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Photos by Gary Stewart -
TROPHY WINNERS - Winners of football trophies at last week's KMHS fall sports banquet
are pictured above. Seated are Timmy Elder, left, and Brad Jones, right. Standing. left to
right, are Keith Pettis, Roderick Boyce, Neil Morris and Rocky Lutz.
Slants
. By
Gary Stewart
Add another in a long list of honors for former Kings Mountain
"High football standout Tracy Johnson of Kannapolis.
Johnson was named to the first team offense in the annual Charlotte
Observer's All-Piedmont team which was announced last week. -
He is joined on the offense by a couple of Red Raiders from South
Point, quarterback Mark Y oung and tackle Scott Cooper. Making the
first team defense were Tim Postell of South Point, Robert Robinson
of Shelby and Terry Whisnant of Cherryville.
Named to the second team offense was junior running back Tonja
Watson of South Point and lineman Sherwood Wade of Shelby, and
selected to the second team defense were Barry London of Shelby,
. Don Moore of Crest and Chris Conner and Jo D. Franklin of Bessemer
STiys j ;
Johnson, who played his sophomore and junior seasons at KMHS
before moving to Kannapolis last winter, rushed for 734 yards in 100
carries in 10 regular season games. He scored 19 touchdowns and
made 128 tackles from his linebacker position.
Johnson, who has been a North Carolina fan all of his life, says he
has narrowed his college choices down to UNC and Clemson.
_ Johnson, who was All-Conference both years he played at Kings
Mountain High, was earlier named to the North Carolina Shrine Bowl
team. And, it’s a sure bet he’ll make All-South Piedmont Conference
and All-State and will also probably be named to the East-West All-
Star game next summer. :
South Point’s Young, a Shrine Bowl alternate who rushed for over
1,000 yards in 10 regular season games for the Red Raiders, says he
has narrowed his college choices down to Clemson and N.C. State.
Young is one of the best running quarterbacks I've seen in over 20
years of watching high school football, better even that Jeff Williams
who led the Red Raiders to the State 3-A title in 1979. His graduation
will be good news for South Point opponents but they’ll have to put up
with the Red Raiders’ talented halfback, Tonja Watson, for another
year. -
' BRAGGIN’ AND BLUSHIN', or looking back to the prep pigskin
predictions 1 made before the 1984 season:
As for the little bit of braggin’, I must remind my readers (both of
them) that I am the only fearless prognosticator around that picked
South Point to win the Southwestern 3-A Conference.
And, I must add, that I had the second and third place teams pegged
pretty good, too, even though I picked Crest for second and Shelby for
third.
' Now, for the red-faced part:
Burns and Kings Mountain both made a monkey out of me. I picked
the Mountaineers to finish fourth and said that Kings Mountain could
even contend for the conference title if they adjusted quickly to their
new wishbone offense. Well, the Mounties not only did not adjust to
the offense, they abandoned it after two games for the old familiar
I-formation and went on to finish in 10th place with a 1-9 record.
Now Burns, as I've been reminded by Winn Dixie manager Mark
Beam who is an avid Bulldog fan, did not finish ninth as I predicted
but fourth, and the Bulldogs gave South Point and Shelby some of
their toughest competition. I knew on the opening night of the season
when the Bulldogs beat the Mountaineers 23-23 that I'd made a big
mistake.
I just wonder if Tommy Pruett (Burns assistant who used to be a
KMHS assistant, still gets the Herald and tacked that prediction up on
the locker room bulletin board! I remember several years ago, I picked
~ East Gaston to finish sixth and Jerry Adams circled that prediction in
red ink and put it on his locker room bulletin board and made all of his
players look at it every day. The Warriors won the conference cham-
pionship. :
R-S Central, which like Burns played a lot of sophomores in 1983
and is now maturing, finished fifth after I said the Hilltoppers would
be eighth. With many of their players returning next year, you can bet
I'll pick Burns and R-S to finish much higher than eighth and ninth.
With Crest and East Gaston leaving the SWC for the Southwestern
4-A Conference, Burns and R-S could rank right up there with Shelby
in the race for the league title. |
Stewart’s
Ramsey,
A A da A
MOST OUTSTANDING - Winners of most outstanding player trophies in fall sports at last
week's KMHS banquet are pictured above. Left to right are Leigh Ann Odell. tennis:
Carmelia Leach, volleyball; and John Foster. crosscountry. Not pictured, Robin Warlick, ten-
nis.
Elder, Jones, Lutz Double
Winners At KM Sports Fete
Football standouts Timmy
Elder, Brad Jones and Rocky
‘Lutz were double winners at the
Kings Mountain High School
Fall Sports Banquet Thursday
night at the KMHS cafeteria.
The Mountaineer Booster’s
Club honored members of the
football, crosscountry, girls ten-
nis and girls volleyball teams at
the first annual fall fete.
Elder won the coveted Dr.
George Plonk Most Valuable
Player Award and the most
outstanding . offensive player
award; Jones took the John
Gamble Scholastic Award and
the Fred Plonk Blocking
Trophy; and Lutz won the
Hardees most outstanding defen-
sive player and the BDF Con-
struction Company Tackling
Award.
Other football trophy winners
were Neil Morris,
Award; Roderick Boyce,
American Legion Most Improv-
ed Back; and Keith Pettis,
American Legion Most Improv-
ed Lineman.
Winning most outstanding
player trophies in the other fall
sports were Leigh Ann Odell and
Robin Warlick, girls tennis; John
Foster, crosscountry; and
Carmelia Leach, girls volleyball.
Seniors receiving plaques for
two Or more years participation
in a sport included:
FOOTBALL: Steve Falls,
Keith Pettis, Therndon Brown,
Rocky Lutz, Neil Morris, John
Grant, Kale Bagwell, Brad
Jones, Shane Crawford, Eric
Odoms, Timmy Elder, Doug
Danny Moore and
Robert Appling.
Coaches
- CROSSCOUNTRY: Paul
Ware, Monte Huffstetler, John
Foster, Junior Melton.
VOLLEYBALL: Lin Putnam,
Lee Ann Gann, Carmelia Leach,
Shannon Curry.
TENNIS: Leigh Ann Odell,
Robin Warlick, Chris Huff-
stetler.
The trophy winners drew
praise from the Mountaineer
coaches who presented the
awards.
Elder, according to assistant
football coach Bruce Clark, “was
the guy we went to when the go-
ing got tough.” He responded by
leading the team in rushing with
774 yards, including a career
high of 190 yards in KM’s 21-0
victory over East Rutherford.
Elder was a two-year starter
for the Mountaineers. He was
one of the top defensive players
on last year’s 64 team before be-
ing moved to the offensive
backfield this year.
“He was the most dependable
player we had,” said assistant
coach Gary Brigman. “When we
needed a tough yard, we always
gave it to him on a fullback trap.
He always gave a hundred per-
cent.”
-Jones, a two-year starter at
center, was one of the team’s
most consistent players. He grad-
ed out in every ballgame. “I
know from experience that line
people don’t get any credit,” said
Coach Clark. “But Brad hung in
there all year and now he’s get-
ting the recognition he
deserved.”
“It’s wonderful to excel in
athletics, but it’s also wonderful
to excel in the classroom,” noted
Principal Ronnie Wilson who
presented the John Gamble
Scholastic Award to Jones, who
carried a 3.4 grade point average
during the football season. Jones
is also the number one tennis
player for the Mountaineers and
is involved in many extra-
curricular activities. He serves as
President of the Senior Class and
is active in the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes.
Lutz, also a two-year starter,
served as defensive captain and
_ was the defensive unit’s leader
all year long. He led the team in
tackles with 104 in nine games,
recovered one fumble, caused
another and had one quarter-
back sack.
“I admire him very much,”
commented Coach Clark. “We
got really close as a player and
coach. He’s the type player that
you say is too small to play foot-
ball, but he gave everything he
had every play of the game. He
is a true asset to the Kings
Mountain High School athletic
program.”
Coach Chuck Gordon praised
Pettis for his good attitude. “He
was the type of person that
when you pointed out a mistake
to him, he’d say ‘Ill get it right
the next time’ and he’d go. out
there the next time and work
hard on doing it right. By the
end of the year he was one of
our best defensive players.”
Coach John Goforth, offen-
sive coordinator for the Moun-
taineers, said he was very pleas-
ed with Boyce’s progress during
the season and looks forward to
his return next year. He was the
only junior among the trophy
winners, and will bring next
year’s Mountaineers the ex-
© perience at quarterback’ that is
necessary for success -on the
gridiron.
‘Head Coach Denny Hicks
called Morris “a unique in-
dividual who always does
everything you ask him to do.”
Leach was a three-year per-
former in volleyball and was a
key factor in Coach Diana
Bridges’ 11-5 record and third
place finish in the Southwestern
~ 3-A Conference in her first year
“as coach. “She will be very hard
to replace,” Mrs. Bridges said.
Foster, a two-year starter in
crosscountry, won over half of
the meets the Mountaineers par-
ticipated in this fall and was
named to the All-Conference
team. “He’s a real dedicated per-
son,” said Coach Steve Lazenby.
“He trained hard and competed
in a lot of offseason runs to
prepare himself for the season.”
Odell and Warlick had spec-
tacular senior tennis seasons to
. lead the KM ladies to an 11-2
season and second place finish in
the SWC in Coach Suzy
Holtzclaw’s first year. In addi-
tion to compiling outstanding in-
dividual records, they competed
in doubles play and finished se-
cond in the strong Sectional
Tournament field at Shelby. En
route to that finish they knocked
off the top-seeded team. They
advanced to the Regional Tour-
nament in Hickory and came
within one victory of making the
State Tournament field.
“They played beautifully all
season,” Coach Holtzclaw said.
~ Predicting Long Year For Wake
How does Coach Carl Tacy manage to keep Wake Forest con-
sistently competitive in the ACC? Wake can rarely get a top student-
athlete if Duke wants him, can never get an All-American prospect
over Carolina, and cannot compete for the good athlete/borderline stu-
dent that often goes to State. !
Last year, nevertheless, Wake got into the final eight in the nation,
tying for third in the ACC and beating DePaul before finally losing to
Houston in the NCAA playoffs.
This year, the effects of not having a home court, of practicing in an
on-campus “high school” gym, and of not having the full quota of
players (11 are currently on the roster) will be obvious in the win-loss
column.
If Wake can eek out a victory over UNC in mid-December and get
wins in their comparatively easy non-conference games, they may be
able to keep their confidence-a great equalizer in sports—and play
beyond their ability for awhile.
Assistant Coach Mark Friedinger is one who tries to bolster con-
fidence. He’s an optimist. He points to the team’s unsurpassed for-
ward, Kenny Green, a proven, star point-maker. He cites the ball
handling go-power of tiny “Mugsy” Bogues and the overall ability of
~ off-guard Delaney Rudd. He concentrates on the good things that can
happen, and in practice he is encouraging and upbeat.
Striking a balance, and being more of a criticizer (teams need both)
the other assistant, Ernie Nestor, showed his sense of desperation on
the practice floor, one time screaming, almost pleading, with Delaney
Rudd-“Get in his face, pressure him, get him.”
Coaches realize, better than players, what they are up against. The
players don’t see the other schools practicing. They get their con-
fidence and their sense of progress from their intra-squad scrimmages.
And at Wake, there just isn’t the competition.
Carl Tacy remains calm and philosophical, determined to do his best
and hope for a banner recruiting year, but I think he would be justified
Sponsored By Wade Ford
ACC INSIDE
STUFF
Dick DeVenzio
in demonstrating the sense of desperation he must inevitably fee. It is
more than simply the recent loss of forward Todd May, who had star
potential but hasn’t been counted on because of his recurring injuries.
Even if he does return to the team, it is doubtful he will be able to play
at full strength.
Throughout the practice I saw, jackhammers filled the gym with
noise as workmen vibrated on the roof. It had to be distracting, but I
gbet the feeling that Tacy isn’t the big boss at Wake (or sports are not
so highly elevated in the academic community) such that he can go
ranting and raving to some higher authority. He takes the less than
ideal conditions in stride—it’s part of the deal at Wake-and he makes
the best of it. The practice was limited anyway. The team is already ail-
ing, beat up so to speak, and in ned of a rest-and it is only mid-
November. When Delaney Rudd seemed orice to badly twist an ankle
on a layup, the gym got quiet. (Even the jackhammers stopped, |
think.) Wake can’t afford to lose anyone to injury.
If the plavers truly understood what they are facing, I wonder if
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