Why the Forgotten Ones, Catholic and Vance, are the only Charlotte teams still standing
This high school football season, at least in Mecklenburg County, has been mostly about the M&M teams -- Mallard Creek and Myers Park.
Both were nationally ranked, featured high-flying offenses and high-level recruits, and for much of 2019, all the talk -- at least locally -- was about what would happen when those two titans met in Friday’s N.C. 4AA Western Regional championship game. There was even talk of moving such a game to a larger venue in town to accommodate the amount of fans who want to see it.
Only that never happened.
Instead, the two teams from Charlotte who are going to state finals next week were both like the proverbial tortoise, slowly running down the faster, shinier teams in town. It’s Vance and it’s Charlotte Catholic, a pair that also went to the state finals a year ago.
Did we forget that somehow?
Charlotte Catholic beat Kings Mountain 56-49 Friday in a state semifinal few fans will ever forgot. Longtime N.C. prep observer Chris Hughes of CarolinaPreps called it one of, if not the best game he’s ever seen.
It was 7-7 at the end of regulation and ended up tying a 13-year-old record for overtimes. Mooresville-Lake Norman played seven of them in 2006 before Mooresville won 68-61. And 14 years before that, in 1992, East Meck and South Meck played six overtimes before East Meck won 38-35.
On Friday, Catholic was in its 10th straight regional final, an amazing feat in and of itself, and now the Cougars will try to win a third straight state 3A title next Saturday. But it was just a couple months ago, when Catholic was 2-3 and coming off a 45-0 loss to Weddington, that the Cougars looked like they were done.
But coach Mike Brodowicz has rallied his team. Catholic has won nine straight games and gotten back to the finals.
Vance, too, is going back.
I thought the best team in the state this season was Mallard Creek and Vance played Mallard Creek to a near stalemate before losing 17-7 on the road Sept. 27. But after that, the Cougars -- who began the year ranked nationally in some polls -- began to sputter.
They nearly lost to Mooresville and Lake Norman. West Charlotte played them close. Finally Hough scored 42 points on that proud Vance defense to end the regular-season.
That shocking loss meant a No. 10 playoff seed for Vance and the toughest road to the finals imaginable: away games at 3-time state champ Butler, 3-time state champ Mallard Creek, then West Forsyth and then Richmond Senior. The last three were the top three seeds in the western half of the playoffs.
But former Harding state championship coach Sam Greiner has said two things all season -- that Drake Maye of Myers Park is the best high school quarterback he’s ever seen and that Vance has the best high school defense to ever come through Charlotte. One of these may yet become true. One seems to be very true now, or at least something you can argue legitimately.
In the playoffs, against historically great competition, Vance has allowed zero, seven, seven and seven points. RIchmond Senior, which had been averaging 43 points per game, suffered its worst loss in six years. The Raiders ran the ball 32 times for 71 yards. They completed 7 of 27 passes for 103.
So next week, two teams that a lot of people forgot about are going to state finals, and from where I sit, they both deserve the trip.
Quick Links
Friday’s Carolina scores, how the Sweet 16 fared, next week’s state final schedule
Vance has female assistant coach, but she doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer
Third straight NC Gatorade player of the year from area named
Vance was ready for trip to Richmond Senior
Charlotte Catholic wins 7 OT thriller
Vance dominates in Rockingham, goes to 2nd straight final
Weddington wallops Watauga, heading to repeat final
Shelby blows past Burns, reaches 2AA state final
Mecklenburg County all-star game add sponsor, TV, finalizes rosters
Friday’s #BIG5 Top Performers
Davis Barnett, Charlotte Catholic: interception in the end zone ended Catholic’s 56-49 win over Kings Mountain in seven overtimes. Teammate Paul Neel ran 34 times for 121 yards and four touchdowns.
Dante Casciola, Weddington: Was 10 of 14 passing for 198 yards and four touchdowns in a 49-14 win over Boone Watauga.
Power Echols, Vance: 17 tackles, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and one sack in Friday’s 38-7 win at Richmond Senior. Echols was state defensive player of the year as a sophomore. His junior year has been better. Friday, Dylan Tucker and Nate Spindle had interceptions and Steve Sings had three sacks.
Austin Grier, Vance: completed 13 of 19 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns at Richmond Senior. He also ran for 55 yards and a score.
Ja’hari Mitchell, Shelby: ran for 105 yards on 10 carries. He scored five touchdowns on those 10 carries. He also had a 25-yard receiving score in Friday’s 42-14 win over Lawndale Burns.
3 Quick Thoughts
1. Nice touch by Kannapolis Brown High School and football coach Mike Newsome, who helped a special needs student, Naz Spates, live his dream of attending a Cleveland Browns game. Spates was nominated for Dream On 3, a Charlotte-based non-profit that tries to grant wishes like these.
Newsome said Spates — who deals with Intellectual and developmental disabilities — flew to Cleveland Friday for a weekend hanging out in Cleveland, and Newsome said he’ll be on the sidelines for part of Sunday’s game with the Bengals.
Former Charlotte 49ers defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi was a point of contact as well as former Butler High star Kendall Lamm, whom Newsome coached in high school. Both Ogunjobi and Lamm play for the Browns.
2. Weddington High’s Will Shipley had a pretty good Friday and continued a pretty good career.
Friday morning, he was named N.C. Gatorade high school football player of the year. Friday night, he ran 14 times for 170 yards and two touchdowns. For the season, Shipley has a Union County single-season record 38 touchdowns. He also has won four state championships in his career. He’ll go for a second straight football title next Saturday in Raleigh against unbeaten Lee County.
That game will match Shipley, a 5-star running back, against Lee County’s 5-star defensive end Desmond Evans, who has committed to North Carolina. Evans ranks No. 2 in the Observer’s list of the state’s top 25 seniors.
3. Salisbury upset previously unbeaten Randleman 14-7 on the road Friday to advance to the N.C. 2AA state final for the first time since 2010, when the Hornets beat Elizabeth City Northeastern 30-0.
This season, Salisbury -- a short drive from Charlotte -- was sent to the eastern side of the playoffs and had two trips well over 200 miles. But the Hornets won them all. Now we’ll get a state championship game that kind of feels like a Western final: Salisbury vs. Shelby. Should be fun.
This story was originally published December 7, 2019 at 4:32 AM.
