RALEIGH, NC - The Shelby Golden Lions jumped out to a 14-0 lead after one quarter and did not look back on their way to doubling up North Davidson 42-21 and winning the school’s tenth NCHSAA State Championship in football.


Sophomore linebacker Jack Hollifield got the festivities underway, intercepting a pass and returning it 93 yards for a touchdown with 6:23 to go in the first quarter, putting Shelby up 7-0. Hollifield was named the Golden Lions Most Outstanding Defensive Player with nine tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass break-up and the 93-yard interception return for a score.

The Golden Lion defense then forced a three-and-out on the ensuing Knights possession, and after a nice punt return, Shelby had exceptional field position to start their drive at the Knights 38. Diavonni Daley capped off the 5-play, 38-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown catch from Isaiah Bess to put the Lions in front 14-0.

Shelby kept the foot on the gas pedal to start the second quarter, as Daley hauled in a 22-yard pass from Bess to cap a nine-play, 54-yard drive and give the Lions a 21-0 advantage with 10:45 to play in the first half. Bess finished the contest with 192 yards and three touchdown passes as he completed 17 of his 26 pass attempts and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Daley hauled in six passes for 103 yards and two touchdowns as he was selected as Shelby’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player in the game.

North Davidson responded on their next possession, sprinting 72 yards in just 8 plays and two minutes. The Knights got on the board with Devon Welch’s three-yard touchdown plunge to trim the Shelby lead to 21-7 which is how the teams entered the locker room at the half.

2AA MVP Isaiah Bess

The Lions started to pull away for good with an 18-yard touchdown pass by Bess to Fabian Pettis with 2:15 to go in the third. That touchdown finished off a 10-play 63-yard drive that chewed up 4:07 of clock. The Knights answered right back with an 11-play drive of their own that went 50 yards and spanned 4:45 to cut the lead to 28-14 when Jackson Perrell scored on a three-yard touchdown run.

The two teams traded scores for the rest of the contest with Donye Fuller plunging in from a yard out for the Golden Lions before Gage Williams recovered a Shelby fumble, rumbling 15 yards for a score to trim the Shelby lead back to 14 at 35-21 and 4:48 to go. Jaylon Scott put the game away for the Golden Lions when he scored from one yard out to polish off a 9-play, 49-yard drive at the 1:15 mark of the final quarter.

The North Davidson defense was led by Blake Stephens who collected 10 tackles on the game including 3.5 sacks and 4 tackles for loss. He is also credited with a pass break-up and quarterback hurry in the game as he was named North Davidson’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. The Knight was led by Themus Fulks who was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Player for the Knights with eight receptions for 146 yards on the afternoon.


Story and photos courtesy of NCHSAA

In a classic case of offense versus defense, this year's 2018 state championship game between North Davidson and Shelby is sure to be a battle of two opposing styles. Both teams come into this year's state title game coming off wins that were revenge wins of sorts in the regional finals last Friday night. Shelby avenged their loss in last year's regional final against Hibriten by knocking off the defending state champions while North Davidson defeated Ledford in a rematch of this year's regular-season finale and Central Carolina conference title game which Ledford had won 9-7.

For North Davidson, this has definitely been a season to remember. Coach Brian Flynn's Black Knights are 13-2 and in the NCHSAA state title game for the first time in school history. A feature of the North Davidson team that many of their opponents have fallen prey to has been the strong Black Knights' defense, a defense which has shut out seven opponents this year and only given up 103 points in their fifteen games. Two standout defensive players for North Davidson are Evan Vanmeter and Maddox Johnson, who each has over 115 tackles this season for the Black Knights.

But the Black Knights are not a team that gets by on a strong defense alone. The North Davidson offense has gone over the 40-point mark nine times this season. For North Davidson to get in the end zone this Saturday, Themus Fulks is going to have to have a big day. His eighty-nine receptions and sixteen touchdowns are a big reason why North Davidson has made it to the state title game. If somehow Shelby could shut Fulks down, Kobe Brown will be there to run it in on the ground, completing a balanced offensive attack for North Davidson.

While this is North Davidson's first trip to a state title game, the Shelby Golden Lions are quite familiar with playing at this point in time in the month of December. The Golden Lions are gunning for their tenth NCHSAA state championship and fifteenth overall title when considering the old WNCHSAA championships. A win on Saturday would mean five state championships in the last six years for Lance Ware's Golden Lions, a streak never seen in all of Shelby's rich football tradition.

Shelby quarterback Isaiah Best leads a potent air attack for the Golden Lions and has passed for over 3,500 yards this season. Jaylon Scott, Jack Hollifield, and Nick Stites have played tremendous roles in helping this year's Shelby team overcome and 0-3 start after three losses on the road to 3A teams. The Golden Lions have won eleven straight since this early season hiccup, starting with upsetting another 3A power, Kings Mountain, at home right as Hurricane Florence came rolling through in mid-September.

An interesting note in that this is not the first time that North Davidson and Shelby have matched up in a title game. Back in 1975, the Black Knights and Golden Lions faced off in the old WNCHSAA title game, playing to a 21-21 draw. A win on Saturday would mean a little something extra to the players on those 1975 teams.

The Wonder crowd was pumped to see how their team would perform under new coach Mike Newsome. The stands at Kannapolis’ Memorial Stadium were full thirty minutes before kickoff. And UNC recruit Damien Washington did not waste any time in letting the Kannapolis faithful know that good things were in store for the Wonder football team this evening. His 97 yard kickoff return for a touchdown set the tone for how the first half would play out.

After a botched Shelby punt on their first possession, Washington struck again with a 17 yard run around the left side for a score. Less than five minutes into the first quarter the Wonders had a 14-0 lead. Washington would end the night with three touchdowns.

Although Shelby had a tough time moving the ball on offense against Kannapolis in the first half, All-Gridiron was wreaking havoc all over the field for the Golden Lion defense. But, his multiple rushes on the quarterback and solo tackles for loss were not enough to stop a Wonder offense that appeared to be bigger and faster than their counterparts.

A 30-0 halftime lead had many Kannapolis fans feeling like the game was over, but before they could head home early to watch football highlights on television, the Golden Lions decided to make a game out of it after all.

Some great plays by the Golden Lions and some costly penalties and turnovers by the Wonders led to three Shelby touchdowns in the second half. After the Shelby defense forced a touchback the score sat at 30-24 with more than ten minutes remaining.

Unable to capitalize any further, Shelby was forced again to try to contain the speedy Wonder offense. But, the Golden Lions were not successful as the Wonders put the game out of reach late and won by a score of 43-24.

“This was a great first win,” Kannapolis coach Mike Newsome commented after the game. “We had a great first half, but made some first game mistakes in the second half. The guys did a great job of showing resilience in not giving up and doing what Wonders do best.”

Shelby coach Lance Ware shouldered the blame for his team’s performance in tonight’s game. At halftime, Coach Ware told his team that “we need to play Shelby football and come out and fight.” On the rest of the season: “defensively, we’ve got some big holes to fill. We need to simplify some things to let them play more aggressively.”

It's football season again. The sights and sounds of Friday nights are right around the corner and fans everywhere are ready to watch their favorite teams take to the gridiron in victory. Carolina Gridiron is ready to join in the experience as we go throughout our coverage area searching for the best games, food, and stadium atmospheres.

Carolina Gridiron Game of the Week

There are a lot of good games taking place in Week 1, but one stood above the rest in its matchup of historically great teams. The Carolina Gridiron Game of the Week for Week 1 is Shelby at A.L. Brown. Both teams have won multiple championships in their history and ironically, both teams are breaking in new coaches. Shelby promoted long-time assistant Lance Ware to replace Chris Norman as head coach of the Lions. Brown hired Mike Newsome away from Butler to replace Ron Massey as coach of the Wonders.



Stay tuned to Carolina Gridiron for more information on the Game of the Week. Follow our Twitter, @NCGridiron, for updates from the game.

Sources have commented that the Wonders are close to naming Butler head coach Mike Newsome as their new head coach.

Newsome has coached with the Bulldogs of Butler in Mecklenberg County since the school's opening in 1997 and has been the head coach since 2002, leading Butler to the past 2 4AA state championships.

On another note, Shelby High School has announced the retirement of Chris Norman as head football coach. Coach Norman has been one of the most successful coaches in North Carolina over the last 15 years, going 147-39 and leading the Golden Lions to 5 state championship game appearances, winning the 2A title in 1998 and 2AA titles in 2005 and 2006.


Talk about the coaching moves on the Carolina Gridiron message board.