What to watch for in a scattered Week 11 of high school football as Hurricane Willa brings rain

Due to the threat of heavy rains from Hurricane Willa, Triangle high school football games will be spread out over the course of three days this week, starting Thursday night.

Willa, a Category Four hurricane approaching the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to drop up to two inches of rain on the Triangle Friday through Saturday morning.

Nine games were rescheduled for Thursday night, including a consequential South Wake conference matchup at Middle Creek. Ten other teams will attempt to brave the storm Friday night, and Ravenscroft pushed its road contest at Harrells Christian Academy to Saturday evening.

Here’s what to watch for this week in area prep football.

Week 11 ticket to get

Leesville (7-2) @ Enloe (8-0) – Friday, 7 p.m. — Enloe is 8-0 for the first time in school history and tied with Cardinal Gibbons for first place in the CAP 7 conference, at 4-0. However, with two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Eagles have their two toughest tests ahead of them in conference foes Leesville and Cardinal Gibbons (7-1). This week, they’ll be hosting the Pride. Leesville played both Gibbons and Wake Forest, the 18th and second-ranked teams in the state according to MaxPreps, close in early-season defeats. If Enloe can keep its perfect season alive, they’ll set up a showdown at Cardinal Gibbons next week to decide the PAC 7 regular season championship.

Note: You can find scores and the schedule on ScoreStream. Here’s how to download

The ScoreStream app

Players to watch this week

QB: Vince Amendola, Leesville (Sr.) — Amendola is one of North Carolina’s most prolific passers. His 2,312 passing yards and 170 completions both rank fourth in the state. He also limits mistakes, with only two interceptions to his 18 touchdown passes. It’ll be interesting to see how he handles Enloe’s formidable defense, which has only given up more 20 or more points once so far this season.

RB: Hamilton Moore, Enloe (Sr.) — Moore, a Yale commit, is the Eagles’ offensive star to counteract Amendola. His 211 carries are the third-most of any player in North Carolina. On those runs, he’s averaged 7.1 yards per carry and racked up 1,500 yards — good enough for seventh best in the state. He’s essential to the Eagles’ offense, and will need to be on his game early.

LB: Joey Maya, Middle Creek (Sr.) — Maya has only played in five of the Mustangs’ nine games this season. When he’s been on the field, though, he’s usually been tackling someone. Maya averages 16.8 tackles a game.

RB: DeMarcus Jones, Wake Forest (Sr.) — It’s tough to narrow down the Cougars’ balanced offensive attack to a single “player to watch” any week, but the 5-foot-11 Jones has been a consistent producer this season. He averages 85 yards on an average of 13 carries per game, and he’s found the endzone in all seven of Wake Forest’s games. Jones, combined with a healthy dose of carries from explosive junior Maquel Haywood, could be a problem for Wakefield’s defense tonight.

Other top games to watch

Holly Springs (4-4) @ Middle Creek (6-3) – Thursday, 7 p.m. — Holly Springs and Middle Creek are two-thirds of a three-team stalemate at the top of the South Wake conference right now. The Mustangs, Golden Hawks and Garner Trojans are all undefeated in conference play, and they will all play each other in the season’s final weeks. The first matchup happens Thursday night at Middle Creek. Middle Creek, led by tackling machine Joey Maya, has notched big wins already this season, on the road at Heritage and Fuquay-Varina. Holly Springs also played Heritage close, but fell 21-19 to the Huskies on September 21.

Wakefield (3-5) @ Wake Forest (7-0) – Thursday, 7 p.m. — Wake Forest shouldn’t have much trouble in extending its winning streak to 39 games, as it faces just their second opponent with a losing record this season tonight against Wakefield. The Cougars pulled away from Rolesville last week for a 24-7 road victory, which was also their 29th consecutive victory in Northern conference play. The Wolverines are coming off a 37-9 rout of Corinth Holders last week.

Thursday night:

• Garner (5-3) @ Apex (0-8) – 7 p.m.
• Cardinal Gibbons (7-1) @ Southeast Raleigh (0-9) – 7 p.m.
• Corinth Holders (3-5) @ Knightdale (4-4) – 7 p.m.
• Smithfield-Selma (1-8) @ Clayton (6-2) – 7 p.m.
• Providence Grove (4-4) @ Carrboro (5-2) – 7:30 p.m.
• Athens Drive (2-7) @ Panther Creek (3-5) – 7 p.m.
• West Johnston (1-8) @ Cleveland (7-1) – 7 p.m.
• Sanderson (2-6) @ Broughton (4-4) – 7 p.m.
• South Johnston (6-2) @ East Wake (3-5) – 7 p.m.

Friday night:

• East Chapel Hill (1-6) @ Northern Durham (8-0) – 7 p.m.
• Jordan (3-5) @ Green Hope (5-3) – 7 p.m.
• Apex Friendship (1-7) @ Fuquay-Varina (5-3) – 7 p.m.
• Riverside-Durham (3-3) @ Cary (4-4) – 7 p.m.
• Wake Christian (2-5) @ North Raleigh Christian Academy (1-8) – 7 p.m.

Saturday night:

• Ravenscroft (4-5) @ Harrells Christian Academy (4-3) – 7 p.m.