n Pat's Peckings By NEALE PATRICK Hitting 'Homers', Football-Style Roger Maris and his record 61 and Mickey Mantle’s near-season-long bid for the same honor left sports fans homer-conscious during the baseball season, and vaulted the Yankees into the World Series. Now comes football, and a couple of gridiron-style “home runs” played opposite rolec. in deciding a pair of grid games on our schedule last weekend. It was singular that both the Kings Mountain-Shelby game here Friday night, and the Carolina-State scrap at Chapel Hill on Sat urday provided somewhat similar situations of football homers playing their part in the outcome of the tussles be tween the bitter rivals. i The two long runs (54 yards from scrimmage and 45 on a punt return) by sophomore Charlie Peeler of Shelby broke open the otherwise-tight defensive struggle at City Stadium. Those two “homers” marked the only difference in the two teams. But in Kenan Stadium the next afternoon, two “hom L tq-s” by State sophomore backs in the early mirutes were I wiped out by a flock of “singles” by the Tar Heels during the rest of the afternoon. Soph Mike Clark returned the opening kickoff for 83 yards and a TD, and another first year back, Tony Koszarsky, scampered 37 yards with a punt to set-up a field goal and a quick 10-0 lead for State. The quick “homers” worked in reverse, however, as Carolina smashed out enough “singles and doubles” for the 27-10 win, the first time in seven years that the Tar Heels have kicked off a campaign with a victory. Drawing a parallel on the two games is a bit far-fetch ed except, for the somewhat-similar long runs and their part in the game. But the situations struck a cord of simi larity. Yardage and first downs came hard for both the Mountaineers and the Lions until Peeler, the early “goat” as result of his fumble on the one-yard line, setting up the KM touchdown, kicked up his heels. The teams were tied at 7-all and each had three first downs when the soph half back made his first long journey, with a “late-inning hom er.” Things never were the same for the Mountaineers af ter that, and they became worse a few minutes later when Peeler, again, caught our side with its defenses down on the punt return. The Mountaineers had one big opportunity after that, following Alton Stew art’s 61-yard run, longest of the game here, but an interception halted that threat. But, in truth, our side was far too spent by that time, two touchdowms back and time running out. Pitching ’No-Hitter' In hrst Uowns The situation at Chapel Hill was similar . . only in reverse. The Wolfpack belted its “homers” in the first in ning. But the Tar Heels took over the middle frames, and State didn’t get another turn at bat until the “last of the ninth”. And that was too late. The battle of the brothers provided the strangest set of circumstances one could dream-up for a football game. Just consider the incredible series of events in chronologi cal order: _ State led 10-0 after live minutes of play. Yet the Wolfpack had run only three offensive plays and had a minus-two yards rushing. . _ At the end of the first quarter, State still led 10-0, but did not have a first down and zero yards rushing. Car olina had six first downs and 65 yards rushing. _Halftime saw State still leading 10-7, but still with out a first down and only eight yards rushing. Carolina had 11 first-in-tens and 127 yards rushing. The Tar Heels ran 48 scrimmage plays. Stale 14, in the first half. . . Finally, Carolina took the lead on the scoreboard, as well as in the statistical columns. The Tar Heels hiked their advantage to 27-10 in the fourth period, and also led in first downs by 21-0. It was suggested that Carolina was “pitching a no-hitter”, but had allowed a “couple of runs.” Tar Heels Hogged The Pigskin Probably the most amazing thing about the strange goings-on was that Roman Gabriel, tabbed as the number one pro prospect in college quarterback ranks, did not complete a pass for the first 47Va minutes of the game. He tried nine times, all in vain. Finally, with 12V-L* minutes to play he completed his first pass, and in so doing helped the Wolfpack to their first first-down In fairness, it might be pointed out that Gabriel and his friends seldom had a turn at bat. Carolina simply hogged the pigskin until it assumed . ;a 27-10 lead, one minute and 40 seconds into the fourth '^quarter. In those first 46 minutes and 40 seconds of the game, the Tar Heels ran 81 plays from scrimmage, com pared to only 19 for State. The Gabe had his opportunities after that, and took advantage of them, scoring a TD and passing for another, and having the Wolfpack on the move at the end. Until those waning minutes, the Tar Heels, in general, and guard Jack Tillery, in particular, gave Gabriel all he could handle . . . when he had the few opportunities tj handle the ball. Tillery, a 185-pound guard from Wilson, was the Gabe’s chief tormentor, slicing by blockers t> hawk the big quarterback unmercifully on every pass or option situation. The final story of the game, however, was written it the ball control and the Tar Heels refusal to lose their poise in the face of the two early “homers.” Carolina simply kept the pigskin to its self, running 9) plays from scrimmage, against State’s 42. It’s interesting too. that exactly half (45) of the Tar Heel plays were con sumed on four touchdown marches, ranging from 43 to 75 yards. The Tar Heels not only held onto the ball, but kept the ball as a means-to-an-end. Coach Jim Hickey cd to “surprise” that his team maintained Its poise after the early deficit. “When State ran back that opening kickoff, I said to myself, ‘oh my, here we go again, ” he said later, “And I was afraid that the boys wouid fall apart, but when we got our offense moving, I felt we could come back, and I was confident at halftime that we could win." THREE-POINTING FOR BESSEMER CITY - A trio of husky Mountaineer tackles take aim on Bessemer City's Yellow Jackets for the non Conference name here Friday night at 7:30. Left to right, the Mountie tackles are Jerry Rik ard, James Hope and Eddie Ross. Peeler’s Long Jaunts Break-Open Another Close KM-Shelby Contest Mountaineer Gridgraph YARDSTICK First Downs Yards rushing Yards passing Passes Attempted Passes Completed KM Shelby 4 6 97 168 2 4 11 4 2 1 Passes had intercepted Fumbles lost Punts-average Yards penalized SCORE BY QUARTERS 2 1 9-32.2 22 0 3 7.38 35 Shelby 0 7 7 6—20 Kings Mountain 7 0 0 0— 7 Scoring For Kings Mountoin Touchdown — Allen Stewart (1-yard run). Extra point—Wal ly Harris (run). For Shelby Touchdowns — Charles Noggle (•1-yard run). Bill Pernell (1 yard run), Charles Peeler (45 yard punt return). Extra points —Joe Roberts 2 (placements). INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Kings Mtn. Rushing Nome Carries Net Yds. Alton Stewart 15 39 Wally Harris 10 25 Tommy Hope 5 23 Butch Harry 3 10 TOTALS 33 97 Kings Mt. Passing Attp. Comp. Intcy Yd Harris 11 2 2 2 Kings Mtn. Receiving Name Caught Yds Alton Stewart 2 2 Shelby Rushing Name Carries Charles Peeler 9 Johnny Greene 9 Charles Noggle 10 Bill Pernell 9 Ronnie Wilson 2 Sonny Dockery 1 Don Patrick 1 (Bad center snap) TOTALS 41 168 Shelby Passing Name Attp. Comp. Yds. Noggle 4 14 Shelby Receiving Name Caught Yds. Bill Pernell 1 4 Net Yds 78 35 35 25 5 3 •1 -12 Stewart Second In Area Scoring Alton Stewart is seeking to duplicate the scoring feat of Punch Parker last year . . . . that of being the leading point-maker in the Gastonia area. At the moment, the Moun I taineer halfback ranks second ] in the scoring tabulation com ( piled by The Gastonia Gazette of prep football teams in Gas ton County and the Southwest west Conference clubs from Kings Mountain and Lincoln ton. Parker won the scoring cup last year with 122 points. Stewart has scared five tou chdowns and two points-after for 32 points to date, ra ting second behind Reggis Bal lard of Mt. Holly with 36 points. Charles Goodson also ranks with the top ten scorers, with 14 points, on two TD’s and two points - after. Stewart has also been cited by The Gazette as a “back of the week" for his two touch downs and two extra points In the recent win over Chase. coupie oi tong runs oroue up en the close-score series betweer the Mountaineers and Shelbj here Friday night. The pair of county rivals wen engaged in one of their typiea hard-hitting, close (tied 7-all ai the time) affairs when 155-pounc sophomore halfback Charles Pee leir went on a pair of long jaunts in the last half to fracture the tight-knit series. The speedy youngster wit! whom the Mountaineers and oth er Conference teams must con tend for the next two years spec 54 yards from scrimmage to set up the go-ahead TD in the third quarter, then he hauled back a punt for 45 yards for an insur ance score in the final period. Until Peeler showed his heels the rivals had swapped identical “breaks” in the first half for the 7-7 tie and they appeared well or their way to another in the series which has been decided by the grand-difference of one point ir five games. The Mountaineers had a eou | pie of opportunities of their owr in the second half, but flubbed both. The first one came on a fumblt recovery of the second half kick off. But the offense couldn’1 move from the Shelby 36. The other "final” chance came following Shelby’s pair of go-a head TD’s. The Mountaineers struck back with Alton Stewarl making the longest run of the game, a 61-yard jaunt of a kick off. He was in the clear, but a diving and desperate lunge b> Johnny Greene tripped him from the rear at the Shelby 15. Wally Harris’ second down pass was intercepted in the end zone by the same Greene in a con troversial play which left local fans in a fury. They felt the Shelby fullback interfered with Steve Brown, pushing him in or der to intercept. The game was strictly a defen sive struggle until Peeler began his scampering. The halftime deadlock of 7-all resulted from alert defensive recoveries oi fumbles, both teams playing the role of opportunists scoring af ter the recoveries. Halftime statistics showed just how close the teams were battling, Shelby having three first downs and 54 yards rush ing, compared to the Mountain eers two first downs and 65 yards net rushing. Neither team had completed a pass, and Shelby had drawn the only penalty, ol five yards. Kings Mountain received the first “handout” and took advan tage 01 u ror icne eariy-minuiie i 0 lead. After Harris raced 24 yards on the first series, Shelby braced and the KM quarterback punted. The ball bounced wildly near the goal, and Peeler decided at the last moment to field the ball. He immediately bubbled it, and Sammy Houston pounced on it at 1 the one yard line. Stewart sliced off the right side for the touchdown and Har ris went over the same spot for the extra point. That lead held-up most of the period, with neither team able to move the ball. Late in the period, Butch Harry fumbled a Charles Noggle punt at the KM 19 yard line and John ny Greene (yes, him, again) re covered. Six plays later Noggle sneaked through the center for the score and Bob Roberts kicked the extra point for the 7-7 dead lock which held-up until after intermission. The Mountaineers’ big chance of the second half came on the kickoff. Noggle fumbled, and Charles Goodson recovered at the Shelby 36. An illegal procedure penalty of five yards put an ex tra burden on the Mountaineers and Harris was forced to punt on fourth down. Still, both teams were having trouble moving the ball . . . and in fact neither team made con secutive first-downs until Shelby managed it in the fading min utes. That set the stage for Peeler to redeem himself as the possible Shelby ‘•goat”, he having been the one who fumbled to set-up the Mountaineers touchdown. On third down at the KM 45, Peeler went off the right side and streaked to the one yard line, where Stewart overtook him. Peeler was stopped on first down, but Pemell scored on a smash and Roberts again booted the point. A couple of series later, Peeler had regained his “breath” and j took a Harris punt all-the-way ! for 45 yards and the other TD. He I ran behind good blocking and j used a good change of pace to i avoid the last couple of Moun taineers who had a crack at him. Then came Stewart’s long (61 yards) kickoff return, but Shel by’s Greene kept getting in the way of another possible score for our side. He tripped Stewart, then made the interception in front of Brown in the end zone. Brown and Mountaineer folk in sisted that Green pushed the end, but the official didn’t see it that way. Little mountaineers Lose, o-U, Play Chase Here Thursday Night The Little Mountaineers will I be seeking to give home folks I their first taste of victory when they meet Chase in a Southwest Junior High Conference game at | City Stadium Thursday night at 7 o'clock. Kings Mountain lost its home opener, 6-0, to Belmont last week, a blocked punt giving the Raid ers the opportunity to score a first-quarter touchdown which held up through the rest of the game. The loss left the Little Moun taineers with a record of one win and one loss on the season, the local lads having won their opener, 19-0 at Forest City two weeks ago. Chase won its only start in the league to date, defeating Cher ryviile, 6-0. An early series of penalties, followed by the blocKeo punt. : wrecked the Little Mountaineers’ hopes for victory against Bel mont last Thursday night. They started off moving the j ball on a series of running plays, then saw a couple of penalties | wipe-out first downs, and ware forced to punt from deep in their own territory. Tommy Bolick of Belmont blocked Pat Murphy’s | punt and the Little Raiders re : covered on the three-yard line. Kings Mountain regained the i ball briefly on a Belmont fum i ble. but then promptly fumbled i it back, and this time the visi ! tors scored on a pass from How | ard Hall to Walter Green. That score held up the remainder of i the game as neither team could muster another serious threat. Coaches Fred Withers and Bill Cashion ware pleased with the play of Eddie Huffstetler and Pat Murphy in the Little Mountain i ear backfield. and of Richard White and Steve Wright at ends and Steve Griggs at guard. SCORING SUMMARY Belmont 6 0 0 0—6 Kings ML 0 0 0 0—0 j Soaring touchdown, for Bel 1 moot_Walter Green (pass). Seeking to shake off the ef fects of the loss to Shelby last week, the Mountaineers take a two-week “vacation” from Con ference competition meeting a pair of outsiders, starting with Bessemer City’s Yellow Jackets here Friday night Game time, as usual, is 7:30 at City Stadium and is the fourth home game of the campaign for the Mountaineers. The local lads came out of the loss to Shelby without any new injuries and hope to have some of the earlier injured members fit and ready to go, again. Halfback Henry Raines and ends Steve Brown and Robert Whisnant saw some action last week and should he ready for more duty this time. Halfback Mike Huffsitickler, however, still is out with a knee injury. The Mountaineers are all square on the season as they reach the midpoint of their ten game card. They have won two games, both in the SWC, and have two losses, the one to Shel by being the first on the Confer ence ledger. Bessemer City, actually, comes to town with a better record, two wins, a loss and a tie. The Yellow Jackets defeated Hartsell of Con cord and Cramerton, tied Dallas and lost to Mt. Holly. Mountaineer scouts have wat ched the Jackets in several ga mes and bring back the report that it is rated as one of the bet ter Bessemer City teams in recent years. Quarterback Bobby King heads the backfield and is one of the top scorers in the area, with 31 points on the year. He also is a good passer, with end George Hook his favorite receiver. Full back Theo Lynn is a hard-driv ing 190-pound fullback. A pair of 215-pound tackles head the line delegation. They are John Costner, a transfer from a Tennessee high school, and Johnny Oates. Kings Mountain defeated the Jackets 39-7, last year, but the current BC outfit is more exper ienced and larger. King, Costner and Tommy Millwood are the tri-captains for the Bessemer City team, which is coached by Jack Parker, with as sistance from Ronnie Kincaid. Starting Lineups BESSEMER CITY Pos. Name Wgt LE George Hook 160 LT John Costner 215 LG Jerry Warren 150 C Harold Short 155 RG Johnny Green 155 RT John Oates 215 RE Tommy Mil wood 175 QB Bobby King 155 LH Jimmy King 140 RH Bobby Martin 130 PB Theo Lynn 190 KINGS MOUNTAIN Pos. Name Wgt. LE Charles Goodson 165 LT Jerry Rikard 185 LG Tom Armstrong 150 C Mike Dixon 160 RG Sammy Houston 160 RT Eddie Ross 205 RE Curtis Floyd 160 QB Wally Harris 160 LH Henry Raines 160 RH Alton Stewart 158 FB Tommy Hope 182 The Records KINGS MOUNTAIN 14 Forest City 0. 9 York 26. 27 Chase 6. 7 Shelby 20. BESSEMER CITY 13 Hartsell (Concord) 6 19 Cramerton 0. 6 Mt. Holly 43. 13 Dallas 13. r Southwest Conference Football CONFERENCE STANDINGS Team W L Pet Shelby R. S. Central Kings Mountain Lincolnton Belmont Cherryville Forest City Chase 3 0 1.000 3 0 1.000 2 1 .667 1 1 .500 1 1 .500 1 2 .333 0 3 .000 0 3 .000 SEASON'S RECORD (For all games played) Team Shelby R. S. Central Kings Mtn. Lincolnton Cherryville Forest City Belmont Chase W 4 4 2 2 2 2 1 0 L 0 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 Pts O-Pts 89 20 26 52 35 110 53 86 86 79 57 62 44 44 31 19 SCHEDULE FRIDAY Bessemer City at Kings Moun tain. Belmont at Chase. Shelby at Cherryville Lincolnton at Forest City. R. S. Central, open. RESULTS LAST WEEK Shelby 20, Kings Moutain 7. Belmont 25, Cherryville 13. R. S. Central 13. Forest City & Lincolnton 37, Newton 9. , Steve Goforth And Wayne O'Dell Spark East And West Midget Wins Undefeated East made it three in a row as the midget football league rounded-out the first half of the season Saturday night. Steve Goforth punched over a pair of one-yard touchdowns to pace the loop-leaders to a 13-6 victory in one of the games of the double-header at City Stadium. West won its second game to remain in second place in the standings in the other contest Saturday, defeating South, 12-6. South tangles with North at 7 o’clock and East meets West in the battle of the top two of the circuit in the pair of games this Saturday night. East scored its pair of TD’s in the second and fourth periods ol last week’s game, Goforth plung ing over both times. He also add ed the extra point after his firsl score. Philip Wright scored for North in the first period, to give his club a brief lead. East led in first downs, ten tc foui. In addition to Steve, other of fensive stars for East were Tom my Goforth, Kick Hamrick anc Phillip Gladden. Wright was the big offensive gun for North. Tommy Gladden of East, anc Paul Gaffney and Phil Wright ol Nbrth were the defensive stars for the game. Wayne ODell ran 85 yards ir the last quarter to provide the winning margin for West ovej South, by 12-6. Fred Clary scorec the first TD for the winners, ir the first period, but Jerry Bum gardner matched 'that for South Midget Football STANDINGC Team East West North Soulth W L Pert. 3 0 1.000 2 1 .667 1 2 .333 0 3 .000 SCHEDULE SATURDAY South vs North. West vs East. RESULTS LAST WEEK East 13, North 6. West 12, South 6. in the second period, setting the stage for the long gallop late in the game. West also led in first downs, 7 to-5. Roy Medlin shared offensive ho nors with ODel'l for West, and Danny Sprouse and Tommy Burns paced the South attack. Medlin also was a stout de fensive performer for the win ners, with Sprouse, Bumgairdner and Bums being best on defense for the losers. Touchdowns for East_ Steve Goforth 2 (one-yard runs). Ex tra point_ Steve Goforth. Touchdown for North_Philip Wright 1 (1-yard run). South 0 6 0 0 6 West S 0 0 6 12 Touchdown for South Jerry Bumgardner 1 (two-yard run). Touchdowns for West Fred i Clary 1 (five-yard run) and I Wayne Odell 1 (65-yard run). SCORING SUMMARY East North 0 7 0 6 13 6 0 0 0 6 Shelby And R. S. Central Share SWC Lead; Mountaineers Third Now it’s Shelby and R. S. Cen tral holding the front-running role in the Southwest Conferen ce this week. They share the top rung with I three straight league wins each, Shelby’s most recent being the 20-7 victory here Friday night which bounced Kings Mountain out of a league sharing role. The loss was the first for the Mountaineers in three Conference j games and dropped the local lads to third place in the standings. The Lions and the Hilltoppers also pace the circuit in the total number of wins in all games played on the season, each with four triumphs. Shelby is unde feated, while RSC has lost one. Shelby and Central also pace the league clubs in points scored and in fewest points permitted opponents. Shelby has tallied 89 points and Central has racked up 79 for one-two honors in that department. The Lions have been the stingiest, allowing only 20 points and RSC has given up 26. Central defeated its county neighbor, Forest City, 13-6, for its third straight league triumph last Friday night. Edward Fisher scored on a 12-yard jaunt and Allen Moore passed to Bud Tan ner for ten yards and the other Hilltopper score. Forest City picked up its lone marker on a pass, from Stew Stallcup to Don Harris. Belmont copped the other Con ference game last week, winning its first game of the year, 25-13 over its county neighbor Chteny ville. Don Bumgardner, stocky 180 pound fullback, scored two of the TD’s for the Raiders, and end Tony Alien and back Allen Stowe soored the other. Mike Laney of Ironmen tried to keep the Iron men in the game scoring both touchdowns, on runs of 16 and 62 yards and he gained 136 yards in 13 carries and completed five of 12 passes for 53 yarjis in a great offensive display. Lincolnton stepped out of Con ference competition topping Newton, 37-9. Quarterback Guy Howell scored three of the touch downs and passed to Richard Smith for the other. Fullback Ronnie Harris smashed over for the other pair of markers. ! Three conference games are on 1 the bill for this week. Shlby play iing at Cherryville, Belmont at ! Chase and tincolnton at Forest City. R. S. Central is idle, thus • affording Shelby the opportunity ito take over sole possession of first place. The Mountaineers go out of the Conference for the first of two straight non-league weeks, play ing host to Bessemer City. Mike Ware Handles Kickoffs For Catawba Former Mountaineer star Mike Ware is putting his “foot” back into football for the Catawba In dians of the Carolinas Conferen ce. Mike has been handling the kickoff assignments for the In dians in the early games this year. He is listed as a guard on the Catawba Club, coached by Preston Mull. The local product, however, was hampered in last week’s game with East Carolina. He limped on a lame ankle all week. Geoige Wilson Draws Release From LA Angels George Wilson has drawn his release from the Los Angeles An gels organization for whom he managed ithe Statesville Owls of the Western Carolina League during the past summer. Wilson said that Los Angeles officials notified him of his re lease this week, explaining that they do not intend to operate farm clubs in the Bast next sea son, moving all their minor lea gue teams to the west coast, in stead. That decision leaves Statesville without a working agreement for the 1962 season in the Class D League, forcing the club presi dent Flette McCurdy of Kings Mountain to seek a new pact for next year. Wilson said that he is discuss ing future baseball plans with two National League teams, both positions being in minor league managerial capacities. The Kings Mountain resident has managed teams in the Wes tern Carolina League for the two years of the loop’s operation. He managed Shelby in 1960 and pi !?telSta'tesVille in 1961> winning the first half pennant. Wilson originally planned to attend the World Series in Cin cinnati this weekend, and meet with Angel officials, but due to his release this week has chan ged his plans. An ex-Yankee himself, Wilson predicts that New York will win V?® “without too much difficulty. He admits that the possible loss of Mickey Mantle for a few ga me? would make a difference and that even when the slugger does return he will feel the ef fects of the layoff. But I think it will be a good senes if the Cincinnati pitching holds up,” said Wilson. Munday Stopped, But Clover Wins Clover’s Blue Eagles proved last Friday night that it has more offensive guns than Robert Munday. Pacolet stacked its defenses to contain Munday and succeeded in that task. But, in so doing, the foe permitted a couple of other C ™er^acks to have a b‘g night. ine Blue Eagles, who play host to Kings Mountain next week, shook loose Jimmy Fields for two touchdowns, on runs of 30 yands. Quarterback But ch McWaters pitched a five yard scoring pass to Lewis Killian for the other. Mlunday did join the scoring parade, however, place-kicking a Pair of extra points. Wednesday Bowling League Is Planned Plans for the organisation of a duck pin bowling league for Wed - nights will be made at tne Mountain Lane Center Aliev's next week. Manager C. H. Houser said that any persons wlsning to bowl in a league on Wednesdays should meet with him at the Centex on October u.