What it was, was football: Week 5

What it was, was football: Week Five

A weekly look at North Carolina college football

6: Games postponed or cancelled last week due to Tropical Storm Helene.

By Shawn Krest

North Carolina football teams posted their second winning week of the season. But that good news was outweighed by the impact of Tropical Storm Helene.

Schedule havoc: While college football pales in comparison to the other damage the storm inflicted on the state, Helene impacted five games on the state’s college football schedule. Three were cancelled outright: App State’s home game against Liberty, Mars Hill at Wingate and St. Andrews’ game at Lindsey Wilson. Another game—Brevard against Maryville—was postponed. It’s expected to be played at some point, but the date has not yet been determined. Two other games were moved to Sunday. In addition to the extra day, Davidson’s game at Presbyterian was moved to become a Wildcats home game. Lenoir-Rhyne against Tusculum was also played on Sunday.

North Carolina’s record: 14-11 (66-72 overall)

Last week’s winners (ranked in order of impressiveness of the victory—a combination of opponent and performance):

1. Johnson C. Smith: 42-3 at Bluefield State

2. NC Central: 37-10 over Norfolk State

3. Greensboro: 42-23 over Southern Virginia

4. Duke: 21-20 over UNC

5. Charlotte: 21-20 at Rice

6. Livingstone: 15-14 at Lincoln, PA

7. ECU: 30-20 over UTSA

8. Winston-Salem State: 28-14 over Bowie State

9. Lenoir-Rhyne: 37-23 over Tusculum

10.   NC State: 24-17 over Northern Illinois

11.   Davidson: 48-37 over Presbyterian

12.   Barton: 27-14 over Anderson

13.   Campbell: 44-41 over Delaware State

14.   Chowan: 27-25 over Mississippi College

Last week’s losers (ranked in order of impressiveness, despite the result):

1. UNC: 21-20 at Duke

2. Catawba: 35-34 to Carson-Newman

3. UNC Pembroke: 14-7 at Glenville State

4. Wake Forest: 41-38 to Louisiana

5. Elon: 27-17 to Richmond

6. Methodist: 40-24 at LaGrange

7. NC Wesleyan: 30-12 at Belhaven

8. Fayetteville State: 35-18 at Virginia State

9. NC A&T, 45-25 at S.C. State

10.   Gardner-Webb: 52-21 to Tennessee Tech

11.   Shaw: 42-7 at Virginia Union

Off: App State, Western Carolina, Elizabeth City State, Guilford, Mars Hill, Wingate, Brevard, St. Andrews

Remaining unbeatens (4, unchanged from last week):

Duke: 5-0

Johnson C. Smith: 5-0

Lenoir-Rhyne: 4-0

Guilford: 3-0

Winning records (9, up from 6 last week):

Winston-Salem State: 4-1

Davidson: 3-1

NC Central, NC State, UNC, ECU, Livingstone, Shaw: 3-2

Wingate: 2-1

At .500 (5, down from 7 last week)

App State, Elizabeth City State, Barton, Fayetteville State: 2-2

Brevard: 1-1

Losing records (11, up from 10 last week):

Campbell, Charlotte: 2-3

Elon, NC A&T, Gardner-Webb: 1-4

Catawba, Wake Forest, Western Carolina, Greensboro, Methodist: 1-3

Chowan: 1-2

Still winless (4, down from 6 last week):

UNC Pembroke, NC Wesleyan: 0-4

St. Andrews: 0-3

Mars Hill,: 0-2

Chowan and Greensboro got off the schneid this weekend.

Name Game: NC Central beat Norfolk State in the 40th annual Circle City Classic in Indianapolis, an annual showcase of two HBCUs. Duke also took the Victory Bell from UNC in the rivalry game between the two schools.

State title standings: Duke oved into a first-place tie for the Mack Brown Trophy.

2-0         Duke, Guilford, Fayetteville State

1-0                 App State, NC State, Wake Forest, Campbell, Wingate, Davidson, Barton, Lenoir-Rhyne

2-1         UNC

1-1         Charlotte, Shaw, Catawba, Methodist

1-2         Elizabeth City State, NC A&T, NC Central, Elon, Western Carolina

0-1         ECU, Gardner-Webb, Winston-Salem State, Mars Hill

0-2         Chowan, UNC Pembroke, Greensboro

State title games this week:

Wake Forest at NC State

East Carolina at Charlotte

Elizabeth City State at Livingstone

NC Central at Campbell

Methodist at NC Wesleyan

Out of state battles for Week Six:

App State at Marshall, Duke at Georgia Tech, Pitt at UNC, Wofford at Western Carolina, Guilford at Hampden-Sydney, NC A&T at Richmond, Gardner-Webb at UT-Martin, Barton at Carson-Newman, Catawba at Anderson, Chowan at Delta State, Bowie State at Fayetteville State, Virginia State at JC Smith, Wingate at UVA-Wise, Mars Hill at Newberry, Marist at Davidson, Lenoir-Rhyne at Emory & Henry, Bluefield State at Shaw, UNC Pembroke at Wheeling, Winston-Salem State at Virginia Union, Brevard at Southern Virginia,

Off: Elon, Greensboro, St. Andrews

Bad neighbors: Virginia teams went 3-1 against N.C. teams last week to improve to 15-6 in the state-vs.-state battle. Bluefield, Presbyterian and Bowie State all picked up their second win against N.C. teams.

All-state performances for Week Five:

Quarterback:  Chad Mascoe, Campbell, 18-of-26 passing for 323 yards and 3 touchdowns. De’von Cannon, Greensboro, 20-for-32, 363 yards, 4 touchdowns.

Running backs; Star Thomas, Duke: 30 carries, 166 yards and a touchdown, 2 catches for 45 yards and another touchdown. Demond Claiborne, Wake Forest, 12 rushes for 94 yards, was carted off the field with what was initially reported as a dislocated kneecap. He was announced as out for the game, then returned and ran for a 60-yard touchdown.

Receiver:  O’Mega Blake, Charlotte, 5 catches, 153 yards, 2 touchdowns.  Jayden Flood-Brown, Barton, 7 catches, 162 yards, 2 touchdowns.

Defensive line: Davin Vann, NC State, 10 tackles, 4 solo, 1 sack, 3.5 TL, 2 forced fumbles. Julian Rawlins, Davidson, 10 tackles, 5 solos, 2.5 TFL, 2 sacks, forced fumble.

Linebacker: Prince Wallace-Bemah, Charlotte, 6 tackles, 5 solo, 2 TFL. Jayden Reeder, Livingstone, 3 tackles, all solo, TFL, interception.

Defensive back: Al-Ma’hi Ali, Charlotte, 6 tackles, all solo, 1 QB hit, 3 pass breakups. Malcolm Reed, NC Central, 7 tackles, 3 solo, 4 pass breakups.

Special teams: Jason Zapata, Livinstone, scored 10 of the team’s 15 points with 3 field goals and a PAT.

Wake Forest’s Tate Carney (30) celebrates after scoring a touchdown in the Deacs’ loss to Louisiana. (Allison Lee Isley / The Winston-Salem Journal via AP)