HobbsDailyReport.com
HUDSON – Playing South Caldwell in high school football for the first time in nearly three decades, Kings Mountain blasted the Spartans 54-6 on Friday night in the debut of Marc Kirkpatrick as head coach of his alma mater.
Quarterback Kaylon Wade threw for two scores and ran for two others as the Mountaineers (1-0) rolled to a season-opening victory at South Caldwell, where they won for the second time.
The teams had not played since 1988 in Kings Mountain, and their only other meeting in Hudson was in 1987 (Kings Mountain won 35-20).
KINGS MOUNTAIN 54
SOUTH CALDWELL 6
Rushing for 308 yards and posting 442 yards of total offense, 324 of that in the first half, the Mountaineers cruised.
Wade scored three first-half touchdowns, throwing scoring passes to Dontavious Hughes and Ricaylen Mack and adding a 3-yard TD run. Wade didn’t play in the second half after rushing for nearly 130 first-half yards.
Harley Sullivan ran for a game-high 111 yards for the Spartans that included an 83-yard run to the Kings Mountain 1 in the second quarter. He scored South Caldwell’s only TD on a 1-yard run on that possession.
The Spartans threw for 48 yards, playing three quarterbacks – Jesse Connor, Austin Raynor and Jason Martin.
Kirkpatrick, a longtime assistant at South Caldwell, is a former Spartans starting quarterback and the son of Don (Red) Kirkpatrick, who was the first head coach at South Caldwell when old Granite Falls and Hudson high schools were merged in 1977.
With Kirkpatrick’s older brother Donnie starting at quarterback that first season, the Spartans went 11-3 and played for the state 3A championship.
Donnie Kirkpatrick is now an assistant coach at national champion James Madison and has coached in college at South Carolina, East Carolina and Chattanooga (at one point the head coach).
Red Kirkpatrick coached the Spartans in their first seven seasons, retiring after the 1983 season. The school has had only six other head coaches since 1977 – Tommy Pursley, John Mackey, Dan Hardee (an alumnus), Butch Carter and Sean McMenomy.
Last season, when the Spartans went 2-9, was McMenomy’s only season as head coach in Hudson.
South Caldwell’s next shot at a first victory for Marc Kirkpatrick comes Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at East Rutherford.
The Shelby Daily Star contributed to this article.