April 28, 2005
| SPORTS
The Kings Mountain Herald
Childers one-hits R-
~ Mounties blank North
Kings Moonta s Morgan Childers flirted
with another no-hitter Monday in a 5-0 win
in a Southwestern Foothills Conference soft-
ball game at R-S Central.
The talented sophomore carried a no-hit-
ter into the seventh inning, when she gave
Casey Camp had a double, one RBI and
one run; Courtney Tate was 1-for-3 with a
run and two stolen bases; Kala Buchanan
had a triple and scored a run; LaRonda
was 1-for-4.
up a single to Casey Wright. Childers struck
out nine and walked only one.
Early on, the game was a pitcher’s duel
between Childers and R-S Central's Rachel
Stevens. Stevens held the Mountaineers
scoreless through the first three i innings, and
also finished with nine strikes.
But the Mountaineers got their offense
going, scoring single runs in the fourth, fifth
and sixth i innings and a pair in the top of the
seventh.
Brittney Thornburg led the attack with 3-
for-4, including a double and two runs bat-
ted in. :
By GARY STEWART
Editor of The Herald
Kings Mountain is now a
two high school football
town.
Hope Christian Academy,
which is winding down its
first year at the East Gold
Street Wesleyan Church
facility at the corner of East
Gold St. and Oriental
Avenue, will field a varsity
football team next year.
Head Coach Jason Thomas
expects to have around 25
players when the
Thunderbolts play their
first-ever game on August
19 at Northside in Charlotte.
Their first home game is
September 2 at 7:30 p.m.
against Richard Winn of
Columbia, SC. Home games
will be played on the
Salvation Army Boys Club
field in Gastonia, but
Thomas hopes to find a field
in Kings Mountain for their
second season.
A meeting was held last
Thursday to lay the ground-
work for the first season. A
number of fund-raising
activities will be held in the
near future to raise money
for equipment and operating
costs. A fish fry is slated for
May 20 at Hope Christian.
Plates are $7.
A June 11 7-on-7 passing
jamboree at the Salvation
Army Boys Club will feature
a number of area public high
school teams, including
Kings Mountain, West
Charlotte, Olympic, York,
Forestview Hunter Huss, St.
McClain had an RBI single, and Childers
HM Kings Mountain shutout a strong North
Lincoln team 3-0 in a non-conference game
Wednesday at North Lincoln.
Kristyn Funderburke pitched the first four
innings to get the win. She gave up only one
hit and struck out five.
eight.
Morgan Childers pitched the final three
innings, giving up one hit and fanning
Funderburke led the KM hitting with 2-
for-3 and one RBI.
Courtney Tate, Kristin Cogdill, LaRonda
McClain and Childers had one hit apiece.
Stephens and Northwest
Cabarrus, and private
schools Hope Christian and
Highland Tech. All-day
admission is $8.
Thomas, who was defen-
sive coordinator at
Cherryville High School last
year and is a former head
coach at Bessemer City,
Chavis and York-Chester
middle schools, is excited
about the initial season. The
team will begin spring prac-
tice Saturday from 10 a.m.-
12 noon at SABC, and will
practice most Saturdays
from now until the jam-
boree.
“We have some very
strong athletes, very foot-
ball-minded athletes,” he
says. “I really think that
we've got some that can
play college ball when they
graduate. I think we're
going to have a successful
year. We'll have our ups and
downs because of being a
first-year program, but we're
going to surprise some peo-
ple.”
The Thunderbolts’ 11-
game regular season sched-
ule includes a number of
private schools from North
and South Carolina. They
will also compete in a con-
ference championship play-
off on Saturday, Nov. 5 at
Lenoir-Rhyne College in
Hickory, and in the NACA
National Tournament in |
Bristol, TN November 8-11.
Hope will be playing in a
four-team conference with
South Lake Christian of
Huntersville, Southside
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JASON THOMAS
Christian of Greenville, SC
. and Lockhart High School
from Lockhart, SC.
In 2006, Thomas hopes to
see the school join the North
Carolina Independent
Schools Athletic Association.
Thomas has assembled
what he thinks is a good
coaching staff with public
school playing and coaching
experience.
Thomas played at
Ashbrook High School and
assisted Lanny Ford with
the initial Highland Tech
team.
Line coach Joey Davis,
who lives in Kings
Mountain, played at Hunter
Huss and Gardner-Webb
and is also a former assistant
at Cherryville.
Bobby Yonker of Belmont
will get his feet wet in the
school coaching ranks, and
Bruce Brown, who coached
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KM third baseman Haley Barrett fields a hot grounder
Hope Christian to field football team
with Thomas at Bessemer
City but took last year off, is
returning to coaching.
“It’s a good coaching
staff,” Thomas says. “I'm
proud of what we have. All
of them know the game so
the kids will be taught well
and coached well.”
Thomas said the school
and community support
thus far has been over-
whelming.
“The school, the faculty,
the parents and the kids are
behind this big-time,” he
says. “This is a great thing
for the school and communi-
ty. We're not going to take
over Kings Mountain foot-
ball, never-ever, but if
they're playing out of town
we'd appreciate the fans
supporting us.”
Hope Christians football
team will consist of players
in grades nine through 12.
At this time there will not be
Days \
A New
a JV team. Thirteen football
players are already enrolled
~ at Hope and Thomas expects
a dozen more to enroll for
fall classes. Some of the
transfers coming in are key
players at public schools.
The Thunderbolts will run
out of the Power-I and shot-
‘gun patterned after the Crest
offense. However, Thomas
said, where the Chargers
aren’t known for running an
option out of the shotgun,
the Thunderbolts will run
the option about 60 percent
of the time.
Thomas’ starting quarter-
back will be Tony Asbury, a
6-2, 175 pounder who runs a
4.5 forty. “He’s a great ath-
lete with a phenomenal
arm,” Thomas says. “He i isa
great kid.”
When in the I formation,
fullback Aaron Pope, a
freshman, will be a key run-
See Hope, 5B
Vith
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Tonight.
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SPORTS i
THIS
WEEK
Thursday, April 28
4:30 - High school JV
baseball, Kings Mountain at
Hickory.
7 p.m. - High school base-
ball, Hickory at Kings
Mountain.
4:15 - Tri-County
Conference championship
baseball game, Kings
es
SEP EEe
§
§
$4 ddd ets
Friday, April 29
6 p.m. - High school soft-
ball, Hickory at Kings
Mountain (varsity only).
ALLER 84S
Monday, May 2
5 p.m. - High school soc- .*
cer, Burns at Kings r
Mountain (JV /varsity DH). ~~ #
Tuesday, May 3
4:30 - High school soft-
ball, Burns at Kings
Mountain (JV /varsity DH).
4:30 - High school JV
baseball, Kings Mountain at
Burns.
7 p.m. - High school base-
ball, Burns at Kings
Mountain.
-
Wednesday, May 4
5 p.m. - High school soc- ~~
cer, Kings Mountain at Fred | ~
T. Foard (JV /varsity DH).
SWFH 3A :
STANDINGS 3
Teams Conf. All uy
Crest 7-2 13-67
K. Mtn. 6-2 13-5: v=
Burns 5-3 14-4
Hickory 5-3 13-5
RS Central - 3-6 8-10
St. Stephens 3-6 7-9
ET. Foard 1-8 3-13:
+
RR EE
Si TCV El
644 North Aspen Street, Lincolnton, N.C.
704-735-1422
9-5 Monday - Saturday © Closed Sunday same As Cash
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