Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Sept. 6, 1990, edition 1 / Page 6
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I] casaihiatons: Mob dibs ng Thursday, September 6, 1990 or F = Mountaineers Blank BC A AARNE SEE KM PASS PATTERN - Kings Mountain quarterback Timmy McClain (3) fires a pass to wide receiver Rodney Houser (81) in last week's non-conference football game at Bessemer City. Houser caught the ball and ran 40 yards into the endzone but the apparent East Lincoln At K Kings Mountain's Mountaineers open the home portion of their football season Friday at 8 p.m. against an East Lincoln team which KM Coach Denny Hicks says "may be the bet team we've played to date." The Mustangs, who have never beaten Kings Mountain, weren't considered much of a threat in the Big Six Conference during the pre- season but since they've scored two impressive victories over West Lincoln and South Iredell people are beginning to take notice. A 40-0 thrashing of 2-A West Lincoln in the season's opener two weeks ago didn't raise too many eyebrows because the Rebels haven't won a game since 1988. But last week's come-from-behind 20-17 victory over Foothills Conference contender South Iredell was impressive. The Mustangs romped for 180 yards on the ground and quarterbacks Scott Garrett and Brian Hopkins hit on 7-0f-16 passes for 92 yards. Kings Mountain fans will re- member Garrett, who as a first- time sophomore starter almost ripped the KM secondary apart last year before KM made some adjust- ments and came back to win. In addition to the talented Garrett, who is 6-4 and 175 pounds, Coach Craig Kiser has al- so found some runners this year. Halfback Doran Johnson has rushed for 260 yards in two games, including 115 in last week's game, and he has plenty of backup from Ricky Luckey, who has broken into touchdown was called back because of a holding penalty. The Mountaineers won 6-0 to even their record at 1-1 and will host East Lincoln Friday at 8 p.m. M Friday Mountaineers on to victory in last week's 6-0 win at Bessemer City. the lineup as a junior. "They've got extreme team quickness," says Coach Hicks, "and they've probably got the best tandem of running backs we've seen in a long time. They actually have two tailbacks who are both extremely good." The Mustangs finished third in the Big Six last year and had an undefeated junior varsity team. They have 30 juniors on their ros- ter and they are blending well with the veteran seniors to turn East into a championship contender. Because East has such an explo- sive offense, Coach Hicks said KM's kicking game will have to be in top form this week. "Our kicking game will have to do an unbelievable job," he said. "The best thing we can possibly do is keep the ball on offense and keep it out of their hands. Our de- fense is going to have its hands full containing their offense. Their number one tailback (Johnson) is a very unique player. "But that's the kind of challenge we like," he added. "We've always taken pride in stopping that kind of a player and I hope our players will meet that challenge." The Mountaineers will be going GETTING THE SPIRIT - Kings Mountain High's cheerleaders have a big time cheering the against a big, veteran line for the third week in a row. The Mustangs have several players in the 250- pound range. "They run a split middle and do a lot of the same things we did up there last year," said Hicks. "They've got some real big defen- sive tackles playing that split mid- dle. We may move our tackles to guard so they can be on a one-on- one situation with them. It's not re- ally a matter of moving people be- cause they're not doing their job, but matching people up a little bet- ter according to size." irst Win Defense, Kicking Game Spark 6-0 Victory Friday An inspired Bessemer City team was determined to make Kings Mountain's 3-A Mountaineers their fifth straight victim in non-confer- ence football action Friday night at the BCHS stadium. But Kings Mountain's defense was just as de- termined and was the big differ- ence in a 6-0 Mountaineer victory. The Yellow Jackets, who fin- ished 4-6 a year ago, had won their final three games of '89 and had beaten North Gaston of the Southwestern 3-A Conference 12-6 in their opener this year. Coach Barry Shuford's BC eleven played an outstanding game against a more talented and deeper Mountaineer squad but couldn't dent the scoreboard against the rugged KM defense. While Bessemer City's offense was impressive under the leader- ship of senior quarterback Clay Goodman, the Mountaineer offense continued to struggle. The Mountaineers gained 240 yards as compared to only 73 in a 13-8 loss to Canton Pisgah a week earlier, but committed three turnovers and had some costly penalties in key situations. The only score of the night came with eight seconds left in the first half on an outstanding 15-yard pass reception by Scottie Hopper. Hopper made the over-the-shoulder catch of a Timmy McClain pass in the right corner of the endzone to - give the KM offense its first points of the season. All eight of KM's points at Pisgah were scored by the defense. Kings Mountain threatened on several other occasions but was stopped either by penalties or a good defensive stand by the Yellow Jackets. One Mountaineer touch- down, a 40-yard pass from McClain to Rodney Houser, was called back on a holding penalty. Despite the lack of points and breakdowns in several key areas, KM Coach Denny Hicks saw some bright spots. "Offensivley, I felt like we moved the ball much better against some big folks," he said. "We're still concerned with penalties and turnovers. Two of our turnovers came on scoring drives when we were in position to score. We had way too many penalties but we had over 200 yards of offense and 12 first downs and that's a good night's work. But when you beat yourselves with turnovers and penalties it makes it difficult to score." The Mountaineers finished with 185 yards rushing, with tailback Victor Bell leading the way with 72 yards in 16 carries. Big fullback Jeff Lockhart added 60 yards and McClain scrambled for 32. Hicks said he saw some im- provement in the line blocking, something the team had very little of in the loss to Pisgah. "We got some movement on the line," he said. "We're still missing assignments. We've got a lot of ju- niors that have moved into some places that we thought we'd have seniors playing, but they are trying to come off the football. They got YARDSTICK KM BC 1st downs 11 7 Rushing 185 60 Passes 3-7 2-6 Yds. passing 55 16 Fumbles lost 3 0 Punts 2-35 5-33 Yds. Penalized 45 40 By quarters: T KM 0 6 0 0--6 BC 0 00 0--0 Scoring: KM - Scottie Hopper, 14 pass] from Timmy McClain (Kick blocked). RUSHING - KM - Victor Bell 16- 72, Jeff Lockhart 15-60, Timmy McClain 7-32, D.J. Williams 6- 21. BC - Clay Goodman 17-44, Derrick Biggers 6-16, Chris Woods 5-6, Cliff Burris 2-2, Vida Merritt 6-0, Devon Aldridge 1-(- 3), Justin Wright 1-(-5). PASSING - KM - McClain 3-7-0- 55. BC - Goodman, 2-5-0-16, Merritt 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING - KM - Hopper 2- 55, Bell 1-0. BC - James Miller 1- 11, Fred Carter 1-5. into the neutral zone and knocked people off the ball, even though sometimes it was the wrong peo- ple. But we saw a lot better offen- sive line surge this week. Bessemer City was almost as big as Pisgah was. We feel a little better about our blocking. It's going to take a lot of practice time and some young people getting used to recognizing different fronts so we can stay away from missed assignments." Kings Mountain, which defeated BC 33-0 last year, appeared to be rolling early, marching the opening kickoff to the Yellow Jacket 20 be- fore being stopped inches short of a first down on a fourth down run up the middle by Lockhart. The offense couldn't move the ball much after that until the final three minutes of the half, when KM marched 75 yards to score on McClain's pass to Hopper. A 40- yard catch by Hopper put the Mountaineers in position to score. Two other KM drives deep into BC territory were halted by penal- ties, including one drive in which the Mountaineers were penalized three straight times for offsides be- fore the ball was snapped. "We keep telling our kids that you don't have to be an athlete to avoid penalties," Hicks said. "We need more concentration.” While the offense struggled at times, the Mountaineers got excel- lent play from their defense and kicking game. KM held the Yellow Jackets to 60 yards in 38 rushing plays and BC hit only 2-of-6 pass- es for 16 yards. BC never threat- ened to score. "The defense was real sound See Football, 7-A TAKING FLIGHT - Kings Mountain runnizg back Victor Bell (40) tries to leap his way through the Bessemer City defense in Friday's non-conference football game at BC. Blocking for Bell at right is Rodney Houser (81). KM won 6-0. GOING OUTSIDE - Kings Mountain fullback Jeff Lockhart found the going tough up the middle so he swung to the outside for some good yardage in last week's football game at Bessemer City. Blocking for KM at right is James Howard (61). KM hosts East Lincoln this week. Si + p.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Sept. 6, 1990, edition 1
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