 in the Carolina Gridiron 2A FAIR Rankings, is led by Coach Joe Pinyan. The Hornets are 8-1 on the season with their only loss coming to county rival and defending 3A state champion West Rowan.

On offense, the Hornets stay on the ground and try to run their option offense to keep defenders guessing where the ball is going to go. Quarterback Brian Bauk leads the Salisbury offense and Coach Pinyan feels he “may actually be the quickest player in our backfield…he is a fierce competitor that constantly puts the ball in the correct places in our option offense.” The offensive MVP of last year’s state title game, Dominique Dismuke is having another great season as well at running back and is joined in the backfield by Justin Ruffin and Max Allen. But, teams have not been able to stop this Salisbury running attack as the Hornets are averaging over 45 points a game this season.

On defense, the Hornets are led by Kavari Hillie, last year’s state championship defensive MVP. Along with Travis Byrd and Keion Adams joining him in the linebacker corps and William Brown and Dequan Robertson in the defensive secondary, the Hornets are only giving up 11 points per game this year.

Coach Pinyan had the following to say about his team: “I feel like we are a little better on the offensive side of the ball than we might have expected to be and our defense has been pretty solid. But in reality, nobody really cares what you have accomplished to this point. The goal is to get better each week. We don't want to look at what we have done, but rather at what can be done. Our kids believe that you describe your season every time you put on the helmet --- put the ball down, let's play.”

The Thomasville Bulldogs are led by Coach Allen Brown. Thomasville, winners of four 1AA state titles in the last seven years are now playing in 2A due to higher enrollment. Although facing off against a tough non-conference schedule earlier in the season has left Thomasville with a 4-5 record, the Bulldogs have turned it up in conference action averaging 34 points a game on offense while only giving up 11.

Salisbury Coach Joe Pinyan had the following to say about Thomasville and this week’s game: “regardless of their record, Thomasville is a team that draws your utmost attention and requires extensive mental and physical preparation. They are well coached, athletic, and possess a quality tradition that brings out the best in everyone in the program. It's a battle for the Conference Championship which seems to find its way run through these two programs. Expect Thomasville to be physical with tremendous quickness and hopefully, we can eliminate some of our mistakes from last week and compete. Both teams pride themselves on great defense with solid kicking games. This game has all the ingredients of what a great high school football game should have to be entertaining to a great crowd.”

It looks to be a good game Friday night at Thomasville’s Cushwa Stadium.  Follow the game on our live scoreboard or on Twitter, @NCGridiron or @NCGridironNews