BY MIKE LONDON
SALISBURY POST

Ask Catawba’s Luke Samples about the Indians’ 4 p.m. slugfest today at Carson-Newman’s Burke-Tarr Stadium and he answers exactly how his coaches would want him to answer.

The rugged redshirt freshman quarterback says that, well, sure this one’s big and all that, but no bigger than past SAC games against Tusculum and Presbyterian. And no bigger than next week’s big game against Mars Hill.

“We’re working on a perfect season and a SAC championship,” insisted Samples, an earnest, look-you-in-the-eyes mountain boy, who completed 8 of 9 passes last week. “That means we prepare for all games equally.”

But all football games are not created equal.

And it’s safe to say that for every person wearing Carson-Newman Eagle orange— from head coach Ken Sparks right on down to the No. 3 water carrier — Catawba isn’t just one more big game. It’s the game.

Catawba’s visit to Jefferson City is Carson-Newman’s reason for living. The Eagles aren’t dumb. They know that with two league losses, they aren’t going to win the SAC.

Thirty-nine teams received votes in the last Division II poll and the Eagles (4-3 overall, 3-2 SAC) weren’t one of them. So they are acutely aware they aren’t going to see a playoff game unless they buy a ticket at the gate.

But the Eagles could still foul up a lot of things for Catawba. And that thought keeps their motor running. And maybe that explains why the nation’s No. 3 team is the guest for Homecoming.

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Life changed last October when Catawba’s Matt Gross kicked that famous field goal to topple Carson-Newman at Shuford Stadium. Things haven’t been the same for Catawba. Or for Carson-Newman. Or for the SAC. Or for D-II.

When Catawba took down the Eagles for only the seventh time in 34 tries, they did more than avenge two painful 1999 defeats at Burke-Tarr. The Indians also established themselves as the SAC’s preeminent team.

Catawba hasn’t looked back since that day. It carries a 16-game SAC win streak and a 23-game regular-season win streak. And now, if you mention “Catawba” to any fan from Corpus Christi to Copenhagen, he can tell you that coach David Bennett has one heck of a Division II football team.

Carson-Newman’s gone the other way.

It did the unthinkable, losing its 2001 opener to Winston-Salem State of the CIAA. It fell at Burke-Tarr to Presbyterian, it’s first regular-season home defeat since 1993. Then it did the unthinkable again. It made it back-to-back losses when it faltered at upstart Tusculum.

Injuries (especially to QB Leonard Guyton) have played a part in the Eagles’ fall from grace. So, perhaps, have bad luck and a rapidly improving league.

But the bottom line is that the name “Carson-Newman” no longer creates fear and dread. The famed “Mystique of Mossy Creek” hasn’t been worth a hoot since Gross’ boot. When fans talk about the SAC these days, they talk about Catawba. Carson-Newman comes along much later in the conversation.

It’s as if C-N has been told that after decades as the featured soloist, it’s being demoted to a minor role in the chorus, while Catawba takes center stage.

If you look at things through the eyes of an Eagle, this new world order is grossly unfair. That’s why there will be a mighty chilly reception for the Indians, and not just because temperatures could dip into the 40s.

Let’s look at the record book. In 20 years, Sparks, who turned 57 in February, has won 80 percent of his games and five national titles.He’s finished second in the nation four times and has won 15 — count ’em, 15 — SAC crowns.

“Most of that happened before I was here,” said Catawba defender Maurice Simpkins. “But Carson-Newman has been known as a good program. They had dominance in the SAC and in the nation.”

Simpkins knows his history, but he does speak of the Eagles in the past tense. Eagle fans do not. They still consider Sparks’ awesome achievements as a work in progress — not past glories.

What Bennett has done at Catawba, especially over the last three seasons, is fantastic. But the new king of the SAC has quite a bit left to accomplish before it can occupy a throne in the same castle as the old king.

Some of that work can be done today, but it won’t be easy. Catawba hasn’t survived at Burke-Tarr since 1987. Bennett, in fact, claims his Indians (8-0) should not be favored to beat their unranked and hostile hosts.

“I do consider us underdogs,” Bennett said. “You can throw the records out, because, we, as a staff, have never won there. And it’s going to be a great environment for football. Carson-Newman is going to play harder against us than against anyone. They’ve been marking this one since last year when we knocked them off.”

And when you press him a little, even say-the-right-thing Samples will admit what’s at stake and how tough this one’s going to be.

“If Carson-Newman can beat us, it’s a season-maker for them,” he admitted. “And a season-breaker for us.”

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Contact Mike London at 704-797-4259 or mlondon@salisburypost.com .