4A First Round

notanyonesfan1

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Nov 15, 2014
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I see possibly two upsets in the Western side. (18) Newton-Conover over (15) Maiden. And (21) Bandys over (12) Wilkes Central.

And before my Maiden friends kill me, yes I know you guys just beat NC by 20 last night. But sometimes those 2nd games in the same year are dangerous. (I do hope Im wrong though)

As for Bandys they've played some really good teams and Wilkes Central schedule has been fairly weak.
 

Maiden Creek

All-American
Oct 4, 2019
4,556
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I see possibly two upsets in the Western side. (18) Newton-Conover over (15) Maiden. And (21) Bandys over (12) Wilkes Central.

And before my Maiden friends kill me, yes I know you guys just beat NC by 20 last night. But sometimes those 2nd games in the same year are dangerous. (I do hope Im wrong though)

As for Bandys they've played some really good teams and Wilkes Central schedule has been fairly weak.
Nope!…Maiden just called…. said sump’em about bulldog stew and for me to bring the taters. 😂
 

GrizzlyDevil

All-American
Nov 22, 2011
4,309
8,322
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I see possibly two upsets in the Western side. (18) Newton-Conover over (15) Maiden. And (21) Bandys over (12) Wilkes Central.

And before my Maiden friends kill me, yes I know you guys just beat NC by 20 last night. But sometimes those 2nd games in the same year are dangerous. (I do hope Im wrong though)

As for Bandys they've played some really good teams and Wilkes Central schedule has been fairly weak.
I know my senior year we played Newton twice and beat them twice...and my Sophomore year we played Hendersonville twice and loss twice.

Sometimes the other team is just better.
 

mgore87

Junior
Dec 2, 2025
177
323
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I know my senior year we played Newton twice and beat them twice...and my Sophomore year we played Hendersonville twice and loss twice.

Sometimes the other team is just better.
But I also remember some years back Maiden beat Fred T. Foard in their season opener, and the played them in a 2AA high school football playoffs and beat Maiden on their own field I believe 16-0, so it's about if Newton-Conover adjust and execute.
 
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GrizzlyDevil

All-American
Nov 22, 2011
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But I also remember some years back Maiden beat Fred T. Foard in their season opener, and the played them in a 2AA high school football playoffs and beat Maiden on their own field I believe 16-0, so it's about if Newton-Conover adjust and execute.
I get it. We lost to Newton last year and beat them in the playoffs. Same thing happened with Lincolnton as well a few years back.
 
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amaidendevil

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Aug 12, 2022
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But I also remember some years back Maiden beat Fred T. Foard in their season opener, and the played them in a 2AA high school football playoffs and beat Maiden on their own field I believe 16-0, so it's about if Newton-Conover adjust and execute.
Half the team was out that game with injuries also 😂
 
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GrizzlyDevil

All-American
Nov 22, 2011
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I know I posted this on our conference thread...thought I'd add it here too.

You all got me thinking hard now on playing teams twice in one year and how hard it is to beat a team twice. While true, the opposite side of the same coin also hits...I decided to look at Maiden's history and how many times we've faced someone twice in one year (regular season/playoffs):

Lincolnton:
1993 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 4th round game
2006 - Maiden won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game
2009 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game
2011 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 3rd round game
2024 - Split; Lincolnton won the conference game and Maiden won the 1st round game

Bessemer City:
1994 - BC won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game

Starmount:
1996 - Starmount won both the non-conference game and the 2nd round game

Hendersonville:
2003 - Hendersonville won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2004 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Newton:
2005 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2006 - Split; Maiden won the conference game and Newton won the 2nd round game
2007 - Newton won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2025 - Split; Newton won the conference game and Maiden won the 3rd round game

East Lincoln:
2013 - East Lincoln won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Fred T Foard:
2017 - Split; Maiden won non-conference game and Foard won the 1st round game

West Lincoln:
2021 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Bunker Hill:
2022 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 3rd round game

In total, and I know this is contained to only Maiden's history, there has only been 4 times the teams have split during a season out of 17 instances. 76% of the time, the team who won in the regular season also won in the playoffs.

That being said, this is Maiden vs Newton, anything goes. Good luck to all...it's playoff season!
 

GrizzlyDevil

All-American
Nov 22, 2011
4,309
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Went through the strength of schedule ratings for all 4A teams across MP, Massey, and Simmons. Here are the top 16 teams when it comes to their strength of schedule:

SOS RankTEAMMaxPrepsMasseySimmonsAVG
1Bandys ⚔️ 2211.7
1Maiden 🔱1131.7
3Fred T Foard 🐯3423.0
4Newton-Conover 👹6555.3
5Salisbury5665.7
6Cummings41648.0
7West Stanly8998.7
8Burns73179.0
9Mount Pleasant1112710.0
9Brevard9101110.0
11Ledford1013810.3
12Bunker Hill 🐻1281311.0
13West Iredell 🏹1571211.3
14Pisgah16151515.3
15Washington13201415.7
16Reidsville25111617.3
 

Stormsurge1

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2025
1,288
1,822
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Went through the strength of schedule ratings for all 4A teams across MP, Massey, and Simmons. Here are the top 16 teams when it comes to their strength of schedule:

SOS RankTEAMMaxPrepsMasseySimmonsAVG
1Bandys ⚔️2211.7
1Maiden 🔱1131.7
3Fred T Foard 🐯3423.0
4Newton-Conover 👹6555.3
5Salisbury5665.7
6Cummings41648.0
7West Stanly8998.7
8Burns73179.0
9Mount Pleasant1112710.0
9Brevard9101110.0
11Ledford1013810.3
12Bunker Hill 🐻1281311.0
13West Iredell 🏹1571211.3
14Pisgah16151515.3
15Washington13201415.7
16Reidsville25111617.3
I will say this is where your conference gets the skewed part of strength of schedule, because you don’t have any downright terrible teams like a HT and BC in it. However I understand what the #’s say but in my mind Burns has played the toughest schedule in 4A. Out of conference with Crest and KM and in conference with Lincolnton, Shelby, and Cramer. I find it hard to believe that any team in 4A have played 5 better teams than those. Again there are some absolute cake walks in our conference but in my opinion Burns has played the best opponents.

Please don’t take that as a slight against your conference because it is absolutely not. You guys are as tough from top to bottom as any conference there is. I just think Burns non conference games gives them the advantage.
 

GrizzlyDevil

All-American
Nov 22, 2011
4,309
8,322
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I will say this is where your conference gets the skewed part of strength of schedule, because you don’t have any downright terrible teams like a HT and BC in it. However I understand what the #’s say but in my mind Burns has played the toughest schedule in 4A. Out of conference with Crest and KM and in conference with Lincolnton, Shelby, and Cramer. I find it hard to believe that any team in 4A have played 5 better teams than those. Again there are some absolute cake walks in our conference but in my opinion Burns has played the best opponents.

Please don’t take that as a slight against your conference because it is absolutely not. You guys are as tough from top to bottom as any conference there is. I just think Burns non conference games gives them the advantage.
No slight taken at all. Numbers don't lie, but they can be deceiving.
 

Lincolnton

All-Conference
Jul 8, 2025
955
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mgore87 said:
But I also remember some years back Maiden beat Fred T. Foard in their season opener, and the played them in a 2AA high school football playoffs and beat Maiden on their own field I believe 16-0, so it's about if Newton-Conover adjust and execute.
amaidendevil said:

Half the team was out that game with injuries also 😂
——————————————————-
Half the team out, and you didn’t mention the official hated Maiden…I for one am satisfied with that answer. Case closed, I’d think.
 

Otis1144

All-American
Jan 30, 2003
43,155
6,242
113
No slight taken at all. Numbers don't lie, but they can be deceiving.
Washington has played better the last half of the regular season. We are really glad we don’t face them again. But their ranking is due to playing a good schedule that includes Northside Pinetown (10-0) West Craven and SWE in Conference. Eastern Wayne probably helped but they only have 5 wins. 2-4 in conference.
 
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Otis1144

All-American
Jan 30, 2003
43,155
6,242
113
I’d love for us to get home and homes with Northside Pinetown. They have a great program and win or lose against them they are going to help you. We have dropped Farmville Central and got Croatan on our schedule for next year. Hopefully they continue to do good. It’s important to play good teams to help your RPI. We are saddled with Havelock and New Bern. If they didn’t win a game Craven County Schools will force us to play them for the gate money. All 3 are in different classifications which means there can only be 1 undefeated team from Craven County in any given year. If the county would let s hoops do their scheduling then you would have the possibility of 3 undefeated teams sometimes. But they don’t care about that. That little bit of gate money so they can increase their already inflated salaries.
 

notanyonesfan1

All-Conference
Nov 15, 2014
729
1,179
93
I will say this is where your conference gets the skewed part of strength of schedule, because you don’t have any downright terrible teams like a HT and BC in it. However I understand what the #’s say but in my mind Burns has played the toughest schedule in 4A. Out of conference with Crest and KM and in conference with Lincolnton, Shelby, and Cramer. I find it hard to believe that any team in 4A have played 5 better teams than those. Again there are some absolute cake walks in our conference but in my opinion Burns has played the best opponents.

Please don’t take that as a slight against your conference because it is absolutely not. You guys are as tough from top to bottom as any conference there is. I just think Burns non conference games gives them the advantage.
And conversely I would say Shelby has played the toughest 3A schedule as well considering they've played the exact same schedule as Burns
 

Goldendomer10

All-Conference
Oct 4, 2022
945
1,690
66
Well I mean we lost 3 games..

doctor restaurant GIF by South Park
Your honor: Strike that from the record. At no point on these boards, should logic get in the way of a good conspiracy theory.
 

Ram1982

Sophomore
Aug 26, 2025
125
153
43
Let's stir the pot a little bit 😂. Anyone else noticed now that Que tucker is gone Reidsville no longer magically has top RPI #1 seed 😂 😂
Yeah Que did retire, but the people who really mattered and are also gone are Dionte Neal & Kendre Harrison. Unfortunately those 2 absences cannot be filled. Henceforth, no Number One Seed this year, too many losses.
 

rams10

All-American
Dec 2, 2011
6,268
5,153
113
Yeah Que did retire, but the people who really mattered and are also gone are Dionte Neal & Kendre Harrison. Unfortunately those 2 absences cannot be filled. Henceforth, no Number One Seed this year, too many losses.

Although, we shoulda won 2 of those games
 

Pisgah Bear

All-Conference
Jul 31, 2015
2,262
1,463
113
I know I posted this on our conference thread...thought I'd add it here too.

You all got me thinking hard now on playing teams twice in one year and how hard it is to beat a team twice. While true, the opposite side of the same coin also hits...I decided to look at Maiden's history and how many times we've faced someone twice in one year (regular season/playoffs):

Lincolnton:
1993 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 4th round game
2006 - Maiden won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game
2009 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game
2011 - Lincolnton won both the non-conference game and the 3rd round game
2024 - Split; Lincolnton won the conference game and Maiden won the 1st round game

Bessemer City:
1994 - BC won both the non-conference game and the 1st round game

Starmount:
1996 - Starmount won both the non-conference game and the 2nd round game

Hendersonville:
2003 - Hendersonville won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2004 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Newton:
2005 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2006 - Split; Maiden won the conference game and Newton won the 2nd round game
2007 - Newton won both the conference game and the 2nd round game
2025 - Split; Newton won the conference game and Maiden won the 3rd round game

East Lincoln:
2013 - East Lincoln won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Fred T Foard:
2017 - Split; Maiden won non-conference game and Foard won the 1st round game

West Lincoln:
2021 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 2nd round game

Bunker Hill:
2022 - Maiden won both the conference game and the 3rd round game

In total, and I know this is contained to only Maiden's history, there has only been 4 times the teams have split during a season out of 17 instances. 76% of the time, the team who won in the regular season also won in the playoffs.

That being said, this is Maiden vs Newton, anything goes. Good luck to all...it's playoff season!
In the 70's Pisgah played Tuscola twice in 73 and 74 .Both times they split the games.
 
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Hoeyman

Redshirt
Oct 10, 2026
30
42
0
Let's stir the pot a little bit 😂. Anyone else noticed now that Que tucker is gone Reidsville no longer magically has top RPI #1 seed 😂 😂
I wonder if 2ndtonone would like to join in on this discussion? Stir, Stir. Stir....a little faster, come on lets stir!!!!!!!
 

mgore87

Junior
Dec 2, 2025
177
323
63
amaidendevil said:

Half the team was out that game with injuries also 😂
——————————————————-
Half the team out, and you didn’t mention the official hated Maiden…I for one am satisfied with that answer. Case closed, I’d think.
Why did the officials hate The Biggest Little Football Team in the World????? :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
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amaidendevil

All-American
Aug 12, 2022
5,478
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Oh really?? In the first round of the playoffs?? That is the year y'all had Keygan Mayfield right??
Yes Keegan can't remember exactly who all was hurt but I remember talking about it before the game saying if we could get through this first round game we will get three of our starters back or something like that. It was 8 years ago so can't fully remember. I feel like Keegan was playing with that ankle sprain and we are missing our best defensive player Morgan I believe. And maybe one or two other starters were out.
 

BurnsBulldog02

All-Conference
Aug 21, 2016
1,366
2,632
97
I will say this is where your conference gets the skewed part of strength of schedule, because you don’t have any downright terrible teams like a HT and BC in it. However I understand what the #’s say but in my mind Burns has played the toughest schedule in 4A. Out of conference with Crest and KM and in conference with Lincolnton, Shelby, and Cramer. I find it hard to believe that any team in 4A have played 5 better teams than those. Again there are some absolute cake walks in our conference but in my opinion Burns has played the best opponents.

Please don’t take that as a slight against your conference because it is absolutely not. You guys are as tough from top to bottom as any conference there is. I just think Burns non conference games gives them the advantage.
It means nothing come playoff time because anything can happen (last Friday) but Burns is without a doubt battle tested. We can harp on the 21 point comeback and it took a lot of bad things to happen quick to fuel that but show me a team that has gotten the best of Shelby for 3 quarters and jumped on them that quick. Most people will only see the comeback and rightfully so, but what does it say about that Burns offense that can only "run the ball" to get up on Shelby like that on the ground and through the air. That loss may have been the best thing to happen. It is easy to forget weeks 1 and 2 but they will not forget last Friday and know how quick things can change. The defense in those 3 quarters was also a sight to see. Less than 100 on the ground including the 4th quarter say's a lot.
 
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Stormsurge1

All-Conference
Oct 21, 2025
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It means nothing come playoff time because anything can happen (last Friday) but Burns is without a doubt battle tested. We can harp on the 21 point comeback and it took a lot of bad things to happen quick to fuel that but show me a team that has gotten the best of Shelby for 3 quarters and jumped on them that quick. Most people will only see the comeback and rightfully so, but what does it say about that Burns offense that can only "run the ball" to get up on Shelby like that on the ground and through the air. That loss may have been the best thing to happen. It is easy to forget weeks 1 and 2 but they will not forget last Friday and know how quick things can change. The defense in those 3 quarters was also a sight to see. Less than 100 on the ground including the 4th quarter say's a lot.
You are correct. Entirely new season beginning this Friday. Hopefully learned from the tough losses and playing your best football this time of the season. Going to be fun.
 

notanyonesfan1

All-Conference
Nov 15, 2014
729
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It means nothing come playoff time because anything can happen (last Friday) but Burns is without a doubt battle tested. We can harp on the 21 point comeback and it took a lot of bad things to happen quick to fuel that but show me a team that has gotten the best of Shelby for 3 quarters and jumped on them that quick. Most people will only see the comeback and rightfully so, but what does it say about that Burns offense that can only "run the ball" to get up on Shelby like that on the ground and through the air. That loss may have been the best thing to happen. It is easy to forget weeks 1 and 2 but they will not forget last Friday and know how quick things can change. The defense in those 3 quarters was also a sight to see. Less than 100 on the ground including the 4th quarter say's a lot.
I really hope they take that Shelby game and it motivates them. Wish we didn't have to sit for 2 weeks with that loss though.
 
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