HILLSBOROUGH – Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for the Northwood football team, they did.

On a chilly Friday night in Hillsborough, the Chargers suffered a heart-breaking 24-17 defeat at the hands of Cedar Ridge, the first ever win by the Red Wolves in Mid-State 2A play.

With the loss, Northwood falls to 0-2 in Mid-State 2A play and to 2-5 overall.

While on the surface things look bleak for the locals, they aren’t quite as bad as they seem.

Northwood could still win out and take second place in the MSC come playoff time.

But for the locals to do so, they must first eliminate the costly mistakes that have plagued the Chargers all season.

"I told the guys, Cedar Ridge has three losses in the conference, and everyone else is shooting for second behind Graham," said NW coach Bill Hall. "This team has the capability of winning out and taking that second playoff spot. To do so we have got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with these costly mistakes."

On Friday night for everything Northwood did right it seemed two things would go against the local bunch.

The contest started with Northwood using a bit of trickery as Ben Haines passed to Phillip Bromley in the flats, who caught the pass and pitched it to 5’9, 260-pound fullback Lamori Hackney circling around on the hook-n-lateral play.

The high-school football season is halfway over, and it’s time to hand out report cards on the three county teams.

The grading system will be composed of where the team is now and have they played up to potential.

First, let’s start off with the Jordan-Matthews Jets.

The Jets receive a B through the first seven games.

J-M is a young team, and is a year away from really making an impact in the Yadkin Valley 1A conference.

The defense, at times, is awesome, and has been the mainstay for the Jets so far this season.

In a 8-2 loss to Thomasville last month, the J-M defense did more than hold its own against a talented Bulldog offense.

The Jets flew around the field, forcing six fumbles, keeping their team in the game until the final minutes.

A far cry from last year’s 40-6 loss to Thomasville.

J-M’s two wins so far match last year’s total, and with home games against South Davidson and East Montgomery to come, the Jets should have a much better finish than a year ago when they lost their last four games.

Six netters from the Jordan-Matthews Jets and four, possibly six, Chatham Central Bears all qualified for the regional Monday afternoon at East Montgomery in the Yadkin Valley 1A Conference tournament.

From the undefeated Jets, Sarah Johnson routed North Moore’s Corey Wright, 6-0, 6-0 in singles action in the opening round before disposing of South Davidson’s Elizabeth Collins, 6-2, 6-0.

Holly Thomas joined her teammate in the regional with two impressing wins as well.

Thomas beat Jennifer Ritchie from South Stanly, and went on to handle Sarah Chesson of West Davidson, 6-1, 6-2.

From Chatham Central, Erin Leonard remained undefeated on the season after rolling over Thomasville’s Vanessa Koch, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round and receiving a free pass in round two after East Montgomery’s Sabrina Conrad forfeited, raising Leonard’s mark to 21-0 on the year.

Katie Liles will join Leonard in Biscoe after she took care of business in two wins, the first over Ashley Hunsucker from NM and the second off of Lashaunda Ryan from EM.