Mountain Valley 2A/1A:
Ah yes the glorious “ awful Wilkes conference,” as some of the mountain folks call it. You folks from there do realise it’s a 5 county conference right? Hell it’s a storied conference; it’s the 20th anniversary of the debut season this fall! I was all of 4 years old.. good times.
This conference has been fortunate as a billionaire’s son since 2013 to avoid re-alignment changes. Will that change in 2020? Who knows. It’s a story for another time. But as for now it looks like a interesting conference these next few seasons with a ton of stories involved.It could be possible everything will change by 2020. That’s an added feature of split conferences that make them unique.Anyways I’m just rambling.
This is my best educated guess of how it will go..
1.Wilkes Central(Hands down the most athletic team in the conference with potentially the most athletic RB in the area in Boles the Eagles have reason to be psyched. Defense has gotta keep improving and they gotta do something in their non con schedule to convince me but athleticism alone was enough to put em on top. For now anyways..)
2.East Wilkes (The dominating program the last couple of seasons in both levels will be still as solid this year. In the end it ended up being a tough pick for the top spot. East doesn’t have the horses to win a track race and if it comes down to that it won’t be good. However if East’s younger players transition well and they make it out of non con decently well they can make some noise even if they do get #2. I seen them at a 7 on 7 and they weren’t bad passing it but the run’s still #1. QB can chunk it and WR #1 has good hands. Defense has gotta be as stout as they have been.)
3. North Wilkes (This is a tough team to peg. They have the best ground and pound back in the whole conference and a big o line but their defense is suspect and the QB’s still relatively young. Injuries have got to be avoided and the QB has to stay away from the sophomore jinx or else they will fall down a notch or two. Their non conference slate doesn’t have West Caldwell on it so that’s a + for them.)
4. West Wilkes (They lost a ton of quality kids but the cupboard isn’t totally bare but it’s enough to knock them back some pegs. Their non-conference schedule is one of the easiest in the area so that’ll boost them early. But after that they will be dropped into Satan’s Alley with the first two weeks of conference play. We will see how they are after that. They could either surprise or bomb to 6th even. I say that the latter’s chance of happening is very low.)
5. Ashe County (It’s gonna be a transition year for the Huskies as they lost several long term seniors. However we 7 on 7’ed them last month and I was decently surprised with them more than I expected. QB has good poise and will be a project for them like the last 2 have been and they played very hard combined with being well coached on offense. Defense has got to improve though and the new kids got to transition properly. After they finish their murder’s row non conference schedule they will be battle tested and if they avoid injuries in mass it could help more against the lower schools and those who have had it easy. That’s why I mentioned West could dip perhaps. It’ll depend on a lot of different things though.They will be back in the thick of things here in a couple of years once the freshman class gets older. From the few players I seen off that class they looked decent.)
6. Starmount (I seen their lineman at the lineman challenge the other night and I was very surprised by them. They competed very hard, they were very stout, and had a lot of heart despite very low #’s. They only had 22 players listed on Max Preps as of now that could be a serious detriment in a worst case scenrio. They placed well too by the end. I expect that to be Starmount’s mantra this year. They gotta continue to improve and make the most of what they got but with the coaches they have they can suprise people if the cards of fate hand out well . Starmount’s just Starmount you can’t count them out.)
7/8: Alleghany/Elkin (This is truely the hardest places to peg in this conference. Both teams have a ton ? marks and have struggled recently. The question for me is who will make the most of it? Hence why I have a split here.
Alleghany quite simply is the biggest mystery in the conference due to the coaching change. The new coach is a mystery and one we know little about so time will tell if it will work out there. They guy has the experience to make into a HC but will he be the guy they need? The Trojans are in a unique position and they gotta make the most of it.
As for Elkin there’s nowhere to go but up for them. They have some athletic kids but numbers are very low. That’s just a fact of life for the Elks. Their lineman competed decently well at the challenge the other night and look stronger but can it transition to physical play well? I can’t say yet.
But on the bright side I do see the Elks getting a win this year; from the way their roster looked last year they have a ton of seniors and it might help them play harder in crunch time. Who will it be? I say more than likely it will come in conference play. The Elks always play Starmount hard but they have an understated rivalry with Alleghany dating back decades. Both present solid chances. Anything else will be a surprise.)
