West Charlotte and Independence will not renew their white-hot N.C. high school football rivalry this fall.
The teams were scheduled to play Sept. 6, but after some misunderstandings on where the game would be played — at West Charlotte or at Independence — the teams were unable to work out a solution.
West Charlotte has scheduled an away game at Concord’s Cox Mill High on Sept. 6. For now, Independence does not have an opponent and currently only has three home games on what would be a nine-game schedule.
“It was a scheduling conflict, from a couple years ago,” Independence coach D.J. McFadden said. “It was something that wasn’t discussed with me, and that’s where we’re at.”
Said West Charlotte’s Sam Greiner: “It was a misunderstanding. I don’t think that we would play at their home (field) three out of four years.”
Here’s what we know:
▪ Independence vs. West Charlotte was once perhaps the state’s top rivalry, drawing more than 20,000 fans to Memorial Stadium during multiple regular- and postseason meetings in the 1990s. In 2007, the teams met in the N.C. Western Regional championship, or state semifinal, game.
▪ In 2012, Independence beat the Lions, 76-27, and that was the last meeting between the teams for nine years.
▪ In 2021, the teams reached a new multi-year agreement, one year after Greiner was hired at West Charlotte. And that’s where the confusion between the parties apparently began.
In 2021, Independence hosted the game. In 2022, the year McFadden was hired, the teams were scheduled to play at West Charlotte, but the Lions’ new football field wasn’t ready. West Charlotte was playing its home games at Waddell High School, which had a field that was in poor condition and Lions’ fans weren’t traveling well, costing the school much-needed gate money.
Greiner said officials at his school reached out to Independence to play the ‘22 game at Independence with the next two games — in ‘23 and ‘24 — returning to West Charlotte. That way, Greiner said, each team would get two home games.
“Our (athletic director asked), ‘Would you guys be willing to switch years with us?’ And they said yes,” Greiner said. “I don’t think DJ was involved with it. We played back-to-back years there, and I thought they would play back-to-back years here.”
Independence hosted the 2022 game. West Charlotte hosted last fall.
McFadden said he had no plans to play back-to-back years at West Charlotte, particularly when he only had an additional three home games scheduled this fall.
Independence’s season-opener, which could’ve been a home game, is a neutral-site matchup with Myers Park at Bank of America Stadium on Aug. 22.
Both coaches said there was discussion of Independence hosting this year’s game with West Charlotte, with Independence potentially paying West Charlotte to help offset costs from losing a home game. Those talks stalled.
“I’ve got seniors who deserve more than three home games,” McFadden said. There was a conflict on scheduling, and they wanted me to pay them to come to Independence and I’m not going to do that.”
McFadden said if he had known that West Charlotte would’ve wanted back-to-back home games, he would’ve just played the ‘22 game at Waddell. But he said he wasn’t part of the discussions.
“Yes, if I would’ve known that,” he said, “we would just go to Waddell. You play the game at Waddell.”
Greiner said he initially agreed to come to Independence in August, to keep the game, but wanted a financial compensation to do so, since West Charlotte would be giving up a home game. McFadden refused to do that, so Greiner and West Charlotte began looking for a new opponent.
Greiner said the Lions ultimately have an agreement with Cox Mill that will include a revenue split.
Independence is still looking for a game.
“We’ve got a couple teams we’re talking to out of state,” McFadden said, “but nothing is set in stone yet. It’s so late and we might get stuck without a game. (Greiner) did what’s best for his program, and I did what was best for my program. No hard feelings. Two head coaches didn’t talk about scheduling.”
Said Greiner: “I’ve got to do what’s best for West Charlotte. Us playing in the other game, we’ll make more money now. Football pays for a lot of sports. Football is a big-ticket gate, and I felt like I was bending (by offering to play at Independence with a financial compensation) and they weren’t bending at all. I didn’t want to go play there. But I was willing to go.”