When defending a weak position there are "lies, damn lies and statistics". Agree that who beat who doesn't have much meaning, but NR experienced some of the base running and defensive mistakes against Hickory (and also Kings Fork and Oscar Smith that they were able to overcome) that has plagued them historically. Western Branch is always a fundamentally sound team and top to bottom is probably the more talented of the two this year. If NR can avoid the untimely mental errors that WB doesn't seem to make then they can absolutely win a close low scoring game. Otherwise, a strong hitting team like WB will likely make them pay for those breakdowns the way Hickory was able to do last week.