The Winter high school season in the Carolinas is designed to be a school-team league, but as some teams are still working toward there, there are two brackets for teams that still draw players from multiple schools, and Wando will take on Hough in one of those finals.

What is essentially an Open Division has two tiers with Wando facing Hough in Tier 1 and the Providence Day Charges/Olympic Trojans combined side playing the Raleigh Capitols in Tier 2.

For Wando, this has been a nice addition to their season. Coming up north from South Carolina, Wando beat Corinth, Clayton, Greer, and Clayton again to make it here.

"The Wando organization has seen some much needed improvement to stay among the top teams in the area," said Head Coach Donovan Craig, who pointed to improved tackling in the backline and some big carries from this forwards. Ball retention and meters from the pack are always welcome.

No. 8 Wes Stone has taken it upon himself to lead by example and as he has gone other players, especially lock Nick Flood, have followed.

"We are hoping our forwards and backs can combine for a one-two punch and claim some hardware for their much-improved efforts," said Craig.

Captain Hilton Reynolds and vice captain Finn O'Neill will have plenty of work to do against Hough, and the goalkicking of Ronan Certa has been crucial.

"We would very much like to keep all these players healthy as we continue into the spring season," said Craig. So in one sense this is really more of a mid-term exam rather than a final.

At Hough, well that team actually beat Wando in fairly convincing fashion earlier in the season. And while Head Coach Bruce Colson would have liked more game opportunities, his team, he says, continues to forge ahead through cancelations, reshuffles, and a lot of travel.

Hough's big asset is consistency. Players such as Jason Trevino, Porter Kuebler, Zach Colson, Curtis Lambert, and George Prinsloo have performed well week after week and continues to carry the torch. Jacob Eroh, Beyond Bembry, and Sebastian Mariscal have had key contributions and new players such as Dominique Cutri and Dylan Natal are making their presence felt. Deandre Stewart and Sam Miller anchor the forwards and will be playing their final game for their school.

They, Colson hopes, will "bring that extra edge for the final this weekend against a very good Wando team."