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By Jack Flaglerjfl [email protected]
CHARLOTTE — Eight years ago, Josh Norman’s football career could have ended.
A 2007 graduate of Greenwood High School in South Carolina, Norman was the only two-way player on the 2006 state championship team. He was a playmaker, high school coach Shell Dula said, a kid who had a knack for coming off the edge to get to the quarterback in a big spot, or tipping away a pass late in a game when his team needed a play.
But Norman, a strong safety at Greenwood, was a little undersized to con-tinue at the position in college. Georgia of-fered him a scholarship contingent upon a certain SAT score, but he didn’t make the necessary grade and the Bulldogs passed on him.
There were no scholarship offers on the table. No Division I school wanted him to continue his career with their team. So, did Norman ever think that could have been it for his football career?
“No. Absolutely not,” Norman said. “That was the struggle for me. That was
the defining moment of what I was going to become.”
Tears filled the corners of Norman’s eyes Wednesday as he remembered that time
after high school. He be-gan a thought, thanking his brother Marrio for taking him in to crash on his couch at Coastal Carolina that year, but was too emotional to finish his sentence.
“Wow, next question, man. Yeah, next ques-tion,” Norman said.
On Oct. 1, Norman was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Month. He’s intercept-
ed four passes already this season — one to seal a win over the New Orleans Saints, and two he returned for scores.
Now in his fourth season, Norman only recently made himself into a name casu-al fans know. The 27-year-old defensive back is gregarious, outgoing and clearly enjoying his time in the spotlight, but his journey to the NFL through a small town and a small college has not been without its challenges.
GROWING UP IN GREENWOOD
Norman grew up the fourth of five brothers in Greenwood, a country town of about 25,000 in the western part of the state, between Greenville and Augusta, Ga. His family had a little bit of land, so the brothers would play basketball, football and whatever other games they invented to pass the time outside in the yard. In ev-ery game, Josh was always paired with his oldest brother, Renaldo. When it got too dark to play outside, the brothers would come in and play football on their knees in the living room.
“Just to test our toughness, we would play a game, all the brothers in a circle. One would throw the ball in the air, and one would catch the ball then try to beat everybody in the opposite end zone,” re-membered Marrio, closest in age to Josh at 16 months older. “It was pretty much every man for themselves.”
The Norman brothers grew up close — and remain so. During the Panthers’ bye week, the brothers are planning to head to Florida to spend some time together. Josh said his brothers have helped him find the confidence to continue through his wind-ing path to the league.
“Every last one of them, it’s kind of like living through each other. I push them,
and they push me,” he said. “Every time I go home, it’s still like I’m in a hierarchy system or something. I’m still No. 4 on the list — I got to figure out, man, I’m still rid-ing in the back seat of the car, and they’re in the front.”
Josh was a varsity football player with Greenwood for two years as a junior and senior under Dula. His junior year, the Eagles finished 8-4 despite a huge year offensively from future Appalachian State star and eventual Carolina Panther Armanti Edwards. The following season, Josh’s senior year, no one really expected much out of Greenwood.
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Prayers going out to South Carolina. It reminds me something similar that happen to us ... keep faith
— LSU running back Leonard Fournette (@_fournette)Read more about Saturday’s LSU-South Carolina game on Page 4C.
@MKG14 (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist) at the airport the morning after his surgery to see everyone off to China. #Teammate #Real #2015NBAGlobalGames
— Hornets EVP Pete Guelli (@PeteGuelli)
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HOW TO REACH US: Sports News: 704-869-1841 Fax: 704-867-5751 • Mail: P.O. Box 1538 Gastonia, 28053 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.GastonGazette.com • Page edited by Josh Work
PANTHERS | Week 5: Bye
SportsThursday, October 8, 2015
CHARLOTTE (AP) — Hendrick Motorsports took time in its weekly meetings to address the parts failure that cost Jimmie Johnson a shot at a seventh championship.
Johnson was eliminated in the first round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship when an axle seal broke on his car Sunday at Dover. The fail-ure occurred 103 laps into the race, and he finished 41st to fall into the bottom four of the Chase standings.
While the issue could be a quality control problem, four-time NASCAR champion Jeff
Gordon said HMS discussed ways to “make sure that’s not something that bites us going forward.”
“If I wrote down the list of inexpensive parts on the car that can fail at any time on any given weekend, you’d blow your mind,” he said. “It’s un-fortunate that it happened, and trying to actually diagnose exactly what caused it and why it happened, it’s tough. Other teams will tell you these kinds of little gremlins can reach out and grab you at any time.”
Gordon said HMS, which still has Gordon and Dale
Earnhardt Jr. in the Chase, can take “procedural” steps to guard against failures.
“I think we can take some ex-tra precautions to maybe make it better, but there’s more of a long-term solution to it that we can’t really address right now,” he said.
Earnhardt seemed less con-cerned with the issue.
“Just a freak accident. The seal can get a nick or tear throughout the weekend mov-ing an axle in and out,” he said. “We’ve never had any prob-lems with our seals, and ev-erything’s always looked good with our cars. You never know. You hope you don’t have an issue with that, and something as simple as that can ruin your day.”
Associated PressJimmie Johnson’s crew works on his car during the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del. Johnson was eliminated in the fi rst round of the championship when an axle seal broke on his car.
Hendrick teams guarding against future parts failuresAUTO RACING | Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, qualifying 7 tonight on NBCSN; race 7:15 p.m. Saturday on NBC
Johnson knocked out of Chase by broken axle seal; Dale Jr. calls it ‘freak accident’
John Clark/The GazettePanthers cornerback Josh Norman celebrates after intercepting a pass in the end zone to preserve the Panthers’ 27-22 win over New Orleans on Oct. 4 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.
By Michael [email protected]
Lake Norman Charter moved into a tie for second in the Big South Conference with Wednesday’s 3-1 soccer win over Forestview at Joe Alala Stadium.
The Knights (7-6-1, 6-2) are now knotted with the Jaguars (8-5-1, 6-2), who had best-ed Charter (2-1) in a double-overtime thriller in Huntersville on Sept. 14.
“We looked good,” Lake Norman Charter coach Justin Valenti said. “I think that was partially due to them not having their one player because of the red card.”
Forestview played without se-nior captain Jorge Oqendo, who missed his second game because of an infraction that occurred Oct. 1 at Ashbrook. Oqendo’s absence helped the visitors dictate the pace of the game, which was played with a lot of bumps and bruises on a rain-soaked natural turf.
The Knights scored the only goal of the first half when senior Ryan McLaine scooted a kick past the charging Forestview keeper after less than six minutes of play.
The Jaguars evened it up with 33:40 to play in the second half on a long goal by senior Cameron Kurtiak, who kicked from 40 yards out and hit net when the ball sailed over the head of junior keeper Matt Miller.
“Our keeper misjudged it and we didn’t have somebody press-ing (Kurtiak),” Valenti said.
An inside header by Knights senior Tyler Wikoff after a corner kick and a few deflections put the visitors back on top with 25:56 to play.
Lake Norman Charter sopho-more midfielder Connor Hahn gave his team some insurance when he weaved past the keeper and steered it in at 19:14.
With the win, Charter also put more distance between itself and the other 2A teams in the Big South: Hunter Huss and Stuart Cramer.
“I think we have a really talent-ed team,” Valenti said, “probably one of the best in the conference. What it comes down to is, can we play as a team and move the ball and communicate? We’re moving in the right direction, hopefully.”
Lake Norman Charter’s next game is Monday at East Gaston. Forestview will have Oqendo back when the Jaguars travel to Stuart Cramer, also on Monday.
‘I was always an underdog’CB Josh Norman took winding road to the NFL
VIDEO ONLINE Watch Josh Norman talk
about his journey at
www.GastonGazette.com.
>> See NORMAN/Page 3C
Jaguars drawn into
2nd place tie
VARSITY BOYS SOCCERLake Norman Charter 3, Forestview 1
EX-PANTHER HARDY LOOKING FORWARD TO DALLAS DEBUTFOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Greg Hardy’s mouth is
preceding his production.The Dallas Cowboys defensive end and former Carolina
Panther will return to the fi eld Sunday after serving a four-game suspension for roughing up his former girlfriend. His fi rst opponent: the defending NFL champion New England Patriots, who are 3-0 under reigning Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady. Read more on Page 4C.
Page edited by Josh Work ! e Gazette | GastonGazette.com ! ursday, October 8, 2015 3C
LOCAL SPORTS
By Richard [email protected]
Former Forestview High standout Steven Bartlett is in his third season as long snapper at Catawba College.
And last week, Bartlett was featured in a story in The Salisbury Post discussing his hopes of becoming a high school coach, teacher and principal.
“There was a time that I couldn’t wait to get out of school, and I fi gured I’d never go back to school again except maybe to see a football game,” Bartlett told the Post. “But I got good advice when I was a senior in high school from my sociology teacher. She told me I worked well with people and I should consider a future in the education business. At fi rst, I didn’t take that advice too
seriously, but now I can it’s what I need to do.”
A junior long snapper for the Indians, Bartlett (a 2013 Forestview graduate) has a 3.42 GPA in
physical education studies and has played in 27 games in his three-year career.
Bartlett has made two tackles in fi ve games this season entering Sat-urday’s 7 p.m. game at Limestone.
TEAM USA SOFTBALLBessemer City High freshman
Haleigh Guenther was recently invited to play on Team USA’s high school softball team for games in 2017 in Munich, Deggendorf and Heidelberg, Germany.
Guenther earned the invitation for her play at a Jennie Finch softball camp in Gastonia in September where three-time Olympic gold med-alist Leah O’Brien-Amico praised her performances.
A pitcher and third baseman who had a 4.65 GPA entering high school, Guenther played soccer and softball for Bessemer City Middle School and is currently playing junior varsity volleyball for Bessemer City High.
Since the costs for the trip will
be extraordinary, Guenther has a fundraising page at www.GoFund-Me.com/haleighguenther.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALLMitch Harris (South Point 2004)
fi nished the regular season 2-1 with a 3.67 ERA in 26 appearances for the St. Louis Cardinals, who fi nished with the best record in major league baseball at 100-62.
Harris was not placed on the Cardinals’ roster for their open-ing-round series that begins Friday against the Cubs.
COLLEGE BASKETBALLBria Robinson (South Point
2011) was named to the preseason All-CIAA women’s basketball team last week.
A Fayetteville State senior, Rob-inson averaged 8.4 points and 7.5 rebounds in 26 games (17 starts) last season, 5.4 points and 5.1 rebounds in 28 games (one start) in 2013-14, 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds in four starts in 2012-13, and 6.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 23 games (two starts) in 2011-12.
COLLEGE FOOTBALLAt East Carolina, Zeek Bigger
(Ashbrook 2011) remains the leading tackler with 40 in fi ve starts for the Pirates (3-2), who visit Brigham Young at 7 p.m. Saturday. Also for ECU, Cedric Thompson (Kings Mountain 2011) has played in three games.
And at Western Carolina, Darius Ramsey (Burns 2012) has 71 yards rushing, two touchdowns and 11 catches for 71 yards in three games, and London Richardson (Burns 2012) has played in four games for the Catamounts (2-2, 0-1), who host Southern Conference rival Mercer at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
COMING UPNov. 12 — 2015-16 men’s college
basketball previewNov. 19 — 2015-16 women’s
college basketball previewDec. 10 — 2015 college soccer
reviewDec. 17 — 2015 college football
review
Richard Walker: 704-869-1841; www.Twitter.com/jrwalk22
Special to The GazetteBessemer City High freshman Ha-leigh Guenther was invited to play on Team USA’s high school softball team for 2017 games in Germany.
Hometown heroes
Forestview alum garnering attention at CatawbaAlso, Bessemer City freshman invited to play for Team USA
“The whole team, I think, said, ‘Hey, we’re going to show you.’ The whole team had a big chip on their shoulder,” Dula said.
Heading into a home playoff game against Ridge View in 2006, Dula sat down Norman and his other safety with what he called an “outlandish” idea. He was going to switch the safeties to the corner positions to cover Ridge View’s slot re-ceivers. It was the first time at the high school level in which Norman played the position he ended up excelling at in the NFL — Greenwood shut down those receivers and, two weeks later, won the state championship.
Norman was the only two-way player on that ’06 state champi-onship team, but no one on the roster had a collegiate scholar-ship offer. Dula speculated that Norman may have been able to perform a little better in the classroom, but he also believes colleges potentially missed the engine of Norman’s success by focusing on the statistics and measurements on the page.
“One thing (colleges) don’t measure is what’s in the kid’s heart, how much commitment, how dedicated they are. How they’re willing to work,” Dula said. “Josh might not have met the specs as far as what they’re looking for, but when you look inside a kid’s heart, that makes a real difference.”
COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY: ‘HIS
STAGE’Marrio earned a full ride
to Coastal Carolina out of Greenwood in 2004. Even with-out a scholarship offer, Josh decided to join his brother in Myrtle Beach, S.C., three years later.
Josh crashed on Marrio’s couch and took classes at Horry Georgetown Tech across the street from Coastal Carolina’s campus.
“That guy, his determination to get out there was like none other. He would wake up in the morning, go outside my complex and he would run,” Marrio said. “After he’d run, he’d shower and go to his class-es at Georgetown Tech, then he would come out and watch me practice.
“He busted his tail, man. He watched me do it, and he just pretty much waited for his op-portunity. He earned everything he got. Nothing was given for him.”
After watching practice during the 2007 season, Josh was of-fered a spot on the Chanticleers roster the following year as a walk-on.
“Josh, when he first got there to Coastal, he wanted to major in theater, and he tried it,” said former Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett. “What he found out was that majoring in theater was a full-time gig … He had to miss stuff playing football — when he changed his major, the football field became his stage.”
Norman played in eight games
his freshman season. In Coastal Carolina’s first game against Penn State in Happy Valley, he and Marrio walked onto the field as teammates in front of more than 100,000 people. Josh worked his way into a starting gig, but it came at a price.
Josh picked off his first pass of the season in a win over North Carolina A&T. It was the same game that Marrio suffered a sea-son-ending injury, keeping him out for his senior season and prematurely ending the only season he had to play with his younger brother.
After Josh appeared in all 12 games as a walk-on, it didn’t take Coastal Carolina’s coach-ing staff long to recognize they had a player at cornerback they wanted to keep around. Norman signed a scholarship his sophomore year, and the All-Conference and All-American honors started piling up.
According to Bennett, the former dramatic arts major still had a flair for the theatrical all throughout his college career.
“People would stop throwing
his way because he was so good. He would start baiting receivers. He would start loafing to try to get it thrown his way,” Bennett said. “You didn’t worry about that side of the field. Josh had that side. Every once in a while, he’d bait them too hard and they’d complete the ball — but they’d better not go back again.”
THE NFL: ‘A BADGE OF HONOR’
The Panthers took Norman in the fifth round of the 2012 NFL Draft. He was the 143rd overall selection and the 12th corner-back taken. Scouts liked his game but wondered if he could adapt to matchups against more talented wide receivers coming out of an FCS school.
“I was always an underdog. Coming out of high school, I was an underdog. Even in college, I had some things said about me that weren’t true. But at the same time, that was something I had to wear on my arm as a badge of honor,” Norman said.
Norman was benched in his rookie season after starting the first 12 games. He appeared in just seven games the next year. In his third season, Norman turned things around.
His defense in Carolina’s two matchups with Atlanta on Falcons receiver Julio Jones turned some heads, and Norman said he learned to play more within the Panthers’ defensive system rather than freelancing.
“Even when I got to the NFL, I’ve had struggles, stuff I had to wear the badge of honor to over-come. Now I’m getting to the platform where I am now, I’m not going back there,” Norman said.
His college coach noticed the same trend in the cornerback who used to bait receivers on the sideline at Coastal Carolina.
“I don’t know how long it took — one year, two years, whatever — for him to learn it’s a business, but he learned it’s a business,” Bennett said.
Marrio just finished an
All-Arena football season with the Cleveland Gladiators. He’s bounced around to a number of Arena League teams and had a short stint in Canada, as well. He was invited to Ravens training camp in 2014 and then released a month later.
Josh, always the little brother looking to match Marrio’s ac-complishments in sports, said his older brother can help an NFL team if given the right op-portunity. Marrio, meanwhile, continues to call his younger brother after every game — and provides some necessary constructive criticism in a time when most are giving the Panthers corner praise.
“Lately he’s been doing a lot of stuff right, but at the same time if I see technique flaws, I call him and tell him about that,” Marrio said.
Meanwhile, Josh is soaking up his moment. The dramatic arts minor is charismatic and honest off the field, chatting with the media about everything from his contract to a hurricane canceling his bye week trip. (“I don’t know how you shut down the Bahamas.”)
Norman appears to be genu-inely enjoying himself right now. The Panthers’ 4-0 record and the monster paycheck likely coming his way are certainly part of that, but the other element appears to be a self-confidence that paid off for Norman, even when there were few others who thought he could make it.
“Somebody’s going to call me a prophet one day, and I’m not. But at some point in time, I see things before they happen, I re-ally actually do,” Norman said. “I never look at the negative or the bad in any situation, I never do. I always try to take the pos-itive out of any situation, and knowing that one day I’m going to reach the pinnacle and plat-form of where I want to be and bust through that roof.”
He hasn’t been wrong yet.
Jack Flagler: [email protected], 704-869-1843, Twitter: @jflagler
Continued from Page 1C
<< Norman
David Luoto Jr./Special to The GazetteThe Panthers’ Josh Norman takes the ball away from the Saints’ Brandin Cooks late in the fourth quarter to secure the Panther win Sept. 27 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. Norman has made four intecep-tions so far this season.
COLLEGE MEN’S SOCCERLees-McRae 3, Belmont Abbey
0 — Luke Whelan had four saves in the Crusaders loss as Lees-McRae outshot the Abbey 13-3. Belmont Abbey (1-7-1, 0-3-1) visits Pfeiffer on Saturday.
COLLEGE WOMEN’S SOCCERBelmont Abbey 1, Lees-McRae
0 — Jillian Lang netted the only goal of the match in the 14th minute for the Crusaders’ sixth shutout of the season, scoring off a pass from Tal-lee Zamiela and a secondary assist from Cierra Skyers. Megan Bowen and Kaelyn O’Hop combined in goal for Belmont Abbey (7-2-1, 5-0), which visits Pfeiffer on Saturday.
VARSITY BOYS SOCCERAshbrook 3, Stuart Cramer 0 —
Jordy Briceno (two goals, one assist) and Jose Barahona (one goal, two assists) led Ashbrook (15-1-1, 8-0), which visits North Gaston on Monday.
Kings Mountain 2, R-S Central 0 — Chase Yow opened scoring for Kings Mountain with an assist from Weston Harmon, followed by a goal by Luke Rikard on a Nolan Raby assist. Jarrett Ledford and John Harris combined in goal for
the shutout. Kings Mountain visits Chase on Monday.
VARSITY GIRLS VOLLEYBALLR-S Central 3, Kings Mountain 1
VARSITY GIRLS TENNISStuart Cramer 9, East Gaston 0
(Tuesday) — Jenna Sarvis, Genesis Gonzales, Autumn Allen, Caroline Murphy, Kendall Garrison and Lexie Dunn won singles matches for Stuart Cramer (4-1). Alanna Vongdeuane/Laura Parrish, Hannah Shropshire/Anna Clare O’Gorman and Kate Sales/Hayden Shropshire had doubles wins.
VARSITY GIRLS GOLFGaston Christian 141, Cannon
133 (Tuesday) — Taylor Hinson had Gaston Christian’s low round at Pine Island with 41. Gaston Christian next plays Oct. 19 at Raintree Country Club in Charlotte.
MIDDLE SCHOOL FOOTBALLBelmont 48, Stanley 0 — DeAngelo
Bruton had two rushing touchdowns and a fumble return for a touchdown to lead Belmont’s offense. Devon King had one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown, thrown by Shemar Moore. Jamani Leeper also
had a rushing touchdown. Justin Ramirez, Alex Campbell, Omari Hunt and Jammari Lewis stood out on defense, and offensive linemen Ken-dall Karr, Isai Pena, Grayson Dunbar, Carter Merrill, Peyton Chaney and Colin Owensby excelled at blocking for Belmont (6-0), which hosts W.C. Friday on Wednesday. Stanley (2-3) hosts York Chester on Wednesday.
Southwest 45, Mount Holly 12 — Kendal Cory had 136 yards rushing and 107 passing (two passing touch-downs, one rushing touchdown) for Southwest. Vontrey Ratliff also had a receiving touchdown and rushing touchdown. Trent Ostrander had 87 receiving yards with two touchdowns. Ji Durham added a touchdown pass, and Anthony Dye had a rushing touchdown. Jacob Bracket led defense with an interception and a fumble return for a touchdown for Southwest (5-1), whose regular season is over. Mount Holly (1-4) visits Cramerton on Wednesday.
Grier 46, Cramerton 6 — Elijah Burris returned a punt for a touch-down and ran for two more scores for Grier while totaling 167 yards on the ground, putting him at 1,862 for his career and 238 away from the school’s all-time record. Ohjah Montomery ran for one touchdown
and caught another from Zo Wallace in the win. Cramerton (2-3) hosts Mount Holly on Wednesday; Grier (5-0) visits Holbrook (0-5) on Wednesday.
York Chester 14, Bessemer City 8 — York Chester’s Javion Woods ran for 157 yards, including a 60-yard touchdown run, while making three tackles with an interception on the defensive end. James Seigle added a TD run for York Chester, along with eight tackles including two four a loss. Dionta Crowder and Jayden Holloman also stood out for York Chester, who hosts Stanley Wednesday. Bessemer City (2-4) hosts Chavis on Wednesday.
W.C. Friday 22, Chavis 20 — Bryson Law led Friday’s offense with three touchdowns (two rushing, one passing) and a 2-point conversion. Kobe Christian added a receiving touchdown, and Noah Wallace scored a 2-point conversion. Korben Gray, Justin Dunovant, Christian, Davis Pasour, Isaiah Gibson, Wallace, Micah Crosby, Josh Boyler and Sebastian Adams led Friday’s defense. Chavis (1-4) visits Besse-mer City on Wednesday; W.C. Friday (2-4) visits Belmont on Wednesday.
Kings Mountain 42, East Lincoln 22 — Ricaylen Mack scored four
rushing touchdowns, caught a 28-yard pass from Belton Pressley for another touchdown and delivered more than 200 yards of total of-fense. Pressley also ran for a 2-point conversion and passed to Bryce Fisher for two more. Titus Clark also scored a rushing touchdown for Kings Mountain (4-0), which visits Burns on Wednesday.
MIDDLE SCHOOL SOFTBALLCramerton 17, Mount Holly 2 (3
innings) — Kenzley Dunlap went 3 for 3 with a home run, triple and single for Cramerton. Kelly Inman and Alex Horne also hit 3 for 3 for the Lady Eagles. Inman had the win on the mound. Mount Holly (4-5) hosts Bes-semer City on Thursday; Cramerton (5-3) visits Grier on Thursday.
Southwest 17, Holbrook 6 (Tuesday) — Southwest (5-4) hosts Belmont on Thursday; Holbrook (2-7) hosts Chavis on Thursday.
MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS SOCCERKings Mountain 4, Chase 2 (Tues-
day) — Christian Quevedo-Johns scored twice for Kings Mountain (1-5), with assists from Riley Washburn and Daniel Carley.
— Staff reports
Local sports roundup
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My one year old is walking around the house with a @panthers football yelling “Touchdown Daddy!” A kid can dream right?
— Panthers kicker Graham Gano (@GrahamGano)
You see my panthers 9-0 lets get it!!!! Ayyyy Dabb on them if you don’t like it stop it
— Gastonia native and Miami Heat centerHassan Whiteside (@youngwhiteside)
The Gaston Gazette | www.GastonGazette.com
HOW TO REACH US: Sports News: 704-869-1841 Fax: 704-867-5751 • Mail: P.O. Box 1538 Gastonia, 28053 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.GastonGazette.com • Page edited by Dan Moberger
Sports Varner fi nishes tied for 5th in Mexico
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
NASCAR columnChase for the Sprint Cup final Eliminator Round race, late Sunday
NBA | Charlotte at New York, 7:30 tonight, FSSE
Associated PressKemba Walker celebrates with UConn teammate Shabazz Napier after hitting the winning shot against Pittsburgh in the Big East Championship game on March 10, 2011, at Madison Square Garden in New York. The 2011 Big East Tournament was a major mo-ment in Walker’s career, and the Hornets guard makes one of his two yearly regular-season trips to Madison Square Garden tonight.
By Richard [email protected]
CRAMERTON — As Cramerton celebrates its 100th birthday this year, the old high school’s greatest athletic accomplishment will finally be acknowledged with a banner.
Last week, a banner honoring Cramerton High’s 1944 and 1945 N.C. Class B state championship basketball teams was given to two of the three surviving members — Ted Reece and Don Fletcher.
The Eagles went 23-1 and 19-5, respectively, in those two seasons. And they won their championships in games played on home courts due to travel restrictions caused by the ongoing World War II.
In 1944, Cramerton won, 28-26, at St. Pauls, a town about 20 miles south of Fayetteville in front of a crowd of only St. Pauls fans since gas rations limited Cramerton’s traveling party to two cars.
In 1945, Cramerton won more con-vincingly, 43-22, over Red Oak, at its home gymnasium that was part of
Cramerton mill owner Stuart Cram-er’s recreation complex.
Coached by the legendary Jack Huss, who still lives in a retirement in Raleigh, the Eagles competed in the Little Eight Conference that includ-ed Belmont, Bessemer City, Dallas, Lowell, Mount Holly, Stanley and Tryon high schools.
Reece and Fletcher were present-ed with the banner that will be on display at the old Cramerton High
gymnasium; James Pendleton is the Eagles’ other surviving player.
Cramerton’s back-to-back titles were the second and third boys bas-ketball state titles in Gaston County history. Stanley won the first in 1941, with Gastonia Ashley (1967), Hunter Huss (1977, 1985 and 2011), Cher-ryville (1985) and Gaston Day (2004) later claiming state championships.
Richard Walker: 704-869-1841; twitter.com/jrwalk22
Ted Reece, front left, and Don Fletcher, front right, who won state titles at Cramerton High in 1944 and 1945, pose with their new banner and members of the town’s centennial celebration committee.
Special to The Gazette
Cramerton champs finally get their bannerPrep basketball
Acknowledgement comes as town celebrates centennial
Associated PressDale Earnhardt Jr., center, celebrates his third victory of the season after winning the Sprint Cup race late Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. Earnhadrt was leading on lap 219 when the race was called due to rain. Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. qualifi ed for the Chase for the Sprint Cup fi nale Sunday, joining Jeff Gordon.
By Jack Flaglerjfl [email protected]
CHARLOTTE
K emba Walker has crossed the NBA threshold from young player to veteran. The fifth-year point guard
has played out his rookie contract and signed a long-term extension. He’s experienced the blur of a Sun-day in Minneapolis fading to a Mon-day in Chicago — the memories of individual plays and individual mo-ments falling away through the years when basketball is a job.
But there’s one venue that brings very specific moments back to Walker. When the Charlotte Hornets travel to
Madison Square Garden twice a year, the point guard will remember the five-night stretch in March 2011 when the Bronx native and his UConn team-mates were the kings of New York.
“You have no choice but to have that memory stuck in your head,” Walker said. “It never fades.”
This year, as the Hornets make their first of two trips to the Garden today, Walker has a teammate in the backcourt who understands what it’s like to be the center of attention in basketball’s most famous arena.
In February of 2012, less than a year after the UConn Huskies had become the first team ever to win
five games in five nights in Madison
Square Garden to win a Big East Championship, Jeremy Lin was just trying to make an NBA roster.
The story has become well-known by now — Lin was undrafted out of Harvard and cut by the Golden State Warriors before the 2011-12 season before he landed with the Knicks. With 32-year-old point guard Baron Davis hurt, the Knicks were desper-ate for guard help. Coach Mike D’An-toni inserted Lin into the roster as a starting point guard for a Feb. 4 game against the New Jersey Nets.
“Everything just kind of came to-gether at the right moment,” Lin said.
Over the next two weeks, Lin went from a fringe NBA player hoping to stick around in the league to an in-ternational celebrity. He helped the Knicks to seven straight wins, scor-ing 38 against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the Garden, then knocking down a game winning 3-pointer four nights later in Toronto.
Where it all beganWalker, Lin return to arena that launched their careers
By Jenna FryerAssociated Press
CHARLOTTE
In this topsy-turvy second season of NA-SCAR’s new championship format, it was only fitting that the race to set the final four ended in an empty, unsatisfying way.
A rain delay of nearly seven hours Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway turned the final elimination race of the playoffs into a water-logged nightmare. There was no fran-tic jockeying for the final three slots in the title-deciding finale, no opportunity for Joey Logano or Kurt Busch or Carl Edwards to flex any muscle in a push for the checkered flag.
Yet another burst of rain forced NASCAR to call the event 93 laps from the finish and everyone — the drivers, the fans, NA-SCAR itself — was denied the opportunity to see how it might have played out.
It was, with no disrespect to chairman Brian France, quintessential NASCAR.
It was France who made “quint-essential” the buzz word of this Chase when he deemed Logano did exactly what he should have done when he spun Matt Kenseth as the two raced for a critical playoff victory last month. But the way this Chase has gone, Phoenix was the most perfect embodi-ment of NASCAR these days.
It rained all day. In Arizona. Grandstands that sold out weeks ago went half-full, and the devoted spectators wearing ponchos and garbage bags and trying so hard to stay entertained on a gray day got no reward for their dedication.
NASCAR didn’t have a ton of flexibility. It was late, fans had been tested, teams needed to get back to North Carolina to prepare for a quick turnaround this week to Miami. The rain that fell on the speedway was going to last a good while, and drying the track would take several hours.
So NASCAR finally called it a day. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got the win because he happened to be out front during a lengthy caution right before the rain. The three drivers who earned spots alongside Jeff Gordon in the championship race were reigning Sprint Cup champ
Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.One can’t help but wonder, though, what
might have happened if NASCAR brought
‘Unsatisfying’ race locks infinale field
Harvick
Kyle Busch
Gordon
Truex>> See HORNETS/Page 4C
>> See NASCAR/Page 3C
Gastonia native Harold Varner III, playing in his fi rst season on the PGA Tour, fi nished tied for fi fth at the OHL Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Varner completed his fi nal round Monday with a 70, putting him at 14-under 270 for the tournament. See PAGE 2C for more from the Monday fi nish.
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4C Tuesday, November 17, 2015 ! e Gazette | GastonGazette.com Page edited by Dan Moberger
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Lin’s improbable streak not only helped a struggling team back to .500, it gave fans of a long-struggling franchise a rare opportunity to get excited. That year, the Knicks finished 36-30, their best regular season win percentage since the Latrell Sprewell and Allan Houston era.
That perspective — of what “Linsanity” meant to New York and the Garden, did not sink in until later, Lin said, when he had left New York and experienced playing in other markets.
“At that point, I didn’t really understand it. I didn’t understand how big New York was. I was just fighting every day to try to make a roster,” Lin said.
D uring those years in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, when
Sprewell and Houston were playing meaningful playoff basketball in the Garden, Kemba Walker was a young Knicks fan growing up in the Soundview neighborhood of the Bronx. He played point guard at Rice High School in Harlem — about 90 blocks up from Madison Square Garden — before heading to UConn to play under coach Jim Calhoun and the Huskies.
In his first two years in Storrs, Walker went 0-2 in Madison Square Garden. He played 53 minutes as a freshman and struggled from the field in maybe the most famous Big East tournament game ever — shooting 4 for 18 in a 127-117 six-overtime loss to Syracuse. In Walker’s soph-omore year, the Huskies again went one-and-done with a loss to St. John’s, missing the tournament.
Entering his junior sea-son in 2011, the Huskies had dropped four out of their last five, meaning they would play in the opening round as the No.
9 seed. Walker scored 26 points against DePaul and 28 against Georgetown, leading the Huskies to blow out victories and a match-up with the regular season conference champion, Pittsburgh.
In between games, when the team returned to the hotel, Walker said they were already itching to get back on the court.
“We couldn’t wait till the next one. We knew how badly we wanted to win. We were pretty much the underdogs every night, so it was fun for us,” he said.
The moment that stands out to most fans from that tournament is Walker’s buzzer-beating step-back jumper to beat Pittsburgh. Walker remembers the play well. The Huskies ran a high pick-and-roll and got the switch they wanted when Pitt big man Gary McGhee matched up on Walker. The UConn point guard shook the big man, stepped back to the top of the key and sunk the jump shot at the buzzer. Two days later, on tired legs, the Huskies beat Louisville to become the first team to win an opening round game on the way to a Big East tournament title.
“He was putting up crazy numbers — unbelievable. He had one of the best ca-reers in college history. We just fed off him. He trusted us and we got it done,” said Jeremy Lamb, a freshman on that UConn team now in his first season with the Hornets.
But Walker remembers other moments from that run when he goes back to Madison Square Garden that basketball fans prob-ably have long forgotten. He recalls the late offen-sive rebound from Jamal Coombs-McDaniel that set up the Huskies with anoth-er possession to potentially win the game. He remem-bers Lamb hitting a floater in overtime to seal an OT win over Syracuse. All of it, of course, led to a national
title in Houston when UCo-nn knocked off Butler.
“We felt like the Big East was the best conference in the entire nation, so if we could win five games in five days, why can’t we compete as hard as we did in the Big East in the NCAA tournament?” Walker said. “It’s different basketball in the Big East. The Big East is all about toughness. It’s just big boy basketball. We felt like if we could beat these guys, we could beat anybody. That’s how we approached it. That’s what we did.”
“It was fun man,” added Lamb. “It was an amazing time. Looking back, I still can’t believe we did that.”
E ach year, in every return to Madison Square Garden, Lin
and Walker have had some-thing new to prove. When Lin is announced this year, the mix of cheers and boos will be less enthusiastic than they were in years past. Having proven his ability to stick around in the league, Lin is now looking to recapture the aggressive style that has made him a force when he’s played at his peak.
“In my opinion, the last three years haven’t gone as planned, but it’s not like I’m not doing anything. If you
look at my numbers, they might not be ‘Linsanity’ numbers, but it’s not like I don’t belong or there’s any of that,” Lin said.
Walker, meanwhile, is playing with a different set of expectations since he signed his long-term exten-sion. The Hornets organiza-tion put its faith in Walker and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as important pieces of the franchise’s future when it locked both up with long-term extensions. Rather than proving he’s worth a big pay day, Walker now
needs to prove he’s worth the franchise’s investment.
These shifting expec-tations — the peaks and valleys of a career — are natural when players like Lin and Walker get more games under their belts. The process of going from a rookie to a veteran in the league is about the grind, about maintaining consis-tency, whether it’s a Janu-ary Tuesday in Milwaukee or a back-to-back on the West Coast.
But fans don’t think of NBA basketball as a slog.
They remember the mo-ments of brilliance and drama. That’s why Madison Square Garden means so much to basketball fans — the moments of brilliance strung together through the years on that floor set it apart from any other basketball arena on earth. Walker and Lin are both more focused on working to improve their future bas-ketball careers, but when they step onto the court Tuesday night, they both will do so as a fabric of the Garden’s history.
Continued from Page 1C
<< Hornets
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The Gaston Gazette | www.GastonGazette.com
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PREP FOOTBALL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP | 3A: South Point vs. Rocky Mount, 7:35 tonight, at UNC’s Kenan Stadium, TWC channel 323, 1270-AM
SportsFriday, December 11, 2015
Photos by Brian Mayhew/Special to The GazetteSouth Point quarterback Diontre King carries the ball against Hunter Huss in wet conditions Oct 2. The Red Raiders face Rocky Mount tonight for the 3A state championship title at UNC’s Kenan Stadium. South Point has never lost a state championship football game.
REDBONE RAIDERSBy Jack Flagler
The path to South Point’s last three state championship appearances started in 1999, when Devon Lowery got whacked in the jaw.
It was spring practice, and Low-ery, a junior quarterback with the Red Raiders, was running through the team’s new “Redbone” tri-ple-option plays. He had made a mistake on the “mesh” — or the exchange point between the quar-terback and fullback — and he paid for it, he said, by losing a few teeth.
“It was just an elbow from the fullback. Me being in the wrong po-sition, in the wrong hole, I took an elbow to the mouth,” Lowery said.
For years before that, the Red Raiders had run out of the Power-I formation, incorporating some tri-ple-option principles in a system similar to what Clemson coach Danny Ford had run. But heading into the 1999 season, the team had posted its fourth straight losing re-cord after finishing 5-6.
Despite the fact that Koren Rob-inson, later a Pro Bowler in the NFL, had come through South Point in the mid-1990s, the program was going through a down period. The losses, the coaching staff thought, came because the team was giv-ing up so much size on their lines
— they were losing games at the line of scrimmage.
“We used to run a lot of power stuff and with it, some triple-op-tion out of the I, but they could put nine people in the box. For our
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP PICK ’EM South Point has not lost in any of the years its made
the state championship game, and neither of the Gazette sports staffers see that changing this season. However, the Red Raiders don’t head into this game as a heavy favorite over Rocky Mount, which knocked off the East’s No. 1 seed in its regional fi nal and has played top competition all year. The Gryphons have only lost to 4A powers Rose and Middle Creek, all in September before ripping off a 10-game win streak. This could go either way, and should provide an entertaining start to the weekend’s slate of state championship games.
ONLINELook back on South Point’s road to the playoffs, scout
the opponent, get ticket information and more at The Gazette’s “Championship Central.” Go to www.Gaston-Gazette.com and check out our interactive feature.
Jack FlaglerSouth Point 28
Rocky Mount 24
Richard WalkerSouth Point 35
Rocky Mount 28
Offensive strategy leads South Point to 2 state titles
>> See RAIDERS/Page 3C
GIRLS Ashbrook (6-0) — The Green Wave had little problem with Lincoln Charter, West
Charlotte or Crest after their impressive win over Hickory. They get conference play started against Stuart Cramer tonight.
Kings Mountain* (4-1) — The Mountaineers have three conference games coming up, with Draughn, Crest and R-S Central ahead before the holiday break.
East Gaston (3-3) — The Warriors have won two of their last three after a 54-36 win over West Lincoln on Wednesday. They have Lake Norman Charter and Huss on the schedule to start Big South play.
North Gaston (4-0) — All of the Wildcats’ wins this year have come over either Cherryville or Bessemer City. They start Big South play with Huss tonight, and have a challenging upcoming schedule that includes Lincolnton twice and Ashbrook.
East Lincoln (1-0) — The Mustangs cruised to a 70-42 win over North Lincoln in their opener and will look to keep it going against Bandys tonight.
In the mix: Stuart Cramer (5-1), Clover (3-1), Lincolnton* (0-0), *Record does not include games played Thursday
Lincoln Charter, Clover boys join the top-5 listPREP BASKETBALL | Top 5
BOYSEast Lincoln (1-0) — Behind 37 points from Sage Surratt, the Mustangs earned a victory
over North Lincoln to open their season. After a long layoff, East Lincoln faces a busy schedule, with four games in the course of eight days between today and Dec. 18.
Lincolnton (1-0) — Like East Lincoln, the Wolves recently added their football players to the roster and play a busy schedule to make up for some lost time. By next Friday, they will have already played fi ve games.
Kings Mountain (4-2) — The Mountaineers have started 2-0 in conference with victories over East Rutherford and Burns. They keep conference play going with Draughn and Crest next week.
Clover (4-0) — The Blue Eagles defense led them to a pair of victories over Huss, including a 45-35 grinder Tuesday night. After a road date with Charlotte Latin, they will get region play started.
Lincoln Charter (6-0) — The Eagles are looking like they could make some noise in the 1A tournament, staying perfect after a 61-58 win over Ashbrook.
In the mix: Ashbrook (2-4), Hunter Huss (1-5), Bessemer City (5-1), South Point (3-2)
South Point’s offensive line opens up a hole for fullback Ryland Etherton during the Red Raiders’ playoff game against Statesville on Nov. 20.
Julio Jones is having another monster season for the Atlanta Falcons. Strangely, though, he hasn’t scored a touchdown in more than a month. Mired in a fi ve-game losing streak, the Falcons are certainly hoping for that disturbing trend to change when they face the unbeaten Carolina Panthers. See Page 4C.
A BIG SEASON FOR JULIO JONES, BUT FEW TDS
Page edited by Jennifer Jackson ! e Gazette | GastonGazette.com Friday, December 11, 2015 3C
SPORTSLOCAL SPORTS ROUNDUP
From staff reports
VARSITY GIRLS BASKETBALLAshbrook 64, Crest 19 (Wednesday) —
Trinity Jones scored 17 points with eight re-bounds, four assists and two steals to lead the Green Wave (6-0) over the Chargers (0-6). Sherry Johnson added 14 points, six rebounds and three steals for Ashbrook, while senior center Zhakera Miller posted a double-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Ashbrook faces Stuart Cramer on the road Friday. Crest will face Chase at home.
East Lincoln 70, North Lincoln 42 (Wednesday) — Destiny Johnson scored 25 points to lead the Mus-tangs (1-0), who jumped out to a 22-9 lead at the end of the fi rst quarter. Eboni Tinsley (16 points) and Caira McClain (11 points) were also in double fi gures for East Lincoln, who faces Bandys on the road Friday. Holli Wood scored 11 points to lead the Knights (2-3), who will travel to North Iredell Friday.
VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALLMountain Island Charter 76, Cherryville
71 (Wednesday) — Patrick Austin scored 14 points with 13 re-bounds for the Rap-tors, who improved to 3-4 ahead of a Friday matchup on the road against Queen’s Grant. Sophomore Jaiden Hunt scored 25 to lead the Ironmen, who dropped their third straight to fall to 3-3 on the season. Christian Jones (13 points) and Noah Hampton (11 points) were also in double fi g-ures. Cherryville will take on Lin-coln Charter on the road Friday.
East Lincoln 71, North Lincoln 51 — Sage Surratt scored a career-high 37 points along with 10 re-bounds for the Mustangs (1-0), while Cameron Dollar added 15. East Lincoln led 28-25 at the half before pulling away in the third quarter to take a double-digit lead. Will Flowe (11 points) and Collin Labar (10 points) were each in double-fi gures for the Knights (3-2). The Mustangs will be at Bandys Friday, while North Lin-coln travels to North Iredell.
Bessemer City 56, North Gaston 51 (Wednesday) — Trel Mclean (17 Points) and Ja'hari Guthrie (16 Points) led Bessemer City (5-1), which plays at Piedmont Charter on Friday.
Lincolnton 85, Forestview 82, 2 OTs — Alex Rhyne had 32 points for Lincolnton. Cordell Littlejohn add-ed 22 and Robbie Cowie had 14 for the Wolves (1-0). Forest-view was led by Trell McCaskill, who had 28 points, Adrian Coxum with 16 and Ben Henderson with 15. Lincolnton plays Friday at West Lincoln.
Hickory 70, Kings Mountain 61 — Two basketball squads aiming high this season had an early season test at Kings Moun-tain’s Parker Gymnasium. Hickory broke from a 60-all score with 2:08 to play, taking advantage of four Mountaineer turnovers down the stretch to pull out the win. Kings Mountain, up 39-35 at halftime, led by as many as six points twice in the third quarter before the visitors carried a 54-52 lead into the fi nal quarter. The Mountaineers (5-1) got 20 points from guard Demetrius Hill, 18 of those in the opening half. Jacob Skidmore added 16 for the hosts. Hickory
(6-0) put four players in double fi gures led by MyKell Lineberger’s 17 points. Caron Conner scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half for the Red Tornadoes. Kings Mountain visits SMAC foe Draughn Friday night.
JV BOYS BASKETBALLKings Mountain 30, Hickory 28 — Eli Pay-
sour scored eight points, Landry Crawford scored seven points, and Lannden Zanders scored seven points for Kings Mountain (4-1), which plays Friday at Draughn.
MIDDLE SCHOOL BOYS SOCCERCramerton 1, Grier 0 — Cramerton (7-3)
visits Holbrook Monday in the fi rst round of the playoffs. Grier’s (6-4) regular season is over.
Hobrook 9, Chavis 0 — Dalton Kennedy scored two goals for Holbrook, one assisted by Brandon Lopez and the other by Kendall Massey. Korbin Proctor, Tristan Mantecon, Lopez, Justin Mejia, James Dotson, Sergio Pena-Hernandez and Jomar Calles each scored one goal. Chavis’ (1-9) season is over; Holbrook (9-1) plays in next week’s playoffs.
Mount Holly 3, Bessemer City 0 — Josh Medlin scored two goals for Mount Holly (8-2), while Cameron Cook added the other. Bessemer City’s (0-10) season is over; Mount Holly will face Belmont in the fi rst round of the playoffs Monday.
Belmont 4, Southwest 0 — Nick Gange, Quinn Lewandowski, Ben Abramowitz and Matthew Odell scored for the Wildcats, who fi nished their regular season 9-1 and face
Mount Holly in the playoff semi-fi nal round Monday. Eli Fermaglich earned the shutout in goal for Belmont. South-west’s (6-4) regular season is over.
York Chester 3, Stanley 2 — Brandon Narajos, Josue Guzman and Noah Shook scored. York Chester’s (3-7) season is over; Stanley’s (2-8) season is over.
MIDDLE SCHOOL VOLLEYBALLCramerton at Grier — Cramerton’s (6-3*)
regular season is over; Grier’s (1-8*) season is over.
Holbrook 3, Southwest 0 (18-25, 20-25, 20-25) (Wednesday)
Chavis at Holbrook — Chavis’ (4-5*) season is over; Holbrook’s (3-6*) season is over.
Mount Holly 3, Bessemer City 0 (25-13, 25-21, 25-16) — Carol Grealis had fi ve kills and nine aces. Grace McGinnis had four kills and two aces. AJ Price had two kills and two aces. Bessemer City’s (4-6) season is over; Mount Holly (9-1) hosts a playoff game next week.
Belmont 3, Southwest 0 (25-13,25-11, 25-18) — The Wildcats were led by Elsie Lawing, Paytton Kout-soupias, Shalynn Adams, Savannah Johnson and Mary Walker. Belmont’s (6-4) regular season is over; Southwest’s (0-10) season is over.
York Chester at Stanley — York Chester’s (5-4*) regular season is over; Stanley’s (5-4*) regular season is over.
*-indicates record before Thursday’s games.
personnel, it was just a lot better to spread them out more, for our little guys to go solely to triple-option.” said current Red Raiders coach Mickey Lineberger, who was the offensive coordinator at the time. “When we weigh 190 pounds blocking 300-pounders, we’re not going to whip ’em, and we can’t block them all, like you have to do playing power football.”
So, the coaches decided, they would abandon the Power-I, which featured multiple backs lined up behind each other with tight ends on both sides of the line. That allowed the defense to pack its strength in the middle of the field, and South Point’s linemen weren’t big enough to block players one-on-one to make that power football work.
In its place, the “Redbone” was born. At the time, the coaches made the de-
cision based on the makeup of the cur-rent roster. The Belmont Middle School football team that graduated to the var-sity featured a ton of speed and had won the county championship, but the Red Raiders did not have much size on either side of the ball.
“We were in a conference where at the time, Kings Mountain was 300 pounds across the line, a few other teams went 265 or 270, and we had 190-pound line-men on our team,” Lowery said.
The idea behind the “Redbone” was to spread out the defense to allow offensive linemen to take advantage of their ath-leticism. Instead of valuing 300-pound players who could each push back the man in front of them, the triple-option widened the formation, leaving certain players unblocked and getting running backs into open space. It was up to the quarterback, Lowery said, to make the
correct reads and make the defenders choose wrong.
Lowery described the first year of the system as a “trial year,” but after he and teammates went to a summer football camp at Georgia Southern, the Red Raid-ers had the system down pretty well by the fall of 1999. They went 12-1 that year, sweeping all six games in the Southwest-ern Conference for their first conference championship in six years.
The next season, Lowery was so confi-dent in the offense that he would some-times check to a different play at the line of scrimmage, even when the coaching staff disagreed.
“Sometimes I got yelled at for check-ing out of a play, but that comes with the territory with dealing with high school kids,” he said. “To be honest, I think I kind of ruined it for a lot of quarterbacks after us. I think I might have checked too much that year, so they took away that freedom.”
Even with a year to adapt to South Point’s new offense, opponents still lacked answers to the “Redbone” in the system’s second year. The Red Raiders went 11-1-1 in 2000 and won another conference title. Lowery, in his senior year, ran for 1,357 yards and 20 touch-downs, earning a spot in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas, while Rasharde Reid added 1,368 yards and another 20 scores.
Those two seasons started off a histor-ic run for the Red Raiders that continues today. Friday evening, South Point will have a chance to win the fifth state title in school history and its third since 2003. Since the coaches instituted the “Red-bone” in 1999, South Point has won 14 conference championships in 17 years.
“It’s almost like we have sold our soul to the ‘Redbone’ offense,” Lowery said. “The coaches do an outstanding job of going to camps, going to clinics and fig-uring out ways to make things different.
There are things right now they’re doing we had no idea about 15 years ago.”
What started as a way to make up for one group’s size disadvantage has re-mained in place for nearly two decades — primarily, Lineberger said, because South Point is still smaller than their op-ponents in most years.
“We’re just small people in Belmont. We got the sons of cotton mill workers and they’re little, that’s where we’re at. But they’re scrappy and they’ll get after it,” Lineberger said.
The success of the system goes a little deeper than neutralizing a size disad-vantage. Most years, Belmont’s mid-dle school and Pop Warner teams run the “Redbone,” meaning players start learning the system well before they get to high school. And those players are willing to buy in because of the wins that South Point has racked up over the course of the last 15 years — a lifetime for a freshman coming into high school.
“I don’t believe in asking kids to do something they can’t do, and our kids can do that year in year out. We wouldn’t win five ballgames if we did what most people do because we don’t have the speed. We don’t have the size. We don’t have the people to do that,” Lineberger said.
Fifteen years ago, football was moving away from Danny Green’s Power-I. To-day, the game has spread out even more, with no-huddle offenses and multiple wide-receiver sets becoming more pop-ular. However, South Point football has stayed with the “Redbone” for nearly two decades. And until they stop pro-ducing winning season after winning season, the Red Raiders will stay with that system.
“We can’t beat ’em in a track meet, we can’t beat ’em in a wrestling match, but we beat them in football because of what we do,” Lineberger said.
Continued from Page 1C
<< Raiders
Brian Mayhew/Special to The GazetteSouth Point’s Nolan Wilson runs the ball during the Red Raiders’ playoff game against Statesville on Nov. 20. The Red Raiders face Rocky Mount tonight for the 3A state championship at UNC’s Kenan Stadium. South Point has never lost a state championship football game.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Kyrie Irving is getting on a plane with the Cavaliers. His next trip could be onto the floor.
The All-Star point guard, who hasn’t played since breaking his left kneecap in Game 1 of last sea-son’s NBA Finals, could make his much-anticipated 2015-16 debut in the next few days.
Coach David Blatt said Thursday that Irving — and starting guard Iman Shumpert, who has been out with a right wrist injury — will travel with the team and may play either Friday in Orlando or Tuesday in Boston.
“There’s a chance that one of the two or both will play on the trip, but there’s also a chance they don’t,” Blatt said following practice at Cleve-land Clinic Courts. “We’ll see how they’re feeling.”
Irving and Shumpert both made it through their third full practices Thursday and will accompany the team on the two-game swing. Blatt stressed the team will stay cautious. Cleveland’s eyeing a return to the finals and the Cavs don’t want to unnecessarily rush back two of their best players.
“We’re in December,” Blatt said. “Not a normal situation. Both of them are coming back from pretty serious injuries, but they are progressing.”
Irving played in a career-high 75 games last season before getting hurt while making a move in the fi-nals against the Golden State War-riors, who defeated the Cavs in six games to win the title.
Cleveland leads the Eastern Con-ference with a 14-7 record, quite an accomplishment considering the Cavs have been without two starters since the opener. Once Irving and Shumpert return, Cleveland will be as healthy as it has been since the beginning of last spring’s playoffs.
Irving will give the Cavs anoth-er playmaker and scorer while Shumpert provides them with a pe-rimeter defender who can match up with the opponent’s best wing player.
“They give us a real boost, a real shot in the arm because of their par-ticular skills and what they bring to the table for us,” Blatt said.
With Shumpert out, J.R. Smith has been starting alongside Mo Wil-liams. Blatt said he has yet to decide if Shumpert will return to the starting lineup.
Whenever Irving and Shumpert return, Blatt promised to ease them back before increasing their minutes to normal levels.
“I’d like to see them be able to come and play significant minutes or at least minutes that give them the chance to feel the court long enough to contribute or get something out of it,” Blatt said. “I’m not going to throw them out there for 48 minutes. We’ll have to see how they’re feeling and get them conditioned to game speed.”
NBA
Irving traveling with Cavs, could play on road trip
