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 StateChampionships 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.