SR ay
Stewart
9 Editor
Tar Heel basketball
will probably be same
Last year [ was thumbing through some old
papers from 1961 looking for information on
people who were being inducted into the Kings
Mountain Sports Hall of Fame.
I came across a column by the sports editor at
that time, and he was chastising the University
of North Carolina and its president, Dr. William
Friday, for "deemphasizing" basketball at the
school.
Carolina had just lost its beloved head coach,
Frank McGuire. McGuire had coached the Tar
Heels to their greatest moments on the hard-
wood, including an undefeated season and the
national championship in 1957.
But the administration at UNC was not hap-
py with the calibre of athletes being recruited
and their academic success. So they were en-
trusting the basketball program to a young as-
sistant named Dean Smith who was being told
to cut the basketball schedule to just 16 regular
season games and recruit people who would be
students first, and basketball players second.
The writer proclaimed that "Tar Heel basket-
ball will never be the same."
Although he didn't mean it positively, the
writer turned out to be quite a prophet. Despite
an 8-9 record his first year when he was hanged
in effigy on the UNC campus, Smith brought
success to the UNC basketball program that has
been unmatched anywhere in the U.S. He not
only became the winningest coach in college
basketball history but in his 36 years as head
coach over 97 percent of his players graduated.
Indeed, Tar Heel basketball was never the
same. :
Smith announced his retirement last
Thursday in a hurried press conference. No
doubt, the ride under new coach Bill Guthridge
might not always be smooth but.the man who
has been Smith's right-hand man for 30 years
and has been one of the most loyal employees
of the University of North Carolina deserves a
shot at carrying on Smith's winning tradition -
both on the court and in the classroom.
Guthridge is probably not the #1 choice of
UNC fans. Guthridge won't spend 36 years in
the head coach's spot, he won't post 879 career
victories and he may never win an ACC or na-
tional championship. He has indicated that he
will probably retire himself in "five or six"
years. And at that time the school can put the
program into the hands of a fan favorite like
Phil Ford or Roy Williams.
As for basketball at UNC never being the
same: I think it will be the same for mary, many
years to come because Bill Guthridge not only
learned from the best, but made a tremendous
contribution to the Tar Heels being the best
over the past 30 years.
Yellow Jackets end losing streak
Short cuts from the world of sports:
Bessemer City's Yellow Jackets were tied for
the longest losing streak in North Carolina foot-
ball last week, but got quarterback James Bane
back after a week's absence and posted their
first win in 19 games, 19-6 over West Lincoln.
Bane rushed for 106 yards in 16 carries and also
hit 5 of 10 passes for 110 yards...
Defensive back Damien Daniels of Wake
Forest, an East Rutherford product, was injured
in last week's loss to North Carolina...
One of the super three recruits from Crest
High School has made a decision on where he
will play college ball. Bryant Malloy, a 305-
pound offensive lineman, has given a verbal
commitment to North Carolina's Tar Heels. The
rumor mill had Malloy, Shamar Finney and
Chelsey Borders attending the Penn State-Ohio
State game in Happy Valley last Saturday...
Former Burns standout Scottie Montgomery
of Duke was named the ACC Special Teams
Player of the Week after an outstanding effort
Saturday against Florida State. He returned five
kickoffs for 146 yards and also caught six pass-
es, including a 61-yard touchdown...
PREP PICKS - This week's high school win-
ners will be Kings Mountain over R-S Central,
Burns over North Gaston, South Point over East
Rutherford, Ashbrook over North Meck, East
Gaston over Vance, West Meck over Hunter
Huss, Crest over McDowell, Statesville over
Alexander Central, Freedom over Watauga,
Cherryville over West Lincoln, Chase over
Lincolnton, and Shelby over Maiden. (Last
week 9-2, season 51-15).
ACC PICKS - This week's ACC winners will
be Virginia over Duke, Florida State over
Georgia Tech, Wake Forest over Maryland, and
North Carolina over N.C. State. (Last week 4-1,
season 36-11).
KM’s Shana Sizemore
conference volleyball
player of the year 2B
Page 1 Section B
©
October 16, 1997 mmm:
BURNING THE BULLDOGS - Kings Mountain running back Joe
Williamson (44) finds a hole in the Burns defense and rips off a big gain in
Friday's Southwestern 3A Conference football game at Burns. The
victory.
Mountaineers opened their conference schedule with an impressive 28-0
R-S Central here Friday
A young but very talented R-S Central team
will roll into John Gamble Stadium Friday night
to challenge the defending Southwestern
Conference champion Mountaineers in what the
Hilltoppers probably are considering a "must
win" situation for them.
The Hilltoppers, 4-2 overall, lost to their county
rival East Rutherford 28-6 in their opening SWC
game last week. With only two playoff spots
available to the SWC this year, Coach Mike
Mabry and the Hilltoppers will probably pull out
all the stops in an effort to beat the Mountaineers.
It is a crucial game for the Mountaineers, also,
since after this week they face two rugged teams
(East Rutherford and South Point) on the road.
R-S Central has scored some impressive noncon-
ference wins over some perennial Western pow-
ers such as McDowell, East Burke and West
Henderson. Even though they are young, their ju-
nior class comprised ‘the R-S Middle School team
unbeaten record two years ago.
"They have some good looking skill kids, just
like they always do," says KM Coach Ron Massey.
"They are coming off a tough loss to one of their
big rivals, East Rutherford, so this is a situation
where they've got to come in and win. I anticipate
them putting everything on the table. We may see
some quick plays and may see some changes."
The Hilltoppers have quick-strike potential in
the air and on the ground, and a big offensive
and defensive line.
"They seemed to be playing pretty good up un-
til last Friday," Massey said. "I don't know exactly
what happened. It was just 2-0 at the half but East
kind of got away with it in the second half.
"They're in the same boat as we are," he contin-
ued. "They lost most of their backfield last year
offensively, and a couple of outstanding defen-
sive players. So they are young like we are, and I
think it's going to be another situation where we
which won the Tri-County championship with‘an * have to go in play a no turnover ball game.
Mountaineers open SWC
with 28-0 win over Burns
Kings Mountain's
Mountaineers carried out their
game plan almost to perfection
in Friday's 28-0 Southwestern 3-
A Conference victory over
Burns at the Burns Stadium.
Coach Ron Massey said the
KM coaching staff felt that since
Burns had been a quick starter,
it would be to the
Mountaineers' advantage if
they could shut the Bulldogs
down early in the game.
As the two teams jockeyed
for field position on a wet, fog-
gy evening, the Mountaineers
did just that, holding the
Bulldogs to just three net yards
in the first quarter and only 67
yards rushing and one seven-
yard pass completion in the first
half.
"We anticipated going in that
it would be a close game," said
Coach Massey. "Burns had been
a fast starter in most of their
ball games with the exception
of the Crest game. We felt like if
we could keep them down early
it would work to our advantage
Po gp A Pe A.
LEADING RUSHER - Kings Mountain's Anthony Hillman (45) banged
through the Burns defense for 94 yards in 14 carries Friday night to help
because we knew they had kids
going both ways and that
would help us in the third and
fourth quarters."
The Mountaineers, who had
lost to three tough teams head-
ing into the opening SWC con-
test, played one of their best
games with 313 yards total of-
fense including 7-of-11 for 136
yards in the passing game.
After a scoreless first quarter,
the Mountaineers put two
touchdowns on the board in the
second period for a 14-0 half-
time lead, then broke the game
open when Joseph Bell returned
to second half kickoff 86 yards
to the Burns four yard line, set-
ting up a third TD which ran
the score to 21-0.
"I thought, overall, this was
one of our best games in all as-
pects of the game - with the ex-
ception of the blocked punt,”
Massey said. "As far as putting
all the pieces together, it was
probably our best game of the
year."
Kings Mountain's defense
turned the Bulldogs every way
but loose in the first period.
Defensive back Landon Benton
shut down the Bulldogs' open-
ing drive with his fifth pass in-
terception of the year, and they
went three and out on their sec-
ond possession after linebacker
Mark Roper sacked Burns quar-
terback Wesley Greene on a
third down passing attempt.
Following a clip on David
Turner's punt return, the
Mountaineers started their first
touchdown drive from their
own 36 late in the first quarter.
After a seven-yard pass from
Anthony Ash to Kendrick Bell,
sophomore running back Joe
Williamson rambled seven
yards for a first down at the 45
on the last play of the quarter.
On the first play of the second
quarter, Ash hit Kendrick Bell
on a flanker screen and he cut
back to the middle of the field
and rambled 54 yards for a first
down at the Burns one foot line,
See Burns, 2B
John Gamble Stadium.
lead the Mountaineers to a 28-0 victory in their opening Southwestern 3A
"When you get into conference play, if you can
eliminate some of the turnovers, I think that's a
big part of winning. I think when our defense
went out and stopped Burns after they blocked
that punt, and stopped them after the pass inter-
ception, it was real big for us. That's the first time
this year we've come out and done that in key sit-
uations." ;
Although R-5 has gone more to a running
game in its two years under Coach Mabry,
Massey said they still have the ability to "mix it
up."
"I think they would like to come in and estab-
lish the run," he said. "They've got a bunch of
backs that they rotate in and try to keep them
fresh because a lot of them play defense too. They
are quick, and a lot of their touchdowns come off
of big plays where they break a tackle and get
outside. They've got some speed at the skill posi-
HONS. Liiniiiimini Los is
Conference game. The Mountaineers host R-S Central Friday at 7:30 at
AND HE'S OFF - Kings Mountain's Joseph
Bell is loose on an 86-yard kickoff return in
Friday's 28-0 win over Burns.
Eo
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