Who Will Stop Garner and Bulldogs?

PHOTO BY LIZ CONDO - THE NEWS & OBSERVER

It certainly feels like we are rounding that final corner and with just three games and in some cases two games remaining for most of the area teams, conference automatic bids are at stake and reaching the four win playoff qualification plateau is in the forefront for a number of teams.  Every Friday night during the fall is a great one to get out and watch a football game, but with the weather appearing to move even more into those 40's and 50's and with teams angling for a top three conference finish - tonight is guaranteed to be a great night for Football Friday.

In the following capsules (this post and others to follow and already submitted), we'll briefly hit on the 4A conferences around the area and talk playoff implications for this evening's games.

Greater Neuse River

Similar to the CAP-8 where Leesville Road and Wake Forest-Rolesville are both at 4-0 and appear to be steamrolling to a show-down to end the year, the Garner Trojans and Southeast Raleigh Bulldogs are also at 4-0 and will come face-to-face next Friday night in a match-up that should decide conference supremacy in the Greater Neuse River conference.  Four of their conference colleagues sit at 2-2 in conference and are battling for the third place slot, but if upsets occur, then it's possible for one of those four to scratch their way  just a bit higher.

Garner will face one of the 2-2 contingent this evening in Knightdale, a team that has shown glimpses of moving in the right direction throughout this year and should be an interesting match-up for the Trojans. Although the Knights are in position to solidify a third place finish, what is just as important is getting to four or five wins on the season.  The Knights are sitting at 3-4 overall and 3-3 reportable so they'll need at least one more win in their final three (Garner, Harnett Central, Clayton) to get to a qualifying at-large berth win total.  For the Knights, even with a loss tonight, they play HC and Clayton, two of the other teams also sitting at 2-2 in conference play - definitely a good place to be in their quest to reach an auto bid.