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Northwest, Cox Mill start new rivalry
Photo by James Nix
Cox Mill sophomore Tanner Newland and Kaylee Akers paint over a message left by Northwest Cabarrus football players on Cox Mill's spirit rock.
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Published: August 21, 2009
A week before the 2009 football season, Cox Mill High School sophomore student council members
Kaylee Akers, Celest Lambert and Tanner Newland stood around the school's spirit rock with white paint and brushes.
"I want to get them back for this," Akers said as she looked at the message painted on the rock in orange and black paint, the school colors of the Northwest Cabarrus Trojans.
"NCHS Was Here," it read. On the other side of the rock, "Class of 2010" was painted. Around the message, jersey numbers identified the culprits who painted the rock the night before.
"They're just jealous," said Lambert as she painted over the graffiti.
All rivalries must have a beginning and all traditions must start somewhere.
For a young Charger football team and its student body fan base, the beginning of a new rivalry starts with the high school and friends they left behind. The sophomores and juniors at Cox Mill wore Northwest's orange and black last year.
"It's tough on those Northwest kids to make that change at that age. To be in school and make friends and then come over to a new place," said Tim Niedermeier, Cox Mill's athletic director. "But I haven't seen one ounce of negativity."
Instead, many students have turned the change into an opportunity. Charger football coach Greg
Neuendorf said many of his players once questioned why they had to leave Northwest.
"Now it's 'we get to start something new at Cox Mill,'" he said.
Before the ball is even snapped on its inaugural season, the signs of a budding rivalry are apparent around Cox Mill's campus.
Tevin Moss, a senior lineman for Northwest Cabarrus, pulled up to pick up his brother Donovan after football prac-tice at Cox Mill. As soon as he stepped out wearing a bright orange Northwest shirt the jeering began.
A group of Chargers waiting on rides joked with their former teammate about beating the Trojans in November and getting them back for the vandalized rock out front.
When asked about playing his brother in November, a smile appeared on Donovan Moss' face.
"I'm going to put him on his butt every play," he said.
There are ten Friday nights and a lot of development to go through before the November match up at Northwest, but for Cox Mill, taunting Northwest players and devising a way to repay them for the spirit rock are part of building its identity.
"Rivals are fun," Niedermeier said. "We're going to be playing a lot of good teams, but [the Northwest game] will be an exciting time."
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