There’s a county matchup on the docket tonight, but if people aren’t all that fired up about it, you can’t really blame them.
It’s a little bit of a challenge to get pumped up for this latest installment of the South Rowan-West Rowan series, unless you’ve got a family member playing. The chance that this game will develop into something exciting, like Carson-East did last week, is maybe 1 in 100.
Not only is West playing at home where it never loses, the Falcons have been beating South like the USA Basketball Dream Team beat Angola in the 1992 Olympics. West has won its last 12 encounters with the Raiders.
Here’s the scoreboard for the last nine: 39-14, 49-6, 56-0, 40-6, 56-7, 28-0, 66-7, 52-12 and 44-12.
That’s an average score of 48-7.
That 66-7 game in 2010, by the way, broke South’s record for points allowed. There hasn’t been a close game in the series since West won a 42-39 classic in 2003. South’s last win against the Falcons was another classic — 31-24 in two OTs in 2000.
After all that, you may be shocked at the news that South still leads the all-time series, although South fans may not be able to say that again after about 9:30 p.m. tonight.
South’s lead in the all-time series is down to a razor-thin 21-20-1.
South won the first meeting of the schools in 1961 and shut out the Falcons every single year from 1961-65.
West beat South in 1974, but then didn’t do it again until 1992. South actually led the series 17-3 at one point, a testament to how good South was for most of the 1970s and 1980s. Now West, after decades of chasing, is on the verge of catching up.
While South is 0-4, West coach Scott Young, who has watched plenty of South film this week, is convinced the Raiders are pretty good.
“Offensively, South is impressive,” Young said. “No, they haven’t won yet, but you’ve got to keep in mind who they’ve played.”
South really has played a hard schedule. The Raiders have lost to two unbeaten teams (Concord and South Iredell) and to two teams with one loss (A.L. Brown and Northwest Cabarrus).
Young believes that if South hadn’t given away a touchdown with a fumble on a kickoff, it would’ve gone right down to the wire with NWC, and he might be right.
South’s defense does appear to be improved from last season, but can it stop West?
Probably not.

The Common Sense picks were 6-1 last season, with a notable miss on Carson’s victory at East. The picks are 22-6 for the season.
South coach Jason Rollins is such an optimistic, hard-working guy that Common Sense hopes the Raiders can make things entertaining in Mount Ulla.
West will make it 13 in a row, though: West 35, South 14
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Concord at East Rowan is probably where you want to be if you’re not a fan of a particular school and just want to see a hard-hitting, emotional football game.
East has had this one circled on the calendar since that 21-20 overtime playoff loss at Concord last November.
Concord no doubt has had it circled on the calendar ever since this summer when they read that the Mustangs had it circled.
You don’t have to worry about maximum effort from the Mustangs in this one, but even East’s best might not be good enough: Concord 28, East 21
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Concord at Mount Pleasant is probably the toughest call of all tonight.
It’s easy to see Carson having a letdown in the non-conference sandwich game between East Rowan and West Rowan.
It’s also easy to respect what Mount Pleasant does defensively.
The Tigers are going to make it tough for Carson to run it, but the Carson defense, led by Myquon Stout and Tre Williams, should be able to stop the Tigers.
It should be really low-scoring, and every first down will be important.
Common Sense will give the Cougars the benefit of the doubt: Carson 17, Mt. Pleasant 14
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North Rowan, ranked No. 1 in 2A, plays at Forest Hills in Union County, and that can be a tough place to play.
I remember being there in 1995, covering my first football game for the Post from the A.L. Brown sideline, and watching Forest Hills whip the Wonders 35-14.
A freshman the Wonders had just brought up from the jayvees got pounded out of bounds by three Yellow Jackets on a kickoff return and landed a few feet away from me.
That freshman, Nick Maddox, was the bright spot, for the Wonders in an ugly loss, and he went on to a pretty fair career.
North’s Jareke Chambers has some similarities with Maddox. He’s special: North 35, Forest Hills 21
In the SPC:

Central Cabarrus 49, Hickory Ridge 21
Cox Mill 28, Northwest Cabarrus 21
In the Mecka:

A.L. Brown 34, North Meck 27
Mallard Creek 64, West Charlotte 7
Hough 58, Hopewell 21

Vance 42, Robinson 14
In the CPC:

Reagan 35, Davie 31
Mount Tabor 24, North Davidson 21
West Forsyth 49, W-S Parkland 0