* Time: 7:30 p.m.
* Records: NW Cabarrus 4-5, 2-5 NPC; East Rowan 1-8, 0-7 NPC
* Series: Northwest leads 16-13
* Last meeting: Northwest won a 37-29 shootout in 2007
* Last week: Northwest beat Carson 21-7 on Friday; East lost to North Iredell 21-7 on Friday.
* Next week: NW Cabarrus is home against Lake Norman; East Rowan is at Statesville
* Home and road splits: Northwest is 2-3 on the road with wins at Robinson and North Iredell; A year after being excellent at home, East is 0-4 in Granite Quarry
* Game notes: Northwest looked pretty good against Carson last week, going back to running the football and getting a monster game from speedster Calvin Nelson.
Quarterback Jonathon Wallace didn’t throw much, but he tossed a touchdown on a screen to Graham Wright and made some good reads on the option.
East has a chance for an upset tonight, but it has to play a lot better than it has in recent, mistake-plagued weeks. East hasn’t won since it beat winless North Rowan on Sept. 5, but coaches such as former Catawba standout James House are still working on a turnaround.
Northwest, which has an outstanding player in Wright and an Elon commitment in huge tight end Gavin Billings, has outscored opponents 172-163 and is very good at pressuring quarterbacks because its corners can match up man-to-man.
East has been outscored this season 280-84 and 239-63 in NPC games. Over the last five weeks, East has managed 21 points.
The schools were part of a five-way tie for second when they met in their 10th game last season, but the fortunes have downturned at both schools, mostly because of injuries and disciplinary issues.