Preview – Lee County vs. New Hanover – All About the Numbers

When Lee County and New Hanover take the field on Friday night – it will ultimately come down to the team with the most points moving on to the 3AA State Championship on December 14th. But there are a lot of numbers to study as we prepare for the Eastern Final and get ready for a regional matchup of the top two seeds in the East. #1 Lee County (14-0) will host #2 New Hanover (13-1) at 7:30 at Paul Gay Stadium in Sanford. Below is a look at some comparisons of the two teams:

Overall Records

Lee County 14-0, 5-0 Champions of the Tri-County 3A Conference

New Hanover 13-1, 7-0 Champions of the Mid-Eastern 3A/4A Conference

Maxpreps Rankings

Lee County – 3A State ranking #7 – Team Rating 39.7 – SOS 10.2

New Hanover – 3A State Ranking #11 – Team Rating 34.2 – SOS 7.7

All Opponents Overall Regular Season Records

Lee County 54-71

New Hanover 57-71

Conference Opponents Overall Regular Season Records

Lee County 25-32

New Hanover 37-43

Playoff Results

Lee County beat (6-5) Eastern Guilford 41-7, beat (9-3) Southern Alamance 33-12, and beat (12-1) Cleveland 34-27

New Hanover beat (8-3) Topsail 46-7, beat (10-1) West Brunswick 21-7, and beat (9-4) Grays Creek 47-21

Results vs Teams with Winning Records During Regular Season

Lee County – Beat Hoke County, Beat Anson, Beat Union Pines, Beat Harnett Central, Beat Southern Lee

New Hanover – Beat Northside-Jax, Lost to Jack Britt, Beat Topsail, Beat W. Brunswick

Scoring

Lee County – 42.5 PPG

New Hanover – 38.3 PPG

Points Allowed

Lee County – 11.6 PPG

New Hanover – 8.8 PPG

Total Yardage

Lee County – Rushing (3366), Passing (2213), Total Yardage (5579)

New Hanover – Rushing (3151), Passing (1946), Total Yardage (5097)

Quarterback Comparison

Lee County (Colin Johnson – 6’2, 170, Sr.) 168 of 270 for 62.2% – 2198 total yards with 28 TDs and 2 INTs

New Hanover (Chase Nixon – 6’ 187, Sr.) 136 of 215 for 63.3% – 1869 total yards with 28 TDs and 2 INTs

Leading Rusher Comparisons

Lee County (AJ Boulware – 6’ 200, Sr.) 217 carries for 1877 yards – 8.6 YPC – 27 TDs

New Hanover (Makai Stanley – 6’2 210, Sr.) 125 carries for 1315 yards – 10.5 YPC – 18 TDs

Top Receiving Targets

Lee County

Tyric McKendall – 52 catches for 673 yards and 5 TDs

Jayden Chalmers – 22 catches for 439 yards and 9 TDs

Timmy Lett – 20 catches for 198 yards and 4 TDs

Jackson Lamb – 16 catches for 202 yards and 4 TDs

New Hanover

Jaheim Marshall – 51 catches for 989 yards and 14 TDs

Landon Farris – 22 catches for 252 yards and 5 TDs

Makai Stanley – 14 catches for 220 yards and 1 TD

Aaden Brady – 11 catches for 93 yards and 3 TDs

And could this one be any closer? The two top scoring kickers in the State

Lee County (Trey Underwood) 63 of 70 PATs, 12 FGs for 99 total kick points

New Hanover (Owen Daffer) 63 of 70 PATs, 11 FGs for 96 total kick points

Once again, there are a lot of similarities with a playoff opponent on paper in terms of statistics for Lee County. There are several other key matchups and intangibles that WFJA Sports will be watching in this Friday night’s game.

• The Lee County run defense has held two really good rushing teams – Southern Alamance to 55 yards on 33 carries and Cleveland to 84 yards on 30 carries. That is a combined 139 yards on 63 carries (2.2 YPC) against teams with a combined 21-4 record entering the game with Lee County. Southern Alamance and Cleveland both had over 3000 yards rushing on the season entering the Lee County game.

• The New Hanover Wildcat defense has also been stingy in allowing only 8.8 points per game. The Lee County offensive line will have a tremendous challenge this week and play at the line of scrimmage will be key. The Yellow Jackets were able to eventually spread out the Cleveland defense this past week with good passing and some timely runs by Colin Johnson. It may take more of the same this week against New Hanover.

• Spectators will see two of the best kickers in NC high school football on Friday night. Trey Underwood currently leads all kickers in scoring this season with 99 total points and New Hanover kicker Owen Daffer is close behind at 96.

• Lee County will be home for the 5th consecutive week. Home has been good to the Yellow Jackets who are now 8-0 at Paul Gay Stadium this season.

Friday night’s game will air in the Sandhills on 105.5 FM and stream online at www.wfjawwgpradio.com. Thanks to all football fans for making this past Friday night’s game the largest number of online listeners in the history of WFJA! Spread the word to your out-of-town friends that they can listen in long-distance to the Yellow Jackets this Friday night!