Spartans Fall Short In Seesaw Clash by Dan O’Neal

SAWMILLS, NC (October 18, 2019) — On the game tonight in its entirety, South Caldwell played efficiently on the offense side of the football, amassing 358 yards of total offense. Isaiah Kirby ran the football fifteen times for 110 yards and caught a longball from Avery Raynor that resulted in three touchdowns which made his play contribution very much above average on the night.

In addition to Kirby’s exploits, again Avery Raynor made significant plays as he threw for 162 yards and two touchdowns and ran for fifty-three yards and scored a six from one yard out. Austin Raynor was also on the receiving end on one of his brother’s passes…a gorgeous sixty-two spiral soundly beating the Freedom Patriots secondary for an easy six-pointer at the 7:12 mark of the first period.

It was also good to see Spencer “See Ya” Piercy (see ya name courtesy of Bryant Lilley) returning for the annual Homecoming matchup after being out for a few games with a hamstring injury. His thirty-seven yards on eight carries show how he has not yet fully recovered. But this was Homecoming night at South and Piercy, a senior would have likely unhooked himself from a life support apparatus rather than miss the senior spotlight in the Homecoming classic. What would that memory be like in ten years had he sat out…think about it?

With all the productive play on the part of the Spartans when they had possession of the football, it usually results in a South Caldwell victory. There was, on this Homecoming night, their opposition, Freedom, a squad in the conference whom they have not beaten in a while as well as a long-term high school football powerhouse for many years.

Hence, while the Spartans were productive in their offense from scrimmage, the Patriots offensive arsenal, led by tailback Chase Young with 188 rushing yards and five touchdowns, paved the way for their 561 total yards, 394 on the ground while quarterback Jayden Birchfield, fully recovered from an early season injury, completed eleven of fifteen passes for 167 yards. After a back and forth scoring festival through three quarters, Freedom’s two touchdowns in the final frame were enough to ensure the 52-34 win over the Spartans in this most competitive contest.

This leaves South with an even 4-4 record in overall games and 1-2 in conference play. The Spartans now look ahead to their next opponent at home, conference rival Hickory, who are presently 2-6 and 2-1 in the conference. One of the Red Tornadoes’ wins came against…Freedom.

Even though the Spartans have likely secured a playoff berth in the small Class 4A state playoff, Coach Marc Kirkpatrick and the coaching staff would assuredly make the case of urgency in the Spartans cleaning up the turnovers than hinder their excellent play on offense as well as winning their next three games producing the greater opportunity of hosting a first round playoff game. Spartan Nation certainly hopes for these as well along with their counting on Piercy, the Raynors, Kirby, etc being in “see ya” form facing Hickory and their superstar tailback Cody Young, a challenge for any high school football squad. Game time is this Friday, October 25th at 7:30pm.

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In other news from last Friday, congratulations to Brenda Montez on being selected as South Caldwell High School 2019 Homecoming Queen and Taylor Austin being selected as Maid of Honor.

Always enjoy hearing high school marching (or concert) bands playing selections by The Beatles. Yes, I have bias where the Fab Four are concerned. Thank you for that Mr. Childers.

Beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by the South Caldwell High School Chorus…most excellent harmony and modulation indeed.

Read an 8″X11″ card on the press box table revealing that Ed Hart is now the Director of Homeland Security. Glad to see him with such upward mobility these days. Sweet reward for being true to your school.

Not certain as to what’s in the water being served in the press box but hoping that Kenny Ellison and Andrew Cooke share that happy water with the other press box denizens…