August 22 & 23, 2001
The New Season
What’s Up Front That Counts
Hickory’s ‘Big Cat’ line will move some people around
By GARY STEWART
The new Southwestern Foothills 3A
Conference football championship could be
decided as early as the first week of the con-
ference season.
That’s when perennial Western N.C. pow-
ers Crest and Hickory meet at the Chargers’
Stadium in Boiling Springs.
Most football “guessperts” across the
State say Crest will dominate the new
league, with Hickory right on their heels.
While that remains to be seen, one must
assume, because of past tradition and the
amount of talent on this year’s team, that
the Red Tornadoes will indeed give the
Chargers all the football they can handle.
Veteran Coach David Elder, whose
Hickory eleven won the State 3A title in
1996, the same year Crest won the 4A
crown, has 17 starters back from last year’s
team which finished 7-4 overall.
Heading the list is one of the State's top
line prospects, 6-5, 335-pound Richard “Big
Cat” Parker, who has started since his
sophomore year.
Gianni Miglio, a 6-5, 285-pound senior
tackle, and Roddy Long, a 6-6, 215-pound
tight end, will also move a lot of people
around so the Hickory backs can pick up
yardage. :
The Hickory offense was dealt a severe
blow in the off-season when their leading
rusher, William Gibbs, transferred to West
Caldwell. But their returning fullback, Craig
Barnette, had over 1,000 yards total offense
last year and should rank among the best in
the conference.
Brian Parsons, a junior who was a part-
time starter last year, is showing a lot of
promise and will probably step into Gibbs’
position.
“Our team is going to be small as far as
most teams are concerned, but we have
pretty good quickness and we're hoping we
can develop strength as we go along,” Elder
says. “We'll have to have kids going both
ways because we don’t have a lof of depth.”
Junior All-Conference quarterback Cole
Kineworthy threw for over 1,300 yards and
13 touchdowns last year, so it could be
interesting when he and Crest QB Brandon
Boone match up.
Elder figures if his team can be competi-
tive with the Chargers, they’ll have an
excellent shot at the State playoffs.
“We have a good nucleus,” he said. “We
just can’t have any injuries.”
Foard Ready For Test?
Tigers hope to keep playoff tradition going
By GARY STEWART
Guarded optimism may be the best term
to describe the atmosphere of Fred T. Foard
football this fall.
The Tigers, a State playoff team for fivesof
the past seven seasons, are working under a
new head coach, Charles Lloyd, who turned
out a number of successful teams at East
Lincoln.
They lost a number of experienced
seniors off last year’s team, which finished
7-5 overall and lost to Kannapolis in the
first round of the playoffs, but they also
return 13 starters, including six on offense.
On the other hand, the folks who will be
filling in for all those graduated seniors will
be untested sophomores and juniors.
“They all have a new system to learn,”
says Lloyd, who runs a multiple offense
which includes the Wing T, I-formation and
shotgun. The Tigers will throw the ball
about 40 percent of the time.
‘New R-S coach looks to future
Lloyd is hoping his team will have the
system down pat before they open
Southwestern Foothills 3A play on
September 28 at home against Kings
Mountain.
“We have to learn to crawl before we
walk, and walk before we run,” says Lloyd.
“But our goal is to get to the point that
we're going to put ourselves into position to
contend for that second playoff spot.”
To do that, the Tigers must get a stellar
performance every week from such veterans
as All-Conference linemen Brent Reid, 6-1,
250-pound guard, and Bryan Matthews, 6-3,
282-pound tackle.
They'll also have to avoid injuries,
because many of the players in the skill
positions are inexperienced.
TJ. Safrit, a junior split end, is the leading
receiver from last year and with his excel-
lent speed he could be a game-breaker
Keith Hawk, a starting tackle, last year,
has been moved to fullback. At 6-3, 190, he
could develop into one of the league’s top
power runners.
The Tigers will have a new quarterback -
either Danny Carr or Van Proctor - and
Jeremy Ward, who started on defense last
year, will move into the tailback slot.
Lloyd is high on 6-4 250-pound sopho-
more tackle Chris Sigmon, who was MVP
on the JV team last year.
Heading the defense are Ian Martin and
Steve White, both All-Conference lineback-
ers.
“We're counting on a lot of people that
played in back-up roles last year,” says
Lloyd. “They have to step up and be a force
and we have five people that have to step
up on both.sides of the ball. The question is
will they do it?
“But we're optimistic about what the
future brings. We're facing a tough chal-
lenge but we had a real good summer and
we look forward to it.”
This could
be the year
of the ‘Dogs
By GARY STEWART
With 16 starters back from
last year’s team which finished
fourth in the Southwestern 3A
. Conference, Burns should make
a strong bid for a State playoff
berth this fall.
Coach Ron Greene did not re-
turn repeated phone calls for an
interview, but based on person-
, nel returning from last year the
. ‘Dogs should be right there bat-
tling cross-county rival Crest
for the league championship.
The Bulldogs have one of the
top linebackers in the State in
Calvin Bostic, who has been
starting since his freshman sea-
son. He made the All-
| Conference team last year.
They also have an experi-
enced quarterback in junior
Troy Goss, who passed for over
700 yards last year, and they
have one of the conference's top
running backs in junior Nelson
Woods, who rushed for over
1,000 yards last year and also
made the All-Conference team.
Another returning All-
Conference star is defensive
back Tijuan Griggs, who dou-
bles as the team’s top wide re-
ceiver.
Still another ALl-SWC re-
turnee is offensive lineman
Nathan Melton, a 6-0, 280-
pound senior.
Some of the other returning
starters are wide receiver/DB
Marrio Clark, lineman Matt
Goins, defensive end Randy
Birch, and linebacker Travis
Miller.
One of the team’s top new-
comers is 6-8, 341-pound
sophomore tackle Alex
Hemphill. \
The Bulldogs play their first
conference game October 5 at
Kings Mountain, a team they
upset last year en route to a 3-3
record in the SWC.
By GARY STEWART
R-S Central's Hilltoppers lost most of the
starters from last year’s team, which finished only
4-6, but pulled a big upset in the Southwestern 3A
Conference when they knocked perennial power
Kings Mountain out of the playoff picture.
New coach Jim Keene, who was defensive coor-
dinator the past two years under Mike Mabry,
says this year the Hilltoppers aren’t even in a
rebuilding stage. They're in a building stage.
Keene is starting from the ground up in hopes
of getting R-S Central back on the winning track
after years of being a sub-.500 ball team.
“We have very few starters back,” says Keene.
‘Our situation goes from bad to worse. We actual-
ly have only four returning starters.”
Two of those returning players,
offensive /defensive lineman Lee Wiles and safety
Wade Ogle, were All-Conference last year and
they will be expected to provide leadership as
Keene and staff try to establish a winning pro-
gram.
“We've got a lot of new faces,” Keene said.
“We've got very small numbers. There's not that
many people who are willing to pay the price.
We're definitely in a building concept.”
Keene said the Hilltoppers will continue to run
a T-formation offense and 50 defense, and “just
try to hang on.”
“We just don’t have a very strong tradition and
that’s what we're trying to build,” he said. “We
could be decent. It all depends on how the kids
come together and bond as a unit. If they do we
can be competitive; if not, it’s going to be a long
season.”
DR. MARTIN
STALLINGS
108 Edgemont Drive,
Kings Mountain, NC
739-2521