Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers overcame a 23-10 halftime deficit to defeat a good Crest team 24-23 Friday night in Boiling Springs to go into the final Big South regular season finale Friday at North Gaston tied with South Point for first place.
Both the Mountaineers and Red Raiders will be heavily favored Friday. South Point will be facing Hunter Huss.
“We don’t want this to be one of those trap games,” Coach Strait Herron said of North Gaston. “We’ve played at a high level two weeks in a row and both of them (Ashbrook and Crest) were hard fought games. You just have to keep playing hard. This is a scary week. We can’t have a letdown. We’ve got to get prepared and play. We need to win this one and come out healthy. We want to use this week to make us better. It’s not so much about them, it’s more about us.”
Herron said last week’s win over Crest was a big one.
“It feels good for our guys to win a big game two weeks in a row,” he said. “I am real proud of them.”
The Mountaineers got in high gear on the third play of the second half when Josiah Hill rambled untouched 83 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 23-17.
“Jo Jo had a good game with 24 carries for 166 yards and two TDs,” Herron said. “That gave us a momentum boost.”
Armstrong hit eight of 16 passes for 112 yards
The Mountaineers recovered an onside kick at the Crest 49 and six plays later Eli Lipscomb tallied the winning touchdown from nine yards out. A big 31-yard reception by Jayden Gash on which Crest was flagged for a face mask penalty set it up.
The Mountaineer defense bent a little after that but didn’t break.
“The defense did a heck of a job shutting them down,” Herron said. “Everybody played extremely hard and that’s the way it should be.”
After the kickoff and a penalty, the Chargers were on their own 23 but a sack by Lathan Feemster backed them up to the 16. A quick out pass resulted in a one-yard loss and a loss of downs at the 1:55 mark of the third period.
Crest did threaten after intercepting a KM pass at the Crest 31. The Chargers made it to the 45 but penalties set them back to their own 24 and they had to punt the ball away with 9:05 left on the fourth quarter clock.
Good running by Hill and a key 15-yard reception by Gash got the Mountaineers to the Crest seven before they lost the ball on downs with 3:17 remaining.
The KM defense stood firm and Dakota Smith intercepted a pass at the Crest 36 with 1:25 showing on the clock. Crest didn’t have any time outs remaining and the Mountaineers took a knee twice to end the game.
The Mountaineers never led in the first half but did answer Crest’s first touchdown when Hill’s three-yard run and Matt Rhom’s PAT made it 7-7 at the 3:03 mark of the first quarter.
Crest added a safety when the officials ruled that the KM punter’s knee touched the ground in the end zone.
The Chargers went up 16-7 on the sixth play of the second quarter when Carson went around end for a 15-yard touchdown.
After the Chargers’ kickoff, the Mountaineers took over at their own 34. Good running by Hill and a 31- yard pass reception by Gash put them on the Crest 35.
Facing third and six from the 19, the Mountaineers benefited from a pass interference call on the Chargers and had a first and goal at the Crest eight. Facing fourth and goal from the six, the Mountaineers called on Matt Rhom to kick a field goal and cut the margin to 16-10 with 5:59 left in the half.
Crest responded with a 65-yard drive which ended with a Carson 27-yard run around the right side and a 23-10 halftime lead.
“It was a big win for us,” Herron said. “It feels good for our guys to win big games two weeks in a row. I am real proud of them.
“We didn’t lose anybody during the game,” he noted. “We had some guys banged up but it’s not serious.”
He was proud to see his team come out of halftime and pitch a shutout in the second half.
“Jo Jo had a good run for 83 yards and scored a touchdown and gave us a good momentum boost,” Herron said.
“Our defense played extremely hard and that’s the way it should be. We came out healthy,” he said. “Odoms had a good game. Our defense had a lot of production points. We had five solo tackles and 13 assists. A lot of players contributed. The defense held them all night.”
Odoms was in on 18 tackles, Lathan Feemster 10, Antonio Armstrong nine and Eli Lipscomb and Thomas Fair eight each.
Rhom was 3-for-3 on extra points and had a 24-yard field goal.
 

Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers are back in the chase for the Big South Conference championship after beating Stuart Cramer 41-0 Friday night.
At the same time, the Ashbrook Green Wave was knocking off first place South Point 17-14 to create a four-team race for the BSC championship between the Raiders, Ashbrook, Kings Mountain and Crest. All four have just one conference loss.
“It was a good win,” said Mountaineer Coach Strait Herron, “especially when you win that big with only nine offensive snaps in the first half. Cramer ran 40 seconds off the clock every time they took the snap. That makes for a boring game but we got some defensive plays that were big for us.”
The Mountaineers’ defense came up with some big turnovers to help the offense get going.
The rout began with Josiah Hill’s one-yard touchdown and Matt Rhom’s PAT late in the first quarter. Antonio Armstrong’s pick six for 27 yards put the Mountaineers up 13-0.
“Armstrong had a great game for us defensively,” Herron said. “He was in on 15  tackles. He was all over the place.”
Early in the second period Dakota Smith’s pass interception and 67-yard return and Rhom’s extra point sent the Mountaineers into the halftime break with a 20-0 lead.
Jayden Gash, who had a good all-around performance, scored on a 16-yard reception from Armstrong in the third period. Rhom’s PAT made it 27-0.
Hill and Camren Houser added fourth quarter touchdown runs of nine and six yards, respectively, and Rhom split the uprights after both scores to round out the scoring at 41-0.
“Gash had a good night,” Coach Herron added. “He had six catches for 98 yards and TJ Armstrong was 10 for 12 passing. That’s pretty accurate.
“We didn’t have anyone banged up and that’s good,” he added. “This week we hope to get some people back. We’ve had five or six out.”
The Mountaineers will need a strong performance from every player when they take on a strong Gastonia Ashbrook team Friday night at John Gamble Stadium. They go to Crest and North Gaston for their final two regular season games. Winning out would give the Mountaineers several state playoff games at home.
“Ashbrook is strong and fast and very physical,” Herron said. “They like to hit you. They won last week at South Point. If we had gotten South Point we would be in great shape. Ashbrook is very good. We have to execute and protect the ball. We have to manage the clock and keep the ball away from them.”
Kings Mountain has had some first unit players hurt lately but Herron hopes they will be back for this week’s game.
 “I think we’re healthy as far as I know,” he said. “I’m not sure if we’ll get Eli Lipscomb and Thomas Fair back. I hope we do. We’ve got some young kids that we’re really excited about. Houser stepped up and scored a touchdown for us last week and freshman Christian Jarrett made three tackles in his first game on varsity.”
With the four-team log jam at the top of the conference standings, Herron said every game is huge.

Following a good return of the opening kickoff by Khareem Coleman, Kings Mountain High’s JVs drove 50 yards for a touchdown and rolled to a 38-6 victory over Stuart Cramer Thursday night at John Gamble Stadium.
Coleman actually returned the kick to the Storm 40 but the Mountaineers were penalized 10 yards for a holding penalty. It took them just four plays to score on an 11-yard pass reception by Xavier Hutchens for a 6-0 lead.
Cramer’s next possession ended with a fumble when the Storm went for a fourth and one at its own 33, the Mountaineers drove 32 yards to score on a two-yard run by Cam Houser to go up 12-0.
That score stood until the end of the first period but Cramer was facing a fourth and 16 from its own 30. KM took possession at the Storm 44 and took just five plays to score on a 24-yard pass reception by Hutchens. Coleman added a two-point conversion to run the score at 20-0 with 6:08 left in the half.
After another three-and-out, the Mountaineers drove 60 yards in seven plays to take a 28-0 halftime lead on a 28-yard reception by Hutchens and Cam Houser’s two-point conversion run.
The Storm was able to reach the KM 38 after taking the third period kickoff, but they fumbled again and KM recovered it at the 33. Seven plays later KJ Bell hit Ethan Tran with a 12-yard touchdown pass and Gonzalez added the PAT to make it 35-0.
Cramer’s Phillip Coburn returned a pass interception 15 yards for the Storm’s only score at the 7:57 mark of the fourth quarter.
Kings Mountain closed out the scoring with 1:57 remaining on a 32-yard field goal by Refugio Gonzalez.
Since the only Cramer score came on a pass interception, Kings Mountain’s defense recorded its fourth shutout of the season.
Coach Shane Cole’s Mountaineers will travel to Gastonia Ashbrook Thursday and end their season October 31 at home against the Crest Chargers. Both games begin at 7 p.m.

Kings Mountain High senior golfer Josh Gillespie has committed to continue his education and golfing career at Greensboro College.
This spring will be his fourth year as a starter for the Mountaineers where he has been All-Big South Conference two years running and hopes to make a state championship run in the spring.
He helped the Mountaineers win the conference and regional tournaments his freshman year. They were second in the conference and regionals last year.
Overall, he will be in his sixth year of playing golf at the middle and high school level.
He will be the only senior coming back this spring. “We will be young overall but I still hope to get to the state as an individual,” he said.
Gillespie said he began learning golf at the age of two and has played in tournaments since he was six.
Over the past two years he finished high in the regionals and state tournaments.
He said the Mountaineers will begin practice in February and competition will begin in March.
He is excited to continue his golfing and education at Greensboro College.
“They’ve wo two Division 3 championships,” he noted. “They’re one of the most competitive Division 3 schools. They’ve won tournaments in Florida and Georgia and have won two national championships. I’m excited.”
After college, he said he would love to play at the professional level. If that doesn’t work out he would “love to go into business in the golf industry.”

 After taking a week off after going 2-1 in their non-conference games, Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers will open a tough Big South 3A Conference schedule Friday night when they host the Hunter Huss Huskies at John Gamble Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:30.
Players that were injured over the first three games have had time to heal so the Mountaineers should be at full strength going into seven straight conference games.
“We had three good days of practice last week,” head coach Strait Herron said. “We slowed things down trying to get back and get better.”
Herron and his staff had plenty of time to look at the Huskies on film and said “they look good on film…better than last year. They have a real good quarterback who makes their offense go and guys that can run on defense too.
“The first thing have to do is battle up front in the trenches,” he said. “We have to make sure we get them blocked and withstand their pressure.”
He noted that special teams must perform well too.
“The Huss quarterback is tough to stop,” he noted. “He throws the ball well and he can pull it down and run it. We have to keep him contained.”
Herron hopes some of the Mountaineers who were injured earlier will be able to see some action.
“Dom Davis started on the offensive line last year and he’s been gone since practice and he may be able to go this week,” he noted. “Wiley Rainey’s also been injured and hopefully he will be back.”
Herron said the team “practiced hard” during the off week. “We just slowed things down. When we were running drills full speed we really concentrated on being specific in certain things.”
With this being the first conference game, Herron said it is a “big game and we want to play well.”
Herron said the Huss quarterback will be hard to contain. “He can run it and throw it,” he said. “It’s tough to get your hands on him. We have to keep him contained.”
After this week the Mountaineers will hit the road for conference games at North Gaston on September 27 at 6:30 p.m. and Forestview on October 4 at 7:30 p.m. Their next home game is October 11 against the South Point Red Raiders.

Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers ended their non-conference season Friday night at John Gamble Stadium with a 41-20 victory over the Burns Bulldogs.
It was the second straight victory for the Mountaineers since their season-opening loss to the Shelby Golden Lions. They rolled over 4A Cox Mill in their other non-league bout.
Kings Mountain will be idle this week and return to action in their Big South Conference opener against the Hunter Huss Huskies at Gamble Stadium on Friday, September 20.
The Mountaineers moved the ball almost at will but did see their opening drive stopped by a fumble at the Burns two-yard line. The drive had begun with a good mix of running and passing.
Burns took advantage and moved downfield with a good mix of running and passing. Kenyon Surratt covered the final 28 yards for a 6-0 Bulldog lead.
That would be all the Bulldogs would produce in the first half as Kings Mountain dominated with good defense and an offensive mix of running and passing to go into the half with a 24-6 lead.
Led by the running of Josiah Hill, who would finish with 146 yards on 27 carries, and the passing of TJ Armstrong who would hit 13 of 23 passes for 257 more, the Mountaineers won going away. William Vaughn hauled in eight passes for 163 yards and Dakota Smith four for 75 yards.
KM’s first points came on a 32-yard Matt Rhom field goal at the 2:49 mark of the first quarter. The drive began at the KM 23 after the Mountaineers were flagged with a holding penalty on Jayden Gash’s kickoff return.
A pass reception by Gash for 15 yards on a third and six got the drive off to a good start at the 42. Hill went around left end for 50 yards but an offside penalty and two incomplete passes brought up a fourth and eight at the Burns 11. Rhom’s 33-yard field goal cut the margin to 6-3.
A sack by Semaj Odums forced the Bulldogs to punt from their own 18 and the punt just carried 18 yards and KM was in business at the Bulldog 36 to end the first period. On second and ten, Hill took a handoff and was hit in the backfield but rolled away and circled right end for the TD and Rhom’s PAT gave the Mountaineers a 10-6 lead at the end of the first period.
The KM defense held the visitors to three and out again and after a punt and penalty took over at its own 22. On the second play from scrimmage, William Vaughn flew past the Burns defense and Armstrong hit him in stride for a 77-yard catch and run touchdown and a 17-6 lead.
 After the defense held Burns again, the Mountaineers were facing a fourth and six at the Burns 47. They lined up in punt formation but faked it and Lipscomb went 12 yards for a first down at the Burns 39. After a 15-yard reception by Vaughn Hill took care of the rest and scored from 15 yards around left end and Rhom’s PAT made it 24-6 at the half.
Rhom’s second half kickoff went into the end zone and Burns took possession at its 20. After a three and out the Dogs punted from their own 13. KM took possession at the Bulldog 45 and Vaughn caught three passes in a row to put the Mountaineers at the Burns 15. After a holding penalty KM faced fourth and 15 at the Burns 21 and Vaughn nailed a 38-yard field goal for a 27-6 lead.
Burns rallied briefly to cut the margin to 27-13 on a four-yard run by Zavion Wilson. Gash returned the ensuing kickoff for 49 yards to the Burns 13 but the Mountaineers coughed up the pigskin and the Bulldogs took over at their own nine.
Facing third and nine, the Dogs went to the air and Dakota Smith intercepted the pass and returned it to the Burns five. After Hill lost six yards back to the 11, he took the handoff again and bulled his way into the end zone and Rhom’s PAT made it 34-13.
The Bulldogs got a 78-yard Warlick reception to the KM two and McGowan scored from there to make it 34-20 with 8:04 left on the clock.
After Gash returned the ensuing kickoff to the 45, KM moved 55 yards on six plays to wrap up the scoring with a 14-yard Hill run on which he bounced off three big hits. Rhom’s PAT accounted for the final 41-20 margin with 5:05 remaining.

In a game that was stopped by rain on Friday and resumed Monday at John Gamble Stadium, the hometown Mountaineers defeated non-conference foe Cox Mill 42-17.
The Mountaineers will have a much tougher test Friday when they host county rival Burns at 7:30 p.m. It will be the Mountaineers’ final non-conference game and they will be open the following week before beginning Big South Conference play.
Friday’s game was halted at the 8:19 mark of the second quarter because of lightning and the teams hoped to resume it later. However, at 9:30 p.m. a severe storm ended those hopes.
Kings Mountain was leading 14-7 at the time.
Cox Mill took the opening kickoff to the KM 43 yard line and took just three plays to go up 7-0 on a touchdown catch by Marcus Sales and PAT by Cooper Lemon.
Kings Mountain lost the ball on downs at the Cox Mill 27 on its first possession, but their sec-ond possession ended with a five-yard touch-down run by Josiah Hill and PAT from Matthew Rhom to make it 7-7.
In the second period KM’s Antonio Armstrong recovered a fumble at the Cox Mill 13 and Hill took it in from there. Rhom added the PAT for a 14-7 lead.
KM was in scoring position again at the Cox Mill 31 at 8:19 p.m. when the game was called due to lightning in the area. The storm wouldn’t go away and at 9:30 p.m. the game was suspended.
After the game resumed Monday KM’s Jayden Gash returned a punt to the Cox Mill end zone but during the run the Mountaineers were pe-nalized and had to take possession at the 40. A face mask penalty by Cox Mill put the Moun-taineers in business at the 25 and four carries by Hill put them at the 11. Matt Rhom’s field goal increased the lead to 17-7 with 3:21 left in the first half.
After the KM defense held the visitors again the offense took over at its own 36 and Armstrong hooked up with William Vaughn for a 64-yard TD and Rhom’s PAT made it 24-7 at the half.
The Mountaineers continued to pour it on as Gash returned the second half kickoff from the KM one to the Cox Mill 48. It took the Mountaineers just six plays to score with Hill and Vaughn catching passes of 10 and 14 yards, respectively, and TJ Armstrong carrying once for seven yards and Hill three for 17 yards including a four-yard touchdown run. Rhom’s PAT made it 31-7.
The visitors actually stopped the Mountaineers on their next drive but KM’s Dakota Smith scored a safety to run the score to 33-7.
Cox Mill’s kickoff went out of bounds and the Mountaineers took over at the visitors’ 45. Four plays later Armstrong hit William Vaughn for a 35-yard TD pass and Rhom added the PAT for a 40-7 lead that stood until the fourth quarter.
The visitors’ Cooper Lemon kicked a 36-yard field goal to cut the margin to 40-10 at the 11:48 mark of the fourth period.
KM’s final two points came on a safety with 5:17 left in the game. Cox Mill got a three-yard touchdown run by Mason Emory with 1:18 left to account for the final margin.

Kings Mountain’s Mountaineers will host 4A Cox Mill Friday at 7:30 p.m. non-conference game at John Gamble Stadium.
The Mountaineers as well as Cox Mill will be looking for their first win after dropping their season openers last week to Shelby  and a very strong Charlotte Christian private school.
Coach Breon Holmes will bring a big squad to town, in size and numbers.
“They’ve got some good athletes,” notes Mountaineer head coach Strait Herron. “Number four (wide receiver Jordan Cleaves), number five (wide receiver Marcus Sales) and number nine (running back Jermayne Franklin) look really good. We have to control the game and we have to run the ball better.”
The Mountaineer running game was completely shut down last week at Shelby. Herron and staff will be looking for a much better performance this week.
“We’re in like a catch 22,” Herron noted. “Do we bring JVs up? I hate to mess with them. If you take them up they’re going to struggle. It’s tough. We have to make some big decisions this week.”
Herron said his team played with effort last week, and he said the defensive line did a good job.
“We’ve got to get better in the secondary and the offensive line needs to get better and maintain their blocks.”
He said kicker Matt Rhom did a good job. “We just need to get better overall.
“Cox Mill has some good looking players and we can’t take them lightly.”