SAWMILLS, NC (August 23, 2019) — Recently, South Caldwell Faculty member and Swimming Coach Brent Tomberlin penned an impressive article concerning the start of the 2019-2020 school year in the Hickory newspaper. Tomberlin referred to the beginning of the school year as the “curtain raiser.” I could not have come up with a better title for this column than to refer to the varsity football season opener as South Caldwell, lightning delay and all, raised the curtain quite well in their size-able margin of victory over county rival West Caldwell 60-7.
Very wise decision on the part of the school administration and coaching staffs to delay the contest and evacuate the stadium when the lighting struck late in the first period. After the game resumed around the five minute mark, the Spartans had already jumped out to 14-0 lead. West would score three plays later aided by Spartans penalties to cut the margin to seven. The Warriors scoring drive was set up by a 46-yard misdirection throw from Warriors quarterback Bryson Avery to Devonte Davenport.
From there, the Spartans offensive arsenal would roll and not look back. Senior tailback Spencer Piercy led the way with 162 yards on twelve carries (that is 13.2 yards per carry if you choose to do the math). Also contributing to the winning cause was dual-threat junior quarterback Avery Raynor who ran for 66 yards on four carries (16.2 ypc) and a score while going four of ten passing with a sixteen yard strike to brother and senior wide-out Austin Raynor. Austin also had the first score of the game from three yards out. C.J. Crawford also had a touchdown and ran the football for fifty-two yards on 5 touches (10.2 ypc) Junior slot-back Isaiah Kirby, Crawford and Josue Dickerson also finished with the two-point conversions. Overall, South gained 416 yards from scrimmage.
South’s defense was also spot-on solid holding the Warriors to 133 total yards from scrimmage, forced two fumbles, excellent quarterback sacks by Ryan Hawkins and C.W. Anderson and a valiant forty-four yard fumble return. South also got another 2-pointer, a safety as the West long snapper hurled the football over the punter’s head late in the first half. Other than the penalties (usually the case for most teams in season starters), ten for eighty five yards, it was an outstanding curtain raiser for the Spartans. “We are capable of running and throwing the football. (Avery) Raynor reads defenses well. We need to clean up the mistakes. Watching film will tell a lot” commented Spartans head coach Marc Kirkpatrick.
South will travel to Maiden this Friday evening for another non-conference match up against the Maiden Blue Devils, who had a season opening win over Fred T. Foard. Game begins at 7:30pm. In regard to Spencer “See Ya” Piercy (Bryant Lilley coined that mantra) establishing a lofty goal of 2,000 yards rushing this season, the only persons that could hinder such a quest will not necessarily be players from opposing teams. Rather, it will be the same personnel who held the Greatest of All Time in basketball Michael Jordan to under twenty points a game; it will be the coaching staff. No way will they allow an injury risk and now way do they run up the score should any of their games necessitate continuous clock while having an extended lead on their opposition. All in all, the coaching staff and players have a positive outlook and should be most competitive in the other remaining games. With that, on with the show!
Scoring Summary
SC – Au. Raynor 3 run, Kirby run 9:47 1st
SC – Piercy 8 run pass failed 5:52 1st
WC – Gause 7 run, Guardiola kick 4:20 1st
SC – Safety :44 2nd
SC – Av. Raynor 2 run, run failed 10:54 2nd
SC – Piercy 5 run, Crawford run 9:06 2nd
SC – Piercy 45 run, Av. Raynor run 2:48 2nd
SC – Au Raynor 16 pass from Av. Raynor, Dickerson run 1:19 2nd
SC – Piercy 29 run, Kirby run :02.3 2nd
SC – Crawford 3 run, pass failed 6:59 4th
Game Statistics
WC- First Downs 6, Rushes/Yards 32-85, Passing Yards 48, Total Yards 133, C-A-I 2-8-0, Penalties 10-85
SC- First Downs 14 3rd Down Conv 3-4, Rushes/Yards 34-353, Passing Yards 63, Total Yards 416, C-A-I 4-10-0, Penalties 8-81
Individual Statistics
WC: Rushing – Gause 8-50,TD, Avery 3- -6, Dula 2-6, Beaver 5-5, T.Perkins 1- -5, Dickson 6-16, N.Perkins 1-0, Lopez 4-6, Harper 1-1, Felder 2-12; Passing- B. Avery 1-1-0 46, F.Dickson 0-4-0, Lopez 1-3-0 2
WC: Receiving – Davenport 1-46, Anthony 1-2
SC: Rushing – Piercy 12-162, 4TD, Av. Raynor 4-66,TD, Kirby 3-19, Au. Raynor 2-3,TD, Crawford 5-52,TD, Dickerson 5-28, Adkins 2-17, Th. Reid 1-6; Passing- Av. Raynor 4-10-0, 63,TD
SC: Receiving – Au. Raynor 2-45,TD, Reaves 1-6, Kirby 1-12