Jones: Rare football Friday for Bladen teams

Were you a part of a rare football Friday night in Bladen County?

For only the second time this decade, East Bladen and West Bladen both won high school football games on the same night.

East Bladen defeated West Columbus 54-28 and West Bladen beat Union 32-6 on Friday. The last time both schools won on the same night came on Oct. 14, 2022 when West Bladen beat Red Springs 39-20 and East Bladen beat Fairmont 42-26. Any other time since 2020 when one school won, the other lost or didn’t play.

The schools will have four more opportunities in the regular season to post double victories again. The best chance may come Oct. 10 when West Bladen plays Fairmont and East Bladen plays East Columbus. It would be nice if it could happen again.

• With the N.C. High School Athletic Association moving to eight classifications this academic year, it has meant a change for the state playoffs in team sports. Brackets will consist of 48 teams with 16 first-round byes instead of the 64-team, no-bye brackets used when there were four classifications.

Football teams usually don’t mind a bye late in the season after knocking heads for nearly three months. The East Bladen football team, which currently is ranked No. 6 in the class 2A Ratings Percentage Index, may get even more rest between games. The Eagles don’t play Oct. 31, the final night of the regular season, which means if they have an RPI seed of 16 or higher they also won’t play Nov. 7 in the first round. Would two weeks off after playing 10 consecutive weeks be a good thing or too much time off? Guess we’ll find out.

• Another playoff change deals with seeding. In past years, conference champions or the highest finishing team in each classification in split conferences would automatically move ahead of any non-champion teams regardless of RPI rankings. That’s no longer the case. Now, it’s the top 48 teams based on RPI in each classification, although teams are allowed to opt out of the playoffs.

The East Bladen girls’ soccer benefitted from the previous rule last spring. The top three 1A teams, based on RPI, were Triangle North Conference members Eno River, Vance Charter and East Wake Academy. East Bladen was rated No. 6 based on RPI, but moved up to No. 4 after Vance Charter and East Wake Academy were dropped to No. 11 and No. 12, respectively, because of the conference champion rule.

That won’t be the case this season.

• Here are current RPI rankings for Bladen County high school teams through Saturday, Sept. 20:

Football (first round Nov. 7): East Bladen, No. 6 in 2A. West Bladen, No. 32 in 3A.

Boys’ soccer (first round Nov. 3): East Bladen, No. 25 in 2A. West Bladen, No. 39 in 3A.

Volleyball (first round Oct. 18): West Bladen, No. 18 in 3A. East Bladen, No. 40 in 2A.

Girls’ tennis (first round Oct. 13): West Bladen, No. 13 in 3A. East Bladen, No. 16 in 2A.

RPI takes into account a team’s winning percentage, the winning percentage of opponents and the winning percentage of the opponents of a team’s opponents. All of that is calculated into the Ratings Percentage Index. It rewards teams for playing stronger opponents instead of building an impressive won-loss record while playing weaker teams.

Got it? There will be a pop quiz later.