be.
Thursday,
October 25,
1990
units t
KMHS
To Play
At NG
Kings Mountain High football
coach Denny Hicks hopes his play-
ers won't take North Gaston lightly
in this Friday's Southwestern 3-A
Conference game at Dallas.
The Wildcats have only one vic-
tory to date, a 24-12 come-from-
behind win over winless East
Gaston, and they were blown out
by East Rutherford 48-0 last week.
The Mountaineers, 2-2 in the
SWC and 5-3 overall, can clinch a
winning season in the conference
and pretty much nail down third
place with a victory.
Despite their record, Hicks says
the Wildcats have a lot of talent
and are capable of playing good
football if they put all phases of
their game together.
"They're probably playing right
now as well as we've seen them
play in a while," said the KM men-
tor. "Our biggest concern is their
speed. They have a couple of guys
who are as fast as anybody in the
Southwest Conference and if they
ever just put everything together
they could be dangerous."
Duane Ross, the state champion
110 high hurdler last year, is the
Wildcats’ big breakaway threat but
they also have some other talented
runners in tailbacks Robert Turner
and Scott Littlejohn, and fullback
Larry Traywick. Quarterback Neil
Mintz is also a good runner.
“It seems like they're fumbling
two or three times and throwing an
interception or two a game," Hicks
said. "They kind of been self-de-
structing. We're concerned that if
we take them too lightly and they
come in and put a good football
game together that they will really
be tough to contend with."
The Mountaineers put all phases
of their game together for the first
SCOTTIE SCOOTS ALONG - Kings Mountain wide receiver Scottie Hopper (44) cuts up field for a
good gain after catching a pass from Timmy McClain in Friday's Southwestern 3-A Conference game with
Shelby at John Gamble Stadium. Hopper had three receptions for 49 yards and one touchdown to help
lead the Mountaineers to a 17-7 victory.
time last week, showing a well-bal-
anced running and passing attack
in a 17-7 victory over Shelby's
Golden Lions. Hicks hopes to see
that continue over the final two
weeks of the season.
Kings Mountain's running attack
is paced by tailbacks Victor Bell
and D.J. Williams and fullback Jeff
Lockhart. Each one has over 400
yards rushing. Quarterback Timmy
McClain also had some big runs
against Shelby and had his best
passing effort of the year, hitting
five of eight attempts.”
East, Burns Clinch Playoff Berths
Now, it's official!
Regardless of what happens over
the final two weeks of the
Southwestern 3-A Conference
football season, East Rutherford
and Burns will represent the con-
ference in the upcoming state 3-A
playoffs.
That was officially decided on
the field last Friday night when
East Rutherford blanked North
Gaston 47-0 and Burns defeated R-
RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK -
S Central 31-0.
East now has a 5-0 conference
and 8-1 overall mark and has
clinched the #1 playoff seed. The
Cavaliers have an open date this
week and close out the regular sea-
son on Fri., Nov. 2 at Kings
Mountain.
Burns is 4-1 in the conference
and 7-2 overall. The Bulldogs host
South Point this week and are idle
next week.
Kings Mountain's Troy Watson
(31) runs the ball up the middle as the Mountaineers run out the
clock inside the 10 yard line in Friday's Southwestern 3-A
Even if both teams lose their fi-
nal game, the two teams will still
£0 to the playoffs because both
have defeated the only other teams
that can possibly tie for second
place--Kings Mountain, R-S
Central and Shelby.
East can finish no lower than a
tie for first place and Burns can
finish no lower than a tie for sec-
ond place.
After this week, the
Mountaineers will close out the
season at home against East
Rutherford's Cavaliers who have
already clinched the top seed from
the SWC. East, 5-0 in the confer-
ence and 8-1 overall, has an open
date this week.
SWC STANDINGS
Conf. All
E. Rutherford 5-0 8-1
Burns 4-1 7-2
Kings Mtn. 2-2 5-3
R-S Central 2-2 5-3
Shelby 1-3 3-5
South Point 1-3 2-6
North Gaston 0-4 1-7
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Kings Mtn. at North Gaston
R-S Central at Shelby
South Point at Burns
Conference football game at KM's John Gamble Stadium. The
Mountaineers scored two touchdowns in the third quarter for a 17-7
victory.
7, Shelby 7
Ball Control,
Defense Keys
Kings Mountain's Mountaineers
scored on their first two posses-
sions of the second half--consum-
ing most of the third period in the
process--to defeat arch rival Shelby
17-7 Friday night at John Gamble
Stadium.
The victory assured the
Mountaineers of a winning season
while putting Shelby's back to the
wall in its bid for a winning cam-
paign. KM improved to 2-2 in the
Southwestern 3-A Conference and
5-3 overall while Shelby fell to 1-3
in the conference and 3-5 overall.
With both teams eliminated from
the post-season playoffs, the only
thing riding on the outcome was
bragging rights. After losing two
conference games they felt they
could have won the Mountaineers
wanted to show their fans they
were capable of playing good foot-
ball, Coach Denny Hicks said.
"It was homecoming and there
were a lot of distractions during the
week that could have been more
harmful than good for our players,"
he said. "But we were at a point in
the season that the kids knew we
were supposed to be a real solid
football team. We had stumped our
toe real bad at R-S Central (a 27-0
KM loss) and had lost a heart-
breaker at Burns (16-13). It was
just a matter that the kids got fo-
cused on the ballgame and were
more concerned with proving to
themselves and the fans that they
could play some good football.
Everybody focused in on the job to
be done and the result was a great
football game."
The Mountaineer offense, which
hasn't been consistent this year,
showed early that it was going to
be a good night and led the
Mountaineers to their 13th straight
win at home. KM hasn't lost a
home game since falling to Hunter
Huss in the first home game of the
1988 season.
Victor Bell ran the opening kick-
off back to midfield and the
Mountaineers marched to the Lion
13 before losing the ball on downs.
Shelby came back to gain 45 of its
126 rushing yards on its first three
carries of the night, but KM's de-
fense adjusted and Shelby turned
the ball over on downs.
The Mountaineers drove to the
Shelby nine yard line before being
faced with a fourth and four.
Scottie Hopper booted a 26-yard
field goal from the left hash mark
for a 3-0 lead. Victor Bell's 48-yard
run around left end put the
Mountaineers in scoring position.
Shelby came back and grabbed
7-3 lead with 38 seconds remaining
in the half on a five-yard run by
Leroy Spikes. The Mountaineers
had stopped the Lions three plays
earlier on a fourth down run but a
15-yard face mask penalty gave
Shelby new life.
The Lions went into the dressing
room at intermission confident
they could come back out in the
second half and maintain the lead
and continue their recent domina-
tion of the Mountaineers. But, in
the second half the KM defense
would limit the Lions to just 13
yards of offense on 18 plays and
one first down, which was the re-
sult of a KM penalty. For the
game, Shelby, which had been av-
eraging 295 yards rushing per
game, was held to 126 total yards
and 0-for-10 in the passing depart-
ment while Kings Mountain ran up
226 yards on the ground and hit on
5-of-8 passes for 67 yards.
Shelby ran only six plays in the
third quarter. The Lions received
the second half kickoff, ran three
plays and punted, and the
Mountaineers took over and
marched 66 yards for what turned
out to be the winning touchdown.
Normally a running team, the
Mountaineers went to the air right
off the bat. On first down, quarter-
back Timmy McClain hit a wide
open Scottie Hopper for a 31-yard
gain and a 15-yard penalty against
Shelby for a late hit gave the
Mounties a first down at the Lions’
18. D.J. Williams went around end
YARDSTICK
SH KM
First downs 6 14
Yds. rushing 127 226
Passes 0-10-1 5-8-0
Yds. Passing 0 67
Punts 5-35 3-31
Fumbleslost 1 1
Yds. penalized 35 73
By quarters: T
SH 0 7 0 0. --7
KM 3 0 14 0 --17
KM - Hopper 26 field goal.
S - Spikes, 5 run (Pasco kick)
KM - Lockhart, 6 run (Moss
kick)
KM - Hopper, 5 pass from
McClain (Moss kick)
RUSHING
KM - Bell 12-88, Lockhart 17-
56.
S - Brooks 12-51, Wilson 9-46,
Spikes 6-22. :
PASSING
KM - McClain 5-8-0-67.
RECEIVING
KM - Hopper 3-49, Wilson 2-
18.
for a 12-yard gain to set up a six-
yard touchdown burst up the mid-
dle by fullback Jeff Lockhart.
Kevin Moss added the PAT for a
10-7 Mountaineer lead.
After the kickoff, Shelby ran
three plays and punted again and
the Mountaineers marched 69
yards in 16 plays for the final
touchdown. Bell, McClain,
Lockhart and Williams took turns
running the ball, and McClain hit
Hopper on a five-yard pass for the
touchdown with 1:53 remaining in
the quarter. -
Kings Mountain threatened two
more times in the fourth period but.
lost a fumble at the Shelby 22 and
lost the ball on downs at the two
with less than a minute to play.
Coach Hicks called the showing
by the KM offense "one of the best
all-around efforts we've had all
year. We're extremely pleased that
it happened on homecoming
against our #1 rival. =
"We were the type of team
Friday night that we had hoped to
be three or four weeks ago," he
said. "Everybody was trying to do
the best they could and because of
that things went real well for us."
Hicks said the offensive showing
was even better than in 1985 and
'86 when the Mountaineers beat
Shelby by 7-0 and 14-7 scores.
"We probably moved the ball as
consistently as we ever have
against them," he said. "It speaks
well of the offensive line and run-
ning backs. They were all working
so hard that even during times that
we made mistakes we got by with
it. Everybody was trying hard to
make things happen."
Hicks praised the defense for de-
fending against Shelby's option "as
well as we ever have. In our first
game with them last year, they beat
us in the second half with the op-
tion but our kids did a great job of
stringing it out this time and keep-
ing it from going for big yardage.
"We also did a much better job
on their fullback (Johnny Brooks),"
he added. "He beat us almost sin-
gled handed in the state playoffs
last year but we did a great job
against him."
Hicks said another big key to the
win was field position.
"We started almost every posses-
sion in great field position," he
said. "It's so much easier to operate
your offense when you've got field
position. It gave us an opportunity
to run our whole offense." >
Hicks also praised the Kings
Mountain fans, who packed the \
home side of the stadium and were /
in the game from the outset.
"I know the kids are tickled to
death,” he said. "The fans stuck
See Football, 3-B