Central Cabarrus’ Damonte James is readers’ choice prep football player of the year

Damonte James finished his senior season at Central Cabarrus High with 26 tackles, three interceptions, three forced fumbles and six pass breakups.

He had an 80-yard interception return for a touchdown in the playoffs, but the pick-six was nullified by a penalty.

That would constitute a pretty nice football season for most high school players.

But that was only part of what James did for a Vikings’ team that won a first-round playoff game for the first time in 11 years.

As a running back, James rushed for 1,730 yards, had an 8.7-yard average carry, scored 20 touchdowns, and had 11 games of at least 100 yards .

“He started for us on offense and defense, and he could play on either side of the ball in college,” said Vikings’ head coach Donnie Kieffer.

James also was popular with fans, as he won the voting for The Charlotte Observer’s annual readers’ choice Award for the region’s top high school football player. Each weekly winner was put in the pool to determine the year-long winner, and James was it.

“I heard that people were voting for me, but I didn’t realize I had that much support,” James said. “It is great to be supported like that.”

James said his senior season with the Vikings was his most enjoyable.

“Coach Kieffer came in here and made a difference,” he said of the Central Cabarrus coach, a 1975 graduate of the school and a former head coach of the Vikings about a decade ago. Kieffer returned this season as head coach, after stops at other schools.

“Coach Kieffer set a standard, and it’s something that I tried to live up to,” James said.

He said his preseason goal was to make people realize that he “could play the game of football.”

“I feel like I showed everyone what I could do,” he said. “I think I improved a lot.”

James seemed to save his best for last. In the regular-season finale against Harding, he averaged 22.5 yards in eight carries and scored two touchdowns. Then he carried 20 times for 244 yards in the playoff-opening 38-10 romp over Southeast Guilford.

“Winning the playoff game was really special,” James said. “Coach Keffer was really excited for us. It meant a lot for all of us. The program can keep building from here.”

Kieffer said James came into the senior season with lots of football-playing ability. The coach said James grew as a teammate and young man.

“He has high aspirations for his life,” Keffer said. “He learned a lot this year about what it will take to succeed. And he really wants to succeed.”

James said his senior season was a lot of fun. The Vikings won five games, their most since 2019.

“Being a part of seeing the football program improve so much was great,” he said.

Kieffer added, “And we lost two games in overtime and three more games by one score,. We were close to something even bigger.”

“Damonte was a big part of that,” he said.