South Point vs. West Lincoln

[egfan]

I personally think they will be better if our coaches can do their job. We had a ton of injuries this year and had to rely on a lot of greenhorns to fill in. Those guys will be back with experience now which is always a good thing. Our most talented player will graduate but he missed over half the season and he can't seem to get his head in the game anyway, so we are better off not having to beg for his help. I think our real issue will be in coaching. We have a lot of inexperienced coaches now that frankly I think are in way over their heads. These guys either need to grow up fast or changes need to be made. The last two weeks have been completely out of control. Condoning on field behavior like I saw the last two weeks cannot stand. That is not SP football. Our tradition is to hit hard but never dirty, but I have seen that behavior creep into the game this year. Mouthing off and stupid penalties after the play is just ridiculous and reflects directly on the coaches. Should never be allowed.

I felt the same way about last night. SP has always been aggressive, but not dirty. I told my buddy last night that 5 looked like he didn't want to be there.

 

[West17]

I agree; if Ray Rose would have wanted to finish out his high school career instead of looking towards Chapel Hill and would have played QB all night, might have been a different ball game. Also, if 23 wouldn't have seemed scared to get hit and they would have let 40 eat all night; would have possibly been a different outcome. West Lincoln has been notorious all year for giving up big pass plays on 2nd and 3rd and long until the past two weeks. Our pass defence has stepped up. May be too little too late going up against shelbys bomb squad but compared to what it was; we might hold to to a few 3 and outs.

 

[Raidersway]

First of all Congrats to West Lincoln and good luck next week against Shelby. I kind of expected this outcome. Much like the Chase game WL had a very good ground game and we did not stop good teams that had a strong rushing attacks all season.
This has been a very awkward season in a number of ways. When you run an option offense and you lose your first and second string QB's for the season before the first scrimmage in August you are starting off in a tremendous hole. Then your third string QB has to run the offense and he goes out with an injury midway through the season the hole just became deeper. Then your leader rusher coming back from a 1500 yd season last year goes down the hole became a gorge. Now your 4 year starting safety goes out for the season with an injury the hole becomes a canyon. Now one of our best athletes #8 Jammari Lewis seems to have disappeared (I assume to injury). Now take your best player Ray Rose and he goes down in the opening scrimmage and misses half the season but never appeared totally healthy when he did play.
Next you have 4 coaches with long successful careers retire and turn the team over to coaches far less experienced than those we have enjoyed over the past 30-40 years.
Lastly we all know SP has been affected since Stuart Cramer opened.
There are kids at SC that previously would have played at SP that clearly would have upgraded SP's talent pool.
Take all this into account and you got what you got.

A- SP may never experience the depth of injuries they experienced in 2019. It is clearly the most profound injury list I have ever seen over my 40+ years of following sports.
B- Coaches at SP grew up in the program and culture. There is not a one of them that would not sacrafice it all to lead SP to the same success the Raider program has experienced since 1969.
C- Stuart Cramer is here. It is what it is. There is tremendous growth on the east side of Gaston County including Belmont. The numbers will take care of themselves. We will be back in 3A sooner than later. In 2A the road to a state championship goes through Shelby. To their credit they traditionally are as competitive if not more than the best 3A programs.
As for the future of Raider football......it will rise again but there are going to be growing pains.How high it rises remains to be seen. I personally have enjoyed the success over many years of Raider football. I am playing with house money being that many schools would love to own the South Point Red Raider trophy case. I am not about to bash or blame anyone, especially Raider coaches and players.
Go Big Red!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Raidersway]

Serious question: Do you think SP will be better or worse next year?

It's easy to understand where you are going with the question. Let me answer your question this way......It will not matter relative to EG because the results of that game will not change.

 

[raider1959]

Congratulations to WL. They played hard Friday night. Bridges is a good running back. Like others have said lack of discipline was evident last night for SP. I for one thought the Raiders should have never been in the playoffs. They have had a miserable time stopping anyone's offense this. Injuries and other incidents really hurt this year. Several things this year didn't set well with a lot of fans. Tough,tough year. The Raiders will be back but, probably growing pains in the near future. Still a Red Raider for life.