By Mike London
Salisbury Post
SALISBURY — Catawba’s football team heads to Wingate for a massive South Atlantic Conference game on Saturday.
Massive might not be a large enough adjective. It’s enormous.
Kickoff at Irwin Belk Stadium is set for 6 p.m.
Given a choice between hemorrhoids and the gold-and-blue Bulldogs, the Indians probably would pick the hemorrhoids. Wingate has been a thorn in the foot, a splinter under the fingernail, a pinched nerve, a killer toothache and a pain in the butt all rolled into one.
Wingate has beaten Catawba eight straight times in football and 14 out of 16. When Catawba has been good, it has lost to Wingate, when the Indians have been average, they have lost to Wingate, and when they have been bad, they have lost to Wingate.
Most of those years, Wingate was really, really good as well as resilient, and you have to give the Bulldogs credit for always being balanced on offense and pit-bullish on defense.
The South Atlantic Conference has a different, wide-open feel to it these days.
Time marches on. It’s been nine years now since the legendary Ken Sparks last piloted Carson-Newman. Tim Clifton no longer leads Mars Hill. Joe Reich stepped away from the sideline at Wingate a couple of years ago. Curtis Walker stepped down at Catawba after 10 seasons following the 2022 campaign. Walker was the first Black head football coach in SAC history when he was hired. He helped opened the door for more Black head coaches in the SAC, including the successors to Reich and Clifton.
Now, Newberry’s Todd Knight might be the only enemy head coach that the average Catawba fan can name without looking at a media guide. Well, there’s Gary Bass at UVA Wise, but that’s because he played for the Indians.
Catawba’s third-year head coach Tyler Haines is not a household name around the SAC yet, but he could end up as the Coach of the Year. The team he guides was picked to finish sixth in the SAC in the preseason. Haines was chosen to replace Walker and has gotten the Indians back in the fight in the SAC quickly. Catawba probably would’ve been serious trouble for SAC foes in 2024, but devastating injuries and lousy breaks cut that team to shreds.
The Indians are making up for it in 2025, explosive on offense and combative on defense. The wild and crazy wins against Ferrum and Southern Connecticut State didn’t mean all that much, but the victories down at Newberry’s “Graveyard” and last week at home against Mars Hill meant an awful lot. Clutch plays on offense, key stops on defense, no problems on special teams.
Haines compared the Mars Hill game to a mid-term exam in his postgame remarks. The Indians made a B-plus.
Now Wingate is next on the menu for the Indians (5-1, 3-1), who are tied for first in the league with Emory & Henry.
Wingate (3-2, 1-2) is favored by 17 points by the Massey Ratings, a fact that will put a smile on the Indians’ faces and will make their fans guffaw or shout obscenities. Obviously, that number is based on the recent history of the series, not what is happening in 2025.
Still, Wingate always has to be respected. It’s not like the Bulldogs suddenly got awful. They started 3-0 this season, including a 72-7 massacre. They were ranked 19th in the nation when they hosted Carson-Newman on Sept. 27, but they lost 21-14.
What happened last Saturday in Newberry, S.C., is harder to believe. Wingate had a 21-0 lead — and still lost the game. Newberry came back to win 43-42 in overtime. So maybe Wingate football has lost some karma, some mojo, some swagger.
Maybe.
The Indians will find out on Saturday. They’re going to playing a desperate team, totally ticked off about a rare two-game losing streak. They’ll have to match Wingate’s intensity.
Wingate leaders include quarterback Elijah Holmes, who threw two TD passes last week, and running back Xavier Pugh, who scored three TDs on the ground.
Holmes is from Olympic High, so both starting QBs in the game will be from Charlotte. Outstanding Catawba QB Preston Brown was quarterbacking West Meck six years ago. He’s been around long enough to have seen it all.
Catawba boasts one reigning SAC Player of the Week. DB Evans Simons had to be one of the easiest picks of all-time. He had a Hall of Fame game last week, with an interception, two sacks and 12 tackles.
Running back Kevin Lalin also had a tremendous game for the Indians, carrying a big rushing (and receiving) load after Bennett Galloway went down.
Wingate won last year’s meeting 24-15.
