Pisgah

That word just conjures up all kinds of bad memories for me. In November, 1975, Mom and I took a trip to Pisgah, NC (west of Asheville)for a football game. My brother, Jimmy, was the star quarterback at Starmount High School, and this was, I think, the first time Starmount had ever been in a state playoff game. Back then only one team from the conference would go (and that was usually Elkin). So, we made the trip and had booked a room for the night because it was so far away. But what we didn't count on was the weather. It was cold. It was freezing. I have never before NOR SINCE been that cold in my life. The wind was blowing really hard the whole time, and the temperature was 0. I don't know how those boys played. Starmount came out in their usual football uniforms with a lot of skin showing - bare arms and legs. And then here came Pisgah, covered from head to foot. That was the first time I'd ever seen a football team wearing gloves. So, suffice it to say, we lost. Pretty bad too. It was a heartbreaker - going all that way. The only good thing to come out of that game was a scout from Western Carolina who was watching the game and liked the Starmount quarterback, so Jimmy got a full scholarship to WCU.

Okay, now to last night. As you might know I've been following the Starmount basketball team this year (pretty much for the last four years), because I love to watch Victor play. He is THE MAN. This is his senior year. About three or four weeks ago they recognized him at halftime of the last regular season game as being the highest scorer ever at Starmount. That night he had accumulated over 1800 points over the four years. So, to say he has been as asset to the school is an understatement. Also he is, as everybody says, a "fine young man". Nice, humble, quiet - but he can be a monster under the basket.

So, Starmount won the regular season this year. They started off pretty slow, losing about 6 non-conference games, and a lot of people just gave up on them. BUT, once they started conference play they only lost one game - to North Surry. And then in the conference tournament they beat everybody. So, they were #1 seed in their section going into the state playoffs. They then proceeded to flat out beat North Lincoln, Bessemer City, and last Friday night a very good Salisbury team. And then last night was the Regional semifinals. There were four schools from the west and four from the east. We were to play Pisgah in the first game, then Shelby and East Lincoln played the second game - winners playing this Saturday, and then the state championship next Saturday against the east team. Now last year we won the semifinal game at this point and then beat Shelby at the Regional final in double overtime to go to Chapel Hill, only losing to the east team - Cummings.

But, last night was a different story. Pisgah - how I hate that name! They came in and ran all over us last night. They were hitting everything they put up, and only missed ONE foul shot all night. The final score was 69-60. It was really sad. It's like the "Victor Era" is over.

However, on a final bright note - we can all continue to watch Victor play next year at VIRGINIA TECH!!