Dave Ballenger encour-
ages his KM defense.
SPORTS
THIS
WEEK
High School Football
Thursday, Sept. 14
7 p.m. - Kings Mountain
JVs at Shelby.
Friday, Sept. 15
7:30 p.m. - Shelby at Kings
Mountain
Middle School Football
Wednesday, Sept. 20
5 p.m. - Kings Mountain at
Crest
Women’s Volleyball
Thursday, Sept. 14
4:30 p.m. -
Forestview at
Kings Mountain
Tuesday, Sept. 19
4:30 p.m. - Kings Mountain
at North Gaston
Women’s Tennis
Thursday, Sept. 14
3:30 p.m. - Kings Mountain
at Forestview
Monday, Sept. 18
3:30 p.m. - West Lincoln at
Kings Mountain
Tuesday, Sept. 19
3:30 p.m. - R-S Central at
Kings Mountain
Men’s Soccer
Monday, Sept. 18
6 p.m. - Forestview at Kings
Mountain
Tuesday, Sept. 19
6 p.m. - Hibriten at Kings
Mountain
~ Cross Country
Thursday, Sept. 14
3:30 - Kings Mountain and
Forestview at South Point
ERR
TRI-COUNTY
RANKING
|
Team Record Last Week
l= Crest 2-0 1
( 2 - Forestview 3-0 2
3 -S. Point 2-0-1 3
4 - Ashbrook 3-0-1 4
5 - Shelby 1-2 5
6 - K. Min. 2-1 6
7 -N. Gaston = 3-0 7
8 - RS Central 2-1 Bt
9 - Chase 2-1 9
10 - E. Ruth. 1-2 10
11 - Burns 0-3 11
12 - Huss 0-3 12
13 - E. Gaston 0-4 13
14 - B. City 0-2 14
15 - C'ville 0-4 15
Last Week’s Results
Kings Mtn. 49, B. City 6
S. Point 44, Huss 7
E. Lincoln 41, E. Gaston 15
E. Ruth. 41, Tuscola 40
N. Gaston 48, Cherryville 13
RS Central 18, McDowell 7
Chase 27, E. Henderson 14
Ashbrook 15, Lincolnton 0
Crest 45, Shelby 13
This Week's Games
Catholic at Bessemer City
Min. Heritage at Chase
Shelby at Kings Mountain
Cherryville at West Wilkes
E. Gaston at South Point
Crest at Hunter Huss
Freedom at Burns
E. Rutherford at Forestview
Lincolnton at North Gaston
The Kings Mountain Herald
September 14, 2000 Section B, Page 1
Mountaineers host Shelby
Friday in first home game
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Don’t let Shelby’s won-lost
record fool you.
The team coming into John
Gamble Stadium Friday night
at 7:30 for Kings Mountain's
first home game is the same
quick, hard-hitting Golden
Lions team that has been one of
the state’s powerhouses since
the beginning of organized prep
football in Cleveland County in
the 1920s.
The Mountaineers and Lions
have met 76 times beginning
with a 0-0 tie in 1926, and their
series is one of the longest-run-
ning rivalries in the state. Most
of their games have been close
and physical, and coaches ex-
pect the same this year.
Kings Mountain comes into
the game with a 2-1 record, and
Shelby is 1-2.
Shelby’s losses were to two
of the state’s better 4A teams -
Freedom and Crest - while
Kings Mountain's victories
were against two weak Gaston
County opponents - East
Gaston and Bessemer City -
who have a combined record of
0-6.
The old cliche,” ‘you can
throw the records out the win-
dow when these two teams
meet,” has never been more
true.
‘The Lions bring a veteran,
talented outfit the Gamble
Stadium, led by a couple of sea-
soned backs who are among the
best in the area.
" Quarterback Michael
Strickland, a 5-9, 145-pound se-
nior, may not be cut out of the
same mold as some of Shelby’s
previous quarterbacks like
Chad Holbrook or Norris
Hopper, but he runs the Lions’
offense to perfection.
The Lions’ top running back
again is 5-4, 148-pound senior
Antwan Hamilton, who gets
around the end in a hurry and
has the speed to out-run almost
anyone to the end zone. He was
the Lions’ leading rusher last
year when they finished 8-3-1
overall and went two rounds in
the state playoffs.
Running back Keith
Patterson, a 5-10, 175-pound ju-
nior also returns from last year,
and a young running back who
is coming on strong for the
Lions is 5-9, 190-pound sopho-
more fullback Tavarus Hill.
Despite being pounded 45-13
‘by Crest last week, the Shelby
defense is among the best in the
area. The Lions aren’t that big,
but they are extremely quick.
Eric White, a 190-pound se-
nior All-Southern Piedmont
Conference choice, leads the
Lions’ attack. He has been their
leading tackler the past two sea-
sons.
The Lions also have experi-
enced special teams, led by field
goal and extra point kicker Trey
Bridges and punter Russell
Forrest.
On paper, Kings Mountain
matches up well with the Lions
‘on offense and defense and the
Mountaineers showed some im-
provement in their kicking
game Friday at Bessemer City.
But first-year head coach
Dave Farquharson would like
to see more consistency from
his offense. Even though the
Mountaineers defeated
Bessemer City 49-6 last week,
Farquharson knows the Yellow
Jackets were not a top-quality
opponent.
“I wish we had executed bet-
See Shelby, 3B
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Kings Mountain running back Jamal Byers (9) follows the blocking of tackle Jarvarous Wilson (79) for a big gain in Friday's
nonconference football game at Bessemer City. Kings Mountain won 49-6.
>
Mountaineers too much
for Bessemer City 49-6
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
After a sluggish first half,
Kings Mountain's
Mountaineers scored on all four
of their second half possessions
to rout Bessemer City 49-6 in
nonconference football action
Friday night at Dixon Stadium
in Bessemer City.
The victory was the second in
three outings for the
Mountaineers, while the Yellow
Jackets fell to 0-2.
Kings Mountain rolled up 464
yards total offense while the
young but improving KM de-
fense held the Yellow Jackets to
just 41 yards on the ground and
33 in the air. i
Mountaineer coach Dave
Farquharson said he was
pleased to get the win, but
hoped his team would have
been more consistent.
“I felt about as good as I
could feel knowing that we _
were coming off Gaffney and
having to play Bessemer City,”
Farquharson said. “I wish we
had executed better.”
Depth and athleticism were
the big differences in the game.
The Yellow Jackets played with
a lot of sting early, but with just
22 players on their team it
didn’t take long for the much
larger KM team ( in both size
and numbers) to wear them
down.
Bessemer City’s brightest
spots on offense were running
GARY STEWART / THE HERALD
Kings Mountain’s Cortney Smith (30) is loose for a big run
around end in Friday’s 49-6 victory at Bessemer City
backs Jermaine Gamble, who
gained 42 yards on 18 carries,
and Daontae Davis, who broke
loose for a 66-yard touchdown
run (BC's first of the year) in the
third quarter.
Kings Mountain's defense
gave BC quarterbacks Antonio
Duff and Kelly Hastings fits,
sacking them numerous times
resulting in a loss of 83 yards.
Senior running backs Jamal
Byers and Antonio McClain
both topped the 100-yard rush-
ing mark for the Mountaineers.
Byers gained 138 yards in six
carries and McClain added 108
yards in seven carries and two
touchdowns. ;
Farquharson said the
Mounties made some changes
on their point-after-touchdown
team following last week's 42-0
loss to Gaffney, and they paid
off with seven straight PATs by
Matt Bridges.
He was also pleased with the
defensive effort, but he was
concerned about his team’s
blocking and lack of consisten-
cy on offense.
“We did a lot of things on the
sheer fact that we had better
athletes on the field,” he said.
“That's all good, but that’s not
going to get it done in the long
run.”
The Mountaineers rolled to
touchdowns on their first two
possession and drove within
the shadow of the BC goal line
on their next two possessions
See Mounties, 3B
Joe Leach could be a big
key to Kings Mountain’s of-
fense in this week’s home
opener against Shelby.
Tailgate
party kicks
off Friday
The often imitated but never
duplicated i Herold
Tailgate -
Show will
begin its
“third sea-
son on
Radio
Station
WKMT
Friday at
5:45 p.m.
live from
the home
gate of Editor
John Gamble Stadium.
The show will run from 5:45-
6:45 before each KMHS home
game. .
The show, the brainstorm of
Jay Rhodes and yours truly,
started three years ago as the
first (that we know of) high
school tailgate show in the
state.
Since that time I've heard of
other radio stations and news-
papers that have followed suit.
It’s a lot of fun that includes a
lot of interviews with coaches, |
former players and fans, music,
cheering by the KMHS varsity
cheerleaders, trivia questions,
game predictions, and bull-
shooting.
Joining the team this year is
former KMHS football coach
Bob Jones. Joel Rountree, who
took part the first two years, has
taken over as an assistant prin-
cipal at Bessemer City and may
not be able to help full-time this
year. When he’s able he will be:
with us, but with Joel's depar:
ture we figured we needed =
somebody at the table that = =
knows something about foot- _
ball. -
As usual, Junior Pryor wilkbé
“in the truck” making sure
we're on the air and staying=—-
within the time frame, and Joe
Hord will be assisting in hand=:
ing out prizes and doing other=
necessary behind-the-scenes:
work. =
We hope this year’s tailgate:
show will be the biggest and:
best ever. Jay Rhodes has lined:
up some interesting guests for:
interviews, and has rounded up
some great prizes for the fans
who participate.
While the tailgate show has
been fun and popular with the
fans who've participated, it has
never really taken on the atmo-
sphere of a “tailgate party.”
Maybe that’s La the first
year, 1998, we held it inside the
KMHS cafeteria at the same
time local clubs and organiza--
tions were having fund-raising
suppers.
We moved outside during the
state playoffs of 1998 and it be-
came popular with the fans ar-
riving at the stadium early. But,
during playoffs, the gates open
much sooner than they do dur-
ing the regular season.
See Gary, 2B
Gary
~ Stewart