Not Another “Basketball” Score by Dan O’Neal

HICKORY, NC (October 19, 2018) — Make no mistake when it can be said that the South Caldwell offense functions as a two-headed monster. The translation being that these athletes are able to move the football effectively and put points up on the scoreboard. The same can also be said about the Hickory Red Tornadoes offensive unit. After it was all said and done around 10:20 pm and many in the press box were nearly out of breath trying to keep up, both squads accumulated 109 points and a total of 1,275 yards from scrimmage.

It is a shame that when two teams put up that many points, more than some high school and college teams score in a basketball game, someone is on the losing end. For Spartan Nation, it was bittersweet when the final pass by Avery Raynor was intercepted to ice the 55-54 win for Hickory. The night also featured Red Tornadoes human highlight reel Cody Young, son of Hickory High legend Al Young, who ran the football thirty times for 357 yards and count them, seven touchdowns. Young also surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for the season in, count them again, six games as he was injured in their first three games.

South had many human highlight reels of their own who made this game very entertaining; trust me, the game was far from dull. Spencer Piercy led the Spartans running attack with 227 yards, Avery Raynor with 109 yards on eighteen touches and completed eight passes for 167 yards. But the one Spartan who was amazing was senior wideout Samuel Craig, who ran three reverses which resulted in scores from eighty and seventeen yards out. Craig also caught a pass from Raynor and broke away from the Hickory secondary for another touchdown making his total offense output at 184 yards. Isaiah Kirby and Dustin Herman also combined for over 100 yards on the ground. Receivers Austin Raynor, Blake Martin and Gavin Nash also made significant catches as South jetted for (pun intended) 747 yards of total offense.

However, turnovers, nasty cutbacks by Young, and ten penalties did not help the Spartans cause. This game could have gone either way but Young managed to break away from two Spartans defenders in the backfield and ran it in for the winning touchdown with seventeen seconds left and no fan base on either side of the field was sitting down. The two attempts by Raynor fell short with the Hickory interception as the game clock ran out. Overall, both teams went at it hard and gave the crowd something special to enjoy. Hopefully, South can get that two-headed monster roaring, or perhaps the 747 soaring as they host Saint Stephens this Thursday (schedule change due to rain in the forecast) at Spartan Stadium for Senior Night. Or this could be another “basketball score”, who knows? Come and find out as kickoff is at 7:30pm.

From South Caldwell High School…
“We have moved our Varsity Football game to Thursday night due to expected rain.  We will have senior night for football, cheerleaders, and golf before the game starting at 7:00.  Game will start at 7:30.  Band seniors will be recognized at halftime.”