New Direction

From the Vault: Timberland edges Manning

Posted: Saturday, October 25, 2003 12:00 am

Published in The (Sumter, S.C.) Item

I remember having to follow someone from a grocery store to the high school because I was lost. Also, I had to drive about an hour back to the Manning bureau and file the story in about 20-30 minutes. I think this was the game where I had the exact halftime statistics as the statistician for Manning High School. Ah, the joys of covering high school football.

 

Wolves edge Manning 25-21

By BEN LEDBETTER

Item Sports Writer

ST. STEPHEN -- Manning High School's football team started out strong Friday against Timberland Friday at the Timberland field, but it wasn't enough.

The Wolves used three fourth-quarter touchdowns to defeat the Monarchs 25-21 and win the Region VIII-3A title for the second consecutive year.

The loss also ends Manning's 5-game winning streak as the Monarchs drop to 5-4 overall and 3-1 in the region. Timberland remains undefeated at 8-0 and 3-0.

Manning actually led 21-7 at halftime, but not sustaining drives and being flagged for eight penalties for a loss of 70 yards doomed the Monarchs, according to head coach Robbie Briggs.

"We had three separate times where we were getting eight, nine, 10 yards on first downs and we would hold them," Briggs said. "Three drives in a row that really hurt us. We just can't overcome those things. Penalties killed us. We really outplayed these guys tonight, and penalties and special teams killed us."

Manning scored two touchdowns in the first quarter, one on a Larki Parks 35-yard run at the 9:40 mark and the other from Josh Miller three minutes later with a 29-yard run to put the Monarchs up 14-0.

Following a Miller score in the second period, the Wolves got on the board when Patrick Speights went in from four yards out at the 6:53 mark.

Speights finished the night wth one touchdown and 119 rushing yards on 17 carries. Parks, who also ran for 54 yards and a touchdown, had four catches for 74 yards. Miller finished the night with two touchdowns and 74 rushing yards on 18 carries.

That drive started after Ryan Moultrie scored the last of Timberland's three fourth-quarter TDs with 1:21 left when he ran in from five yards out.

"I'm proud of our guys," Briggs said. "They've overcome a lot of adversity, and we'll go back to the drawing board."

Another thing that doomed the Monarchs were mistakes such as dropped passes, Briggs said.

"We dropped some key passes down here on a vertical route that would have been a first down," Briggs said. "We just didn't take over when he had to. We had missed opportunities. You have to give those guys (Timberland) a lot of credit."

Different offensive formations did help the Monarchs in the early part of the game, Briggs said.

"I think we showed them some different formations early they weren't expecting. We had them off guard," Briggs said. "Like I said, we had three drives in a row, if I'm not mistaken, where we're getting seven, eight, nine yards, first downs and we're getting a 10- or 15-yard penalty. You just can't do that and win."

From the Vault: State Championship advance

High school football is big in a lot of places and one of those is the state of South Carolina. I remember this game came down to one play at the end and Gaffney was able to head back to the Upstate with the title. Sidney Rice who is quoted in the story went on to play football with the University of South Carolina and professionally with the Minnesota Vikings. This story was published in The (Sumter, SC) Item.  

Indians saw quick change with Strickland

By BEN LEDBETTER

Item Sports Writer

Posted: Tuesday, December 2, 2003 12:00 am

COLUMBIA – With new head coach Phil Strickland, the Gaffney High School football team was at least guaranteed a fresh face leading a squad that finished 2-10 last year, including a 37-27 loss to Summerville in the first round of the 4A Division I state playoffs.

Strickland brought more than a new face, however.

This year was vastly different as the Indians sport a 13-1 record, with the only defeat a 42-14 loss to defending Division II state champion Byrnes. Gaffney is now ready to face Sumter for the Division I state title Saturday at Williams-Brice Stadium beginning at 2 p.m after beating Summerville 19-16 in overtime last Friday.

For senior wide receiver/defensive back Sidney Rice and linebacker Antwan Sarratt a change was evident as soon as Strickland had control of the team.

“I noticed as soon as the coach came in, he cared about the players right off the bat,” Rice said Monday at a press conference at the South Carolina High School League offices. “He wanted everybody to get together and talk to him about whatever questions we had to ask him.”

“He was more concerned about school than just football,” Sarratt said. “That really caught my attention. He could take us somewhere. By listening to him, we finally made it. Our dream came true of being in the state championship as a senior.”

The Indians did have to work hard to make the title game as they scored two second-half touchdowns to send the game into overtime. They vanquished the previously undefeated and nationally-ranked Green Wave in overtime when Rice caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Antonio Gaffney.

Rice, who is listed as 6-4 and 185 pounds, used his height advantage to make the catch.

“I was just glad coach gave me the opportunity to catch the ball,” Rice said. “The quarterback put it right there. I’m used to getting jump balls. It was almost perfect. I just went up and got it.”

Rice, who leads the team with 73 catches for 1,316 yards and 13 touchdowns to go along with one rushing touchdown, is used to getting jump balls since he has played with Gaffney’s boys basketball team, the state’s defending 4A champion.

“It feels good to be a part of two teams that made it down here the same year,” Rice said. “I always wanted to (do it). I didn’t know it was going to happen.”

Rice’s receiving numbers nicely complement the rest of Gaffney’s offense, which also has a strong running game in senior running back A.J. Littlejohn.

Gaffney has completed 153 of 262 passes for a team-high 2,459 yards and 23 touchdowns against nine interceptions. He also has four rushing touchdowns. Littlejohn has a team-high 24 touchdowns and 1,484 rushing yards on 240 carries.

As a team, the Indians have 2,556 rushing yards on 464 attempts and 2,600 passing yards, completing 167 of 285 passes against 10 interceptions.

Gaffney will face a Sumter team that’s just as balanced offensively as the Gamecocks have 3,254 rushing yards and 2,547 passing yards.

New Orleans has its own Wolfpack

According to this column by Peter Finney in The Times-Picayune, Loyola University New Orleans was using the Wolfpack name in the 1920's for its athletic teams. In 1946, North Carolina State University started using it for its teams and now wants the exclusive rights to the name. The Raleigh school registered the Wolfpack name with the federal government in 1983, the same year it defeated the University of Houston in the NCAA basketball championship.

Southern Louisiana is in SEC Country and N.C. State, which competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference, is not likely to play against the NAIA school in the Crescent City.

If Clemson, Louisiana State, and Auburn can all share the Tigers name, I see no reason why two schools of different sizes can't share one.

And, yes, this is from someone who grew up watching ACC basketball and pulling for the N.C. State Wolfpack.

Haith: Climbing mountains

 Frank Haith recently accepted the head coaching position of the University of Missouri. I remember when he was an assistant at UNC-Wilmington and worked at the basketball camp I attended in seventh grade. I really don't remember much from that camp session except that I really wanted to learn more about basketball.

I knew nothing about Haith except his ties to North Carolina and his stints as an assistant at Wake Forest and head coach at Miami.

The Kansasa City Star's Kent Babb writes about how Haith met and seemed to overcome several challenges as he started out in coaching. There's even a part about where he once lived in a dorm room and mopped floors so he could stay close to the game.

I always feel more inspired when I read about people that have met challenges in life and continue to work hard to achieve their goals.

From the Vault: Cross Country meet has variety of stories

Hurricane Floyd had recently hit the eastern part of North Carolina, however that didn't keep Northern Nash's cross country team from heading to Greensboro. A team from the Los Angeles area was also at this meet. Leading Wake Forest University's cross country team at this meet was Bill Dellinger, who coached Steve Prefontaine at the University of Oregon. I actually got to speak to Dellinger, however, my quotes from him were cut because of space.

September 26, 1999, Sunday, ALL EDITIONS

FLOYD CAN'T FAZE N. NASH RUNNERS

BYLINE: BY BEN LEDBETTER; Special to the News & Record

SECTION: SPORTS, Pg. C11

LENGTH: 467 words

Although Hurricane Floyd kept Northern Nash High School closed this week, it did not stop its cross-country teams from traveling to the Greensboro Invitational at Hagan-Stone Park.

Shawn Holland, despite missing a whole week of training, dueled with Northern Durham's Chris Schmader to win the Championship high school boys race. Not only did they miss a week of practice, but the Fighting Knights had to finance the trip themselves.

''The decision was made yesterday at about 5:30 (in the afternoon) to come here,'' said Robert Holland, Shawn's father. ''We had to travel with our own vehicles because we couldn't go on a bus. We haven't been in school all week. The administration wouldn't let us have a bus.''

This was the first time a high school from as far away as California has attended the Greensboro Invitational, event director Charlie Brown said. Woodbridge, from the Los Angeles area, was looking for an extra meet to fill its schedule. One of its runners, Nicole Scott, won the girls Championship race.

''The majority of our girls are seniors,'' Woodbridge coach George Varvas said. ''We wanted to give them a nice treat, take them on a nice trip. So out of all the meets we looked at across the country, this sounded the best. ... So we thought this would be the best place to go, and it turned out to be better then we thought.''

Varvas' joy was the culmination of scheduling and raising money that he, co-coach Cheryl Evans and the rest of the team had to do before boarding a plane for Greensboro.

Scott, who was under the weather Saturday but showed few ill effects on the 3.1-mile course, won the Championship girls title a full 15 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.

Page's Leslie Jimison was the top area finisher in the Championship girls race, finishing 12th. Pirates runner Dave Gott finished 17th in the boys Championship race.

Northwest Guilford finished sixth as a team and Southeast Guilford finished 10th among Championship girls, while Southeast's boys finished 18th.

In the Invitational boys race, Northeast Guilford senior Matt Busick took third place at 16:56, four seconds off the lead. Brandon Black from Ledford was fifth in 17:04, while Jordan-Matthews' Daniel Newlin finished seventh.

Western Guilford, Eastern Alamance, Jordan-Matthews, Asheboro and Ledford came in fifth through ninth in the boys race.

In the girls Invitational, Jessica Ballance of Fort Mill, S.C., finished 20 seconds ahead of the pack, while Ledford's Carley Matthews finished fifth.

Wake Forest ran its first local meet under new men's coach Bill Dellinger, who recently retired as coach at the University of Oregon, where he coached accomplished distance runner Steve Prefontaine.

The Deacons won both the men's and women's Division I college races.

 

One of my NASCAR stories

 

When I worked in South Carolina, I was able to cover auto racing, specifically a NASCAR race at Darlington. However, this story from the June 14, 2003 edition of The (Sumter, S.C.) Item was about the announcement that Darlington Raceway would be losing its Labor Day weekend race. That race was moved to November. 

More teams lead to prep football titles meaning less

Coming through high school in the late 1990s, high school football seasons were divided into two parts. There was the regular season where most of the opponents were familiar league foes. Then there was the playoffs. I went to high school in southeastern North Carolina and that usually meant you would see an unfamiliar team. It might be from across the state or a school that is two hours away and rarely makes the pre-conference schedule in September.

Well, the playoffs have expanded. There are now eight state titles instead of four, meaning more teams will be playing in the postseason. This obviously does not benefit the student-athletes since their 1-10 team can have a chance to win the state title.

I also see a lot less cross-state matchups. Schools in the same conference are either facing each other early or have a good chance to do it later in the playoffs. The allure of the playoffs is that two teams who don't normally play each other have to play to see who progresses to the title. There seems to be a challenge in that.

It looks like South Carolina has also started to award more state titles in football, too. The Palmetto State previously had the Big 16 where the state's 16 largest schools would vie for a title. The new addition, at least to me, is the splitting of the 1A classification into two divisions.

If a state is going to let more people into the playoffs, it needs to find a way to integrate all the teams and still award fewer titles. For example, if there are two titles in 2A, take one of those away. Merge the two brackets and let the teams play until there is one champion awarded.

I don't know the best way to do that, but, I do know once there are fewer titles every game will have more meaning.

Colleges rush to add football and that means more fees

Georgia State in Atlanta is the latest school to add football and the team is scheduled to kick off its season in 2010.
The school is expected to play in the Colonial Athletic Association along with Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va. The Monarchs kick off their inaugural season this fall.
But, as the New York Times article states, there are some disadvantages to adding the sport. Georgia State's student fess increased by $85 a semester.
UNC Charlotte is also adding football and the school faces a significant increase in student fees.
Both Georgia State and Charlotte are in metropolitan areas with multiple professional and amateur teams. Both teams would need to have significant support in their communities and that's a tall task for new programs. For the 49ers, they're in Atlantic Coast Conference territory and share the Queen City with the National Football League's Carolina Panthers.
I think it will be wise for both schools to stay in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Div. I-AA). The schools might receive more exposure, but they will spend more money, too.
If a school makes the move to the top division too early it will be nothing more than a glorified practice squad and whipping boy for one of the "major" schools to play in the first couple of weeks of the year.
Football is a great sport, however, I don't think it's a magic cure for any school's problems.

  

Guilford College goes to NCAA Div. III Final Four

A story about the Guilford College men's basketball team's trip to the NCAA Division III Final Four this weekend in Salem, Va. Outside of the Triad, there probably won't be a lot of attention given to the Quakers. That's not a problem for me.
Division III athletes don't have scholarships, and many won't play another possession of organized basketball after the last whistle sounds.
These athletes are truly in it because of their love for their sport and school.

 

Clemson beats Florida State for the first time

Oh, man, do I ever remember this one. James Robert Kennedy, otherwise known as "Radio" got to run down the hill at Memorial Stadium. It was also the first time that Clemson defeated Florida State, at least since they joined the ACC. 



Article published: Nov 9, 2003
Tigers crash party
Clemson ruins Bowden’s birthday, national title hopes

By BEN LEDBETTER
Item Sports Writer

CLEMSON — It may have been Florida State head football coach Bobby Bowden’s 74th birthday Saturday, but his son Tommy Bowden got the gift.

That night at Clemson’s Memorial Stadium, the goalposts came down and Tigers fans rushed the field as Clemson upset the No.3 Seminoles before a crowd of more than 81,000. It was the first time in five tries that Tommy Bowden’s Tigers, who improve to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in Atlantic Coast Conference action, have beaten Florida State, which drops to 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

Clemson had the Seminoles shut out through the first half and kept them out of the end zone with the exception of a fourth-quarter 71-yard touchdown pass from reserve quarterback Fabian Walker to wide receiver Chauncey Stovall.

For as under the gun as he has been, especially since the Tigers lost 45-17 at Wake Forest last week, Tommy Bowden said Saturday’s win was not for him, but for the players and for the school itself.

“I thought our players looked at the challenge after the Wake Forest game,” the younger Bowden said.

Bobby Bowden, who joked that Tommy Bowden’s job “should probably be good for about another five days,” declared that Clemson’s win was genuine.

“I told him I’m happy for him, but I’m not happy for us,” Bobby Bowden said. “I tried not to assist him in any way. You knew that something like this was coming sooner or later, but this was very unlikely tonight. It was thorough (Clemson’s win) and it wasn’t even close.”

Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst completed 17 of 27 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown and threw one interception. He also rushed for a TD.

Saturday’s win was especially good for Clemson’s starting signal caller following last week’s blowout loss against the Deacons and the outside chatter about his head coach’s career.

“Our backs against the wall, we get blown out last week, we come out and play close to perfect,” Whitehurst said. “We really took it to them.”

With Florida State coming off a 37-0 win over Notre Dame and the Tigers losing last week, Saturday’s game looked like the perfect opportunity to pull off an upset at least according to Whitehurst.

“You get blown out; I don’t know if they tooks us lightly or not,” Whitehurst said. “They won pretty good and we lost pretty good. So, I guess the stage was set. We had them at home. The fans we’re behind us. I guess it just worked out for us.”

While he said he did not know if the win was brought on because of Tommy Bowden being on the hot seat this year, something was inside the Tigers Saturday, Whitehurst said.

“There wasn’t really anything said,” Whitehurst said. “Everybody kind of felt it. I don’t know if this win was for him, but something was inside us. Something made us go out and play the way we did. Maybe it was for him.”

Clemson took a 13-0 lead into the locker room at the half. The Seminoles were able to get within field-goal range in the third quarter, but a 40-yard field goal attempt by Xavier Beitia at the 11:38 mark of the third quarter went wide left.

Clemson continued to piece together a shutout when Hunt booted a 32-yard field goal with 6:39 left in the third period to put the Tigers up 16-0. Beitia made good on his next field goal attempt of 46 yards to give the Seminoles a 16-3 lead with 3:25 left in the third.

Derrick Hamilton extended the Tigers’ lead to 23-3 when he caught a pass from Whitehurst and ran to the end zone on a 58-yard pass play at the 1:23 mark of the third quarter.

Hamilton finished with six catches for 123 yards and one touchdown.

The Tigers added another three points when Hunt kicked a 37-yard field goal with 8:31 left in the game to make it 26-3. Only Walker’s bomb to Stovall that made it 26-10 kept the game from being a complete rout in favor of the Tigers.

Whitehurst got the Tigers’ first touchdown of the game in the first half. With the Tigers at the FSU 1-yard line, he scrambled back to the FSU 10, then ran back to the left and dived into the end zone with 15 seconds left in the half to give the Tigers a 13-0 lead. He aided that drive when he completed a 51-yard pass to Kevin Youngblood with 1:17 left in the half.

Clemson got on the board early when Hunt kicked a 23-yard field goal with 8:25 left in the first quarter for an early 3-0 lead over the Seminoles. The Tigers were able to get to the Florida State 6, but after Whitehurst was unable to complete a pass to Youngblood in the end zone, Clemson went for a 23-yard field goal from Hunt.

After reaching the Seminoles’ 18-yard line on its next drive, Clemson again settled for a Hunt field goal, this time one for 35 yards as the Tigers went up by six with four seconds off the clock in the second quarter.

FSU’s standout rusher Greg Jones, a Battery Creek High graduate, was held to 12 yards on seven carries.

Saturday’s win over the Seminoles was the highest-ranked team Clemson has defeated and for the Tigers’ head coach, it may have been his, too.

“I think it’s probably the highest ranked team I’ve ever defeated myself,” Tommy Bowden said. “To beat my father, the winningest coach in college football, obviously they’re going to be well-coached.”