Knights gridders visit Whiteville on Tuesday; no game Friday

BLADENBORO — West Bladen will visit Whiteville on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Three Rivers Conference high school football.

The schools made the decision to play last week, Knights head coach Jon Sherman said.

• Records: West Bladen 0-3 Three Rivers, 0-3 overall; Whiteville 1-1 Three Rivers, 1-1 overall.

• Recent: West Bladen lost at West Columbus 49-36 on Friday; Whiteville lost 6-0 to Red Springs on Friday.

• Why Tuesday: West Bladen and Whiteville were scheduled to play in Week 2 of the seven-week season, on March 5, but the entire Wolfpack athletics program was paused by COVID-19 protocols throughout the school.

• Next: No game Friday for West Bladen; they’ve already played Fairmont, the previously scheduled opponent. On April 2, West Bladen hosts St. Pauls, and on April 9, it hosts East Bladen. It will be homecoming against St. Pauls, and Senior Night against the Eagles. Whiteville goes to St. Pauls on Friday.

• Opponents: The Knights also couldn’t visit South Columbus on Feb. 26 or 27, the former as they got out of virus protocol and the latter because of an issue on the Stallions’ side; and they couldn’t host Red Springs on March 12 because of COVID-19 issues for the Red Devils.

West Bladen, head coach Jon Sherman said, is not scheduled to make-up the game with Red Springs.

• First: If West Bladen plays St. Pauls on April 2 in Week 6, it will be the first game it plays as scheduled following the new slate released by the league after East Columbus opted not to play varsity football this spring. The season this year is just seven weeks long.