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McKissick goes after 500th win BY PETE IACOBELLI THE ASSOCIATED I'RKSS SUMMERVILLE, S.C. - Summerville High’s John McKissick spent the offseason shooing away questions about his 500th victory as football coach like a Lowcountry farmer might brush off flies. But the country’s winningest coach has a different message for his first shot at the milestone Friday night against Wando: Bring it on. “It’s finally here,” said wlcKissick, who came to the ^Green Wave in 1952. “Now we can talk about it.” And it’s an accomplishment that should leave people talking for some time. No football coach on any level — pro, college or preps — is close to McKissick’s mark of sustained excellence. He’s at 499-116-13 and more than 100 wins ahead of his next active high school coaching rival. John T. Curtis Jr. of John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, La., has compiled a record of394-45-6 in the past 34 year§. “It’s hard to imagine somebody had the same job for 52 years,” said Pinckney Guerard, Summerville’s offensive coordi nator.” To do the same thing this long, you’ve got to be dedicated to it.” You’ve also got to be good. McKissick has won 10 state titles and is a favorite for another one this year with his team starting off 2-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state. It would give him a cham pionship in every decade he has coached. Maybe more amazing is the fact that he has had just two losing seasons —1957 and 2001. “People are coming up and congratulating me,” said McKissick, who’ll be 77 on Sept. 25. “I tell them we’ve got to win first.” Wando (1-1) was on the losing end for another McKissick mile stone when he set the all-time record of406 wins in 1993 by beat ing the Warriors 42-0. Wando coach Bob Hayes said neither he or any of his players were at Wando then, but he was at Stratford as an assistant that year. And Stratford beat Summerville 17-16 to make McKissick wait another week to tie then-record holder Grant Wood of Texas at 405. iyiemorial Stadium and McKissick Field — located on McKissick Way — will be filled beyond capacity with up to 10,000 people. The town and school dis trict have had several commit tees designing appropriate green and-yellow tributes. Dorchester District 2 Superintendent Joseph Pye said the honor for 500 will be some thing permanent, more than “just a plaque given at midfield.” McKissick has worried since the end of last season that the fo cus on 500 might distract his foot ball team. He is more concerned than ever going into Friday night’s game. “We’ve had big crowds before. We’ve had a lot of media atten tion,” he said. “I try and handle it with a grain of salt.” McKissick and assistant Guerard, on staff for 33 years, told Green Wave players to relax and play like they’ve been taught. Win or lose against Wando, McKissick has no plans to re tire. He will file the honor away with all the others through the years, then get ready for West Ashley on Sept. 19 and the rest of his opponents on the march to 600. “I’ve been asked that before,” McKissick says. “I take one sea son at a time. I feel good. As long as I do, who knows.” i When push comes to shove PHOTO BY TRISHA SHADWELL/THE GAMECOCK USC’s Eric Szeszyeki, right, fights for control of the ball in a game against Stetson. The Gamecocks play host to the Gamecock Soccer Classic this weekend at Stone Stadium. ~ SPORTS CHALLENGE “ THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charles Adam Kevin Jake The Gamecock’s readers and Senkiw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam Fellner Corbett staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Managing Staff Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Writer the Week weekend's games. (Rankings (15-5) (17-3) (16-4) (17-3) (17-3) (12-8) are from The Associated Press.) Kentucky at Alabama_Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama ■ 24 N.C. State at 3 Ohio St_Ohio St. Ohio St.Ohio St. Ohio St. Ohio St. Ohio St. P\ubum at Vanderbilt Auburn Vandy Auburn Auburn Auburn_Vandy_ 15 Notre Dame at 5 Michigan N. Dame Michigan Michigan N. Dame Michigan Michigan ruiuuc dl vvcmc ruicbl vvcmc vvcmc vvcmc vvcmc vvcmc ruiuuc Penn St. at 18 Nebraska _ Nebraska Nebraska_Nebraska Nebraska Nebraska Penn St. Wash. St. at 17 Colorado Colorado _ Colorado _Colorado Wash. St. Wash. St. Colorado Arkansas at 6 Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas_Texas_Texas Middle Tenn. St. at Clemson MTSU_MTSU _ Clemson Clemson Clemson __ MTSU_ 25 USC at 8 Georgia USC USC USC~ USC USC USC ~ 16-13 16-10 14-6 28-17 21-1 20-15 SPORTS CHALLENGE’S THIRD-WEEK OUTLOOK: Head Page Designer Shawn Rourk, Sports Editor Brad Senkiw and Assistant Sports Editor Wes Wolfe all went 9-1 last week, but Rourk barely won by coasting in on USC’s margin of victory against Virginia. Wolfe stayed clear of the “Auburn curse" for the second straight week by picking Georgia Tech over the Tigers. Senkiw managed a comeback from his average first outing to challenge for first place, but succumbed to the dreaded Auburn curse. Be sure to keep up with this week’s games and send your picks Thursday. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mailyourselectionsnextweektogamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want. It BRIEFLY Basketball teams to assist charity event The USC women’s basketball team and several of the USC bas ketball coaches will participate in the Boys and Girls Club 5K Run/Walk on Sept. 13. USC men’s basketball head coach Dave Odom will be the starter for the event. The coaches and the players are participating as part of the Carolina Athletic Department’s community ser vice program. The 5K Run/Walk is part of the Boys and Girls Club 5K Family fcay, which will be held in the Bivision of Motor Vehicles park ing lot at the corner of Lincoln and Greene streets in Columbia. The Gamecock basketball players will also hand out awards for the race and sign autographs. Women’s soccer to tangle with Aggies The USC women's soccer team (2-2) is in College Station, Texas tonight to face its toughest chal lenge yet, the fifth-ranked Texas A&M Aggies (3-0). Texas A&M’s three wins came at home came against Texas Christian, Southern Methodist and Utah. The Aggies also defeated Clemson in an exhibition match 2-1. Carolina is coming of a three game home stand that included a 3-1 win against Dartmouth and a 2-1 victory against Charleston Southern. The meeting Friday will be the first match between both schools. Friday night’s match is set for 8:30 p.m. Carolina will also play on the road against the Houston Cougars Sun. at 2 p.m. The Gamecocks return to Eugene E. Stone III Stadium on Sept. 17 to play against Davidson, while N.C. State will come to Columbia to play Carolina Sept. 21. Women’s golf team takes third in Japan The USC women’s golf team took third place at the 2003 TOPY Cup in Tanagura, Japan, on Wednesday. Cal-Berkeley won the tournament with a 30-over par 894 through three rounds Tohoku Fukushi, the highest ranked Japanese team, claimec second place with a 914 (+50; team score. Carolina ended pla> with a three-day total of925 (+61) Senior Marci Robinson fin ished in seventh place, while se nior Adrienne Gautreaux tiec for eighth place. Two Caroline golfers, Laura McCaslin anc Tiffany Catafygiotu, tied foi 17th place, while Korj Thompson finished in 27th. Carolina will return to the U.S. on Sept. 14th and will plaj at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Nashvilie Tenn., Sept. 26-28. J I . 1 TV S FEATURING Game Day and NFL Sunday Ticket TUES: WEDS: 4 cork O MUL unplugged karaoke ■ dart boards ll tables ou are under the age of 21. it is illegal A buy alcoholic beverages. All ABC regulations enforAi. Jones CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 about third-down conversion percentages during the second quarter of a game. It’s all about insults and mudslinging, and I think my arm is warming up. I want to talk about Quincy Carter’s lisp and his stellar five interceptions back in 2000. I want to talk about all the clutch receptions Terrance Edwards made. And I certainly want to talk about the fact that the best game played in Sanford Stadium in the last decade was by a wom en’s soccer team. Yes, while Georgia might have gotten lucky last year with a lot of close wins, it is sure to run into a few losses — that is, unless it brings in some more criminal talent to bolster the mediocre backfield. Word around Columbia is that head coach Mark Richt and Athletics Director Vince Dooley have been working hard to get a new birth certificate for Derek Watson because he is a natural fit for the program. An even more scintillating rumor is that Georgia is calling up last year’s flag football intramural champs to fill the gaps from all the sus pensions the team has been force to hand out. Perhaps a tight end called up from a freshmen hall, with Billy Bennett’s imposing physique, will catch the game winner. But whatever the case might be, I will be in Sanford Stadium, and I am sure to be confronted by a few angry Bulldogs. I’m not worried though. I’ve got this flossy SEC Championship ring f that I bought off Ebay this win ter, and I’m sure it will leave a nasty mark. Jones is a graduate student in the College of Mass Communications and Information Sciences. 9k Loftis CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 H only guess as to why South Carolina fans make a big deal out of this matchup is that we’ve, slapped them around for so long they’ve taken offense to it. With Georgia leading the all time series 40-13-2, tlje Cocks are not going to catch up anytime soon. Every year seems to be “the year’’for them. Cocks who make the trip to Athens this Saturday, enjoy your stay at the pre-eminent universi ty of the South. Win or lose, when you get back to where you came from, drink a little of that contam inated water that creates euphoric aspirations for your football team. It may numb the painful realiza tion that you live in SQUth Carolina. Loftis is afourth-yearpolitical science student at the University of Georgia. 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