Chapel Hill, NC – The fourth round of the 2021 NCHSAA Football State Playoffs is scheduled for Friday, November 26, 2021.
1A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Tarboro (11-1) vs. #4 Northampton County (10-2)
#2 Northside-Pinetown (11-1) vs. #6 Pender (8-3)
WEST
#4 Robbinsville (9-3) vs. #9 Murphy (9-4)
#2 Mount Airy (13-0) vs. #3 Mitchell (11-2)
2A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Princeton (12-0) vs. #5 St. Pauls (11-0)
#3 Northeastern (12-0) vs. #10 Wallace-Rose Hill (11-2)
WEST
#1 Shelby (12-1) vs. #4 Reidsville (12-0)
#2 East Surry (12-0) vs. #3 Maiden (13-0)
3A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#1 Eastern Alamance (10-1) vs. #13 Jacksonville (10-2)
#6 J.H. Rose (9-4) vs. #23 Scotland County (8-4)
WEST
#4 Crest (10-2) vs. #16 South Point (10-3)
#2 Statesville (12-0) vs. #3 Dudley (12-1)
4A FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP FOURTH ROUND PAIRINGS
EAST
#16 Leesville Road (10-2) vs. #20 Rolesville (8-5)
#6 Cardinal Gibbons (11-2) vs. #18 Panther Creek (10-3)
WEST
#1 Hough (13-0) vs. #13 East Forsyth (11-1)
#3 Weddington (12-1) vs. #10 Julius Chambers (12-1)
Here are a couple of interesting facts about this year’s fourth round games
- This year marks the 14th consecutive football season that Tarboro will practice football on Thanksgiving Day, the longest streak NC.
- Every program remaining in the 3A and 4A Classifications has an all-time (since 1972 when NCHSAA Record Keeping began) playoff winning percentage greater than .500.
- Only four teams left in the playoffs have a less than .500 all-time playoff winning percentage: Northside-Pinetown (1A, 21-27, .438), East Surry (2A, 31-33, .484), St. Pauls (2A, 25-28, .472), Princeton (2A, 19-22, .463). Of those four schools, three participated in the State Football Championship Games a season ago (Northside-Pinetown, East Surry, & St. Pauls).
- Murphy & Robbinsville met on Oct. 15 this year with the Black Knights holding off Murphy 23-20.
- Crest and South Point played one another on Oct. 1 this year and Crest won a thrilling 27-26 victory at home.
- Six of the eight remaining teams in the 4A Bracket have reached a state championship game in the last two year.
- The matchup between Reidsville and Shelby pits arguably the two most successful football programs in the state against one another.
- Reidsville has won 19 State Championships and is 86-25 (.775) in playoff games since 1972. Shelby has won 11 NCHSAA State
- Championships and holds a 112-26 (.812) in playoff games since 1972. The last time Reidsville & Shelby met in a playoff game was the 2014 2A Third Round won by Shelby 17-7. The Golden Lions also knocked Reidsville out of the 2013 2A playoffs, winning the Regional Final 49-3. The last time Reidsville defeated Shelby in the playoffs was the 2007 2AA State Championship Game, won by the Rams 28-20.