"Game #7 Kannapolis vs West Rowan"
Kannapolis-21 West Rowan-7
"Game #8 Kannapolis vs Harding"
Kannapolis-62 Harding-0
"Game #9 Kannapolis vs East Rowan"
Kannapolis-20 East Rowan-0
The Wonders were oficially in the drivers seat to take a strangle hold on the South Piedmont Conference title chase and a number #1 seed in the state 3A playoffs. However one slip now could be disasterous for the Wonders as now they faced a highly motivated group of Trojans the following week in Trojan country. The Trojans were only one season removed from a 97-0 debacle they experienced at Memorial Stadium in 1998. Everyone knew tensions would be high at this game for there would be no love lost on the part of the Trojans for the Wonders. This was also a different group of Trojans than the 1998 edition, and they were out for blood from getgo.
"Game #10 Kannapolis vs Northwest Cabarrus"
Kannapolis-21 Northwest Cabarrus-7
The first points of the game would come courtesy of Kannapolis runningback Eric Caldwell. Caldwell took the picth from quarterback Justin Hardin a bulled four yards in for the touchdown. Little did anyone know that would be the las play for Justin Hardin in the game as he injured his shoulder on the previous play diving for extra yardage. The injury would put Hardin out of commission until the second round of the playoffs. Rush rollins would tack on the PAT and the Wonders led 7-0 with 6:17 left in the first quarter.
After a Trojan turnover the Wonders scored again with 3:47 left in the first quarter reserve quarterback Josh Lee hit a wide open Ryan Craft streaking down the left side getting behind the Trojan secondary for six. The extra point would go terribly wrong after a bad snap forced Blair Harding to throw an incomplete pass into the back of the endzone. Wonders led 13-0.
The Trojans would chip away at the Wonders precarious thirteen point lead with 11:36 left in the game. Trojan Chris Willard punched it in from ten yards out for the Trojans on a misdirection play for their lone score of the evening. This would close the gap to 13-7 in favor of Kannapolis who were getting all they could handle from the Trojan defense.
After yet another Northwest miscue that handed the ball back to the Wonders Eric Caldwell would hang the final six points on the Trojans on this play that went for yards. Bruce Hardin would take a timeout to discuss going for the two point conversion.
Making the decision to go for two quarterback Josh Lee would roll out right and find Jason Brown wide open in the endzone. This would put the score at 21-7 for the Wonders with just 7:39 left in the game. This would prove to be just enough to put away the Trojans away for good after a hard fought game by the Trojans.
"Game #11 Kannapolis vs Concord"
Kannapolis-10 Concord-7
"The Official Game Program from 1999"
In the waning moments of the first quarter stand in quarterback Josh Lee breaks off a perfectly executed option and picks up yards to get the Wonders into Spider territory. The Wonders would score the first points of the game on this drive.
With 11:12 remaining in the first half Wonder quarterback Josh Lee scores the first points of the game on this four yard QB keeper on 4th and four. Rush Rollins would add the PAT to make the score Kannapolis-7 Concord-0.
With 2:18 left in the third quarter the Spiders make it a new ball game as Spider runningback Johnny Mack Johnson scores from five yards out on a pitch from QB Jamel Jackson. Kannapolis-7 Concord-7
On a gutsy call by Bruce Hardin the Wonders go for it on 4th and 3 to extend the drive for the possible go ahead points. Wonder back Marcello Stanback takes a pitch from Josh Lee and bolts right to get the three yards for the first down. The Wonders would be content to run the clock off by running the ball setting kicker Rush Rollins up for the winning field goal. Rollins kick strikes the inside of the right post and goes th
Head coach Bruce Hardin gives his thoughts on a hard fought 10-7 victory by the Wonders over Concord to Woody Cain.
(Click to Go to Battle for the Bell 1990-1999)
"State AAA Playoffs Begin"
"Game #12 Kannapolis vs South Iredell"
"All in the Name of Rivalry"
Kannapolis and Concord Showing Love
Round #1 Kannapolis-50 South Iredell-6
"The inevitable Rematch becomes Reality"
Ask anyone familiar with Kannapolis and Concord on the gridiron, and they will tell you most assuredley that either team is capable of ruining the others season no matter how the records look going into the game. Case in point the 1999 second round rematch between the Wonders and the Spiders at Kannapolis Memorial Stadium. The Wonders and Spiders had met twice before in the playoffs prior to this rematch with the Wonders taking both games in 1991 and 1997. The Spiders would be looking to end the jynx. Emotions would be high for this game especially after the events that took place during the Battle for the Bell game week when both sides comitted unprecedented acts of vandalism at eachother's respective schools.
When I ran across this I just had to throw it in. This is my lovely daughter Madison at age five at one of her many Wonder Football games back in 1999. She is the girl in the middle flanked by her two best friends back during that time. On the left Amber Watkins and on the right her little sister Katie Watkins. That's mama Angela Watkins behind them. Too cute. Time Warner just happened to throw the camera on them this night.
"The Rematch with Concord"
Can Lightning Strike Twice?
"There Is No Tomorrow"
"Justin's Final Hoorah"
Kannapolis-7 Concord-20
" Spiders Who Played Key Roles in the Second Round Exorcism"
"Every Picture Tells a Story"
One Week Earlier, One Year Later
"1999 In Summary"
Living Life on the End of a Lighting Bolt
So as the 1999 varsity season concluded in anticlimactic fashion the question still remains as to how this group of Wonders would be remembered in the annals of Wonder Football history. From the start this group was basically written off as a team wounded with only a few bandages to stop the bleeding. Gone was there star running back Nick Maddox as well as a plethera of talented standouts from the defending state champions of 1997. There were many questions surrounding this teams future, and many were unsure how this group would respond and regroup. I believe this team took that uncertainty, and lack of faith as a motivating mantra into the 1999 season, and ended up doing what most thought they would not. After week three of the 1999 season the Wonders had shot up the state AAA rankings with a bullet taking the #1 slot all the way through to the second round of the playoffs. Pretty darn good for an "Unproven" group.
Nothing proved the mental toughness of this group more than by what happened in week ten at Northwest Cabarrus. Starting quarterback Justin Hardin goes down with a shoulder injury early in the first quarter leaving the slot open for starting linebacker Josh Lee to come in a take control, and take control he did. Lee took over for the injured Hardin, and played heads up football throughout the remainder of the Northwest game, and then did the same thing a week later in the Battle for the Bell. What happened in the second round of the playoffs was just a classic example of a great team running into another great team who just happened to execute a well designed, and well thought out gameplan to perfection. The 1999 Wonders went far beyond what anybody gave them a shot at doing, and in the process delivered the Wonders back to back SPC titles and a second straight undefeated regular season. That has not been accomplished in eleven years which is a testament as to how hard it is to acheive that kind of perfection.
If anything the 1999 Wonders made it very clear to all that the road to Chapel Hill was going to be a long and winding road with many roadblocks and detours. A road that would not be fully traveled again until 2008. The 1998 loss to Kings Mountain was hard, and the 1999 loss to Concord in the second round was just an exclamation point on the era that ending. Coach Bruce Hardin would announce in early 2000 that he would not return to Kannapolis for the new milleneum season, and the hunt for the next guiding force was on. Ironically the replacement would come from the most unlikley place ever. Kings Mountain! The school that destroyed the state title dreams of the Wonders in 1998. Ron Massey would come in, and the new era would begin. Bruce Hardin is currenlty working as the head coach at Providence Day High School in Charlotte while son Justin Hardin is an assistant coach at Rock Hill High School while twin brother Blair is the head coach at Porter Ridge. Coach Massey would inherit some stellar athletes from the remnants of the 1999 Wonders, and would taken them into the second round of the state AAA playoffs again in 2000 losing another heartbreaker to #1 ranked South Point. So I raise my glass to the Wonders of 1999, and to the accomplishments they made on their way to the South Piedmont Conference Championship. Your deeds and contributions to our great program are deeply appreciated. You have earned your spot in our glorious history living life on the end of a lightening bolt, Thats funky, Thats the 1999 Wonders
Nothing proved the mental toughness of this group more than by what happened in week ten at Northwest Cabarrus. Starting quarterback Justin Hardin goes down with a shoulder injury early in the first quarter leaving the slot open for starting linebacker Josh Lee to come in a take control, and take control he did. Lee took over for the injured Hardin, and played heads up football throughout the remainder of the Northwest game, and then did the same thing a week later in the Battle for the Bell. What happened in the second round of the playoffs was just a classic example of a great team running into another great team who just happened to execute a well designed, and well thought out gameplan to perfection. The 1999 Wonders went far beyond what anybody gave them a shot at doing, and in the process delivered the Wonders back to back SPC titles and a second straight undefeated regular season. That has not been accomplished in eleven years which is a testament as to how hard it is to acheive that kind of perfection.
If anything the 1999 Wonders made it very clear to all that the road to Chapel Hill was going to be a long and winding road with many roadblocks and detours. A road that would not be fully traveled again until 2008. The 1998 loss to Kings Mountain was hard, and the 1999 loss to Concord in the second round was just an exclamation point on the era that ending. Coach Bruce Hardin would announce in early 2000 that he would not return to Kannapolis for the new milleneum season, and the hunt for the next guiding force was on. Ironically the replacement would come from the most unlikley place ever. Kings Mountain! The school that destroyed the state title dreams of the Wonders in 1998. Ron Massey would come in, and the new era would begin. Bruce Hardin is currenlty working as the head coach at Providence Day High School in Charlotte while son Justin Hardin is an assistant coach at Rock Hill High School while twin brother Blair is the head coach at Porter Ridge. Coach Massey would inherit some stellar athletes from the remnants of the 1999 Wonders, and would taken them into the second round of the state AAA playoffs again in 2000 losing another heartbreaker to #1 ranked South Point. So I raise my glass to the Wonders of 1999, and to the accomplishments they made on their way to the South Piedmont Conference Championship. Your deeds and contributions to our great program are deeply appreciated. You have earned your spot in our glorious history living life on the end of a lightening bolt, Thats funky, Thats the 1999 Wonders
"A Special Thank You"
Friday Nights in K-Town would like to extend a special thank you to former Wonder standout of 1999 Ryan Craft, and for the contributions you have made to this site. None of this tribute to the 1999 Wonders would have been possible without your willingness to share the memories you kept tucked away in your personal scrapbook. I know I speak for all of the supporters of this site when I say thank you for the memories of the 1999 season and all you gave to make that year as successful as it was.You are a valued friend to Kannapolis Football and Friday Nights in K-Town. (The Editor)