Wednesday, May 24, 2017 Graduation Special THE KERSHAW NEWS-ERA Page 3

Senior doesn’t sweat obstacles

Toughness defines NCHS athlete

By Joseph Garris, Jr.News Editor

It all went by really fast forNorth Central senior MasonGomez but his mind can recallevery moment. It’s not highschool that we’re talking abouteven though Gomez says hisfour years as a Knight seemedto speed right on by.

No, we’re talking about 75seconds. That’s all it took forGomez, in his final match onthe wrestling mat, to get thepin and leave with his firstClass A/AA 120-pound divi-sion State Championship.

He remembers it all – espe-cially the chatter leading up tothe Saturday bout in Februaryfrom his opponent, NorthCharleston’s Anthony Wells,who reportedly had plenty tosay before the match to psycheout Gomez. In Wells’ defense,he probably had every right tofeel confident. In Gomez’s 45matches during the 2016-2017season, he had only lost one.

“He was the only loss I hadthis year. He beat me at a tour-nament by like four points,”Gomez recalled.

As they say in sports and inlife, if you’re going to talk youbetter be ready to back it up.But the motivation for Gomezdidn’t come from some mildattempts by his opponent to getin his head. In fact, it startedway before his senior seasonhad even begun.

Gomez had wrestled forNorth Central since the sev-enth grade. He hadn’t thought

much about the sport but hismom and older brother, whohad also wrestled, convincedhim to give it a shot. He was25-5 his first year.

Gomez wrestled for achampionship as an eighthgrader but “messed up” inovertime and came up short ofbeing the first state championfor North Central MiddleSchool.

He qualified for state as afreshman and finished thirdand qualified again as a sopho-more and finished second. Thestage was set as the gradualprogression to the top was in

sight, but a hurdle his juniorseason set him back. Gomezisn’t sure what it was, but helost focus and didn’t qualifyfor the state competition.

“That hurt me a lot but def-initely motivated me,” he said.

After some encouragementfrom Coach Jason Brazell andassistant Ray Robinson,Gomez regained his focus andwent on a tear this season cul-minating with that final 75seconds.

“He couldn’t control myhips, so I could focus on get-ting around him. He wouldalways try to sling me, but I

have good hips. In the finals,he was over the top of me try-ing to sling me, ad I grabbedhis head and his legs andpushed back. I ended up get-ting him down, and I pinnedhim,” he said, beaming.

He remembers the cheersand everyone crowdingaround him and getting to feelall the excitement and energy.He remembers huggingCoach Brazell.

“He became more like afather to me. My Dad wasn’tin my life, but Coach helpedme a lot,” he said.

Now standing in his path isanother challenger likelymuch larger than his previous120 pound foe – a drillsergeant. When Gomez walksthe stage this Saturday, he’llbe looking ahead to basictraining in August. He hasenlisted with the United StatesMarines and looks forward towhat the future holds.

“We had some Marinerecruiters come here during afootball game. I wrote someinformation down on a card,and he came and talked to me.I got more interested in it, andplus, they have a wrestlingprogram that I could try to getinto,” he said.

It’s all about helping hisfamily out says Gomez. Heplans to use his experiences asa Knight and a state championwrestler as motivation to reachhis next goal. It’s clear theimpact a little motivation canhave for anything or anyonestanding in Gomez’s way.

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Mason Gomez handles most obstacles.

By Joseph Garris, Jr.News Editor

North Central High seniorand football standout CedrickCunningham isn’t your nor-mal teenager. All it takes is ashort conversation to under-stand that he is mature wellbeyond his age.

More than likely, it’s thematurity rather than his ath-letic prowess that gets creditfor attracting the attention ofone of the most prestigiousinstitutions in the country.Cunningham, who is NorthCentral’s 2016-2017 recipi-ent of the Kershaw News-Eraand Haile Gold Mine Athleteof the Year, enrolls in theUnited States Military Acad-emy in West Point, NewYork this fall.

He accepted a scholarshipoffer to continue a footballcareer with the Army BlackKnights in November. Cun-ningham rushed for 963yards during an injury-short-ened season thanks to a bro-ken hand, which requiredsurgery. Prior to the injury,Cunningham had been rec-ognized as one of five final-ists for South Carolina’s cov-eted Mr. Football award forthe best player in the state.

For his three-year career,Cunningham rushed for1,925 yards and 19 touch-downs. He also caught 26passes for 403 yards andthree touchdowns. As a safe-ty, he recorded over 150

tackles and six interceptions. It was sometime around

eight years old that Cunning-ham first got introduced tofootball by his stepfather,Reggie Brown. He remem-bers Brown taking him out-side and throwing the ball upas far as he could see anddirecting Cunningham to gocatch it.

“That’s when I learnedwork ethic. When I was nine,I tried out for a football teamand made it and I’ve playedsince,” he said.

The toughness, speed, andquickness were all on displayduring one highlight that ran

the rounds on social mediaand message boards through-out the area. The play cameduring the Knights’ dominanthomecoming win over Tim-monsville. Cunningham tooka direct snap, ran through acouple tackles, stiff armedone opponent into theground, juked a few othersenroot to a 67-yard touch-down run in one of the mostunbelievable high schoolplays you would ever see.

After that game, the col-lege interest flowed in rapid-ly – East Carolina,Appalachian State, SouthCarolina State, Maryland,

Rutgers and even the state’stwo most prominent univer-sities, South Carolina andClemson, began showinginterest. But Army was therefrom the start.

“They were the firstschool to recruit me and offerme. I committed way beforeI went on a visit. I had a feel-ing it was a good situation forme,” he said.

Military life was neveranything Cunningham gavemuch thought to. He admit-ted if college wasn’t anoption for him, he alwaysthought the military could bean alternative. It’s worth not-ing that Cunningham is avery good student and willfinish out with an overallGPA of 3.8.

“You can’t walk into myhouse on report card daywith a C. I’ve never had a C.That’s just something Ialways took pride in. Mymom taught me that whenfootball is over, education issomething that can’t be takenaway from me,” he said.

Academics will beexpectedly challenging atWest Point but Cunninghambelieves he has been wellprepared at North Central.Athletically, he was offeredas a strong safety prior to hisbreakout senior year onoffense. Tough choices couldbe ahead for Army coachesas they try to figure out the

Cedrick Cunningham, left, with NCHS Principal DavidBranham, is the 2017 Kershaw News-Era and Haile GoldMine Athlete of the year. Photo by Joseph Garris Jr.

See Toughness, page 4