Vote now: Who should be SBLIve’s North Carolina High School Coach of the Week (Oct. 27-29)

Here are the candidates for SBLive’s North Carolina High School Coach of the Week for Oct. 27-29 as nominated SBLive’s staff. Read through the nominees and cast your vote at the bottom of the page. Voting will conclude on Thurs., Nov. 3rd at 11:59 p.m. and the winner will be announced Friday, Nov. 4th.

THIS WEEK’S NORTH CAROLINA COACH OF THE WEEK NOMINEES

Editor’s note: Our Coach of the Week feature and corresponding poll is intended to be fun, and we do not set limits on how many times a fan can vote during the competition. However, we do not allow votes that are generated by script, macro or other automated means. Coaches that receive votes by script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.

James Phillips, Andrews

The Wildcats made all kinds of history Friday night. They thrashed Murphy 42-12 to complete an undefeated regular season and win their first conference championship in 39 years.

There were hints last year when they posted a 7-3 record. But the Wildcats have clearly take another step.

Mark Holcomb, Oak Grove

Holcomb is back on this list again and for good reason. The Grizzlies just staged a dramatic come-from-behind 16-14 win over Central Davidson to finish the regular season undefeated and win the Mid-Piedmont Conference championship. It’s the first 10-0 campaign in Oak Grove’s sixth year - all under Holcomb - year of existence.

It took some gutty calls to pull out this win, such as scoring the winning touchdown on a reverse. Holcomb and the Grizzlies got it done.

Bill Sochovka, Pine Forest

The Trojans just won their second straight conference championship by defeating Overhills 21-0. Last year’s conference title was the school’s first and the Trojans have continued to build on it.

Robby Priest, East Bladen

The Eagles finished the regular season in strong fashion, laying down a 53-28 beating on St. Pauls, the team that had been one game ahead in the standings. They finished tied for second.

This marks an improvement over last season when the Eagles were 4-7.

Tom Nelson, Fike

Nelson’s team scored a touchdown with 16 seconds left to pull out a 35-28 win over archival Hunt and win the Wilson County championship. It was the Demons’ third straight win overall and seventh consecutive triumph in the series.

The Demons could be peaking at the right time.

Chris Powell, Draughn

The Wildcats blew out Mountain Heritage 49-21 to lock up the program’s first-ever conference championship. They’re 9-1 overall and wound up 6-0 in the 1-A/2-A Western Highlands Conference.

That’s a huge rise from a year ago when Draughn was 6-6 and finished third in the conference.

Paul Whitaker, West Henderson

Talk about a giant leap. The Falcons were 3-8 last year. That might seem like a long time ago since the Falcons just wrapped up a perfect 10-0 regular season and won the program’s first conference championship since 1996. And they did so with a 51-7 rout of previously undefeated Tuscola.

Yes, that's a giant leap.