By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain's two contri-
butions to Division I football -
Kareem Marshall and Riko
Feemster - have been having a
ball over the Christmas holi-
days visiting family and friends
and catching up on happenings
around Kings Mountan and
their hometown of Grover.
But as soon as the holiday
break ends, it'll be back to busi-
ness for both men as they begin
working toward what they
hope will be a successful foot-
ball season in the fall.
Marshall and Feemster were:
teammates on the KMHS foot-
ball teams of 1996, ‘97 and ‘98
which won an unprecedented
three consecutive Southwestern
3A Conference championships
and came within a late fourth
quarter fumble of winning the
state championship.
Marshall, a 6-6, 360-pound of-
fensive guard, recently complet-
ed his two-year career with
Mississippi Gulf Coast =~
Community College in Stone!
County, MS where he made All-
American, All-State, and All-
Region. During his entire time
there, he didn’t allow a quar-
terback sack. t=
Now it’s on to much greener
pastures for Marshall, who re-
cently signed a scholarship with
the University of Georgia of the
Southeastern Conference.
For years Marshall's dream
was to play for the UNC Tar
Heels, but the coaching change
at UNC and the prospects of
playing for a SEC and national
contender changed his thinking.
SPORTS
Marshall, Feemster look for big years on gridiron
“I think Georgia is going to
be a good opportunity for me,”
he says. “The new coach (for-
mer Florida State offensive co-
ordinator Mark Richt) is wide
open. He pretty much likes to
throw the football and I feel like
I'm a real good pass protector
and also a good run blocker.
Georgia is going to be a real
good opportunity for both of
us.”
Marshall also had offers from
LSU, NC State and Memphis
and prior to the Christmas holi-
days had narrowed his choices
to Georgia and Memphis, the
latter coached by former
Clemson Coach Tommy West.
The shorter distance between
Kings Mountain and Athens,
GA (a three-hour drive) also
played a part in his decision,
Marshall said.
But the big sell was the good
feeling he had when he visited
the campus and the legendary
Sanford Stadium “Between the
Hedges.”
“It just really felt like home
down there,” he said. “I just felt
like it was the place for me to
be.”
-- The Bulldogs finished 8-4
‘overall this season under Jim
Donnan, who was fired.
Marshall feels like the Bulldogs
would have won several more
games had it not been for in-
juries to key personnel, includ-
ing quarterback Quincy Carter.
And, with many starters and
top-quality recruits coming
back next year he’s confident
the Bulldogs will be a serious
contender in the SEC.
Marshall was scheduled to
report to Georgia yesterday to
The Kings Mountain Herald
KAREEM MARSHALL
register for classes, and will |
soon begin winter conditioning
and preparations for spring
practice with the Bulldogs. He
graduated Gulf Coast in early
December.
He's confident he can win a
starting position on the offen-
sive line. erin
“Going in asa junior; I'don’t
feel like they would have re-
cruited me unless could start,”
he said. “I feel like if I.go down
there and work hard, stay in
shape and stay injury free I'll «
have a starting position.
“I always wanted to go with
a team that I thought would be
a contender for the national
championship,” he added.
RIKO FEEMSTER
“Georgia has a lot of talent com-
ing back on both sides of the
ball and I feel like they should
be a contender.
“And, it’s going to be good
for me to go down there and
prove to a lot of people that I
can play at this level. There's a
lot of people out there that said
I couldn’t do it and I'm going to
prove them wrong.”
Those who have witnessed
Marshall’s progression through
the years feel that Georgia
might not be his final stop on
the gridiron. With his size, abili-
ty and speed he’s sure to attract
attention from the NFL.
“Oh, yeah!, it’s always been a
goal of mine to play in the
January 4, 2001 Section A, Page 3
NFL,” he said.
While Marshall's heading
down I-85 South toward |
Georgia, Riko Feemster will be
heading up I-85 North to
Chapel Hill where he hopes to
help the UNC Tar Heels contin-
ue to turn their program around
under new coach John Bunting.
Feemster, who was one of the
Heels’ top recruits after the ‘98
season, was a redshirt freshman
on last year’s team which im-
proved to 6-5 after a disastrous
3-8 mark in ‘99.
Feemster, a back-up guard on
both sides of the offensive line,
saw action in several games and
got in about a quarter and a half
of action in the Tar Heels’ sea-
son-ending 59-21 thrashing of
arch-rival Duke.
“Things went pretty well,”
says the 6-5, 320-pounder. “Just
getting some playing experi-
ence on the field was real good
for me. I'm hoping this year I'll
be ready to move into a starting
role.”
Feemster, a communications
major, hated to see Coach Carl
Torbush and most of his staff
terminated but he’s confident
the program will continue to
improve under Bunting, a for-
mer Tar Heel linebacker who
comes back to the nation’s old-
est university from the New
Orleans Saints, where he was
defensive coordinator.
“I think he’s going to be a
good coach,” Feemster said.
“Just like Coach Torbush was a
good coach. They've got differ-
ent styles of coaching. I wish
Coach Torbush and the other
coaches the best.
“This might bring a little
more attention to the school,”
he said of the hiring of Bunting.
“Really, I just talked to some of
them (the new coaches) recent-
ly, and he (Bunting) gave an
hour's speech to the team. So I
really haven't gotten to know
them as coaches yet. But from
what I hear he’s a real fine
coach.”
Feemster called the 6-5 sea-
son a good one (“It’s always
good when you have a winning
record,” he says) but he felt like
the Tar Heels should have done
much better.
“We were much better than
our record showed,” he said.
“Some of the games we lost, we
should have brought them
home as wins. We didn’t finish
a lot of games.”
Feemster was also disap- |
pointed that the Tar Heels
didn’t get to go to a bowl game,’ War
and said the firing of Torbush
may have played a part in that.
“There were a lot of 6-5 teams
that were selected for bowls,
and there were a couple of
teams that we beat that went to
bowl games,” he said.
With the Tar Heels graduat-
ing four seniors off the offen-
sive line, Feemster feels he'll
have a good shot at earning a
starting position next year.
“After we get back to school
after the break we'll go right in-
to our winter conditioning pro-
gram,” he said. “We'll be get-
ting ready so we'll be top-notch
for spring practice in March.
Everybody will be ready to win
their position, and with the
change I'm sure everybody will
have to win their position.”
Mountaineers sixth
KMHS girls win
Garinger tourney
a— ——
Kings Mountain High's girls
basketball team defeated West
Mecklenburg 50-46 and
Garinger 54-47 in overtime
Thursday and Friday to win
the University City Round Ball
Classic at Garinger High in
Charlotte.
Sophomore Shonda Cole,
who scored 41 points in the two
contests and had 10 rebounds in
the championship win over
Garinger, was voted the tourna-
ment’s most valuable player.
She was joined on the All-
Tournament team by teammates
Cherlyn Cole and Anna Ramey.
The victories improved the
Lady Mountaineers’ record to 7-
1.
“This was a big confidence -
booster going into conference
play,” said Coach Kevin Moss.
“We won this tournament be-
cause of our team defense.”
Kings Mountain led most of
the way against both 4A
Charlotte opponents, but
couldn’t deliver the knockout
punch until late in the game.
Against West Meck, KM led
24-22 at the half and 40-30 go- -
ing into the fourth quarter, but
the Lady Indians came back to
make it close at the end. :
“West Meck has some out-
standing guards who like to
penetrate the lane and dish off,”
Moss said. “We did a good job
cutting off their guards.
Cherlyn Cole and Anna Ramey
of
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706 West King Street ® Kings Mountain, NC 28086
(704) 730-8877 © Fax (704) 487-9891
1016 N. Lafayette Street ® Shelby, NC 28150
(704) 487-9766 © Fax (704) 487-9891
141 Laurel Hill Dr., Suite 1 ® Rutherfordton, NC 28139
828) 287-3993 e Fax (828) 287-0247
played outstanding defense.
They both had to play against
taller players and did a fine job
blocking them out. Katie
. Bennett also kept pressure on
them by not allowing them to
get into the lane.”
The Indians got a balanced
scoring attack, led by Kateesee
Burkes with 14 points and
Quita Rozzell with 13, but they
couldn’t do anything to counter
Cole’s inside strength. Finally,
in the fourth quarter West Meck
had to foul Cole to try to shut
off her inside scoring, but she
hit five of six free throws to
clinch the victory.
For the game, KM hit 14 of 20
free throws.
The Mountaineers trailed
Garinger 24-23 at the half but
fought back to grab a 34-33 lead
going into the fourth quarter.
Garinger came back to take a
45-42 lead, but KM’s Anna
Ramey hit a 3-point field goal
with six seconds left to tie the
game at 45-all at the end of reg-
ulation. Ramey, Cherlyn Cole
and Shonda Cole each hit a bas-
ket and Ebony Moore hit two
* clutch free throws in overtime
as the Mountaineers outscored
Garinger 9-2 to win going away.
Ramey finished with 15
points, Shonda Cole scored 13
and Cherlyn Cole 10 to lead the
KM scoring. Karen Foggie
scored 14 and Courtrice Starks
13 for the Wildcats.
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Board Certified
GARY STEWART / HERALD
Qwenshon Goode led the
scoring for KM’s
Mountaineers in last
week's Crest Christmas
Tournament.
“Garinger was a much taller
team,” Moss said. “We knew we
had to keep their players off the
offensive boards in ordet to
keep them from scoring; off of
trash baskets. We held them to
one shot most of the game.”
See Girls, 5A
in Christmas tourney
The holiday break and tour-
nament action are over, and
Southwestern 3A Conference
action is beginning this week
for Kings Mountain High's bas-
ketball teams.
The varsity squads were
scheduled to host Forestview in
their opener last night at the
KMHS gym, and on Friday they
will travel to East Rutherford
for the first of four straight road
games. They play at North
Gaston next Tuesday and step
back out of the conference on
Wednesday to face Latin in
Charlotte.
While the girls are sailing
high and looking to be one of
the teams to threaten
Forestview’s bid for a second
straight SWC crown, the KM
boys are struggling. Danny
McDowell's club is 3-7 with all
three of their wins coming in
tournament action.
Earlier in the year, the
Mountaineers won back-to-back
games against Clover and
Bessemer City in their own
Mountaineer Classic, and last
week at Crest they knocked off
arch rival Shelby in the Crest
Christmas Tournament.
KM lost its tournament open-
The
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er to Gaffney, SC 79-64 on
Wednesday afternoon, topped
Shelby for the first time in three
tries Thursday afternoon, 68-66,
and then lost to another county
rival, Burns, 65-53 in the battle
for fifth place on Friday.
Myers Park’s Mustangs won
the event, defeating Crest 81-70
in double overtime.
Turnovers were a bugaboo
for the Mountaineers, who lost
the ball 28 times to the pressing
. Gaffney defense in
Wednesday's tournament open-
er.
With 6-5 center Qwenshon
Goode dominating the inside
with 19 points, the
Mountaineers stayed with the
more experienced Indians for
most of three quarters. Gaffney
led 23-16 after the first quarter
and 46-37 at the break. KM
closed the gap to 51-45 midway
of the third quarter but Gaffney
went on a 10-0 scoring run to
put the game out of reach.
Tron Thompson led a bal-
anced Gaffney scoring attack
with 14 points. Chris Bonner
scored 12 and Quinton Holmes,
A.Z. Reid and Dory Brown
added 10 each. Jamal Byers
added 10 for the Mountaineers.
Goode’s lay-in with six sec-
onds remaining lifted the
Mountaineers over Shelby in
Thursday’s opener. The win
broke a five-game losing streak
and was also KM’s first win
over Shelby in three games this
year.
Turnovers continued to
plague the Mountaineers, al-
though their 15 turnover total
was much less than the day be-
fore.
Shelby led 23-18 after the first :
quarter and 39-32 at the break.
Kings Mountain battled back to
cut the margin to 54-51 going
into the fourth quarter and took
the lead on a Byers basket with
less than three minutes to play..
See Mounties, 5A
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