North Carolina School League Already into Key Matchups

01.04.2023HS Boys

After the Winter Break the North Carolina school league comes back with six games this weekend.

Hough HS leads the way with a 3-0 record, but they don't dominate. South Meck sits at 2-0-1, bounding back from that opening tie with Charlotte Catholic to beat Langtree Academy and Ardrey Kell in emphatic fashion. Meanwhile, newer teams Marvin Ridge and Laney HS are now 2-0, giving the league a nice shakeup.

"I really did not know what to expect this year," said Laney HS Head Coach Jim Wiseman, who also coaches the Cape Fear HS Club which had a strong showing last year and earned a #36 ranking in GRR's Top 50.

That team was made up almost entirely of players from Laney HS, which seemed to bode well for this fall's school team, except that 13 Cape Fear starters graduated in the spring.

But ... "this year we had a great turnout of new players as well as a lot of JV players that came back out," said Wiseman. "A lot of the new turnout I believe was due to the great support we got from several of the Laney High School football coaches."

Another is that they run the same system as the UNC-Wilmington college team and the Cape Fear men's club. That means that additional coaching volunteers don't have to learn a new approach and can step right in to help the players learn the basics.

The group is coming together nicely and playing well as a unit. Sophomore flyhalf Mason Wiseman has scored three tries and added 18 points with the boot in two games. Lock Max Buckingham is a force and a key leader, and junior No. 8 Aiden Reece has also been strong.

Next up for Laney is Clayton, which is 1-2 with losses to Hough and Charlotte Catholic. Wiseman said his team can't take this game for granted and in addition they are playing on the road. Clayton, he said, is "always well-coached with strong players."

Marvin Ridge won by 20 over Ardrey Kell and comfortably over Providence. Next up for them is Caps/Broughton, a team whose two wins, both by forfeit, told us little. But their loss, 29-19 to Laney, is perhaps an indication they will be a very tough out.

Meanwhile, South Meck took a lot of positives from their tie with Charlotte Catholic. Led by Koen Webb, Ryan Bugan, Sailor Whitehead, DeAndre Linton, and Alex Tafoya, they are certainly as force to be reckoned with.

Some good recruiting has bolstered their lineup and South Meck is certainly thinking about a league title at this point. However, they are going to have to be on-form for this weekend with Friday's clash against Myers Park. Yes Myers Park is 1-2, but they are always well put-together and they played perhaps the three strongest teams out there other than South Meck, losing competitive games to Hough and Laney, and beating Charlotte Catholic.

This weekend, already, despite being the first week of January, is rife with playoff ramifications.

North Carolina School	W	L	T	PF	PA	PD	BT	BL	Total
Hough HS	3	0	0	109	19	90	3	0	15
South Mecklenburg HS	2	0	1	55	20	35	2	0	12
Caps/Broughton HS	2	1	0	19	29	-10	2	0	10
Laney HS	2	0	0	60	27	33	2	0	10
Marvin Ridge HS	2	0	0	72	17	55	2	0	10
Charlotte Catholic HS	1	1	1	84	54	30	1	0	7
Clayton/Corinth HS	1	2	0	15	70	-55	1	0	5
Clover HS	1	1	0	0	35	-35	1	0	5
Myers Park HS	1	2	0	56	89	-33	1	0	5
Providence HS	1	2	0	35	35	0	1	0	5
Ardrey Kell HS	0	2	0	17	72	-55	0	0	0
Langtree Academy	0	2	0	0	70	-70	0	0	0
Seaforth HS	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

1/6	Ardrey Kell HS	at	Providence HS
1/6	Myers Park HS	at	South Mecklenburg HS
1/6	Clover HS	at	Hough HS
1/7	Laney HS	at	Clayton/Corinth HS
1/7	Marvin Ridge HS	at	Caps/Broughton HS
1/7	Langtree Academy	at	Charlotte Catholic HS

North Carolina School League Already into Key Matchups

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