VLI)2 Cljarlotie ^ost
Thursday, September 7, 1989
SPORTS
mm.
James
Cuthbertson
Post Sports Writer
High School
Pigskin Pickings
1. Harding - The Rams look like the class of the Trl County
conference. Buddy Rego could be working that maroon and
gold magic again.
2. Independence - The Patriots keeps moving towards the
state playoffs.
3. South Mecklenburg- The Sabres have the strong arm of
the law in Mac White to lead them to the promise land. Steve
Shaugnessy does not lose. He has a golden thumb. Eveiythlng
he touches turns to gold.
4. North Mecklenburg- The Vlkes are emerging as a force to
be reckoned with in the Tri County 4A. It looks like Campag-
na's forces are back.
5. Hunter Huss- The Huskies are being accused of recruiting
Bessemer City athletes. It is going to be interesting to see how
the case turns out. The North Carolina High School Athletic
Association frowns on changing legal guardianship just to
switch schools for athletic purposes.
6. West Mecklenburg- The Indians have the talent but the
OOMPH is not there yet.
7. West Charlotte- It is a little early to tell what West Char
lotte really has but don't count the Lions out of the title race
yet.
8. Charlotte Latin- This is a hot team.
9. Ashbrook- The Green Wave is one of the big four in the
Southwestern 4A.
10. Providence Day- This is Charlotte Latin's chief rival.
Featured Game of the Week
Friday September 8
GARINGER at NORTH MECKLENBURG
The Wildcats of Garinger have shown that they are im
proved over last year's edition. In this non-conference
game, both will be trying to go into next week's toughles
with a win- West Mecklenburg at Garinger and North
Mecklenburg at South Mecklenburg with a win.
NORTH MECKLENBURG 21. GARINGER 7.
*
IX
In Other Games: Providence Day 17, Northwest Ashe 7;
Catholic 14, Parkwood 7; Latin 7, Chatham Central 6; Ash
brook 21, East Gaston 7; Shelby 7, Crest 6; Hunter Huss 12,
East Rutherford 10; Harding 33, Providence 7; West Mecklen
burg 7, South Point 6; East Mecklenburg 12, Olympic 7.
The Southwestern 4A conference has three playoff spots this
year and the best bets are Independence, Hunter Huss and
South Mecklenburg. However, Ashbrook has the talent to be a
spoiler and the final spot might be decided with two season
' ending games featuring South Mecklenburg at Independence
and Ashbrook at Hunter Huss in the battle of GASTONIA..
More than 12,000 are expected to be in attendance at Hunter
Huss Stadium. The big barbecue starts at 5 p.m. Come one
come all.
The Trl County Conference will go down to the last week of
the season also with North Mecklenburg at West Mecklenburg.
This could easily decide the first or second position.
In the first round of the state playoffs which will begin No
vember LO, the Tri County number two team is at the Central
Piedmont number 2. The Tri County number one team is at
home to the Central Piedmont number three and the Tri
County number three team is at the Metro number one team.
The Southwestern number one is home to the Mountain Ath
letic number two. The Southwestern number 2 is at the North
western number one and the Southwestern number three is at
the Metro number two.
The Trl County or Southwestern teams could not meet until
the semifinals of the state playoffs. They are in separate
brackets.
The Metro conference is Winston-Salem Carver, East
Greensboro Smith, South Stokes and Burlington Williams.
The Central Piedmont conference is Davie County, Greens
boro Dudley, Greensboro Grimsley, Winston-Salem Mount
Tabor, Winston-Salem Parkland, Winston-Salem R.J. Re
ynolds, South Rowan and West Forsyth.
The Northwestern conference includes Alexander Central,
East Burke, Morganton Freedom, Hickory, McDowell Central.
South Caldwell and Boone Watauga.
The Mountain Athletic conference is Asheville, Asheville
Erwin, Asheville A.C. Reynolds and Waynesvllle Tuscola.
Flowers, Jamison Tops This Week
Maurice Flowers and Craig
Jamison piled up the most Im
pressive statistics for Johnson
C. Smith in last week's 58-41
loss to Bowie State.
Flowers, a 6-4, 212-pound jun
ior quarterback from Charlote,
completed 16 of 32 pass at
tempts for 263 yards and three
touchdowns.
Jamison, a 6-0, 220 freshman
linebacker from Orangeburg,
S.C., had 12 total tackles on de
fense.
■
-t
N.C. Central running back Tim Cofield (26) looks for daylight as
N.C. A&T linebacker Demetrius Harrison (45) moves in for the
tackle in the Aggies' 24-6 win in Greensboro last week. A&T
plays at Winston-Salem State Saturday while the Eagles play
Morris Brown in Durham.
Smith Home; A&T, Rams Hook Up Too
By HERB WHITE
Post Managing Editor
The second week of the CIAA
Southern Division season finds
most teams trying to stop skids
before they get too far along
while Winston-Salem State re
news an old rivalry.
Johnson C. Smith's Golden
Bulls hope to avoid falling into a
deep hole Saturday when they
open their home football sched
ule against Virginia Union.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at Me
morial Stadium.
Smith, who lost to Bowie State
in a 58-41 shootout in Maryland
last week, fell behind 38-0 after
16 minutes of play. After that,
the Bulls made a run at the Bull
dogs' regulars, outscorlng them
41-20.
Turnovers were Smith's neme
sis early, with Bowie cashing in
to threaten a rout.
By the second quarter, howev
er, the Bulls rallied behind
quarterback Maurice Flowers,
who passed for nearly 300 yards
and three touchdowns.
Smith showed plenty of offen
sive muscle despite the loss,
even rolling up 112 yards net
rushlng--better than any effort
last season, when the Bulls
went 2-7-1. The 41 points
against Bowie topped every ef
fort last year as well, surpassing
32 against Livingstone.
The Panthers, who rolled past
Fayetteville State last week, has
quarterback Carl Wright run
ning the offense. He'll hand the
ball off to Kurth Greene, a fed-
shirt freshman or passing to
Donald Saunders.
The Panther defense is solid,
with Tim Hall replacing CIAA
defensive player of the year Le
roy Cause at linebacker. He'll be
joined by Randall Pearson, who
will work behind lineman Her
bert Parham.
In one of the biggest and most
bitterly-fought rivalries in the
state, N.C. A&T travels to Wins
ton-Salem to play Winston-
Salem State.
Aggies coach Bill Hayes
brings his first A&T squad into
Bowman-Gray Stadium for the 7
p.m. game, which is expected to
fill the stadium near capacity.
The Aggies bumped off their
other main N.C. rival, N.C. Cen
tral, 24-6 last week at home.
Quarterback Connell Maynor,
who came to A&T along with
Hayes last year, direceted the
Aggies attack wtlh two touch
down passes while the defense
limited the usually high-scoring
Eagles to six points.
The Rams, coached by former
Hayes assistant Pete Richard
son, opened with a win over
Knoxville. Quarterback Kenny
Jones and running back Brode
rick Graves lead the Rams' of
fense, which led the CIAA in
rushing last season.
Les Barley, Anthony McCord
and Cornell Wallace lead the de
fense, the best in the CIAA the
past two seaosns. The Rams
also have the league's best kick
er in Dino Belligrinls, who con
verted 35 of 38 PATs and 17 of 23
field goals last season.
Central will try to rebound to
its loss to A&T against Morris
Brown at 7 p.m. at O'Kelly Field.
The Eagles had trouble scoring
against A&T, something that
didn't happen often last season
when they led the CIAA in pass
ing. Quarterback Ed Witcher will
try to get Central untracked.
After a season-opening game
at Elizabeth City State, the
Bears will continue on the road,
this week to Atlanta, where they
play Atlanta-Clark College.
NFL Fever Draws A Big Ownership Group
Flowers
Richardson
Names New
Team
By HERB WHITE
Post Managing Editor
The Carollnas' bid for an NFL
franchise is picking up steam,
with the Spartanburg business
man Jerry Richardson an
nouncing the formation of a
partnership group to help fi
nance the effort.
At a Tuesday press conference,
Richardson, a former receiver
with the Baltimore Colts, intro
duced the 15 people who make
up the financl^ backing for the
prospective expansion team.
Along with his wife and two
sons, the names behind the ef
fort reads like a who's-who of
the Carollnas richest people,
such as John and Thomas Belk
and H.C. Blssell of the Blssell
Companies.
The group will be responsible
for financing the entire expan
sion team effort, which is pro
jected to cost an estimated $200
million to bring to the area.
Mark Richardson, general
manager of Richardson Sports
and Jerry Richardson's son, said
the effort to lure the NFL to the
Charlotte area got a big boost
last month when an exhibition
between Philadelphia and the
New York Jets drew 52,885 to
Raleigh's Carter-Flnley Stadi
um. Mark Richardson said re
sponse from league Insiders was
positive, especially since the ex
hibition took place 150 miles
away from the center of the ex
pansion team's attendance area.
Even with national coverage
on ESPN, the sellout in Raleigh
showed the strength of fan in
terest in both states, Mark Rich
ardson said.
s r
Photo/CALVIN FERGUSON
Mark (left) and Jeny Richardson hope to bring the NFL to the Carollnas.
"That's really Indicative of the
way people feel about the Caro
llnas today," he said. "Over the
last two—two and a half years,
we've been able to educate peo
ple about the Carollnas."
Richardson acknowledged the
region is still rolling after the
first-year success of the NBA
Charlotte Hornets, and the NFL
effort is taking advantage of it to
an extent.
"It's hot," Richardson said of
the Carollnas market. 'The Car-
olinas are doing real well. We're
peaking at the right time."
The NFL is believed to be con
sidering expansion, with possi
bly two sites to be chosen in the
next year. An expansion com
mittee consisting of current
team owners is expected to be
formed shortly after a successor
to league commissioner Pete
Rozelle is chosen. In the mean
time, said Richardson, the Caro
llnas delegation will continue to
lobby for a team while planning
for the day one is located near
one of four areas near Charlotte.
"There's definitely not a time
table" for expansion, Richard
son said. "The NFL's first priority
is to find a new commissioner.
What we need to do is have our
ducks in a row.
Richardson said speculation
points to new teams coming into
the league by 1992. Although
Charlotte doesn't have a stadi
um, the Richardsons plan to
build a 65,000-seat facility near
Charlotte.
Sites under consideration are
near uptown Charlotte, Cabar
rus and Gaston counties and
York County, S.C., where Hor
nets owner George Shinn has
expressed Interest in allowing a
football stadium to be built on
his property.
Jerry Richardson declined to
say which site is likely to get a
stadium, saying that still has to
be studied.
"We're going to evaluate the
four potential sites and decide
which one is best," he said.
In the past, the league has
awarded franchises to cities
with stadiums in place, but not
having a facility poses no threat
to the local effort, Mark Richard
son maintains.
"As long as we have a stadium
planned, that won't hurt us," he
said.