High school football predictions for Week 9

Oct. 13—On the road again ... I just can't wait to get on the road again.

The words of Willie Nelson's classic might be sung around Robeson County ahead of Week 8's high school football games, with all five county programs set to play road games.

The Robeson fans will travel ... well, as "like a band of gypsies we go down the highway," particularly for St. Pauls' game at Clinton; attending that game, I'll be "going places that I've never been."

It will, in fact, be the first time I've covered any regular-season contest that wasn't in Robeson County or one of its immediate neighbors since my days covering one county high school, for every game home and away, at a weekly paper in rural Clayton, Georgia.

As I make predictions for the week below, I can't wait to get on the road again.

Last week: 5-0

This season: 27-4

St. Pauls at Clinton

The game of the year in the Southeastern Athletic Conference pits perennial power Clinton against St. Pauls, who won the conference last year in the first season these teams were paired in the same league.

Both sides have a plethora of playmakers, a strong defensive presence, and play solid, fundamental football. That makes this pick a rather difficult one to make.

The one weak point in St. Pauls' resume is a 40-6 loss to Westover on Aug. 26; the same night, Clinton suffered its lone defeat but was more competitive in a 35-18 loss to Wallace-Rose Hill, a state finalist last year. The Dark Horses have also been winning by wider margins than St. Pauls, or just about anyone else, in recent weeks, with an average margin of 60.5-6.8 in four conference games.

Bulldogs coach Mike Setzer said this week Clinton is the toughest team St. Pauls has faced; I don't disagree. With a 34-point loss on the resume, that fact would appear to work transatively in Clinton's favor — but I also know St. Pauls learned from and was woken up by that loss.

I fully expect this to be a very close, competitive game — and a tense one. St. Pauls is capable of winning the game, and either team winning by more than one or two scores would be surprising, but I think someone from Clinton's abundance of weapons will step up and make the key play late.

Clinton 36, St. Pauls 32

Lumberton at Douglas Byrd

These two teams are battling for last place in the United-8 Conference. Another publication picked Douglas Byrd because they have one more win overall than the winless Pirates, but I believe if these teams switched schedules Lumberton would likely have one more win than the Eagles.

Expect a low-scoring game here between two offenses that have struggled for some time; that said, Lumberton did score 26 points against the Eagles last year — its most in any game since the spring 2021 season opener.

This is the Pirates' best chance to win so far this season, and after nine straight losses since last year's win over the Eagles, the Pirates will finally get off the schneid.

Lumberton 20, Douglas Byrd 14

Purnell Swett at Seventy-First

Purnell Swett will face a legitimate state championship contender and the likely eventual champion of the United-8 when it plays at Seventy-First Friday.

This game will be a major challenge for the Rams, who have lost five straight since two season-opening wins. While Purnell Swett is playing better than it did last season, it's hard to imagine they can erase last year's 52-0 margin when the teams met.

Seventy-First has had its way with just about everyone they've faced, and that will continue.

Seventy-First 42, Purnell Swett 7

Fairmont at East Bladen

Fairmont's confidence will be improved coming off of an 18-0 win over West Bladen, in somewhat of a similar game to the Golden Tornadoes' 20-8 win last year of this week's opponent, East Bladen.

The Golden Tornadoes have struggled at times on offense this season, and while East Bladen scored 42 in its last outing against West Bladen, the Eagles have averaged 14.0 points per game in their other six games. Anything score higher than the low 20s in this game would be surprising.

Both teams enter with two wins and one conference win, but the body of work seems slightly better for the Eagles than for the Golden Tornadoes thus far. This should be a competitive game, but the slightly better team will win out.

East Bladen 22, Fairmont 16

Red Springs at West Bladen

Red Springs has lost 13 straight games since their second outing of last season, and that included a 44-21 loss to West Bladen — the night that showed just how quickly and drastically the Red Devils had fallen off after a solid spring 2021 campaign.

West Bladen enters this game having not scored in three conference games. While Red Springs lost 54-14 to Clinton, that was actually the least points allowed and the most points scored by a Clinton opponent so far in conference play.

Three times, the Red Devils have come very close to earning coach Tim Ray his first win at his alma mater. This Friday is the night.

Red Springs 22, West Bladen 12

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.