Thursday Section
September 7,
1989 3:
Excitement In The Air’
| KMHS Battles Passes Too Much
| Mustangs Friday For BCHS, 33-0
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= Wn
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Kings Mountain's Mountaineers will face yet anoth-
er big, physical team Friday when they travel to East
Lincoln for their third straight non-conference game.
The Mustangs of the Big Six 3-A Conference will
be similar to Canton Pisgah in their size and style of
attack but, like Kings Mountain, they lost a lot of play-
ers off last year's team and are rebuilding.
Both teams carry 1-1 records into the 8 p.m. contest.
East Lincoln, which was 8-2 last season, defeated West
Lincoln in its opener two weeks ago but lost to a South
Iredell, one of the state's top-ranked 3-A teams, last
week. Kings Mountain opened with a 35-7 loss at
Canton Pisgah but rebounded last week to blank 2-A
Bessemer City 33-0.
"Offensively, they run exactly the same thing as
Canton Pisgah,” says KMHS Coach Denny Hicks.
"Personnel-wise, they're very similar to Bessemer City
except they run a split back veer and hit the line of
scrimmage much quicker. I'm sure they're going to test
us. They'll run that hard dive and wide veer and keep it
with the quarterback once in a while, just like Pisgah
did. They've seen our Pisgah film and they'll present
us the same challenge. It will show us if we're getting
any better."
Hicks said he's impressed with East Lincoln's quar-
terback, 155-pound senior James Vincent, and the size
of their offensive and defensive lines.
"Vincent reminds me a lot of Jerry Jordan, who
played with us in 1985 and '86," said Hicks. "He's their
quarterback, plays in the secondary and is just a fine
After a ho-hum first half in which Kings Mountain's
Mountaineers held only a 6-0 lead over 2-A Bessemer
City, Coach Denny Hicks and staff decided to put
some excitement in the air. ;
Senior quarterback Ryan Hollifield threw touch-
down passes of 55 and 33 yards on KM's first two
plays of the third period and the Mountaineers went on
to win 33-0 and even their season's record at 1-1.
Bessemer City fell to 0-2.
Hollifield, a senior who is recognized as one of the
area's top passing quarterbacks, finished the night with
6-0f-10 passes for 195 yards. He hit all four of his
passing attempts in the second half and threw for three
touchdowns.
The Mountaineers, coming off an embarrassing 35-7
season's opening loss at Canton Pisgah, couldn't move
the ball on the ground against the big Bessemer City
defensive line, but some members of the coaching staff
noticed in the first half that BC's secondary was play-
ing deep and they felt like that was opening the middle
up for Hollifield's passes.
After D.J. Williams returned the second half kickoff
to the 45, the Mountaineers immediately went to the
air. Hollifield hit tight end Brent Wilson on a short
pass across the middle and he out-raced the BC de-
fense to the endzone to make the score 12-0. The extra
point kick was blocked.
On their next possession, Hollifield hit end Daniel
Honeycutt on a short pass across the middle and the
GOING TO THE AIR - Kings Mountain High quarterback Ryan Hollifield (11) goes to the airways for one Snir Sendo cut to the sideline and raced 33 yards
of his five completions for 195 yards in Friday's non-conference football game with Bessemer City at Kings 4 ae er TD. In just two plays in the second half,
Mountain's John Gamble Stadium. Number 87 for Kings Mountain is Daniel Honeycutt, who caught two of he Mountaineers had covered 98 yards while increas-
Hollifield's passes for 87 yards and one touchdown. The Mountaineers won 33-0. :
all-around good player."
Tackle James Lunsford, a 6-6, 308-pounder, is the
biggest Mustang in the East Lincoln stable and Hicks
See East, Page 5-B
Booters Tie
ing its lead from 6-0 to 20-0 and taking the Yellow
See Passes, 2-B
Jayvees Open
Ashbrook 2-2
“y Kings Mountain High's soccer
« team tied Ashbrook's junior varsity
in a non-conference match last
Thursday at Ashbrook.
The Mountaineers, 1-0-1, were
scheduled to host Crest in their
first ever home match last night at
John Gamble Stadium. The
Mounties host Hibriten in their first
Western Piedmont Conference
game next Monday at 7 p.m. and
host R-S Central Wednesday at 7
p.m.
Kings Mountain built a 2-0 lead
against Ashbrook. Keo
Chanthaphaeng and John Forrest
scored the KM goals and’
Chanthaphaeng and Chris Henson
each had an assist.
"They out-played us in the first
half but we led 2-0 and then we
out-played them in the second half
but they came back to tie the game
on a penalty kick and corner kick,"
said KMHS Coach Dan Potter.
"We missed a penalty kick and sev-
eral other scoring opportunities.
Their goal keeper made some great
saves.
"I was pleased that we've im-
proved so much," said Potter. "We
scrimmaged Ashbrook earlier and
SWATTING A YELLOW JACKET - Kings Mountain's Jon Reid
they whipped us pretty good. They brings Bessemer City running back Travis Jones (40) down in
weren't expecting us to be this Friday's non-conference football game at Kings Mountain's John
good." Gamble Stadium. Other Mountaineers making pursuit are Daryl
Gash (33), Scott Hopper (44) and Reggie Moss (67). The
Mountaineers went to a passing attack in the second half to break
open a close game and post a 33-0 victory. The Mountaineers, 1-1,
travel to East Lincoln this week.
Up Thursday /
Kings Mountain High's junior
varsity football team will open its
season Thursday at home against
East Lincoln's Mustangs. Game
time is 7 p.m. at John Gamble
Stadium.
East Lincoln, which was unbeat-
en last year, brings a 1-1 record in-
to the game. The Mustangs defeat-
ed West Lincoln 44-0 in their
opener and fell to a powerful South
Iredell team 6-0 last week.
"I feel like East Lincoln proba-
bly has one of the better junior var-
sity teams in the area," says new
KMHS head coach John
Bumgardner. "We're going to have
to play good ball and execute
well." /
The jayvee Mountaineers have
already suffered some losses even
before taking the field.
Bumgardner started the year with
30 players but is down to 22 now.
Some players quit during pre-sea-
son practice and some others were
found to be academically ineligi-
ble.
"We don't know how we'll match
up with East Lincoln talent-wise,"
said Bumgardner. "We haven't had
a chance to see them play. But
we've been improving every day
See Jayvees, 2-B
ED. NOTE - Eric Faust, coach
of the Kings Mountain Junior
High soccer team, contributed
this article to help fans better un-
derstand the new sport.
A new sport is sparking lots of
enthusiasm and interest in Kings
Mountain: Soccer! In most other
countries this exciting game is
played and is called "football."
Yes, the same name as our much
enshrined American football, but
oh so different. Soccer is played
999 of the time with the foot.
American football fans are very fa-
miliar with the huddle, line of
scrimmage, the quarterback's
count, the pile up, the forward
pass, an occasional kick, and the
huddle up again, oh, it's a time out,
to catch ones breath. When we see
a non-stop soccer game, we are a
bit puzzled.
Soccer has no huddles or time-
outs. The players pass with their
feet, knees, bodies, and receive
long punts with their heads. The
players slide, race, constantly make
new strategy, exhibit fearless aban-
don, shrewd fakes, and constant
teamwork. A soccer game contains
all that is exciting, and more. Yes,
another name for the game could
be, "excitement."
When the game begins, look for
the players stationed about the field
in their positions. Each position is
strategic to the game. The goal-
keeper, or goalie, or keeper, stays
in front of the goal which he is de-
fending. He is the only player al-
lowed to use his hands on the field.
He is dressed differently than the
rest of the team, and usually is
fearless in the face of careening
balls and kicking feet. He keeps the
opponents shots out of the goal.
Fullbacks are the defenders who
are the last line of resistance before
the opponents reach the keeper.
They usually won't score much, in
fact, they may not get very far onto
the opponents side of the field.
Their purpose is to stop the oppo-
nents and drive the ball up to mid-
field, to their offensive players. It
is a vital job.
Mid-fielders, or half-backs, race
up and down the field acting as
both last ditch fullbacks or goal-
hungry forwards. Mid-fielders use
their heads in more ways than one.
Their job is in the middle of the
ficld (now wasn't that obvious?),
playing tenaciously both defense
and offense. Their job on offense is
to prepare the attack, gaining con-
trol of the ball in order to pass it to
the forwards, for their drive to a
score.
Forwards are spread from side-
KM Fans Catching The Excitement Of Soccer
line to sideline, in the line of offen-
sive players who work down to the
goal. Their job is to take the ball
past the opponents and kick it in
the goal. The players along the
sidelines are called "wings," those
toward the center of the field are
called "inside forwards" or "center
forwards." One of these may be
designated by the coach as "strik-
er." This player has wisdom, strate-
gy, skill, and stamina to play where
needed all over the field.
Imagine now, the game has been
zipping back and forth, and all of a
sudden your favorite wing breaks
behind the fullbacks toward the
goal and receives a long kick from
a mid-fielder. The referee quickly
raises his orange and white flag,
blows his whistle, "Offside!" The
other team gets the ball and gets to
kick it with no challenge (a "free
kick") "Offside? What's that?"
"What is offside?" is one of the
most frequently asked questions
for a new spectator of soccer. This
infraction occurs when a player
without the ball on the attacking
team runs behind the defenders, so
that there are less than two defend-
ing players between the offensive
player and the goal. It doesn't mat-
ter how far away from the goal the
player, which makes it somewhat
confusing for the initiate. If all the
fullbacks are playing up at mid-
field, then a forward who runs be-
hind them, again without the ball,
is called offside. Now, if your play-
er dribbles behind them, or if an-
other player kicks the ball behind
the opponents fullbacks, then the
forward can race like the wind to
get the ball, even if there is only
the keeper present, that is not off-
side, that is a darn good play.
"Hand ball" is another common
infraction, which is not quite as
complicated. Any player who
touches the ball intentionally with
hand or arm will lose the ball and
the other team gets a free kick. If
this happens within your own
penalty box, in front of the goal
which your team is defending, then
the other team gets a penalty kick.
That's usually bad for your team.
"Out-of-bounds,” naturally
means you kicked it out of bounds
and the other team gets the ball at
that point. The opponent throws it
in (yep! that's right, they pick that
round spheroid up and throw it
with their hands.) The throw in is
not tossed just any way at all, it
must be thrown with both hands
over the head with both feet on the
ground. It's not all that easy. The
next time wife is hurling a can-
See Soccer, Page 3B