Fear the Spear? Indians think this is their year...

Kevin Shelton against Saint in '07


Business has picked up the last couple of years in the Battle of Hickory. The perennial underdog St. Stephens Indians have been knocking on the door and are hoping that this week's clash at Frank Barger Stadium will finally bust that door open. Beating Hickory High would take the Indians to a whole other level of excitement and satisfaction.

The misery and frustration that the Indians and their fans have suffered at the hands of Hickory High is not as long-standing as that of the Foard faithful against Maiden. Afterall, Saint did beat Hickory in 1993, nearly a decade after Foard's previous win against the Blue Devils. To be exact, the Indian losing streak to Hickory now stands at 13 and counting.

During that span there have been some close calls and several blowouts. Just in the last four games we have seen the extremes of both ends of the spectrum. The 2003 and 2004 games ended with Hickory on top, 56-0 and 47-0. The past two seasons, however, have been sickeningly close: 17-10 in 2006 and 31-30 last year. But for a missed PAT as time expired the game would have gone into overtime. The worst part about that game was the big lead that the Red Tornadoes squandered in the second half. Don't think for a moment that the memory this near disaster doesn't linger on for the Tornadoes.

So now it's 2008 and once again Hickory High enters the contest as the favorite despite having an identical 2-1 record as St. Stephens. Once again there is optimism over on Springs Road that this could be "the year." And true to form the Indian fans like to run their mouths about why they think their team will win. Usually such conversations include a reference to Hickory's program being on the "decline" or that Hickory lost too many great players to graduation and is rebuilding or the Indians have an impressive new player who transferred in from somewhere else and is going to "run all over" Hickory. We've all heard it many, many times.

Sometimes there is even some truth to the talk. There is no question that Jamelle Jeffries, a transfer from Cherryville, played a big part in Saint's near-victory in 2006. Sometimes the transfer occurs much closer to home, as in the case of former Red Tornado linebacker Jerry Grillo. For the past four years he was the linebacker of the future for Hickory. Now he is the linebacker of the here-and-now for St. Stephens. It was a good pickup for the Indians and he's already helped to solidify what has been a pretty good defensive unit so far. He set up Saint's only touchdown against Alexander Central in Week 2 with his 50-yard fumble return. His presence will add spice to Friday night's game for sure.

Another reason for high spirits in Indian Territory is the new head coach, Fred Whalen. The former offensive coordinator under Doug Justice, Whalen is responsible for installing the spread offense at St. Stephens. When Justice left suddenly to take the job at North Henderson back in June, the SSHS didn't hesitate to elevate Whalen because that's what the players and other coaches wanted. So everybody over there is happy about the way that situation turned out. And Coach Whalen got the best kind of start to his first season as "the skipper": an impressive 43-14 win on the road at West Lincoln. This was followed up by a rousing performance by the defense in a 10-7 win against Alexander Central in the home opener. First-game wins by first-year head coaches at St. Stephens don't happen very often. That's just another reason why the Indian faithful are highly energized these days.

Even in last week's 21-6 loss to Newton-Conover had some silver linings for the Indians. With an extra week to prepare, the Saint defense literally shut down the high-powered Red Devil offense. Newton's Dorian Jones, arguably the top running back in the CVAC, was completely held in check and had next to nothing in terms of yardage in the first half. The Devils and Mr. Jones got it cranked up in the final two quarters and won going away. But the Indian defense definitely made a statement last week. And you know that they don't have the same respect for Hickory's 2008 offense that they did for Newton. Frankly, Hickory is still struggling somewhat on the offensive side of the ball. The Indians think they see a chance to disrupt Hickory's plans this Friday. That means it's time to circle the wagons and protect Red's House!

Can you hear the drums? And are those smoke signals I see coming from the East Side?