Second-year Coach Jamie Bolton gives the team a congratulatory message after the win.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
Warriors’ win over Harrells Christian means they walk away as state champions By C. Jemal Horton, The Independent Tribune Photos by Rob Walley, Sr. HARRELLS – The turnaround is complete. The program that won two games just a few seasons ago has its state championship. On Friday night, the Cabarrus Warriors won a back-and-forth duel against highly regarded Harrells Christian Academy, 3431, avenging an earlier loss to the Crusaders to claim the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II title. 26 | CANNON | Winter/Spring 2022
The Warriors (10-2) only came into existence three years ago when Cannon School and Concord Academy surprisingly combined to build the co-op football program. After going 2-8 in their maiden season, the Warriors lifted their helmets as state champions Friday night, celebrating with busloads of fans who made the trip, all on Harrells’ Murphy-Johnson Field at Gary Lewis Athletic Complex. As the seconds wound down from the scoreboard minutes earlier, second-year Warriors head coach Jamie Bolton began to realize what might have been the unimaginable back in 2019 had become the program’s new reality. “It’s kind of hard to put into words,” Bolton said during a telephone interview with the Independent Tribune. “We’re down there, and we know we’ve got it sealed up after (converting) a big third-and-1. We knew that we had won the game. And to watch our fans, to watch our families, to watch our kids with the biggest smiles on their faces and to watch those seniors play their last football game was amazing.”
