Is Ryan Gettys the next head coach at North Rowan?

Just when you thought it was safe to think that the CVAC coaching-go-round had finally stopped, it may be starting again.

On June 10th North Rowan principal Rodney Bass called head coach Avery Cutshaw into his office and fired him. Now there is speculation that perhaps Gettys, a 1984 graduate of North Rowan, may be in line to replace Cutshaw. It is confirmed that Gettys is interested and has sent in a resume. The deadline was last Friday.

The firing of Cutshaw has left Rowan County football in an uproar. It looks as though Cutshaw fell victim to disgruntled Cavalier fans who apparently blamed him for everything that they felt was going wrong with the Cavalier program - including the fact that North Rowan is scheduled to move down to Class 1A in 2009.

For the record, realignments are based solely on ADM figures and are not a form of punishment or relegation. The consensus is that the firing of Cutshaw was uncalled for and poorly handled.

Is it possible that the recent hasty departure of Doug Justice from St. Stephens has set a precedent that would make it seem just a little less inappropriate for Gettys to bail on the Tigers with approximately six weeks before the beginning of pre-season practice? Stay tuned!

Terms and Conditions

When you visit the Tornado Graveyard you can stroll among the tombstones and ponder the demise of Hickory High's opponents going back more than a decade. When I write about the Graveyard I will use certain terminology that all visitors should know.

Before the dearly departed reach their final resting place there are three types of funerals Hickory offers opponents:

Open Casket...For teams that lose to Hickory by 1-14 points. The remains are presentable enough to be on display for the faithful.

Closed Casket...For teams that lose to Hickory by 15-28 points. A mauling that leaves the remains unpresentable to the faithful.

Empty Casket...For teams that lose to Hickory by 29 points or more. An obliteration. Atomization. Nothing left to be buried, hence an empty casket.

Get your shovels ready, folk. A lot of holes will be dug this fall!

Who needs it? Who wants it?

And the Catawba County coaching merry-go-round keeps going round and round... It is official as of Monday evening that Doug Justice has resigned his position as head coach of the St. Stephens Indians, effective immediately. The move comes as Justice has accepted the head coaching position at North Henderson High School in Hendersonville.

In an article published in the Daily Record Justice explained the situation.

"The decision was partly family and partly the raise for our family. That's the biggest decision it was. It was not because of anything bad or anything like that. It was a move to better our financial situation and things like that for our family."

Justice compiled a 14-44 mark in five years at St. Stephens. Three of the school's seven trips to the playoffs came under Justice's watch. The three postseason appearances are the most among St. Stephens football coaches.

The Indians made the postseason each of last two seasons and also in 2003 - Justice's first season with the Indians.

Prior to coaching at St. Stephens, Justice was an assistant at East Henderson high school.

How sad is it that a 14-44 record must be considered a successful one at St. Stephens? St. Stephens did finish the 2007 season with a 6-6 overall record (4-4 in the CVAC), which looks awfully good when you compare it to the back-to-back 0-11 records of 2004 and 2005. And it is true that the Indians under Justice went to the playoffs more times than under any other coach. St. Stephens has gone to the playoffs three times in the past five years.

Now getting into the postseason dance 60% of the time actually sounds pretty good (by Springs Road standards, anyway). Of course it's also true that without the severely watered-down playoff system that we have now (which began in 2003, Justice's first year as head coach at St. Stephens) there might not have been any trips to the playoffs at all.

All you need these days to qualify for the postseason is a losing record. I can't think of a team better equipped to lose its way into the playoffs than the Indians. And hey, every playoff needs some bracket fillers.

I have never met Coach Justice personally but I believe he did the best he could with the material available to him on the Springs Road side of town and I have no doubt he will enjoy many seasons of genuine success at North Henderson. I'm sure he deserves something better than what he had at SSHS. At least he won't have the Red Tornadoes to deal with anymore.

As for the vacancy at St. Stephens - with approximately seven weeks before the beginning of formal pre-season practice - maybe Tom Brown will return from Elba and take on the Herculean task of keeping that feverish, break-even momentum going strong at St. Stephens (the other high school in Hickory).

Adopting Jon Reep

"Hey! That thing got a Hemi?"

If you recognize that phrase then you surely recognize the name. Jon Reep. Don't laugh! Okay, go ahead and laugh - he's a comedian. But not just any old comedian. He is Hickory's own award-winning comedian. Yes, really.

Reep, who was the winner of the Last Comic Standing competition in 2007, hails from Hickory. He did not, however, attend Hickory High. Instead, he went to Fred T. Foard and played football for the Tigers. Even that was a comedy routine because in Reep's senior season (1989) the Tigers were perfect: 0-10. I guess down at Propst Crossroads you either learn to laugh or be prepared to cry! At least that's how it is when they have to face the Red Tornadoes...

So I say we adopt the Hemi Guy as the official comedian of the Tornado Nation. Even though he was a Foard guy before he was the Dodge guy, he's a winner...and that's one thing he has in common with the Red Tornadoes.

WORD!

Jon Reep talks football...sorta.

This was Jon Reep's final routine in the Last Comic Standing competition.

CC Jamboree: Hickory vs. Crest

For the fourth consecutive year the Red Tornadoes will tangle with former conference rival Crest in the annual Cleveland County Jamboree. This year's Jamboree is scheduled for August 22nd and will be held at Crest High School.

This will be Hickory's first encounter with the Chargers at the Ranch since the second round of the 2003 Class 3AA playoffs, won by the Chargers by a score of 19-0. The Chargers then went on to capture the 3AA state championship. Crest successfully defended their state title the following year.



Since Crest is the host this year, the Hickory-Crest scrimmage will begin at 9:00 PM, making it the final scrimmage of the 2008 pre-season anywhere in the state.

Hickory is 1-2 against the Chargers in the Jamboree, having lost two straight since winning a wild one in 2005.

In last season's scrimmage, Crest freshman Trevor Austin drilled a 28-yard field goal with 4:00 left to boost the Chargers past Hickory.

Crest senior running back Ryan Black posted a pair of short-yardage touchdowns - the first set up by a long run by quarterback Zac Halbert (son of former Tornado assistant coach Buddy Halbert) and the other set up by a pass from Halbert to Reggie Wilkins.

Hickory rushed for one score by Darrien Burch and passed for another on a long catch-and-run from Kevin Shelton to Austin Johnson.

The Red Tornadoes had a golden chance to take the lead late, but a long pass was dropped near the endzone by an open receiver before Hickory turned it over on downs. Crest ran out the clock to preserve the 16-14 victory.

This will be the final pre-season encounter between the two schools as they are slated to begin a new regular-season series in 2009.