Newspapers / The Kings Mountain Herald … / Sept. 17, 1981, edition 1 / Page 13
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iU 349 .75 I • » • > • ' > Kings Mountain defense swarms on Jesse James fumble... Wave Edges KM 21-14, Warriors Here Friday Kings Mountain’s Moun taineers will be trying to put its offense and defense together Fri day when they host East Gaston’s Warriors in the first home game of the year at John Gamble Stadium. The Mountaineers dropped their second straight game last week at Ashbrook, 21-14, but showed a vastly improved of fense over a week earlier when they were shutout by Burns 6-0 in the season’s opener. The KM defense did not per form as well as it did at Burns, but the Mounties were up against an experienced Ashbrook team which captured its third straight win of the young season-all three over Southwest 3-A Conference teams. The Mounties fell behind ear ly, 13-0, came back for a 14-13 edge and then saw Ashbrook come storming from behind in the last five minutes to win. The victory was in similar fashion to Ashbrook’s two earlier wins over East Gaston and South Point. Against East Gaston, the Green Wave blew a 20-6 lead and scored on the last play of the game to win 26-21, and against South Point the Greenies stopped a Raider two- point conversion attempt in the final two minutes to win 13-12. Carvin Petty, a Kings Moun tain native who moved to Gastonia three years ago, scored Ashbrook’s winning touchdown on a 10-yard run with 5:51 to play. He had earlier scored on a one-yard run and John Mon tgomery scored Ashbrook’s other TD on a 44-yard pass from Jesse James. Kings Mountain found something it lacked in its open ing loss to Bums, a breakaway runner. Travis Bell scampered 84 yards for a touchdown in the se cond quarter and Cam Stewart booted the PAT to cut the Ashbrook margin to 13-7 at in termission. “1 told them at halftime if we could go out in the second half and get the lead that we would win the game,” Coach Dan Brooks said. The Mounties got the lead-14-13 on a 10-yard scoring run by Eric Borchert and Stewart’s second PAT-but the defense couldn’t contain the Green Wave in the final quarter. “1 felt like we had the momen tum going and could win it if we got the lead,” Brooks said. “But we’re young and inexperienced and just didn’t have the killer in stinct when we got ahead.” Brooks said the key to the game was when Kings Mountain intercepted an Ashbrook pass following its go-ahead touchdown by Borchert, but couldn’t control the tempo of the game. “We couldn’t pick up any yar dage and had to kick the ball back to them,” he said. “I feel like if we could have taken the ball and picked up two or three first downs we could have won it.” Ashbrook was able to play a ball control game after taking its final lead with 5:51 to play. After a Kings Mountain punt went into the endzone with just 9PORT^ SECTION B - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1981 over three minutes to play, the Greenies ran tough in the middle of the line, picked up three first downs and ran the clock out. “1 hate to lose,” said Brooks, “but that was a non-conference game and I’d rather lose it than any of the others. I’ve seen all of the teams we’re going to play, and 1 have not seen anybody that we can’t play with.’ Brooks said the Mounties played “much better” last week than the week before. One of the coaching staffs main goals all year has been to improve every time out. “3\'e played a lot better on of- Turn To Page 4-B Mountaineer Gridgraph First Downs KM 8 A 13 Yds. Rushing 205 141 Passes 1-4 4-10 Yds. Passing 34 108 Passes Int. By 1 1 Fumbles Lost 1 1 Punting 5-38 3-38 Yds. Penalized 45 25 Player KMHS RUSHING Carries Yds. TD Travis Bell 14 133 1 Curt Pressley 13 45 0 Eric Borchert 2 17 1 Trent Hullender 5 10 0 Player Att. Comp. Int. Yds. TD Hullender 4 1 1 34 0 Player KMHS RECEIVING Catches Yds. TD Barnette 1 34 0 Player KMHS SCORING TD PAT Tot. Travis Bell 1 0 6 Eric Borchert 1 0 6 Cam Stewart 0 2 2 KM’S Only Announcer Turns Off His Mike By GARY STEWART Editor When Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers take the field against East Gaston in Friday’s home opener at John Gamble Stadium, the fans will miss the voice of H.O. (Toby) Williams on the PA system. Williams has been the only announcer of KMHS games over the past 35 years, but he has handed the microphone over to Bob Smith, who spotted for him most of those seasons. Williams says he has enjoyed every minute of it, and although he’s retiring as PA announcer, he’ll be in the stands and will continue to be one of the Mounties’ most faithful backers. Williams encouraged KMHS principal Rowell Lane to purchase a PA system in 1946, and Lane told him “they’d buy it if I would announce the games. 1 became the announcer because 1 talked too much,” he said. Williams, a former KMHS three-sf)ort athlete, returned home from the Air Force in December of 1945, and saw the final football game of the year at Shelby. Shelby had a PA system. “1 wanted to know why we didn’t have one and they did,” he said. “I said “if we’re going to play the game, we’ve got to have a PA system’.” At that time, the Mountaineers were playing at the old Municipal Stadium. For several years, Williams carried the PA box, aided by a 50-yard dropcord, up and down the sidelines, and announc ed the play-by-play. Some years later, a temporary, uncovered pressbox was built on the stands, and several years after that, a two-deck wooden pressbox was built onto the back of the concrete bleachers. In the middle 1960’s, the Mounties moved into Gamble Stadium, “and we got one of the best setups in North Carolina," Williams said. ‘The pressbox, stadium, parking, and everything else, is some of the nicest facilities you’ll find anywhere,” he said. Williams, of course, has watched some of the best football players to ever come through KMHS, but he refuses to single out anyone. “1 have a lot of fond memories,” he said. “I’m not going to say who was the best, but I’ve seen lots of good ones.” His first year on the PA, 1946, he remembers players such as Bud Medlin, Kenneth “Roundy” George, Bob Neill, Bill Cashion and Bill Dettmar. ‘They had a good team, if for no other reason than they beat Shelby 6-0,” Williams recalls. As the program moved into the 1950’s and coaches like Clyde Canipe, Art Weiner, Shu Carlton and John Gamble came on the scene, and into the early 1960’s under Coach Bill Bates, the Moun taineers were one of the football powers in North Carolina. The play he’ll always remember came in 1955, when George Harris, KM’s first Shrine Bowler who went on to Duke University, was quanerbacking the Mounties to the Southwestern Conference chsunpionship. Harris, who was an expert at running the bootleg, faked a back into the line against Lincolnton, and bootlegged around end. The officials blew the btill dead and Harris was 40 yards downfield heading for a touchdown. “I knew some of the officials,” Williams recalled, “and after the game, one of them, a Bond boy from the South Piedmont Conference, told me that Har ris faked out everybody in the stadium. As it hap*- ptened, we won etisily and it didn’t matter, but the official said they would have been lynched had Kings Mountain lost because of that play.” /.« TOBY WILLIAMS “I see George every once in a while,” Williams ad ded. “He’s got a good sense of humor and he still gets a laugh out of that.” The Mounties went unbeaten in regular season that year and were beaten by one touchdown by Valdese in the Western Association playoffs. The next year, the Mounties went unbeaten all year and won their only Western Association title, defeating Lenoir 7-6 in the championship game. Spook Stewart kicked the deciding point-after touchdown 2md Johnny McGinnis led the offense from his quarterback position. “McGinnis was a scatback,” Williams recalled. “He was smart and could do it all. He was a good option quarterback.” Williams said KM’s best passing combination was James Robbs to Punch Parker, a late fifty-early six ty combination. “Robbs would just lay the ball out there, Parker would get it and outrun everybody,” Williams said. Parker still holds the school record of 122 points score in a single season. He fondly recalls the 1964 team, KM’s last cham pionship team which included the likes of Pat Mur phy, Richard Gold, Hubert McGinnis, and others. ‘They were all little boys, but they’d whip you,” Williams said. ‘The big thing about that team was that their second team was as good as the first. They had Pat Murphy at first string quarterback and Richard Gold at second string. I’ve always said it was a shame Kings Mountain had those two quarterbacks on the same team. If they had been spread out over three or four years, we would have had two quarterbacks who were out of this world. Hubert McGinnis was probably the biggest man on the team and he might have weighed 200. But they had teamwork. They’d go get you.” He remembers some team since that time, such as the 1979 team, which were inches away from winn ing SWC titles. The 79 team, which featured Clem- son’s Kevin Mack, lost the SWC title by three point to eventual state champion South Point. Turn To Page 2-B Pats Open With Win Kings Mountain Junior High’s Patriots stopped two late West McDowell drives inside the five yard line Thursday at Gam ble Stadium and posted a 14-8 victory in the opening Western Junior High Athletic Associa tion contest. The Patriots have an open date this week and return to ac tion next Thursday at Gamble Stadium against Cleveland County rival Crest. Maury Williams recovered a fumble on the one yard line with five minutes to play to halt a possible tying or winning drive by McDowell. The visitors drove back inside the five and with seven seconds to play, the KM defense held on a fourth down play around end. Kings Mountain hit paydirt first, scoring on an eight yard run by Lavar Curry early in the second quarter. But late in the half. West McDowell scored on a 35 yard pass play and ran a Kings Mountain’s Travis Bell breaks loose for 84-yard touchdown run. two-point conversion to take an 8-6 halftime edge. A blocked punt by eighth grader Andre Byers set up KM’s winning touchdown in the third period. Curry scored it from four yards out and Kale Bagwell ran the two-point conversion to ac count for the final 14-8 margin. West McDowell held the edge in every offensive statistic, but the KM defense was the dif ference in the game. The Pats recovered two West fumbles and blocked one punt. Kings Moun tain did not lose a fumble. West held a 115-106 edge in rushing, a 75-29 advantage in yards passing and an 8-6 edge in first downs. Ben Lockhart and Rocky Lutz led the KM defensive effort with sbt and three individual tackles, respectively. Danny Moore, Steve Falls and Vince Sullens each had one individual tackle. Falls and Jody Sellers each had three assists and Byers had two. Williams and Sellers each recovered a fumble. Kings Mountain got a good blocking effort from offensive linemen Robert Appling, Thum- don Brown, Jarvis Young, Neil Morris and Brad Jones. “I was real pleased with the way we played,” said head coach David Heffner. “1 saw some things we need to work on, but I hope this win will be the start of another good season for us.” The Patriots won the con ference championship last year. West McDowell went undefeated in the jayvee ranks last fall and most of their varsity members this year were members of that championship team.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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Sept. 17, 1981, edition 1
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