Chris Whitfield’s picks: Hard not to give mental edge to Cats

Published 6:47 am Friday, October 12, 2012

Growing up, I loved horror movies. The first one I can remember was “Friday the 13th,” and the idea of Jason popping up from the middle of Crystal Lake gave me many nightmares.

Michael Myers was next, and I still maintain that the best two horror flicks of all-time are the first two “Halloween” movies.

Then there was Freddy Krueger. The creepiest part of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” series to me was the little girls playing jump rope while singing the Freddy song: “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you. Three, four, better lock your door …”

So you can imagine the nightmares I had to relive when a certain delivery was made to the paper last week. It was a terrifying cake, brought to the office by a North Murray football player’s mother.

Most people forget that the real villain in the first “Friday the 13th” movie was Jason’s mother, Mrs. Voorhees. Dawn Ewers is the mother of North Murray standout Christian Bukle, and my picking feud with the Mountaineers this season has been well documented in this space each week. Ewers brought the cake — a masterful dessert with rich icing and a vanilla mousse center — and my nightmares began.

Written on the cake: “One, two, Bukle’s coming for you …”

Oh the horror!

Along with Coahulla Creek and the rest of Region 5-3A, the Mountaineers are off this week, so there will be no feudin’ here, but it has been very calm at the office this past week with everyone in a sugar coma. Thank you, Ms. Ewers — but the gloves come off next week.

Your Guru of Gridiron Guessing had another strong performance last week, going 6-3 as Christian Heritage and a couple of out-of-towners let me down.

For the year, the Prep Pigskin Prognosticator is 36-14.

Bring it on!

• Game of the Week — Northwest Whitfield at Dalton: There is nothing like a rivalry week. For the past two seasons, the one thing that has really been missing around here in the fall is a good rivalry game.

Dalton at Southeast Whitfield was packed full of emotion last year after the ineligible player saga, but that isn’t the same as a good rivalry. The best way to describe that is the title of the book describing the Georgia-Georgia Tech series, “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.”

Welcome back to Dalton vs. Northwest. Harmon Field will be packed, bands will be playing and some of the best young men of our community will take the field with pride, community spirit, a playoff berth and a lifetime of memories on the line.

THIS is what makes high school football great.

I’ve covered a lot of great rivalry football over the years, but this is my first real taste of Catamounts vs. Bruins. Dalton leads the series 25-6, and there is a reason for that. Stephen Gregg, Northwest’s play-by-play man for radio broadcasts, said it well earlier this week when he expressed the thought that the Bruins seemingly kick off these games a touchdown behind. There is a reason for that.

Whether it be little bits of magic, that little bit of doubt in the back of the brain or the fact that Dalton has historically had better teams over the years, the Cats are a block to the Bruins.

When I covered the Dublin-West Laurens series in central Georgia, no matter how good West Laurens might be, something would always happen. Some little leprechaun would appear for the Irish, giving them a fumble at just the right time or having a pass tip off of a West Laurens defender and settle right into the arms of a Dublin receiver. Something always got in the way.

That is how I see this week. On paper, Northwest should win this game. But as the old cliché goes, the games are played on the field.

Things have been stressed for the Cats lately, but this is the perfect “recovery” game.

A rival brings you right back into focus. So it will be this week.

Whit’s Pick: Dalton 28, Northwest 24

• Christian Heritage at Darlington: Forget about that advanced placement math class you need to pass in order to figure out the Class A playoff rankings, and remember that it is basic and simple — win (enough) and you are in.

Take care of things on the field, and you won’t have to worry about whether or not you are going to be playing in the postseason, Lions.

Unfortunately, Darlington has more experience at this and is playing at home.

Whit’s Pick: Darlington 42, Christian Heritage 21

• Ridgeland at Southeast: Raiders, allow me to introduce you to Mr. Vonn Bell. You’ll know who he is when you see the No. 7 running away from you.

Good job with the win last week, Raiders. Now, welcome back to reality.

Whit’s Pick: Ridgeland 55, Southeast 14

• Model at Murray County: Hey, coach Linder, how is basketball season looking?

Whit’s Pick: Model 42, Murray County 12

• Other games: Cass 28, Gilmer 27; LaFayette 2, Heritage-Catoosa 0; Cedartown 35, Pickens 24.

Chris Whitfield is a sports writer for The Daily Citizen. He expects every North Murray senior parent to deliver something to the paper; the  newspaper’s staff prefers that parents follow Ms. Ewers’ lead in making it something delicious. You can write to Whitfield at chriswhitfield@daltoncitizen.com.

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