The rivalry between Hickory and Newton is the rivalry in this county. The local media will try to say that it's Maiden vs. Bandys or Newton vs. Maiden. Not even close! The Red Tornadoes and Red Devils (both of whom adopted their nicknames in 1927) have been playing each other since 1923. That's a good 40 years since Tom Brown ever heard of Maiden. Bandys? There was no such thing as Bandys until the 1950s. There is only one grand old rivalry in Catawba County and this week marks the 66th meeting between the two schools on the gridiron.No, the two teams have not met every season since 1923. I will go into much more detail on why that is in another post. The two did play each other every year from 1923 through 1967. The rivalry was renewed in 1975. The rivalry lapsed in 1976 before renewed again in 1977. Hickory and Newton played each other through the 1982 season then it went dormant again. When Hickory dropped down to Class 3A in 1993 and the schedule had to be completely revamped Newton popped up again and the Tornadoes and Devils have been playing each other ever since. The creation of the CVAC placed Hickory and Newton-Conover in the same conference for the first time since 1967.
Here are some interesting facts about the rivalry...
- Hickory High's first-ever football victory was won against Newton on October 5, 1923. The score was 26-0. Hickory won the first eight games between the two schools by a combined score of 280-0. That string of wins included the epic 121-0 annihilation of Newton in 1928. That 1928 squad, led by legends such as Norman "Pinkie" James, William "Bus" Newton and Johnny Mackorell, set a school scoring record (493 points in 11 games) that stood for 68 years until it was broken in 1996.
- The Red Devils finally got their first win against Hickory in 1933, the same year that Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as this country's 32nd President. The score in that one was 20-8. Newton followed up the next season with another win over Hickory. That final score was 7-0. During the next 12 years the Red Devils would pick up five more victories (1937, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1946). At that point Hickory led the overall series, 14-7-1.
- In 1947 Hickory High got a new head coach. His name was Buddy Luper and the first thing he did was make sure that the Red Devils got the message that good times were over for them. In a brutal contest that resulted in several injuries (mostly to Newton players) Luper's Tornadoes rolled to a 20-2 victory. The beating Newton took that evening marked the beginning of a long period of absolute domination by Hickory over the Red Devils. Hickory would build a 21-0-1 record against Newton in the next 22 meetings.
- Hickory's record against Newton-Conover was 35-7-2 going into the 1977 contest. It was a lousy season for Hickory in terms of wins and losses. The Red Devils defeated the Red Tornadoes by the score of 14-7. After that, Hickory pounded Newton five straight times from 1978 through 1982. That increased Hickory's lead in the series to 40-8-2. Perhaps not surprisingly Newton head coach Don Patrick decided to quit playing Hickory. This latest hiatus lasted through the 1992 season.
- Since the two old rivals began playing each other again the Red Devils have certainly made things interesting. The truth is that Newton-Conover has tended to dominate the series over the past 15 years, winning 10 times. Hickory has won three of the last five games but memories of the 2005 Homecoming loss to the Red Devils are still painful. That year it was Hickory who built a 6-0 record prior to the game. Newton was 4-2 but had a bye week (as usual) before playing Hickory. When heavy rain forced a postponement till the following Monday the Red Tornadoes lost the emotional edge and came out flat as a pancake. The result was a shocking 7-3 loss. A trip to Gurley Stadium the following year resulted in a 20-7 Devil victory.
- Last year Hickory avenged those losses on Homecoming by bushwhacking the Red Devils at Frank Barger Stadium. Before the visitors knew what had hit them the score was 42-0 at halftime. Hickory cruised in the second half to a 59-20 final score. The Red Devils and their fans whined and cried about how awful Hickory had been to "run up the score." The words "no class" were used a lot. This despite that fact that just the year before Newton had hung a 71-32 loss on Bandys. For the Newton fans who can't count, that's a margin of 39 points for both games. No apologies from this side of the fault line. Just win baby!
D.J. Holloway applies pressure in 2007 win
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