Clover's football team might be the hottest ticket going in York County.
The Blue Eagles won the Region 3-AAAA championship two years ago in their first season in Class AAAA. Last year, Clover was 13-2 and won the Class AAAA Division II state championship.
Friday night, the Blue Eagles opened the 2008 season with a thrilling 48-42 win over South Point of Belmont, N.C. Clover had 629 yards of total offense, 527 on the ground.
The win came in front of an estimated crowd of 8,500 fans -- the stadium holds 9,500. Cars were parked in every open space, some over curbs and on the grass. And every reserved parking space inside the fenced area behind the home side was full: "Sold out, and you have to have a sticker to get in here,'' the police officer said.
Alan Boyd, 78, has been announcing Clover games since 1965, and says he has missed only four games, all in the same year. When he started there was no booth or press box, and worked from a chair on scaffolding attached to a telephone pole.
In 1948, his senior year, Boyd also played running back in the first game at Clover's Memorial Stadium.
There was no South Point in 1948, but Clover played Belmont High School and won 13-7. South Point opened in the early '70s, following a merger with two other schools.
"I remember it plain as day," Boyd said Friday. "It was our first game in the stadium and we beat them. Played them in 1949 at their place and lost, so we're 1-1 against them going into tonight's game. We lost 46-0 in 1949."
• TOP PLAYERS: The Herald's high school football page starts next week, but there were some good showings from opening night that could have brought player of the week consideration.
Clover's Tyron Douglas rushed for 187 yards and three TDs, and Ricky Moore ran for 160 yards and two scores. Nation Ford's Dee Truesdale snared seven passes for 156 yards and a TD, while teammate Joey White went 10-for-16 for 180 yards and a TD. Chester quarterback Tony McNeal passed for 238 yards and a TD and ran two in for scores, and Julius Pendergrass ran for 118 yards and two TDs. Lewisville's Isaiah Johnson had 91 rushing yards and a TD. Great Falls' Terrance Jeter rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
• NATIONAL POLL: South Pointe has found its way into another national football poll. The Stallions are ranked seventh-best in the East Coast Division of this week's National Football Poll.
Byrnes in No. 1 on the East Coast and No. 2 overall.
South Pointe is No. 50 nationally in the PrepNation.com preseason poll and No. 96 nationally in the Rivals.com poll.
Byrnes is No. 1 in USA Today's preseason poll.
| THIS WEEK'S GAMES |
|---|
Goose Creek at Northwestern Rock Hill at Wando J.L. Mann at South Pointe Clover at Ashbrook (N.C.) Fort Mill at Chesterfield Great Falls at Nation Ford Broome at York Chester at Lewisville Indian Land at Buford Andrew Jackson at Lancaster Forsyth Country Day at Westminster Catawba |
