Six Randolph football teams alive in playoffs

ASHEBORO — There were plenty of Asheboro High School football fans who let out a “you got to be kidding me” when finding out who the opponent was for the Asheboro Blue Comets in the second round of the state 6-A playoffs Friday night.

For it was just last year, after the Blue Comets ended a long playoff drought, when the reward for AHS was Dudley High School, which enjoyed one of the most successful regular seasons of any team in the state of North Carolina. The Panthers were unbeaten at 10-0, had recorded seven shutouts and had allowed just 15 points all season. 

The result was expected, although a fiery Blue Comets squad gave it all they had in a 55-0 loss.

Those memories are hard to ignore, but the team Asheboro will be playing Friday night is not the same as last year and this year’s Blue Comets team is certainly not the same as the one that went into Dudley a year ago.

Yet, these two programs will match up once again as the 6th-seeded Blue Comets host the 11th-seeded Dudley Panthers in one of six second-round playoff games involving schools from Randolph County.

Elsewhere:

In 4-A tournament action, No. 5 Randleman (7-3) hosts No. 12 North Pitt (6-5) and No. 8 Southwestern Randolph (7-3) hosts No. 9 Eastern Wayne (7-3).

In 3-A West action, No. 3 Eastern Randolph (8-2) entertains No. 19 Union Academy (5-6), No. 5 Providence Grove (8-2) will be at home to meet Central Carolina Conference foe and No. 12 seed West Davidson (8-3), and No. 22 Wheatmore (3-8), which captured a thrilling 21-14 victory over West Wilkes in first-round action, will travel to No. 6 Walkertown. 

The Blue Comets are back in the playoffs and it will be the same opponent this year in the Panthers. However, it’s the Blue Comets who earned the first-round bye, is 7-3 on the season and far different than the one that traveled to Dudley High School last season.

Dudley advanced to the second round with a 35-14 win over Glenn last Friday night in opening-round playoff action.

“They are excited, real excited when they saw the brackets and saw the possibility of us playing Dudley,” said AHS coach Calvin Brown of his players. “Our guys want a chance for revenge. They are going to try and flip from what happened last year. 

“Dudley is still really good. Their defense was dominant last year, a special group. They are different this year, but still a really good football team with a great history.”

Asheboro is a different team as well.

“Our mindset is different,” Brown said. “The guys expect to win. We have scored on a lot of good defenses this year. We feel like offensively, we are so much different this year. Defensively, we’re faster and a year older.”

Randleman finished second in the Piedmont Athletic Conference, earning a first-round bye. It was the second straight week of non-action as the Tigers had a bye on the final week of the regular season as well.

North Pitt will head to Charles R. Gregory Stadium after a 44-7 win over Cummings in the first round, their fifth win in the past six games.

SWR finished second in the Four Rivers Conference behind ER, the highest finish in school history. The Cougars are hosting a playoff game for the second time in school history and it’s the first time SWR will be in the second round.

Eastern Wayne defeated Anson 21-14 and heads to SWR having won three of its last four games.

“They are extremely athletic and their quarterback may be the best individual talent we’ve faced all year,” SWR coach Seth Baxter said of Izeiah Oates, who has passed for more than 1,700 yards and rushed for 700. “He’s the head coach’s son, so he’s a student of the game. We will have our work cut out for us.”

Providence Grove has a familiar opponent with West Davidson, a team it defeated 23-22 on Oct. 3 in a win that springboarded the Patriots to their first-ever conference championship. West Davidson advanced with a 28-13 win over Maiden.

“It will be a good game,” PG head coach Cody Moran said. “Whoever is in front of us, we’re going to play. This late in the year, you already have an identity at this point. They have a good idea of what we do and we know what they are going to do.”

Eastern Randolph and a deep run in the playoffs are nothing new. The Wildcats advanced to the third round last year, the fourth round in 2023 and the third round in 2022.

Union Academy traveled to Owen in first-round action and picked up a 24-14 win.

“Union has a team that can be dangerous,” ER coach Burton Cates said. “They kept the ball away from Owen and sustained some drives. But it’s about us. That’s what we’ve been preaching all week. It’s about two years ago, three years ago, turning the ball over five times. We’ve gotten a lot better with turnovers and penalties. Turnovers, penalties and staying healthy are the keys for the playoffs.”

Wheatmore used a stout defense and some big plays to record their playoff win over West Wilkes, the first road playoff victory in school history and their first playoff win since 2018.

“We had a couple of guys play a really good game and all our kids played at a higher level,” head coach Jacob Sheffield said. “We minimized penalties, minimized turnovers and when you can do that, it stands out and shows we’re playing a different brand of football.”

Quarterback Connor Benton threw for 224 yards and a touchdown and Gavin McPherson rushed for 82 yards in the hard-hitting affair. Benton’s 16-yard score in the fourth quarter broke a 14-14 tie and lifted the Warriors to the second round. Bentley Mills caught five passes for 140 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown pass. Collin Dodd and Kenny Hoover led the defense.