The football team with the longest active winning streak in the country is still located in North Carolina, but it moved 80 miles southwest over the weekend.
Reidsville's 55-game winning streak came to an end against
Cummings (Burlington) 28-7 on Friday night, making
West Rowan (Mt. Ulla) the country's new leader with 39 straight wins.
The Rams hadn't lost since they fell to Cummings in the 2006 Class 2-AA state quarterfinals. The 55 straight wins — which includes three straight Class 2-AA state titles — was the second longest streak in state history behind Independence (Charlotte), which won 109 games in a row from 2000-07.
Reidsville needed a last-minute touchdown to win last week, but Cummings left no room for drama on Friday night by stifling the Rams passing attack.
According to Fox 8, Reidsville quarterback Lavery Butchee didn't complete a pass until the third quarter and finished 7 of 28 for 72 yards with an interception. On the other side, Cummings quarterback
Dimitri Haith accounted for all four touchdowns, including a 56-yard run and a 67-yard pass to
Trey Smith.
Meanwhile, West Rowan (9-0), the two-time defending 3-A state champ, posted its fifth shutout in a 40-0 win at Statesville. The country's longest win streak will likely stay in-state at least until the playoffs — West Rowan's last two regular-season opponents, East Rowan (Salisbury) and North Iredell (Olin), are both 1-7.
Other top items from around North Carolina:
* No. 1 defeats No. 2: In a battle of the top-ranked teams in Class 1A, top-ranked and defending state champion
Wallace-Rose Hill (Teachey) beat No. 2 Pender (Burgaw) 29-22, extending its own win streak to 22 games.
Neither team punted before halftime, but the second half saw just one score — a 5-yard touchdown run by Jaquayle Robinson with 1:51 left in the third quarter that put the Bulldogs ahead to stay. Wallace-Rose Hill gave Pender its only regular-season loss last year by a 27-26 score.
* Tarboro dominates: While top-ranked Class 2A Reidsville lost, No. 2
Tarboro had no trouble with No. 8 Kinston. The Vikings (8-0) scored touchdowns on all five of their first-half possessions and forced five turnovers in a 41-14 win. Even when Tarboro committed its lone turnover, a fumble at its own 1-yard line, it actually turned into a net gain of 19 yards. As recounted in the Kinston Free-Press, Kinston fumbled into the end zone on the next play and Tarboro recovered for a touchback, giving the ball back to the offense at the 20.
* Not a good week for No. 6: The sixth-ranked teams lost in Classes 4A, 3A and 1A on Friday night. 4A Wake Forest-Rolesville fell to
Wakefield (Raleigh) 31-21, 3A Marvin Ridge (Waxhaw) lost to
Sun Valley (Monroe) 9-7 and 1A Avery County (Newland) went down 36-12 to
Polk County (Columbus).
Avery County actually upset then-No. 6 Hendersonville the week before, but was on the other end this time thanks to Polk County quarterback Andre Overholt, who threw for four touchdowns. Sun Valley won on a 39-yard field goal by
Danny Sawyer with five seconds left. It was redemption for Sawyer, who had missed the go-ahead extra point with 7:43 remaining after
Chris Duffy caught a 9-yard touchdown pass from
Ryan Smith.
EXTRA POINTSIn a matchup of the state's record-breaking running back and the state's top team, Class 4A No. 1
Butler (Matthews) held
Ardrey Kell (Charlotte) star
Justus Pickett to 77 yards on 22 carries in a 46-15 win. Pickett had been averaging more than 200 yards a game. ...
Panther Creek (Cary) came back from a 17-point deficit in the final nine minutes to beat Athens Drive (Raleigh) 33-30 and remain undefeated at 8-0. Quarterback
Kameron Bryant threw two touchdowns and ran for another during the comeback. ...
Northern Nash (Rocky Mount) beat Southern Nash (Bailey) for the first time since 2003. Southern Nash, ranked seventh in the state 3A poll, fumbled on its first two drives in the 21-7 loss and was held to single digits for the first time in 25 games.
Harold Gutmann covers the state of North Carolina for MaxPreps.com. He lives in Durham and can be reached at
haroldgutmann@gmail.com.
