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As we enter the playoffs in North Carolina Private School Football after a pretty wild year, there are some really good opening round matchups across all NCISAA brackets. The best game will come Friday night in Richard Fayssoux Stadium on the campus of the #4 Christ School as they welcome #5 Charlotte Christian in the first round of the NCISAA D1 playoffs.
These two teams just met two weeks ago on the same field, as the Greenies won 34-31 in overtime on their home field. Charlotte Christian raced out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, and then the two teams battled the rest of the way as the Greenies scored the game-tying touchdown with under six minutes remaining in the regulation.
The Knights kicked a field goal to start overtime but the Greenies won it with a touchdown in the first overtime frame. Charlotte Christian has won the last four D1 titles and nine overall, while Christ School won the D2 championship last year, which was also their first and only football state championship.
Charlotte Christian is led offensively by Cameron Estep, who is 71-125 passing for 824 yards and seven touchdowns with four interceptions. Kyron Jones is the Knights leading rusher with 88 carries for 796 yards and ten touchdowns. Micah Gilbert is leading the team in receiving with 35 catches for 495 yards and three touchdowns, while Drew Waldrop leads the squad in tackles with 91, including seven for a loss.
Christ School is led by A.J. Simpkins, who is 69-119 passing for 1185 yards and 12 touchdown passes. Bryce Sain leads them in rushing with 770 yards on 111 carries with ten touchdowns, while. sophomore Zack Myers is the leading Greenie pass catcher with 22 receptions for 499 yards and five scores. The defense is led by sophomore linebacker and recently Oklahoma offered Cayden Jones, who has 74 tackles with five for loss and three sacks. The winner will advance to face #2 Providence Day in the semifinals next week.
In the D2 playoffs, the best 1st round matchup is between #8 Cabarrus Warriors and #10 Ravenscroft in Cabarrus county at beautiful Randy Marion field on the campus of part of the Warrior co-op Cannon School. These two met back on September 3rd in Raleigh with the Cabarrus Warriors coming out of the non-conference clash with a 24-14 victory.
Ned Gonet’s Ravenscroft Ravens have won 8 state titles in his 40-year tenure at the school, with the last being in 2015 with the Ravens capturing the D2 title over Christ School 50-26.
Cabarrus Warriors, who are a co-op team of Cannon School and Concord Academy have 3 D2 titles which were won in three consecutive seasons back 2009-2011 when Mike Minter roamed the sidelines as head coach.
The Ravens are led by Kyle Hawkins who is 124-272 passing for 1654 yards and seven touchdowns, but he has thrown twice as many interceptions as TD’s (14). Ravens rushing is led by Anthony Melvin who has rushed for 1076 yards on 137 carries with 16 touchdowns. Deacon Adams is the leading receiver for the Ravens with 497 yards on 29 catches with three touchdowns, while Owen Ficher is the leading tackler with 42 and also one interception.
Cabarrus is led by the sensational Tyler Green, who is having a breakout sophomore year with 1973 yards passing on 142-229 throws, he has 23 touchdown passes with only six picks. Fellow sophomore Will Jones is having a breakout season of his own, rushing for 1386 yards on 156 carries with 21 touchdowns. Xander Lamb leads the receiving corp with 639 yards on 33 receptions and nine touchdowns while Josh Reid leads the Warriors defense with 93 tackles, 21 of them for a loss.
The winner of this game will meet the winner of #7 Metrolina Christian and Asheville School in the semifinals.
In 8-man football ranks, the D1 playoffs start with #4 Rocky Mount Academy headed to #1 John Paul II in Greenville. The other semifinal is #3 Cary Christian heading to Kinston to take on defending D1 state champ Parrott Academy. Parrott will look to get to five state titles in their 30-year 8-man history over the next two weeks, which will tie them for most titles with Wake Christian Academy who played 8-man from 1992-2005.
The D2 playoffs started last week with #5 Wayne Christian beating Lawrence Academy by forfeit, on the other side of the bracket, # 7 Halifax Academy soundly defeated #9 Bethel Christian 70-22.
Wayne Christian and Halifax Academy met back in October with Wayne Christian winning 52-30. Luis Miranda has led the Eagles from Wayne Christian to the state title game for the first time in school history. If they were allowed, they would have been in the hunt last year but were ineligible due to the fact that they where a co-op team with homeschoolers.
Halifax Academy comes in with 3 8-Man titles and one 11-Man title back in 1976. This will be both teams last game in the smaller division of NCISAA 8-Man football, as they both will move up to the D1 division next season. Should be an up and down affair in Goldsboro for the championship.
NCISAA 11 Man Playoff Games
D1 5 seed Charlotte Christian @ 4 seed Christ School
D2 8 seed High Point Christian @ 1 seed Harrell’s Christian
D2 7 seed Asheville School @ 2 seed Metrolina Christian
D2 6 seed Ravenscroft @ 3 seed Cabarrus Warriors
D2 5 seed North Raleigh Christian @ 4 seed Charlotte Country Day
NCISAA 8 Man Playoff Games
D1 4 seed Rocky Mount Academy @ 1 seed John Paul II 11/6/21
D1 3 seed Cary Christian @ 2 seed Arendell Parrott Academy
D2 Championship Game 2 seed Halifax Academy @ 1 seed Wayne Christian 11/6/21
