You bring up a very interesting point...and you essentially make the argument for me that I've been trying to make all along when it comes to RC and NC scheduling each other for varsity football.
You say "...they (RC) had no problem beating our middle school program every year..." Well, let's look at that statement. So, RC's middle school program beat NC in football, as you say, "every year." BUT, then those same RC kids, once they got to the varsity level, somehow got annihilated by NC's varsity team every year - and they were beaten so badly that they eventually discontinued the relationship. Hmmmm...what does that tell us? How does such a turnaround happen? That tells us, without a doubt, that recruiting and reclassing athletes at NC certainly works. The same RC kids that beat NC year after year at the middle school level all of the sudden found themselves completely unable to compete with NC's varsity kids. That should tell you something...
Bottom line...RC shouldn't feel any pressure to play NC when everyone knows the playing field isn't equal. RC already plays teams that paste them every year (Parry McClure and Auburn) and many years BSH and Fuqua and KF are very hard to beat. There's no point for RC adding a ringer like NC to the schedule just because they are in the same town. For RC, as this state championship year shows, their schedule is just fine. It's unfortunate that NC is finding games closer to home so hard to find, but I imagine that is a product of what NC has done to other teams in years past. With RC, I imagine it was running up the score one too many times that did in the rivalry. Can't speak for NC, but judging by some of their lopsided scores this year, one could make the argument that this kind of thing still continues. Pretty sure they beat at least two different teams by more than 50 points this year... That kind of thing can certainly make other teams not want to put NC on the schedule..
