Football Preview: Northwest Guilford Vikings vs. Grimsley Whirlies
The Northwest Guilford Vikings will head out on the road to square off against the Grimsley Whirlies at 7:00 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. That looming 34-14 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for the Vikings yet this season.
A big part of Northwest Guilford's victory 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. McKinnley Vance was in the mix as well, providing Northwest Guilford with two touchdowns.
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 simply couldn't be stopped on Friday as they easily beat Southeast Guilford 49-7 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 wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Mitchell Summers, who rushed for 154 yards and four touchdowns on only 13 carries, and also picked up 71 receiving yards and a touchdown. He torched the secondary when he pulled down a catch that went for 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.
Another reason for the win was Grimsley's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. Bryce Davis was especially locked on to Southeast Guilford's QB and sacked him twice. Grimsley got some further help from Ryan Debow: he made nine total tackles and snagged an interception.
Northwest Guilford's record now sits at 4-0. As for Grimsley, their record now sits at 4-0.
Northwest Guilford took a serious blow against Grimsley in their previous matchup 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
