Can Sam Greiner make ‘Dub-C’ relevant again? West Charlotte’s 2-0, looking to roar
Last spring, in his first season as head coach at West Charlotte High School, Sam Greiner’s team was 2-5, and Greiner made himself a promise.
Greiner said he was going to work as hard as he could to rebuild the pride at a place that used to be one of the state’s premier programs. After Friday’s come-from-behind 15-6 win at rival Independence, Greiner is right on schedule.
West Charlotte is now 2-0 with Garinger up next. Greiner, of course, has done this before. He had a bigger reclamation project at Harding and led the Rams to the 2017 N.C. 4A state championship, giving the Rams their first state ring since the ‘50s.
And Greiner thinks he can do the same thing at West Charlotte.
“Once we do stuff and start putting it together, we’re dangerous,” Greiner said. “It’s too early to tell how we can be. That state championship run at Harding, we were a little better, but this is the group we can do it with, don’t get me wrong. We have a lot of seniors, but we have to keep getting better at the details. If we become a detail-oriented team and nobody cares who gets the credit, we can go a long way.”
In the ‘80s and 90s, West Charlotte reached five state championship games, won one, and were generally the Kings of Charlotte football. The school poured out All-Americans like running back Brian Knuckles, wide receiver Steve Shipp and quarterbacks David Green and Keith Matkins.
But after a series of principal shifts and a series of attendance line shifts and coaching shifts -- including watching the legendary Tom Knotts leave for Independence -- the Lions fell on hard times.
Consider this: from 1972-99, West Charlotte had three head coaches --- Knotts, Rudy Abrams and Bruce Hardin. That trio of famous coaches brought the Lions 21 winning seasons, plus six state finals appearance and a 1995 N.C. 4A state title.
Pete Gilchrist led West Charlotte to the finals in 2006, but from 2007 through the spring 2021 season, West Charlotte has had three winning seasons and Greiner is the Lions ninth coach in that time.
And Greiner really believes he can big even faster now than he did at Harding, which didn’t have near the Lions recent pedigree when he started there.
At Harding, Greiner’s team won in the small 4A class.
West Charlotte will play in a revamped 3A class that is devoid of many of the 4A power teams, if it can make the playoffs.
The Lions won’t play another 3A team until they face West Meck Sept. 24, and the winner of that game will get a No. 1 playoff seed from their conference.
West Meck, like Greiner’s team, is also off to a 2-0 start.
“That’s the good thing,” Greiner said. “We’re in 3A, and we don’t have to beat the juggernauts of the world to win state, We’ve still got to beat good teams, but we’re a good team.”
On Friday, the Lions got down to Independence 6-0 in the third quarter before getting a one-point lead. West Charlotte star Endai McDowell extended that lead with a 50-yard scoring catch. Later, he had a game-sealing interception and 60-yard return.
A week ago, McDowell’s second half kick return for a touchdown was the difference in the Lions season-opening win at Harding.
Greiner’s team will have a lot of “at” games, playing on someone else’s home field. West Charlotte has three home games scheduled this season as a new school is built on the existing campus footprint. Due to all of the construction, Greiner team’s has to a walk at least a half a mile to and from practice every day.
“People don’t realize how hard it is to get an identity,” Greiner said. “We had to go through the COVID season (in the spring). We have no locker room. We walk to practice every day. Not everybody would enjoy that. That’s why I’m really excited and so proud of our team. We handle adversity and it’s very tough at an inner-city school like West Charlotte. You’ve got to be resilient your whole life.”
Quick Links
Wertz: West Charlotte starting to build something under Greiner in Year 2
Friday’s Charlotte-area scores, how Sweet 16 fared, next week’s schedule
Son of local coach is first Observer player of the week
No. 1 Chambers shakes off sluggish start, takes down Glenn
Ardrey Kell’s new found defense leads to win over No. 12 Marvin Ridge
Mallard Creek finally gets a chance to play, stops Providence
PHOTOS: Ardrey Kell vs. Marvin Ridge
3 Quick Observations
▪ Cardinal Gibbons got a big fourth down stop, in Rockingham, in the fourth quarter to beat Richmond Senior 30-22 Friday. Gibbons lost 32-29 to Chambers to start the season and looks like a bona-fide state title contender. Remember, Richmond Senior was fresh off a big win over Butler last week at Memorial Stadium. Gibbons held Richmond’s offense to 163 rushing and 85 passing yards.
Gibbons star Donovan Shepard ran 34 times for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
▪ Impressed with the coaches at Chambers. After running up double digit penalties in several recent games, dating to last season, the Cougars cleaned it up Friday against Winston-Salem’s Glenn High, ranked No. 11 in the N.C. 4A poll.
Every good team is bound to have an off night, and Chambers had one Friday in a 30-6 win. Not sure if it was the short prep time -- Chambers played well into Saturday night in Virginia last week -- or just coming off back-to-back emotional wins, but the Cougars weren’t the Cougars Friday. Still they won comfortably in the end.
And there was some talk about a defensive drop off after coordinator Anthony Hackett left for Independence. Hackett built the core of the Cougars’ back-to-back state champions with his aggressive style. But Chambers head coach Glenwood Ferebee has kept the group rolling. Chambers’ defense, even without star Jalen Swindell (heel) looked state championship dominant in their first home game.
▪ Ardrey Kell’s defense has gotten a major makeover in a few months. Props to coach Greg Jachym and staff. After outscoring teams last year, the Knights put on a defensive clinic in a 26-7 win over No. 12 Marvin Ridge Friday. The Mavericks had averaged nearly 40 points in two wins to start the season. They got 95 total yards against Ardrey Kell, including only five rushing.
Friday’s #BIG5 Top Performers
Dalton Beck, Alexander Central: 17 tackles, two for loss, in a 24-7 loss to AC Reynolds.
Daniel Haughton, Charlotte Latin: in a 44-10 win over Metrolina Christian, Haughton had 8 catches for 107 yards and a score plus five tackles and a 52-yard punt return.
Christian Hamilton, Hickory Ridge: Two touchdown catches and an interception for the Power 5 recruit in a 27-7 win over Belmont’s South Point High.
Jawarn Howell, Mooreville: 6-0, 195-pound junior has a 3.5 GPA and ran for more than 200 yards and three scores in a 21-13 win over West Rowan.
Amari McArthur, North Rowan: five catches for 272 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-32 win over North Stanly. Those numbers are unofficial, but if they stand, the 272 yards would rank No. 17 all-time in N.C. public school history and break the Rowan County record. East Rowan’s Seth Wyrick had 264 yards receiving in 2014. That mark is 23rd best all-time currently.
