Abstract: A combine harvesting head includes harvesting snouts, gathering chains to pull crop stalks into the space between adjacent snouts, roller mechanisms to pull crop stalks downward away from the harvesting head, and stripper plates to strip the crop from its stalks. Each stripper plate assembly has two halves, with the first half having a stalk-contacting edge and a surface extending upward and away from that edge in a first direction, and the second half having a stalk-contacting edge and a surface extending downward and away from that edge in a second direction. The first stripper plate half is positioned at a level that is higher from the ground than the level of the corresponding second stripper plate half, and overlaps or is directly adjacent the second stripper plate half so that there is little or no horizontal gap between the two halves.