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Rivalry night marks season's end

By Steve Winzenread | Independent Tribune

Published: November 6, 2009

And so it's week 12, the final Friday of the regular high school football season.

There's a battle for a bell tonight, and a multi-team contest for second place in the South Piedmont 3A Conference.

Don't forget about playoff seeding, either.

Headlining tonight's slate of games is the 79th annual Battle of the Bell at Kannapolis Memorial Stadium.

The Concord Spiders, winners of four games in a row, play the Kannapolis Wonders, winners of eight straight and undisputed champions of the SPC this season.

A young Concord team is looking for its first Bell victory since 2006, and doing so under first-year head coach Glen Padgett. Ron Massey is in his 10th season as Wonders head coach.

The Wonders (9-1) have their own incentives as they try to solidify as much homefield advantage for the playoffs as they can by improving their won-loss record.

The Kannapolis team will also be trying to close Concord's 38-36-4 lead in the series, continuing a trend that started gradually in 1978 and accelerated beginning with the 1987 season.

When Concord lost its first six games this year, it appeared tonight's game would continue the string of one-sided results that have been the rule since 2006.

Not so fast. Who knows what the final score will be tonight, but the Spiders are not punchless. Six-foot-four freshman quarterback B.J. Beecher, if given time to throw, has an arm and receivers that can sting a defense.

But the Wonders, coming off an important comeback win at Northwest Cabarrus, remain the favorite, led by junior running back Travis Riley. The Kannapolis team is averaging 38.5 points a game in 2009.

One interesting element of tonight's rivalry renewal is the lack of a senior as the probable starter at quarterback for either of the two teams.

For a while now, the winning team has had a senior quarterback. Names like Jamill Lott, Jonathan Efird, Dee Bost, Sean Fortson, Tommy Beecher and Brandon Franklin come to mind.

Elsewhere tonight, two of the four teams that are tied for second place meet at Hickory Ridge when the Ragin' Bulls welcome Jay M. Robinson. (The other two teams tied for second are Northwest and Concord.)

Robinson has won four of its last five games to improve to 5-5 overall. Hickory Ridge, also 5-5 overall, lost the last two weeks at A.L. Brown and Concord after beating Northwest three weeks ago.

Also tonight, Northwest (7-3) hosts new school Cox Mill, which broke through for its first football win ever at Central Cabarrus last Friday.

Excepting any transfer students, Cox Mill juniors and sophomores were sophomores and freshmen at Northwest last school year.

Northwest athletic director Jason Adams said Wednesday that the Trojans and Chargers are going to be playing each year for the Coddle Creek Cup trophy.

Central is at Mount Pleasant tonight, with both schools playing for pride. The Vikings are winless, while
Mount Pleasant's Tigers are one of the better 2-8 teams around, especially considering they are playing in a 3A league while having 2A enrollment.

And in the independent school ranks tonight, unbeaten First Assembly (10-0) hosts Asheville School (7-2) at Webb Field in the first round of the NCISAA Division II playoffs.