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1955Wildcat

Freshman
Aug 21, 2011
222
84
0
Just throwing this out there because I enjoy the lightning speed with which the Mecklenburg County dander gets up and the rush to trumpet ones own greatness. For the record, I am from Marble, NC and am partial to WNC football in particular although I now live in Wake County and pull hard for Middle Creek. They have been fun to watch the past 7 years. Also, by linking this, I am not making any claim about Middle Creek past or present. I will claim they will be just awful next year. They will still probably finish 2nd behind Garner in their new, weak conference.

Enjoy
Wake County football | laughingstock to powerhouse | News & Observer
 
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[email protected]

All-Conference
Oct 3, 2009
5,472
4,077
113
2 NFL players
2 CFL players
3 US. Army All Americans
1 Maxpreps All American
2 State Titles in Track. AKA Football Team
Cravont Charleston 10.07 ACC Freshmen of the Year(previous MC-Football)
Jaylen Samuels AP All American. AKA The Swiss Army Knife of the ACC
120+ 4 year Scholarship players
10+ Shrine Bowl players
8 Conference Championships
4 Western Region Champs
3 State Championships
4 State Championship apperances
AP North Carolina Coach of the Year.
Head Coach nominated to Coach in Under Armour All American Game.
5 times Nationally ranked
1st Under Armour school in the State.

One school that opened in 2007 has almost accomplished more than an entire County in 30 years.
 
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B

BlueandGold34

All-Conference
Aug 17, 2013
4,551
3,378
113
1955Wildcat said:
Just throwing this out there because I enjoy the lightning speed with which the Mecklenburg County dander gets up and the rush to trumpet ones own greatness. For the record, I am from Marble, NC and am partial to WNC football in particular although I now live in Wake County and pull hard for Middle Creek. They have been fun to watch the past 7 years. Also, by linking this, I am not making any claim about Middle Creek past or present. I will claim they will be just awful next year. They will still probably finish 2nd behind Garner in their new, weak conference.

Enjoy
Wake County football | laughingstock to powerhouse | News & Observer
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While you are correct the responses do come quickly its worth noting the absence of excuse making and flat out lies that have been posted since the Wake Forest win. Funny how you dont see any allegations of recruiting or whining about " super teams" or too many schools etc,etc.

Get beat get better.
 
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1

1955Wildcat

Freshman
Aug 21, 2011
222
84
0
agreed

an anomaly is that every single fall sports, boys or girls, in the 4-AA division, was won by a Wake County School. odd.
 
1

1955Wildcat

Freshman
Aug 21, 2011
222
84
0
actually, Green Hope and Cardinal Gibbons rule because most of the Fall sports are money driven, rich people sports
 
M

Mr Honda

All-Conference
Nov 12, 2012
2,444
1,316
113
nepsy7 said:
2 NFL players
2 CFL players
3 US. Army All Americans
1 Maxpreps All American
2 State Titles in Track. AKA Football Team
Cravont Charleston 10.07 ACC Freshmen of the Year(previous MC-Football)
Jaylen Samuels AP All American. AKA The Swiss Army Knife of the ACC
120+ 4 year Scholarship players
10+ Shrine Bowl players
8 Conference Championships
4 Western Region Champs
3 State Championships
4 State Championship apperances
AP North Carolina Coach of the Year.
Head Coach nominated to Coach in Under Armour All American Game.
5 times Nationally ranked
1st Under Armour school in the State.

One school that opened in 2007 has almost accomplished more than an entire County in 30 years.
Click to expand...
I'll throw this one out there. This same program is still looking for their first state championship while having a QB whose last name isn't Smith.
 
N

[email protected]

All-Conference
Oct 3, 2009
5,472
4,077
113
mrhonda said:
I'll throw this one out there. This same program is still looking for their first state championship while having a QB whose last name isn't Smith.
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Yep! You forgot about Jaylen Samuels, Lawrence Pittman, Josh Brown,Amari Henderson, Kyle Horton,Derrick Freeland, Grant Gibson, Eric Douglas, TJ Moore, Issac Hampton, Thomas Gordon,Chauncey Bowman, Ryan Jones, Thadius Moss, Randy Suydam, Javon Harbison, Tony Reid, Ikeem Allen, Omar Toddman, Vernon Grier and about 30 other kids,the Creek is still looking for their 1st State Championship without?

With a JV team, that lost 1 game in 3 years.The future looks bright! They won 3 State Championship with 3 different Offensive Coordinators. I'll just throw that out there. :)
 
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BlueandGold34

All-Conference
Aug 17, 2013
4,551
3,378
113
mrhonda said:
I'll throw this one out there. This same program is still looking for their first state championship while having a QB whose last name isn't Smith.[/QUOTE

Very solid analysis!! Nobody loves LJ more than myself but if you actually went and saw a live game you would know LJ had little to do with title #1. He was the JV RB to start the season. Emire Scaife started the year at QB then got hurt. LJ handed the ball off and about 7 times a game threw a pass. That team was Jaylen/Pittman and a nasty defense.
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btango

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2003
120,102
4,779
0

I played QB about ten plays in my high school varsity career as I was not a QB. I could have played QB on the first MC state champion and they would have still won the title. That could be me at 17 or 40 years older. Serious.
 
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BlackKnightNut

All-Conference
May 13, 2007
7,671
2,989
113
Wake Forest has raised the bar for Wake county, and I think those schools will have no choice but to get better or fall even further behind. There's talent in Wake county, but obviously Mecklenburg has a advantage from a depth perspective. Outside of Mecklenburg and maybe Guilford, I wouldn't put Wake county that low on the top counties list.
 
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BlueandGold34

All-Conference
Aug 17, 2013
4,551
3,378
113
BlackKnightNut said:
Wake Forest has raised the bar for Wake county, and I think those schools will have no choice but to get better or fall even further behind. There's talent in Wake county, but obviously Mecklenburg has a advantage from a depth perspective. Outside of Mecklenburg and maybe Guilford, I wouldn't put Wake county that low on the top counties list.
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First- Its the biggest county in the state. It should dominate. They have won 2 4aa titles in a row after going 30 years without a title. Its not the winning that should surpise people, Its the 30 year drought which should be shocking.

I have also thought ( and posted about it a ton) that the single biggest factor in the rise of Meck county football was Tom Knotts. There have been other pieces ( Panthers) but the biggest factor was him. Not just simply the winning but the way he went about the winning. Brash, arrogant and happy to hang 50 on you he forced teams to get better or get embarrased and guess what?? Several programs got better.

I think Palmieri at Mallard Creek and Lucas at Wake have done the same thing but in a different fashion. Palmieri's teams arent as much about running the score up as much as they are about size and physical domination and that starts in the weightroom. Take a good look at teams like Vance, Hough and even Catholic over the past few years. Starting to close the gap in that area. Take a look at the last two WF teams versus the 2010 and 2013 teams. Huge difference in bodies......Night and Day. Thats the Mallard Creek influence.

Now the question is who steps up to the challenge in Wake county. Its not Garner, Middle Creek is the Wake County version of Myers Park. Not nearly physical enough. Heritage and maybe Sanderson is my guess.
 
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Greengold_4ever

Junior
Jan 14, 2017
274
217
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B&G great post above about what Knotts and to a degree Bruce Hardin did for Meck football. My humble opinion is that between those 2 and the Panthers coming to town they made it ok for city schools to be football schools. Our state is/was primarily a basketball state because of the influence of Tobacco Road and the Hornets. Take a look at coaches pay and the rules that hamstring football development as compared to the surrounding "football" states. The football in NC for a long time was dominated by the smaller rural areas not the metro areas they were focusing on basketball more. But the influences you eluded to changed Meck county and now that like you said is affecting other parts of the state. Wilmington and the Triangle area have also stepped up their games still behind but better. And in turn the once dominate rural areas such as Richmond, Greenville Rose, and others have had a hard time keeping up because of the numbers game. Once upon a time a lot of those players now on the fields for the Mallard Creeks, Butlers and Wake Forest would have been on the courts and not the fields.
 
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btango

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2003
120,102
4,779
0
Have said it for years that the contributing factors for football taking off in Charlotte area were (in no particular order) 1/ population growth of people moving from out of the area. 2/ explosion of youth football. 3/ Panthers. 4/ former NFL players establishing Charlotte as home creating more personal training for football, stength, and skills. 5/ Tom Knotts.


Sheer population growth resulted in more schools but more talent to choose from. In 1998 Providence was the eleventh public high school in the county. Today there are 19 schools with football. The quality of the private school football has increased tremendously.

Youth football is big every where but was rolling big in Charlotte in the mid 1990's and very much so in the early 2000's. Mint Hill and Matthews both took off in that time frame stocking Butler and Indy teams during their runs.

The facilities and "professionals" offering skill development, especially for QBs, and S&C is huge in the area.

Panthers brought even more interest to the sport and the NFL. It's a big deal when a Panther visits an elementary school, holding camps in the neighborhoods, supporting youth programs, et al. Having "your" team made it more special. Those guys were in town.

Players from early Panther teams retired and became part of the communuty. Other NFLers NBA players started calling the area home during the off season or after their playing career. Some players families stayed here year around. Those retired players got involved in youth sports and other businesses that often supported programs.

I am in agreement that Knotts made others step up their game when he went to West Charlotte and later Indy. You had to change or get embarrassed. He was innovative and won. Took awhile to get over the hump and get his first state title (days before subdividing!) but was in the hunt every year.

Today and over the last several years a big part of it has been some very good high school coaching, both HC's and assistants. Long line of them but must retain them.
 
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btango

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2003
120,102
4,779
0
1955Wildcat said:
it aint the biggest
SAS Output
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Wake County has more students in their public school system than Charlotte Mecklenburg. I do not think population is as important as the number of students. Not sure this year but each of the last few years Wake also had more high school students in their football playing schools.
 
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Raider7967

Sophomore
Oct 11, 2011
683
171
0
Completely agree with the comments above about Knotts. I agree with the other factors and Wake does have more schools than Meck. That's a fact and I knew the numbers at one point (recent). Wake county is actually a customer of the company I work for and they are the largest school system in the state. My contact used to know the exact # of schools for each county, but I don't know the actual student difference in numbers.

I work both areas and they have a very different feel. Raleigh has a different clientele and quite a few from the North that have moved down. Demographics are different. I think some other sports get a lot of attention with a slight influence by the basketball hype around the three major Universities.

Charlotte feels more like a city and more like North Carolina folks to me. I think the Panthers generate some football excitement in the same regards that Basketball excitement is generated by the Tobacco road deal.

Knotts forced the bar to be raised. Get better or get beat and get beat bad was a great thing for the area. Raleigh had nothing like that. Maybe WF is the spark they needed. I like great leaders and motivators and no one can accomplish what Knotts has without being both. I think Knotts and his Indy run put a focus on football that wasn't there before. The rural areas that used to be so strong will have to work extremely hard to keep up if Meck can maintain what they have since 2000.
 
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