Roaming the county getting ready for tonight …You just knew every coach’s eyes bugged out when they saw the paper last Saturday and read that Carson would have to travel back to Hickory Ridge to finish a game halted by lightning.
And you just knew what they were thinking.
“I don’t know how you do that,” Salisbury coach Joe Pinyan said. “I can’t see coming back that quick. Those kids come home and lie in bed, and you know they have to be sore. Why would you take a chance of hurting a kid this early in the season?”
It was 19-13 in favor of Hickory Ridge when the game was halted. The final on Saturday was 25-13.
“In a close game like that, you talk to the officials and stretch it out a little longer,” Pinyan said.
Catawba coach Chip Hester agreed.
“I would’ve loved to take whatever time out you needed and pick it up as soon as you possibly could,” he said. “That’s a weird situation.”
When the game was stopped, coaches Mark Woody (Carson) and Marty Paxton wanted to stay and finish, according to Carson AD Jim Grkman, also a Cougar assistant. But the Hickory Ridge principal and county trainer had other ideas.
Woody wanted to continue because he felt his team had gained an edge. Shaun Warren had just reeled off a 28-yard run into Hickory Ridge territory.
Woody had to give a different type of pep talk on the way home.
“We talked about the importance of rest,” he said. “The biggest advantage for them was that they were home.”
Defensive back Zack Grkman said of the bus ride home, “We were relaxed. We felt like we had momentum on our side. We felt like we had them.”
Carson played a quick 11 minutes and came home 0-1.
Woody said the entire weekend was a blur. His staff watched film until 3 a.m. after the Friday night game, watched more film after the Saturday night game, and then he had to exchange film early with North Rowan’s Tasker Fleming on Sunday.
“We’ve just got to put it behind us,” Woody said.
Pinyan was just glad there were no injuries.
“If somebody had gotten hurt, there would’ve been a lot of questions,” he said.
–
East assistant Gary Bass said he felt Carson’s pain.
As a senior at McDowell County, he played against Burns in a Friday-Saturday doubleheader. Bass had to play three quarters Saturday.
“Talk about being sore,” Bass said. “It was like playing two full games, body-wise. It made it very interesting on Sunday morning when I woke up.”
–
West coach Scott Young and East coach Brian Hinson fully expected Jon Crucitti (West) and Preston Troutman (East) to play last Friday even though they missed practice time during the Rowan Legion team’s march to the World Series.
Then the NCHSAA got involved, finding a loophole and forcing both to miss their games. Hinson wasn’t happy. Both players had practiced at Crestwood High School in Sumter, S.C., while the Legion team was playing in the Southeast Regional.
“They got their conditioning days and all their work in,” Hinson said. “Their coach signed off on it.”
On Friday at 2 p.m., Hinson said he was notified that Troutman couldn’t play.
“We had our pregame meal and I had to tell him,” Hinson said. “I don’t agree with the situation. No. 1, you’re punishing a kid who was representing the state of North Carolina. No. 2, he’s taking time out of that baseball schedule to go work out at another high school. He did what he had to do.”
Hinson said the state’s loophole was that Crucitti and Troutman did not practice with the Crestwood team.
“The state didn’t communicate with us very well,” Hinson said.
–
Betcha didn’t know: Salisbury’s loss to South Rowan was Pinyan’s first in an opener as a head coach.
“We haven’t played a team that good in our opener, either,” Pinyan admitted.
“If I told you we weren’t hurting, I’d by lying. Our kids don’t like to lose. You look at this bunch of seniors. They were 9-1 and 8-2 as jayvees and 11-0 on the field last year. They haven’t lost a whole lot.”
–
Salisbury tries to get back on track tonight as it travels to East. All six county schools play within our borders.
West should debut its new scoreboard against Northwest Cabarrus. A.L. Brown visits red-hot South. Carson travels to North praying that lighting doesn’t strike twice. Page, which lost 50-49 to Davie last year, goes to Mocksville.
–
On the air tonight:
WSTP 1490-AM will showcase the voices of Hall of Famer Howard Platt and Wilson “Wild” Cherry at West.
WSAT 1280-AM will have its weekly football show with Mark, Johnny and the boys updating us on all the games.
WRNA 1140-AM will have The Commissioner of high school football, Carl Ford, and the “Mouth of South” Bob Parker calling the South-Brown clash.
Go enjoy some football, folks. And be nice.
–
Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 7094-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.