West Charlotte Lions tackle challenging football schedule

WEST CHARLOTTE HIGH SCHOOL

West Charlotte High, which won the 2024 North Carolina 3A football title, have a challenging nonconference schedule for 2025, starting with Greensboro Grimsley.

The West Charlotte Lions aren’t ducking smoke.

The Lions, who won the 2024 3A state title with a young team, return most of their starters and coach Sam Greiner attributes their success to the program’s culture.

“The culture that we won [the championship] with was a very young culture,” he said. “But it was a winning culture. It was pretty spectacular. We finished the season right at Christmas time. … What is beautiful about the program is some of these kids started getting the itch [to get back to training] about a week or two once we got back from winter break. We are in the second week of January and guys were like, ‘Coach, when are we going to start the lifting?’”

Greiner wants to know how good his team are immediately, so he put together one of the toughest nonconference schedules in the state. West Charlotte opens against 2024 4A champion Greensboro Grimsley Aug. 22 in the Keep Pounding Classic. Grimsley has the nation’s top ranked player in quarterback Faizon Brandon, who is committed to Tennessee.

“The way last year finished, they were ranked the number one team in North Carolina,” Greiner said of the Whirlies. “I would put them number one. … We are trying to make a two-year contract with Grimsley. … We are excited for this opportunity. It might be the top two teams in the state playing based on polls in week one.”

The Lions face last year’s 2A champion Monroe on Aug. 28. The teams were scheduled to play last season and were tied before rained forced a cancellation after a quarter.

“Playing Monroe is almost like looking yourself in the mirror,” Greiner said. “They are very similar to West Charlotte, just in Union County. They are very explosive, very disciplined, and fly around to the football. It is a good gauge and helps their [Ratings Percentage Index] and our RPI.”

In week three the Lions head to Rock Hill, S.C., to face South Pointe on Sept. 5. The Stallions have won seven state titles since the school opened in 2005.

“We love going up against competitive, high spirited and well coached teams,” Greiner said. “I’ve never had a schedule where the first three games are state championship level games. I think that we have such great leadership that I wanted to challenge us … because we better know who we are in game one, or we are not who we think we are. We are here for greatness.”

The Lions round out the non-conference slate with Providence on Sept. 12, who while on paper might not be the same caliber as the previous three opponents, it is a team that Greiner won’t take lightly, because he recognized any given week a team can spring an upset.

To start conference play, the Lions face West Mecklenburg on Sep. 19 in the annual “Battle of the Westside,” which has been one-sided in recent seasons.

On Sept. 26, the Lions face Mallard Creek. The Mavericks, coached by Kennedy Tinsely, beat West Charlotte last season by a point in a game filled with drama when the grandstands had to be emptied.

“Tinsley is one of my favorite coaches,” Greiner said. “We talk once about every other week or so. He does a great job. He built his identity. Mallard Creek was Mallard Creek but he went in there and made his own identity.”
On Oct. 3, the Lions face Independence in a highly anticipated game that was not played last year because the two sides couldn’t agree on a site. They’ll meet at West Charlotte.

“You are talking about a game with high profile players across the board,” Greiner said. “They have one of the best safeties, one of the best linebackers and one of the best running backs. They have a dynamic head coach and great offensive line coach. You can’t argue that [Patriots coach] D.J. [McFadden] does a great job of taking over a program and stamping his identity on it.”

After a week off, West Charlotte will face Butler, Greiner’s alma mater.

“You respect where you went to high school,” Greiner said, “but you want to beat them as bad as you want to beat anybody because you are representing a different family now.”
On Oct. 24 the Lions will face Chambers, which has a new head coach in Captain Munnerlyn, a former Carolina Panthers player.

“[Munnerlyn] is a culture setter,” Greiner said. “I respect the heck out of what he is doing. He is putting his identity on that program. Sometimes, you get a guy from the NFL that comes into the high school scene, and it becomes about them. That is the complete opposite from Captain. I think he has a heart for kids and really puts these kids before himself.”

The Lions will round out the season with North Meck.

Greiner will take part in a Football 704 live event sponsored by The Post in the summer. Dates will be announced soon.

Comments