Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Kings Mountain Herald
Al
a
Gary Stewart/KMH Photo
ports
Kings Mountain’s Joe Chambers (22) picks up good yards behind a block by Devin Thompson (7) in
Friday’s game at R-S Central.
KM locks up SWC 3A title
Beat Hilltoppers 28-21 in Palace
By Gary Stewart
Sports Editor
R-S Central has its palace — the name they call
their football stadium - but Kings Mountain’s.
Mountaineers were king of the palace Friday
night.
Putting forth their best offensive performance
of the season, the
Mountaineers de-
feated the Hilltop- oTHIS WEEK
pers 28-21 to assure
themselves of at KiNGgs Mountain
least a share of their at Burns Friday,
first conference 2 ?
7:30 p.m.
championship since
1998, and their first
home playoff game
since 1998. j ;
It wasn’t easy, but championship games aren’t
supposed to be easy.
“It was a tough game,” said second-year KM
coach Greg Lloyd. “We knew it was going to be.
We played really hard. The offense played its best
game of the year. We had to do that because they
(R-S Central) also played very well.”
Both teams’ offenses were outstanding, with
KM gaining 387 total yards and R-S 290. Per-
haps the most important statistics, though, were
that the Mountaineers controlled ball possession
time, running 75 plays without a turnover, to R-
S Central’s 40 plays.
The game’s outcome wasn’t decided until the
final 1:48, when KM'’s defense stopped R-S Cen-
tral’s powerful running back Oddie Murray on a
fourth and ten play from the 18 yard line.
“We controlled the clock and that was the dif-
ference in the game,” Lloyd said. “Their offense
was big and physical. We were just trying to get
first downs and we had to have every one of
them.”
Kings Mountain had a balanced running at-
tack, led by quarterback Michael Roberts and
running backs Joe Chambers and Carlos Bell,
who combined for 293 yards rushing. With out-
standing blocking in front of them, the trio was
able to keep moving the ball and keep R-S Cen-
tral’s offense on the sidelines for much of the
game.
“They’re so big across the front line, and had
the big boy (Murray) running behind it,” Lloyd
said. “That made it difficult. They made us look
small. But our defense stepped it up when we had
to, and that fourth down stop late in the game was
huge.”
The two teams’ offenses were so good that
neither team had to punt. KM stopped two R-S
drives with a pass interception and fumble, and
each team caused the other to miss a field goal.
With sophomore quarterback Cameron Harris
leading the offense, the Mountaineers marched
the opening kickoff from their own 24 to the R-
S eight before a false start set them back. East
cornerback Leon Brown broke up two passes in
the end zone, and a KM field goal attempt from
See MOUNTAINEERS on Page B3
Kings Mountain’s Carlos Bell (30) picks up good yardage in Fri-
day’s SWC football game at R-S Central.
FIRST PERIOD
Postgame
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
KM — Joe Chambers, RB, 26-124
rushing, 1 TD; Michael Roberts, QB, 27-
107 rushing, 3 TDs; KM offensive line
(Kelly McCrary, Jaris Williams, Joseph
Haskett, Sage Luley, Jack Luangsay,
Devin Thompson), outstanding blocking.
Matt Young, DB, fumble recovery; An-
thony Dalton, S, pass interception; Tori
Belcher, LB, big tackle to stop potential
late R-S scoring drive.
ray at the line of scrimmage and slammed
him to the ground for just a one-yard gain,
causing R-S to lose possession on loss
of downs. With R-S out of time outs, KM
QB Michael Roberts touched his knee
down on three consecutive plays to run
the clock out.
THE YARDSTICK
KM RS
First downs 26 14
Yds. Rushing 303 170
Yds. Passing 84 120
Passes 5-14-0 6-131
Fumbles/lost 1-0 3-1
Penalties/Yds. ~~ 12-109 5-40
PLAY OF THE GAME
With 1:48 left in the game and R-S
facing fourth and two at the KM 18, KM
linebacker Tori Belcher met R-S Central's KM 6... 6..16
big 245-pound running back Oddie Mur- RS 7: 0087
BY THE NUMBERS
0-28
Taa2l
3:11 — RS — William Brown 11 pass
from Deshawn Littlejohn (Cody Owens
kick). 72-yard drive, 7 plays. Murray three
carries for 52 yards.
0:26 — KM — Michael Roberts 4 run
(kick failed). 46 yard drive, 7 plays.
Roberts 20 yard run and 32 yard pass to
Devin Thompson.
SECOND-QUARTER
1:01 — KM - Roberts 28 run (kick
failed, bad snap). 40-yard drive following
pass interception and return by Anthony
Dalton.
THIRD QUARTER
7:33 — KM - Joe Chambers 4 run
‘(Chambers pass from Roberts). 41-yard
drive following fumble recovery by Matt
Young.
3:48 — RS - Littlejohn 4 run (Owens
kick). 44-yard drive, 6 plays, following
KM kickoff. Murray 5 carries for 41 yards.
0:42 — KM — Roberts 3 run (Terrance
Young run). 78-yard drive, 7 plays. Young
18-yard reception, Carlos Bell 28-yard
run around left end to 13 yard line.
FOURTH QUARTER
11:49 — RS - Chris Gosnell 67 pass
from Littlejohn (Owens kick).
RUSHING
KM - Chambers 26-124, Roberts 27-
107, Bell 7-62. RS — Murray 14-130, Lit-
tlejohn 7-24, Brown 2-6, Martin 3-5, Petty
1-5.
PASSING -
KM — Roberts 3-9-0-70; Cameron
Harris 2-4-0-14, Thompson 0-1. RS — Lit-
tlejohn 6-13-1-120.
RECEIVING
KM -T. Young 3-50, Thompson 1-32,
Bell 1-2. RS — Gosnell 1-67, Fuller 1-16,
L. Brown 1-14, Lynch 1-11, W. Brown 1-
11, Martin 1-1.
NOTABLE
Kings Mountain had a huge turnout of
fans and they made their presence
known from the opening kickoff. Although
official numbers aren't known, it appeared
KM had more fans that R-S Central.
QUOTABLE
“We're very happy with the support.
Our fans were in the game all night and it
really helped our players.”
Greg Lloyd
KMHS hzad coach
JV Mountaineers come from behind to beat R-S Central
By Gary Stewart
Sports Editor
Kings Mountain recov-
ered from an early deficit to
defeat R-S Central 25-7 in
JV football action Thursday
night at John Gamble Sta-
dium.
The visiting Hilltoppers
took advantage of a KM
fumble on a fair catch at-
tempt to drive 27 yards for a
7-0 first quarter lead.
After that, the Moun-
taineers used a solid run-
ning game and outstanding
defense to notch their sixth
win in nine decisions.
Sparked by a 43-yard
run by John Robbs and a
25-yard jaunt by Cedric
Thompson on the first two
plays following the R-S
kickoff, the Mountaineers
drove 83 yards in five plays
to score on a seven yard run
off tackle by Thompson to
cut the score to 7-6.
Dustin Stone’s fumble
recovery at the Moun-
taineers’, 39 yard line with
8:55 left in the half sparked
a 62-yard touchdown drive
which was capped by
Robbs’ 10-yard run around
left end with 3:17 left to put
KM on top 12-7.
Robbs went 63 yards
right up the middle of the
field on the first play of the
second half to put the
See JV on Page B3
Gary Stewart/KMH Photo
Cedric Thompson runs behind the blocking of John Robbs in last week’s JV football game at Gamble
Stadium.