All three of Beaufort County’s teams traveled for the first week of high school football season. Now it’s time for two of those three to come back home and play their first game in front of their home fans.

Those teams — Northside and Southside — are returning to Beaufort County with wins under their belts. Northside decimated Creswell, 47-0, on Friday. Southside’s game at North Duplin was postponed until Monday, but the Seahawks were still able to muster a 28-23 win on the road.

Washington’s home opener will be delayed another week. The Pam Pack’s early-season gauntlet, which started Saturday with a 38-0 loss at Havelock, continues at Tarboro. The Vikings — also championship contender — will be another tough test for a Pam Pack squad that is still finding its bearings.

Each team has a different mindset entering the second week of the season. For Northside, the dominant shutout win was an encouraging way to begin the campaign, but coach Keith Boyd stressed that the team can’t settle for anything right now. The Panthers opened 2-0 in 2015 before finishing 2-9.

Southside had to score a touchdown with less than 15 second remaining in Monday’s game. Coach Jeff Carrow, while happy with the result, wasn’t satisfied with the overall sloppy nature of the game.

Finally, Washington coach Sport Sawyer is looking for improvements in offensive productivity. With Saturday’s shutout loss and struggles dating back to scrimmages, it’s been a while since the Pam Pack’s offense scored a touchdown. Those boys will be looking to gain some momentum against another stout opponent while the Seahawks and Panthers hope to improve to 2-0 at home on Friday.

 

WASHINGTON (0-1, 0-0 EASTERN PLAINS) AT TARBORO (1-0, 0-0 TWO RIVERS)

Location: Tarboro

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Tarboro, on paper, is a challenging second-week opponent for Washington. The Vikings primarily move the ball on the ground. They only attempted four passes in a 42-0 thumping of Nash Central in their first game of the season.

Five different Vikings picked up at least 50 rushing yards in that win. Deontae Williams and Jaquez Edge led the way with 89 and 88 rushing yards, respectively. Jyron Albritton, Devonta Davis and Malik Dickens combined for another 182 yards on the ground.

With plenty of talent in the backfield, Tarboro uses a running back by committee approach. Williams, Albritton and Dickens all showed off their playmaking abilities in their first game of the season as each had a run for 40-plus yards. Albritton, only a sophomore, had a 75-yard rush against Nash Central.

Washington’s undersized defensive front may struggle to contain the run game. However, there are plenty similarities between what the Vikings and Pam Pack do on offense. That may aid Washington in its preparation for the game. Moreover, Tarboro’s ground-based offense will make it hard for it to control the clock, which could also be advantageous for the Pam Pack.

Even though Tarboro rarely takes to the air, Tae Randolph was able to strike Shy’Keem Hussey for a 22-yard score against Nash Central. The Vikings could make the Pam Pack pay for not respecting the pass.

Washington could be better able to control the clock, but the Vikings showed their ability to break off for big plays throughout last week’s game. Even with the secondary’s experience, the Pam Pack may still have trouble containing Tarboro.

PREDICTION: TARBORO 28, WASHINGTON 14

NORTH DUPLIN (0-1, 0-0 CAROLINA) AT NORTHSIDE (1-0, 0-0 COASTAL PLAINS)

Location: Northside

Time: 7 p.m.

Less than a week after opening its season with a loss to Southside, North Duplin travels to another Beaufort County foe in Northside. As one of the few teams in the east that was able to get in its first game as originally scheduled last Friday, Northside has an advantage over the visiting Rebels.

The Panthers not only have a few extra days of rest, but coach Keith Boyd was also able to make the trip to Calypso on Monday to see the Rebels play the Seahawks.

What Boyd may have noticed was that stopping North Duplin’s offense generally requires shutting down the two-man operation of quarterback Will Archer and running back Kenny Sheppard. The two combined for all but seven of the Rebels’ carries against Southside.

Each averaged just over five yards per carry. However, Northside boasts more mass on its offensive line than Southside. That size up front will be instrumental for halting North Duplin’s rushes.

Northside’s defensive backs, which notched a few interceptions at Creswell last week, will be tasked with stopping Archer from moving the ball through the air. He connected with Terrion Addison three times for 55 yards against Southside. Addison hauled in an 18-yard pass for North Duplins go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.

North Duplin surrendered a handful of big plays to Southside’s running backs. The Rebels struggled to make tackles at times, which is something the likes of James Barrow and Jackson Midgette will surely exploit.

PREDICTION: NORTHSIDE 32, NORTH DUPLIN 14

 

DIXON (0-0, 0-0 EAST CENTRAL) AT SOUTHSIDE (1-0, 0-0 COASTAL PLAINS)

Location: Chocowinity

Time: 7 p.m.

Southside faces an interesting scenario on Friday. The Seahawks were supposed to play on Friday, but weather forced it to be postponed until Monday. Dixon, on the other hand, will be playing its first game of the season on Friday in Chocowinity. The Bulldogs will be chomping at the bit to get under the lights for the first time this season while their hosts will be dealing with a shortened week.

At the same time, though, Southside is much more aware of what it has coming in. Monday’s game at North Duplin, while an ugly one, provided coach Jeff Carrow with insight as to what does and doesn’t work.

Southside’s main avenue of moving the ball will be on the ground. Joe Myers led the squad with 159 rushing yards and a touchdown on Monday. Carrow said Myers is good to go after a late-game injury scare on Monday. Junior Ronald Dennis also picked up 50 yards of his own, while proving to be hard to tackle.

Zikajah Crawford had 13 carries in the season opener, but only amassed 16 yards. The Seahawks’ offensive line will try to create more space for him to get downhill. They will line up against a team of similar size with a bit more experience. Dixon comes into the game with 14 seniors on its roster, but will also be without a lot of its key players that could only put together a 4-7 season in 2015.

Senior outside linebacker Ray Gamache will lead the Bulldogs defensively. He finished fifth on the team last season with 54 tackles. Offensively, there are a lot of unknowns. Running backs Deante Jackson and Antonio Neal are back in the mix this year. They combined 460 yards of total offense last year.

If Southside can sort out some of the consistency issues it had on each side of the ball, this could be an easy victory for the Seahawks in their first game at home.

PREDICTION: SOUTHSIDE 35, DIXON 7