West Charlotte Lions in cruise control after bumpy start 

MATT LACZKO | THE CHARLOTTE POST

After opening the season 1-2, West Charlotte High, paced by quarterback Jamouri Nichols (4) have reeled off four straight wins, including a 31-7 romp against Meck Power Six 7A/8A rival Independence.

West Charlotte High football is roaring past midseason.

After beating Meck Power Six 7A/8A rival Independence 31-7 on Friday, the Lions improved to 5-2 after starting the year 1-2. Lions coach Sam Greiner feels his team is on the right track to win another state title.

“I keep telling everybody I’d rather be 13-2 and win a state championship than 14-1, losing one at the end where it hurts,” he said. “I would love to be undefeated, yes, but I don’t know if this team can grow being undefeated as much as they can by having those two overtime losses.”

Greiner admits the Lions, who lost to Greensboro Grimsley and Rock Hill South Pointe, make mistakes that are addressed in practice. He also squashed the notion of a lack of discipline.

“We definitely aren’t a clean football team yet,” Greiner said. “I mean just silly things and silly mistakes. Everyone keeps on saying, ‘Well, they are undisciplined.’ If we are so undisciplined, why are we as good as we are?... That is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. We play with such passion, sometimes that can hurt us. We do need to clean up the kicking game. I love my kicker and love what we are doing … but we’ve got to tighten some things up.”

Wide receiver Donte Nicholson, a Charlotte 49ers commit, filled the stat sheet against Independence with 10 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. The receptions weren’t run of the mill, either. He utilized athleticism on a handful of contested passes. 

“I tell everybody that we’ve got a lot of good athletes,” Greiner said, “but he is the best athlete I’ve ever coached, with just his pure raw athletic ability. I’ve never seen him drop a football until tonight. That one was the first one we had seen and we gave him a little crap for it on the sidelines, but he owns it. … Donte is phenomenal. We are going to feed him if [an opponent] gives him room.”

Lions quarterback Jamouri Nichols said it’s an advantage to have a deep receiving crew, and a wideout like Nicholson makes his job easier.

“I know that when we need a big play, I can trust [Nicholson],” Nichols said. “Especially with [opposing] defenses, it helps get other guys open. They are obviously always on Donte, so he helps get other players open and that is big for us.”

Nichols thinks the early season losses helped the Lions, who are second in the Magnificent Seven rankings, develop character.

“We took a couple losses,” he said. “Everyone knows that, but each time we went back in the locker room or waiting on the field, we are trying to find our true identity.”

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools sold just 1,000 tickets to Friday’s game due to safety concerns, and the teams didn’t play last year, which caused an uproar on both sides. Nichols took a lighthearted approach, Greiner, not so much.

“I was just happy to have everyone here,” Nichols said. “I thank God that we even played, because the last few games have been rough with a lot of things going on in the stands. But, I was happy we played and got through the game.”

Said Greiner: “That is a very frustrating thing that people made decisions about above my pay grade. What do we have to do to not penalize what we’ve built for so long? People on the outside probably think coach [D.J.] McFadden and I are enemies or something, but we aren’t. We built this thing up like a [Floyd] Mayweather versus [Manny] Pacquiao fight and we were limited to less than 1,100 people. That was a joke.”

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