Polk to travel to Maiden for 2A football playoff opener

Published 10:50 am Monday, October 31, 2022

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Polk County will open the 2A state playoffs with a trip to Maiden per brackets released Saturday by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

The Wolverines (5-5) received the 28th seed in the 2A West bracket and will journey to face the fifth-seeded Blue Devils (9-1) for the 7:30 p.m. playoff opener.

Maiden won the Catawba Valley Conference regular-season title. The Blue Devils last faced Polk County in 2011, taking a 41-27 victory.

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The game will feature a matchup of Shrine Bowl selections in Polk County’s Angus Weaver and Maiden’s Chris Culliver, a wide receiver/defensive back who has verbally committed to North Carolina.

Prior to Friday’s 47-13 win over Newton-Conover, Culliver had caught 52 passes for 1,123 yards and 16 touchdowns this season. Quarterback Wesley Thompson has thrown for 2,230 yards and 26 touchdowns on 118-of-181 attempts, with senior Jacob Sigmon catching 33 passes for 422 yards.

Maiden also has a 1,000-yard rusher in senior Ben Gibbs (168-1050-13).

Mountain Foothills 7 Conference champion Chase received the eighth seed and will host North Wilkes while Hendersonville earned the 15th seed and will host West Lincoln.

Brevard, which defeated Polk County 31-27 on Friday, received the 27th seed and will travel to Salisbury.