nTime: 7:30 p.m.
nBracket: 3A East
nSeeds: No. 9 Carson Cougars vs. No. 8 Ledford Panthers
nRecords: Carson 6-5; Ledford 6-5nSeries: First meeting
nMassey ratings: (No. 139) Carson vs. (No. 183) Ledford
nHead coaches: Ledford: Chuck Henderson; Carson: Mark Woody (9-35, 4th year)
n Ledford offense: 18.7 ppg
n Ledford defense: 20.8 ppg
n Carson offense: 27.2 ppg
n Carson defense: 24.2 ppg
n Ledford vs. winning teams: 0-3n Carson vs. winning teams: 0-5
n Carson on the road: 2-4
n Ledford at home: 4-1
n Who beat Ledford? Northeast Guilford (8-3), North Davidson (7-4), Trinity (6-5), North Forsyth (5-6), SW Guilford (4-7)
nNext week: Winner takes on the Currituck-Cardinal Gibbons winner. Cardinal Gibbons is the No. 1 seed.
nGame notes: Ledford moved up to 3A this season after years in the 2A Central Carolina. The Panthers tied for second in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, but they took a 53-0 pounding from champ Northeast Guilford to close the regular season.
Located outside of Thomasville, Ledford has produced more than its share of athletes, including NFL fullbacks Madison Hedgecock and Brad Hoover and Catawba baseball star David Thomas.
The Cougars will make history no matter what. This is their first playoff outing. The list of teams that beat Ledford isn’t scary, so the Cougars could debut with a road win. The power-ratings analysts favor Carson even though the Cougars didn’t beat anyone that owns a winning record.
QB Zack Gragg (1,175 passing yards), tailback Shaun Warren (1,807 rushing yards) and receiver Cody Clanton (924 receiving yards) lead Carson. ó Mike London