Mallard Creek @ Vance (Charlotte)

[Creekfootball]

Just want to give a little update on North Carolina football for this season. The problem N.C. has struggled with in the past has been lack of depth of great teams. In recent years we had the Independence run and then near the end of that run Butler came to dominate with maybe one team pushing them. Mallard Creek dethroned them and has been on a great 10 year run. In the last three years Wake Forest has been on top. This year there are four great teams in the state (Mallard Creek, Myers Park, Vance, and Richmond County) with three of them in Charlotte with the Creek and Vance in the same conference. Power 5 talent all over the field between these four teams. So, it is good to see better depth in the state and hopefully all will continue to try and schedule strong out of state teams. 

But for tonight, Mallard Creek drives down the street for the most violent and fierce game played in the state each year. Lot of respect between the two programs but violence during the game. Vance destroyed one of Virginia’s better team on the road earlier this year and Mallard Creek has had a pretty brutal schedule with Dutch Fork and Gaffney on the road. They beat Butler at home and now are on the road again to face Vance. 

Should be a pretty low scoring scrap. Mallard Creek’s high flying offense vs Vance’s best ever defense led by a beast named Power Echols. Game was played at UNCC last year but will be at Vance’s stadium tonight. I think the winner has the inside track to win a ring. I believe both teams are at full strength so no excuses. I’ll be there early. 

[954gator]

Will this game be streamed?

[Creekfootball]

Well this game went exactly as expected. Low scoring defensive slugfest. Mallard Creek played their best defensive game of the year and shut out the Vance offense for a 17-7 win. Curious to find out how many years it’s been since a Vance offense was blanked. Their only score was early in the first half when MC’s QB hit a lineman in the helmet on a pass and it got a freakish bounce right into a Vance defenders hands where he was able to score untouched. As is often the case with Mallard Creek they had more penalty yards than Vance had offensive yards. Vance’s defense is damned good and are as good as advertise. Big and fast. 

The first half was pretty sloppy with tons of penalties. The Mallard Creek coaches do what they do best and that is to adjust at halftime. A lot of the adjustments on offense was simply recognizing that MC was deeper and that they would start wearing down the Vance defense which would open the run game. They sent Trent Simpson in for a few plays on offense and he made a difference. The Creek pounded out a 17-7 tough win. They really shouldn’t be tested again until the playoffs. The Creek is clearly the best team in N.C. and Vance didn’t do anything other than verify they are a top 3 team in the state. Hope to catch some other regional games for a few weeks until the playoffs start.