Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / July 8, 1980, edition 1 / Page 3
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• B • i f the 1 he little Moffitt Is Aiming For State Mat Crown TuMday. luly 8. 198aKINGS MOUNTAIN HERALD-Pag* 3 By GARY STEWART Co-Editor In three short years as wrestl ing coach at Kings Mountain High School, Coach Steve Mof- fitt has reached almost every goal imaginable. He’s won one Southwestern 3-A Conference title, tied another, won one SWC tourna ment ' championship and one Southwestern Sectional event. He’s been recognized by his peers as Southwestern Con ference Coach of the Year, and coached one of his grapplers (Chuck Gordon) to the State Championship. The only major title to escape him has been the North Carolina Team Championship, and he has begun steps to make that a reali ty- Moffitt this summer organized the Kings Mountain Summer Wrestling Club and took 2S to 30 youngsters all over the state to match their wrestling skills with others. Twenty of his youngsters competed in the State tournament at Hickory (seven of them won first place) and 10 of his men competed in the Southeastern Regional Tourna ment in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Six of those 10 placed in the top four. Moffitt will have to wait four or five years to see the results of the summer program, as his par ticipants were sixth and seventh graders. But as these 30 progress and others join the program in the future, he expects to see Kings Mountain High put together some of the best high school wrestling teams in the state. “We’ll get behind if we don’t start doing things like this,” says Moffitt. “They’re doing it in other parts of the state, even though we are the only one in oi^r conference.” ‘.j^ie suHunet;programs allows the youngsters to compete in about 30 matches, and that’s ex perience that csui’t even be gain ed in school wrestling. Junior high teams compete in only 10 regular season matches per year. “By the time these kids get to be sophomores, they will have competed in over % matches, and that’s not counting what theyll do in junior high,” he said. “If we can get this program started, it will really help our program. Nobody else in our conference is starting them out that young. And, next year, we hope to go down as low as the third grade. By the time those kids get in junior high, they’ll have sbt years experience.” “Moffitt, who has a 25-7 record in three years at KMHS, is trying to land next year’s Southeastern Regionals. Frank Rader, president of the Wrestl ing Federation, visited Kings Mountain last Wednesday and will decide between KM and Hickory. “Kings Mountain’s only drawback is facilities,” said Mof fitt. “He told me we had the best location but Hickory had the best facilities. If we can get the tournament, it’ll create more in terest and help get kids in our program too.” Moffitt expects to see results of his summer program as early as next year, when most of his grapplers will join the junior high team. He expects his good friend and former assistant coach, Phil Weathers, to win the Western Junior High Con ference. “We had light weights in our program,” he said, “and 1 really expect to see them come through for him. Theyll have 30 matches under their belts before they get in the seventh grade and the kids from the other schools won’t have any matches before the seventh grade.” His coaching philosophy, he said, is much different in the summer than with his high school team. ‘The main thing,” he said, “is to get them interested. I don’t make it as hard in practice. It’s more of a fun thing. There’s some pressure on them, but it’s a different kind of pressure. "The competition is better than it is in junior high wrestl ing,” he went on. ‘The regional was unreal. It was the best com petition I’ve ever seen for kids. It was some of the best competition in the United States. “I hope they extend the tour naments,'’ he went on. “We're already through and the wrestlers tend to forget a little. Some of them are still wanting to practice even though they don't have any more matches.” Moffitt is so sold on the sum mer program in the U.S., he honestly feels future Olympic champions will come out of it. “I was talking to a referee down at Florida who has a son 12 years old,” he said. “He’s been wrestling in an exchange pro gram since he was seven. He’s wrestled in Mexico and other foreign countries. I’ve never seen that good a quality of wrestling with such young kids. Some of them look like high school state champions.” For Kings Mountain next summer, Moffitt plans to con centrate on getting other age groups, including the lower grades and high school, in terested. He wants to keep a big step ahead of the other area towns in hopes of keeping his Moun taineers at the top of the Southwestern 3-A Conference. “In wrestling now, we’re like Shelby used to be in football,” he said. “A lot of the schools have never beaten us and that’s their main goal ... to beat Kings Mountain. Well be weaker than usual this coming year because we lost so many seniors. But if this summer program does what I think it’s going to do, it’s really going to help our program.” J A KM GRAPPLERS—Pictured above are six of the 10 Kings Mountain wrestlers who com peted in the Southeastern Regionals Tourna ment in Florida recently. Front row, left to right, Sidney Brown, state champ in the 80-pound class; Roderick Boyce, fourth in regionol at IDS pounds; and Vince Sullens, state champ and third in regionals in 90 pound class. Back row. Dale Smart, state champ and runner-up in regionals in 85 pound class; Rocky Lutz, third in state in 110 pounds; and Trent Rhea, second in state at 80 pounds. Not pictured, Dwayne Brooks, second in state and fourth in regionals at 85 pounds; Derek Iordan, state chomp and third in regionals at 95 pounds; David Parker, third in state at 98 pounds; and Doug Sipe, fourth in regionals and third in state at 167 pounds. The Oberty.^count. With checking plus interest for all. Checking Account Savings Account For .shcvr conwnic-nct-. it s hard to k-at a chctking account. But \ou rc Ix'ttcr oil luittinti u>ur nionc^ in sa\ ini;s. w here it earns i interest. There slxuild kawavtocombine the kiu-fitsof kith. Fhereis. It'scallc-d tile Lik'ity Account. /\nd you'll [find it at Indqx-ndence National Bank^ you and told just 3Utt him they oved their idow Ja to rans, nine olley >mas only olley if the cost ected i are 0 .■-..SU Iks Steve Moffitt Season Football Tickets On Sale At KMHS Office Season tickets for the 1980 Kings Mountain High School football season will go on sale Ju ly 21 at the KMHS main office. Tickets for the five home games will be $10, Principal Bob McRae said. McRae said last year’s ticket holders may reserve their same seats if they contact the school between July 7 and 18. The price of the season tickets is the same as five individual tickets, but the season ticket assures the holder of the same seat at every game. The five home games this year are against Burns on Sept. 5, Ashbrook on Sept. 12, Crest on Oct. 3, North Gaston (homecoming) on Oct. 10 and R-S Central on Oct. 31. Account Our Interest, (^krking Han I With a l.ilxTty Account. 1 \ou .still actually maintain two accounts: clurk- ingandsav ings. But now. until you write a check, all uuir nxmey reiiiiiins in savings, where it earns .'f!.intere.st. Asvou write checks, funds are iastantly traas- ferreej to unir checking account to pay them. fk‘t\\een checks, your chtvking account balance remains at zero. ,\nd all your nxmey stays in .savings, earning interest. Now. the Likrty Account is even nxire attractive — k'cau.se the .savings kilance re quired tor ixi .service charge has k*en reduced to S1 .(XX) or nxire. See your ]irofessional banker at lnde|x‘ndence National Bank. INDEPENDENCE NATIONAL BANK PROI 1:.SS10NA1.BAN'KI-:RS YOUO\N lIlPItNDON \U MIH KM\M k.\l IB ItlMI INM’K.Wt I UIK.Mlt>\
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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July 8, 1980, edition 1
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