Football Preview: Northwest Guilford Vikings vs. Grimsley Whirlies
The Northwest Guilford Vikings will head out to face off against the Grimsley Whirlies at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams are still undefeated after four-games, but that won't be the case come Thursday.
Northwest Guilford's offense will try to repeat the strong performance it gave on Friday, when they got past Western Guilford's usually-dominant defense. Northwest Guilford blew past Western Guilford 34-14. The matchup marked the Vikings' most dominant victory of the season so far.
A big part of Northwest Guilford's win came down to the chemistry between Anders Mitchell and his top target Rakem Hammock. Mitchell threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns on only 14 passes while Hammock picked up 153 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The dominant performance also gave Mitchell a new career-high in rushing yards. Northwest Guilford also got a significant boost from Nathan Cox, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 87 yards.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the score, Northwest Guilford was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 202 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Grimsley). They blew past Southeast Guilford, posting a 49-7 victory on the road. Given the Whirlies' advantage in MaxPreps' North Carolina football rankings (they are ranked second, while the Falcons are ranked 115th), the result on Friday wasn't entirely unexpected.
Mitchell Summers was his usual excellent self, rushing for 154 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries, while also picking up 71 receiving yards and a touchdown. His longest reception was for an incredible 71 yards. Another player making a difference was Faizon Brandon, who threw for 204 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.7% of his passes.
Grimsley's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Ryan Debow and Cassius Bostic. Debow has been hot recently, having also posted five or more total tackles the last three times he's played.
Northwest Guilford's record is now 4-0. As for Grimsley, their record now sits at 4-0.
Thursday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Northwest Guilford has been excellent on the ground this season, having averaged 162 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Grimsley struggles in that department as they've been averaging 207.2. It's looking like Thursday's contest might have some serious battles in the trenches.
Northwest Guilford took a serious blow against Grimsley when the teams last played back in September of 2023, falling 48-14. That match was all but decided by halftime, at which point Northwest Guilford was down 35-7.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
