cs
Ares seni
SPORTS
—— GRIDGRAPH
First Downs
Yds. Rushing
Passes
Yds. Passing
"Punts
Fumbles Lost
Yds. Penalized
By Quarters:
B 0
KM 12
KM - Pressley 3 run (kick failed)
KM - Pressley 4 run (run failed)
B - Akers 1 run (Brown run)
B - Brown 24 field goal.
B - Brown 6 run (Brown kick).
Player
Curt Pressley
William Short
Eric Odems
Tracy Johnson
Roy Mathis
Chris Champion
Trent Hullender
Todd Cloninger
Thomas Putnam
Player
Cloninger
Pressley
KM - Pressley 65 punt return (kick failed)
B - Brown 18 pass from Akers (Brown kick)
KMHS RUSHING
KMHS PASSING
B
6 5
156 96
030 460
Qc 073
441 4-195
3 4
100 68
#7 8 3 7-25
0 6 0 0-18
TC YDS.
15 76
5 27
6 22
2 17
6 7
2 4
1 3
1 0
1 0
Att. Comp.
2 0
1 0
Photo by Gary Stewart
HELPS LEAD WIN - Karen Ledford, playing the number one
singles position, defeated Carla Hayes 7-5, 2-6, 6-0 Thursday
afternoon to help lead Kings Mountain High's girls tennis team
to a 5-4 win over East Lincoln in the season's opener. The
Mountainettes travel to West Mecklenburg Thursday.
Mountainettes Edge
East 5-4 In Opener
Kings Mountain High’s girls
tennis team won a hard-fought
54 victory over East Lincoln in
their season-opening match
Thursday afternoon at the
KMHS courts.
The Mountainettes won the
first four singles matches but
East Lincoln came back strong.
The KM victory avenged a
season-opening loss to East Lin-
coln last year.
“It was a tough match,” said
an exhausted coach Ed Guy.
“Both teams played real well.”
Karen Ledford, Robin
Warlick, Pat Davis and Leigh
Anne Odell won singles matches
for the Mountainettes. Warlick
teamed with Becky Bolt for a
three-set win over Janet Nixon
and Jennifer Hicks of East Lin-
coln in a doubles match which
gave KM the victory.
“I thought Karen Ledford did
a real good job against Carla
Hoyle in the number one singles
match,” Guy said. “Ledford lost
to Hoyle last year and fell behind
4-0 in the first set, but came back
to win 7-5, 2-6, 6-0.
“Warlick, Davis and Odell all
played real well, also,” he went
on. “We had to win one doubles
match to win it and Warlick and
Bolt really came through for us.”
They won 6-3, 3-6, 64.
The Mountainettes are
scheduled to go to West
Mecklenburg Thursday. They
return home next Tuesday to
play North Mecklenburg. :
“Hopefully, we’ll keep on do-
ing good,” said Guy. “This was a
good win for us over a tough
team. I hope our tough non-
conference schedule will help us
when we get into our conference
schedule.”
THE RESULTS
(Singles)
Karen Ledford (KM) def.
Carla Hoyle 7-5, 2-6, 6-0.
Robin Warlick (KM) def.
Jamie Barkley 6-3, 6-1.
Pat Davis def. Janet Nixon
6-3, 6-3. :
Leigh Anne Odell (KM) def.
Jennifer Hicks 7-5, 7-5.
Randi Little (EL) def. Becky
Bolt 64, 6-2.
Cindy Shulse (EL) def. Mary
Starnes 7-5, 64.
(Doubles)
Hoyle-Barkley (EL) def.
Ledford-Davis 64, 7-6.
Warlick-Bolt (KM) def.
Nixon-Hicks 6-3, 3-6, 64.
Little-Shulse (EL) def. Odell-
Starnes 64, 7-6.
KM'S TOP RUSHER - Curt Pressley (11) goes around right end
for good yardage in first quarter of Kings Mountain's season
opening football game with Burns Friday night at Gamble
Ashbrook Here Friday
Burns Comeback Whips KM 25-18
For a quarter Friday night
during their season-opening foot-
ball game with Burns at Gamble
Stadium, Kings Mountain’s
Mountaineers must have felt like
a championship ballteam.
They broke out to a quick
12-0 lead and everything was go-
ing their way.
But for the rest of the night,
the Mounties were caught in a
Murphy’s Law situation and saw
the Bulldogs come from behind
and take a 25-18 overtime vic-
tory.
Everything that could go
wrong went wrong for: the
Mounties over the final three
periods. No less than six running
backs and several linemen left
the game due to injuries—most of
them leg cramps-and untimely
penalties killed the Mounties at
other times.
A pass interference call
against the Mounties aided
Burns first touchdown drive, and
a personal foul which in a round-
about way resulted in an 80-yard
penalty against the Mounties set
up the second Bulldog score.
Jayvees
Lose 16-12
At Burns
Penalties and the inability to
convert their points after
touchdowns cost Kings Moun-
tain High’s jAyvee footballers in
a 16-12 loss to Burns Thursday
night.
The Little Mountaineers were
stopped on both of their extra
point attempts, while the
Bulldogs made good on both of
theirs.
Perry King scored both
touchdowns for Burns, one on a
65-yard punt return and the
other on a 30-yard run. Quarter-
back Steve Edwards ran for both
Burns conversions.
Kings Mountain got its first
touchdown with 26 seconds left
in the half when Danny Moore
scored on a seven yard run. The
final KM score came midway of
the third period when quarter-
back Maury Williams scored
from two yards out following a
40-yard run by Lavar Curry.
The Little Mounties drove to
the Burns 30 late in the game but
a final pass with no time remain-
ing fell short in the endzone.
Burns’ David Gillespie and
Robert Vinson had pass in-
terceptions to stop two other
Mountaineer drives in the se-
cond half.
“Penalties hurt us on just
about every drive,” noted KM
Coach Tim Echols, who saw his
team fall to 1-1 on the year. “But
the team did not give up. We fell
behind early but stayed in there
and almost won it. We showed a:
‘lot of character.”
The Little Mountaineers will
try to get back on the winning
track Thursday at 7 p.m. at
Ashbrook.
Darin Brown, one of the
Southwestern 3-A Conference’s
finest runners who gained 102
yards for the night (as a team,
the Bulldogs had only 96 yards),
. was almost a one-man show for
the Bulldogs, who have beaten
the Mounties in the season
opener four years in a row.
On the other hand, Kings
Mountain was successful in
moving the ball only when
junior tailback Curt Pressley was
in the game, and Pressley played
very little after the first period
because of leg cramps.
Pressley gave the Mounties a
6-0 lead early in the game when
he circled right end on a five
yard run, and moments later he
returned a Burns punt 65 yards
for a TD and a 12-0 Moun-
taineer lead.
But Burns drove 74 yards late
in the half and Brown scored on
an 18-yard run and also kicked
the extra point to make it 12-7 at
the half. That drive was aided by
a 15-yard pass interference
against the Mounties which gave
Burns a first down on the KM
29.
The Mounties took advantage
of a Burns mistake early in the
third period to go up by 18-7.
Defensive end Brad Reynolds
tackled the Burns punter at the
six yard line following a bad
snap from center and it took just
two runs by Pressley to get the
touchdown.
The missed extra point at-
tempts on all three KM
touchdowns began to look big
late in the third period when
Burns used two straight breaks
to get back in the ballgame.
With Kings Mountain on its
35 yard line and in a punting
situation, punter Roy Mathis got
off his best punt of the night
which rolled dead inside the
Burns 10. But a 15-yard personal
RUNNING STRONG - William Short (47) of
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers hits the mid-
dle of the line for good yardage against Burns
. Photos by Gary Stewart
Stadium. Leading the way for Pressley is guard Quinton
Rikard (64). KM scored two quick touchdowns for a 12-0 first
quarter lead but Burns came back to win 25-18 in overtime.
foul call on the Mounties
brought the ball back and on the
next punt attempt, the center’s
snap sailed over Mathis’s head
and he was tackled at the KMHS
10.,
It took the Bulldogs just two
plays to score, with Brown gain-
ing nine yards and quarterback
Sam Akers sneaking over from
the one. Brown then ran for a
two-point conversion to bring
Burns to within a field goal at
18-15.
Following a Mountaineer
punt, the Bulldogs took over
-near midfield and Brown crashed
through the left side of the line
and appeared headed for the
winning touchdown. But KM
defensive back William Short
came out of nowhere and tackl-
ed Brown at the 10 to momen-
tarily save the game. Burns was
pushed back by a penalty but
with five minutes to go, Brown
kicked a 35-yard field goal which
barely made it over the crossbar
to tie the game at 18-all.
In sudden death, Burns got
the first chance to score from the
10 and in just two plays around
right end, Brown took it in and
kicked the point-after for the
winning margin.
The Mounties tried four runs
into the middle of the line and
managed to gain only three
yards.
Despite the loss, KM Coach
Dan Brooks praised his players
for playing hard and blamed the
loss on inexperience.
“We knew we were young go-
ing in, and our inexperience cost
us some,” he said. “But, no one
person lost the game. It was a
team thing.
“Some mental and physical
mistakes took the game away
from us,” he went on. “We
played as well or better than
they did but just let the mistakes
beat us.”
in Friday's season-opening football game at
Brooks said the Mounties
played as well as they could at
times.
“Todd Cloninger did a good
solid job for us at quarterback,”
he said, “and Curt Pressley ran
the ball well. But I might add
that he ran well because the of-
fensive line did a good job of
blocking for him. I thought our
two defensive tackles and
linebackers played well. We got
a real good effort from a lot of
people.”
Of all the players who were in-
jured, Brooks said he expects all
to be.ready Friday except runn-
ing back Tracy Johnson, who
has some stitches in his face and
is doubtful for Friday’s game
with Ashbrook. Tackle Dale
Moore, who was injured in the
recent scrimmage with In-
dependence, is also doubtful for
Friday.
Looking to this week’s game
at Gamble Stadium against 4-A
power Gastonia Ashbrook,
Brooks says the Mounties face a
difficult task but have the talent
to win the ballgame.
“Ashbrook has a good football
team and they do a lot of things
well,” he said. “They have one of
the best quarterbacks in the area
in Jesse James. He runs the op-
tion real well and throws the ball
well.
“Jimmy McCurry is a real
good running back and their
defense is real strong. They
haven’t given up a point yet in
wins over East Gaston and
South Point.
“They’re experienced at every
position,” he went on. “Their
seniors were members of an
undefeated jayvee team and
they have a lot of kids back. But
if our kids play as hard'as they
did last week, we’ll be in the
game and will have a chance to
win if we cut out our mistakes.”
John Gamble Stadium. Ready to throw a block
for Short is Shawn Rainey (66). Burns won
25-18 in overtime.
a