Thursday,
October 26,
1989
SO CLOSE...And yet so far away. Kings Mountain fullback Jeff
Lockhart (35) tries to find a way to get over a heap of KM tacklers
and Shelby tacklers inside the one yard line in Friday's
Lions Awake F
Moments after it was seated,
Kings Mountain High's band went
into its version of "The Lion Sleeps
Tonight" Friday at Shelby's
Blanton Memorial Stadium.
But the Lions aroused from their
slumber late in the third quarter
and took control of their own den
and defeated the Mountaineers 14-
6 in a game which could have
clinched a state playoff berth for
the Mountaineers.
It was the first conference loss
for the Mountaineers, who are 5-3
overall heading into the final two
games of the Southwestern 3-A
Conference season. Shelby im-
proved to 3-1 in the SWC and 6-2
overall.
The Shelby victory allowed
Burns to regain the lead in the
SWC. The Bulldogs, who had led
the race since the starting gun, are
now 4-1 in the SWC and 8-1 over-
all heading into their final regular
season game Friday night at South
Point.
Kings Mountain got the upper
hand early Friday night at Shelby,
just as it had in three previous vic-
tories over R-S Central, South
Point and Burns. But, unlike those
previous games, the Mountaineers
couldn't take advantage of their
breaks against Shelby.
The Mountaineers drove the
opening kickoff to the Shelby 13
yard line and then scored on a 30-
yard field goal by Scottie Hopper.
Late in the second period, the
Mountaineers drove to the Shelby
14 and scored with two seconds
left on a 31-yard field goal by
Hopper to make it 6-0 at intermis-
sion.
However, in between those two
field goals, the Mountaineers
missed a pair of golden scoring op-
portunities, and early in the third
quarter they had a 29-yard field
goal effort blocked. After that,
Shelby's line blew Kings Mountain
off the ball, both offensively and
defensively, and took control of the
game.
"Quite obviously, it was a real
disappointing loss for us," said KM
Coach Dennis Hicks. "We thought
in the previous three weeks we had
played three games as good as we
could ask. We had gotten a tremen-
dous amount of effort and made a
lot of good things happen.
"The first thing I asked our peo-
ple Monday at practice was for
somebody to explain to me why
Friday's game wasn't a total wipe-
out. We moved the ball very well
in the first half and just couldn't get
it into the endzone. We had the
chance to put them away but let
them back into the ballgame."
The Mountaineers were just
inches away from a touchdown on
several plays early. On the first
play from scrimmage, tailback D.J.
North Gaston Here For Final
Southwestern 3-A Conference football game at Shelby. The Lions
held the Mountaineers on this scoring drive and came back with
two fourth quarter touchdowns to win 14-6.
or 14-6 Win
Williams took a pitchout from
quarterback Timmy McClain and
sailed down the KM sidelines for a
46-yard gain into Shelby territory.
On the next play, McClain hit
wideout Darius Ross for 26 more
‘yards and all of a sudden the
Mounties were on the Lions' 17.
Shelby's defense settled down after
that and held KM at the 13 but
Hopper's field goal attempt was
right through the middle of the up-
rights and the Mountaineers led 3-
0.
After the kickoff, Kings
Mountain's Jeff Lockhart recovered
a Shelby fumble at the 27.
Lockhart, behind good blocking by
the middle of the KM line, pound-
ed the Shelby defense and gave the
Mounties a first and goal at the
five. On second down, Lockhart
was stopped six inches shy of the
goal line and the KM sidelines
could sense a 10-0 lead.
But, on third down McClain and
Lockhart got tangled up on the
handoff and Lockhart was thrown
for a loss back to the three. On
fourth down, the Mountaineers opt-
ed to go for the touchdown rather
than another field goal and Shelby
held Lockhart again.
"A lot of people asked after the
game why we went for the touch-
down rather than the field goal,"
Hicks noted. "But you have to
make your judgment on how the
Photos by Gary Stewart
SHELBY FUMBLE - Kings Mountain defenders deliver a hard hit to Shelby running back Eric
Littlejohn (15), causing him to fumble the football in Friday's Southwestern 3-A Conference game at
Shelby. The Mountaineers recovered and drove the ball to the one-foot line but the Shelby defense held.
The Lions came back with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for a 14-6 victory.
game's progressing. We felt like we
were moving the ball well enough
to score. We just had a mix-up in
execution. We set our formation to
the right and then flipped it at the
line and Shelby didn’t make an ad-
justment. Shelby lined up exactly
+ the way we wanted them to and the
play was there for us to score. But
we had a missed blocking assign-
ment on the line and another one in
the backfield.
"I never thought that we would-
n't score,” he went on. "We were
moving the ball well enough. Our
kids had gone three weeks showing
that they could play four solid
quarters of football and that's what
we made our judgment on. We had
no idea we'd lose our intensity."
Hicks said, despite the failure to
score, the Mountaineers were still
in great field position: In fact, on
Shelby's second play from scrim-
mage following their big defensive
stand, the Lions fumbled at the
seven and three different
Mountaineers touched the ball be-
fore Shelby retained possession.
The Lions were able to get out
of the hole and drove for a first
down to the Kings Mountain 13.
But Mountaineer defensive back
Petie McNeal, who had two inter-
ceptions to give him five in the
last two games, picked off a Paul
Jeffords pass in the endzone and
returned it to the 42.
Kings Mountain's final scoring
drive came in the final minutes of
the half after a Shelby punt was
downed on the KM 45. With
Lockhart doing most of the dam-
age, the Mounties moved to the 23
where they faced fourth and two.
McClain faked Lockhart into the
line but hit tight end Brenton
Wilson on a pop pass which carried
nine yards for a first down at the
14. McClain threw two incomple-
tions, one of which was out of the
back of the endzone and another
which Ross just missed making a
leaping catch of, and then Hopper
came on to boot his second field
goal to give KM a 6-0 advantage
with two seconds left in the half.
On the kickoff, Hopper kicked a
short roller in an attempt to keep
the ball out of the hands of the
Shelby speedsters, and the Lions
recovered at midfield. However, no
time ran off the clock and after a
lengthy discussion, the officials left
the clock at two seconds. Jeffords
tried a Hail Mary pass to the end-
zone, which McNeal intercepted
and returned to the 40 before
Shelby could catch him.
"I was really surprised to go into
the locker room and see most of
our kids looking like we were be-
hind rather than ahead 6-0," Coach
Hicks said. "We just couldn't put
our finger on the problem. We
played defensive football after that
and let them back into the game."
See Lions, 3-B
Home Game
KM Can Clinch
Playoff Berth
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers,
disappointed after last week's 14-6
loss to Shelby, will get another
chance to wrap up a state playoff
berth Friday night when they host
North Gaston's Wildcats in their fi-
nal home game of the regular sea-
son.
The Mountaineers, 3-1 in the
SWC and 5-3 overall, can do no
worse than finish third if they de-
feat North Gaston, which is 0-4
and 2-6.
Even though they've won only
two games, KM Coach Denny
Hicks says North Gaston is danger-
ous.
“They can create a lot of prob-
lems for your defense," he said.
"They produce a lot of yardage and
basically give you 27 different of-
fensive formations. They run ev-
erything from a basic I formation
to a shotgun and polecat.”
The Wildcats have one of the
best passing quarterbacks in the
conference in senior Mike Patton,
who is the son of North Gaston's
head coach, Bob Patton. He's a
three-year starter and has some tal-
ented receivers in wideout Ivan
Brooks and running backs Scott
Littlejohn and Larry Traywick.
The Wildcats have several backs
who run the 40-yard dash in 4.7
seconds or better. They're not very
big up front but get off the line of
scrimmage quickly.
The Wildcats, who defeated
Bessemer City 7-6 and East Gaston
14-0 in their first two games, have
lost six in a row but have played
some close games against some
good opponents.
North Gaston played one of its
best games of the season last week
in a 28-14 loss to a strong East
Rutherford eleven. Earlier in the
year they lost to 4-A Gastonia
Ashbrook by only 14-7 after hold-
ing an early lead. They gave up
three quick first quarter touch-
downs against Shelby and then
held the powerful Lions scoreless
until late in the fourth quarter.
"They have the best talent
they've had since we've been play-
ing them," said Coach Hicks.
"North Gaston's a very dangerous
football team. They've got the tal-
ent and they're very physical.
They've just had a real difficult
time putting everything together.
Every coach I've talked to warns us
not to underestimate them. They
have the ability to beat you."
"If we beat North Gaston
we'll be in the playoffs, and
that's our full and only
concern at this point."
-Denny Hicks
Hicks said the Wildcats have
gone into each game with a differ-
ent concept. "Some games they
come out wide open and give you
all the unorthodox formations.
Some games they'll settle back into
the more basic type football and
open up in an I formation.
Basically, they go into a game do-
ing what they need to do to move
the football against that week's op-
ponent. They've done well against
everybody they've played. They've
just had a difficult time getting the
ball in the endzone." y
Defensively, Hicks said the
Wildcats are also impressive and
have a lot of quick athletes.
"They create a lot of problems
for your blocking scheme," he said.
"They try to get a lot of penetration
and they've got enough speed that
you have to block them if you're
going to move the football. You
can't just pitch the ball and out-run
them. They have good team
speed.”
Hicks said the Mountaineers will
continue to go with their same at-
tack but he hopes to get a better job
of blocking and running from his
offense this week.
If the Mountaineers beat North
Gaston Friday, they can claim a
share of the SWC title by defeating
East Rutherford in their regular
season finale next week in Forest
City,
"If we beat North Gaston we'll
be in the playoffs, and that's our
full and only concem at this point,”
he said. "That has to be our total
concentration. We can't worry
about conference championships or
co-championships right now. But
we can control whether or not
we're going to the playoffs and we
feel like we have to do it in this
football game."
The Mountaineers may have the
services of senior quarterback
Ryan Hollifield this week.
Hollifield was injured in the third
game of the season against East
Lincoln. He was released by the
doctor last Thursday. Coach Hicks
said he may let him play briefly
this week and hopes he'll be at full
speed by next week.
KM INTERCEPTION - Kings Mountain's Petie McNeal (10) in-
tercepts one of his two passes in Friday's Southwestern 3-A
Conference football game at Shelb
in the last two games.
y. McNeal has five interceptions