The Elks and Granite Bears will go their separate ways into different conferences next season, and it doesn't look like the two schools plan to schedule each other as non-conference foes in 2009.
The swan song of the current series looms huge for both teams.
Mount Airy (9-0, 6-0 Northwest 1A) will lock up a second-straight conference title with a win tonight, while Elkin (8-1, 6-0) could snatch that title away if it can manage to pull the upset and then beat East Surry at home next Friday.
"It's a big ball game. It's always a big ball game," Elks coach Richard Grissom said after practice Thursday afternoon. "It's the kind of ball game you like to play. You know somebody is pretty good and you go play them, and if you can play well against them, it means a whole lot."
It's no stretch to call the Buckin' Elks a strong underdog tonight. Mount Airy hasn't really been challenged by anyone this season, including the current No. 3 team in the Northwest 1A Conference, East Surry, which fell 46-8 to the Bears on Oct. 3.
The closest game Mount Airy has played came against North Surry in September -- and that was still a four-touchdown victory, 48-20.
Grissom acknowledges the tough assignment that his troops face tonight. But he stubbornly refuses to let the entire conversation be about the Granite Bears.
"They've got a good football team and we've got a good football team, too," he said. "We'll just have to see how we play. There is not a lot to say other than we've got to line up and play, and the best team wins."
The key to victory will be the team that executes the best and makes the fewest mistakes. Obviously, makes have been few and far between for Mount Airy, which is usually able to rest its starters by the third quarter.
Elkin played probably its best game last Friday, jumping to a 46-0 lead against Alleghany by halftime and winning 52-0. The Elks won all phases of the game, scoring nearly every time it touched the ball in the first half.
"We've got to play a complete ball game (against Mount Airy)," Grissom said. "But they've got to play a complete ball game, too. I don't think we're going to roll over and let them wup us. Our kids will be ready to play and they'll play the best that they can play."
Elkin was the last team to beat Mount Airy in a regular season game -- putting a 43-12 whipping on the Bears on Oct. 30, 2006. Since that time, only Thomasville (2006) and Albemarle (2007) in the playoffs have stopped the juggernaut.
Many believe this year's senior-laden roster is primed for a state-title run. Grissom knows plenty about that, leading teams to "small 1A" championships in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006.
The Elks may enjoy a slight advantage tonight in that Mount Airy played this past Monday (beating West Wilkes 61-8), while Elkin was able to get its game in last Friday without a postponement. The schedule changes did allow each head coach to attend the other's game.
"It's not going to be tough getting ready for Elkin," Mount Airy coach Kelly Holder told The Mount Airy News after the West Wilkes game. "They are so well coached and so efficient. They really play hard every year and they do so many different things with the way they line up and slant. "They do a lot of different things and it is sometimes complicated to know what they are going to do. They really get upfield and try to stop the run and that is why they have been successful. We are going to take what they can give us and do the best we can."
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