DALLAS, Ga.,None — The Thursday Night High School Football game of the week for September 22nd is a matchup between the undefeated East Paulding Raiders and the 2-2, North Paulding Wolfpack.
Both schools are currently closed for the week due to fall break, but the Wolfpack were still on the field early this morning refining their game plan in preparation for a tough matchup against their cross-town rivals, the Raiders. North Paulding has been in existence since 2007, so the football program is still new and has had only one graduating class to this point. Many of the North Paulding students were part of the East Paulding school system growing up, so these two teams are extremely familiar with one another.
"They know each other by name," Wolfpack Head Coach, Heath Webb told WSB-TV sports and WSBTV.com. "We'll refer to one of their players by number and and our kids will refer to them by name because they've grown up together. That adds a little bit to [this game] as well. There's obviously pressure from within the community because we're so tight knit."
North Paulding is coming off of a tough 39-21 loss to Sprayberry last week. Wolfpack players are still bitter about the loss, mainly because they felt that it was a game they could have won, had it not been for the five turnovers the team committed.
"For us, the biggest key is not turning the ball over," Coach Webb explained. "If we can protect the football, we're in good shape. We're young and inexperienced. We have 19 new starters this year, so making sure we protect the football is the biggest key for us."
On Thursday, the game can be seen at 7:30pm on Charter channel 126, Comcast channel 248 and also online at WSBTV.com. A re-air of the Thursday Night Game of the Week also runs Friday at 1:06 AM on WSB-TV, Channel 2.
To hear what Coach Webb had to say about the new rivalry forming between North and East Paulding High School's, check out the video below.