Three Mecklenburg teams, one from Rock Hill to compete in Charlotte Kickoff Night
The 11th Charlotte Kickoff Night this fall will feature an interstate battle of Carolinas powers and the renewal of one of Mecklenburg County’s top rivalry games.
Rock Hill’s Northwestern High School will play Hough at 5:15 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23 at Memorial Stadium. That game will be followed with a matchup between southeast Charlotte rivals as Providence takes on Ardrey Kell at 8 p.m.
Tickets are available at cltkickoffnight.com and are $10 until gameday. Tickets will be $12 at the gate.
“We played downtown two years ago at (Memorial Stadium),” Providence coach Wes Ward said Tuesday, “and just what an awesome experience it is ... for our programs, for the students, the crowds. For us to come downtown and open up in this first game is going to be really cool.”
Hough, 11-2 last season, was ranked No. 4 in The Observer’s “way too early” Sweet 16 poll that released this week. Northwestern, which was also 11-2 last season, was No. 5 in the spring poll.
Both teams are state championship contenders in their respective states. Last year, Hough lost 24-9 to Byrnes (SC) at Memorial Stadium to open its season. Northwestern lost to Providence Day, 42-35, in its first game, which was played at Bank of America Stadium.
Northwestern coach Page Wofford relishes another shot at a top Mecklenburg County team.
“Hopefully we will win this year,” Wofford said. “We’re excited to be in this game, and excited to play Hough, another good Charlotte team.”
Wofford said he and Hough coach David Baker were already discussing playing each other when they were approached about participating in this event.
“We jumped at the chance just like I’m sure they did,” Wofford said. “It’s a chance to play in this stadium, to play in Charlotte and give our kids a chance to play in front of a bunch of people again.”
Baker said that Wofford’s Trojans team is one of the best in the Carolinas and that he likes to play against prominent programs. He said playing a game like this will get Hough ready for the Queen City 3A/4A conference, one of the strongest in North Carolina.
“Our guys know how good they are,” Baker said of Northwestern. “Our coaches know how good they are. We’re going to be mentally and physically prepared to play them, and I think it’s going to be a good showing for the city of Charlotte.”
Greg Jachym, the Ardrey Kell coach, thinks both games will be competitive.
Jachym’s Knights were 7-4 last season and have had five straight winning seasons since he took over the program in the 2019 season.
Providence has had two winning seasons in four years under Ward. The Panthers were 5-6 last season.
The two schools have long been rivals and always played at the end of the season, but recently they were moved into different conferences. When that happened, school officials moved the rivalry game to the start of the year.
Ardrey Kell won the 2023 game against Providence, 13-10.
“It was always special when we played them at the end of the year,” Jachym said, “and now we get to play them at the beginning, which is a cool way to kick off the season. Now to play it in this awesome atmosphere? I think our fan bases are going to fill this place and it’s going to be a great environment, really special, for what’s already a special game.”
