One of the "professional experts" in town has hauled himself out of bed just long enough to ponder the future of Hickory High football as the Red Tornadoes head into the new Northwestern 4A/3A Conference next season. He's also concerned that the Red Tornadoes may finish the season below .500 for the first time since 1994. He's also concerned that some fans are pointing fingers unfairly at the coaching staff. He says he is perplexed. He thinks it's a mystery. He apparently is worried on our behalf about all the bad things that could happen to Hickory next year in the new conference with all those big, bad 4A schools like
*cough* ...Alexander Central and South Caldwell and Watauga.
I suspect that he has been sleepy, confused and, well, inadequate all his life. There's nothing that we Tornado fans can do to remedy that. But perhaps I can put his fears to rest by reminding him of a few realities.
Here is Hickory's record against each of the members of the new Northwestern Conference. If past if prologue then the facts seem to indicate that Hickory will be just fine in the new league. It does make ya wonder why it's so hard for the "professional expert" to understand this. Bless his heart. Him can't help himself...
HICKORY VERSUS:Alexander Central... Red Tornadoes lead the series, 17-5. Hickory has beaten the Cougars 11 times in the past 12 meetings. Hickory has also won the past three contests. Back in the old days when it was Taylorsville High, Hickory led
that series with the Bears, 14-1.
South Caldwell... Red Tornadoes lead this series, 24-4. Hickory has won the last 10 meetings and 24 of the last 26. Hickory was 13-1 against South Caldwell's predecessor, Hudson High. For the record, South Caldwell dropped Hickory from its schedule following the 2004 season. Hmmm...
Watauga... Red Tornadoes lead the series, 12-1. Watauga won the first meeting between the two schools in 1965. Hickory won 12 straight after that, including all eight games when both schools were in the Northwestern 4A Conference during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Hibriten... Red Tornadoes lead this series, 7-0. Nuff said.
Fred T. Foard... Red Tornadoes lead the series, 15-3. The way this rivalry works is that every once in a while the Tigers will get a win over Hickory during a season when Foard is pretty good and Hickory is down a little bit. But just as the Tiger faithful start to believe that they've "turned the corner" against Hickory the Red Tornadoes bust off 6 or 7 wins in a row. That's the cold, hard reality of it,
Bias!
St. Stephens... Red Tornadoes lead the series, 20-2. Kinda like the rivalry with Fred T. Foard, except bigger and more embarrassing for the Indians. The Indians got all excited in 1993 when they got their first win against the Mighty Ones from Viewmont. They thought maybe they had turned the tide. They didn't realize that it would take them 15 years to get the second win. The Indian players from '93 will be watching their grandsons play the next time Hickory loses to St. Stephens.
I wound up going 6-2 on last Friday's games. It should have been flawless. 
I knew that it would be slugfest and that St. Stephens was capable of pulling an upset. But I counted on Foard's hunger for that championship to help the Tigers overcome any challenge that Saint threw at them. I wasn't expecting the Indians to shut down Foard's running game so effectively. Remember, even in a losing effort, Hickory rushed for 214 yards. The Tiger Squirrels only managed 86 yards on the ground. 
