Concord Spiders

The **Concord Spiders** are the athletic teams that represent Concord High School, located in Concord, North Carolina. They compete as a member of the NCHSAA South Piedmont Conference, and its' rival is the A.L. Brown Wonders.

The first year of interscholastic sports at Concord High was the 1915–1916 school year. Concord's first football game was played on November 5, 1915 against Salisbury High at the Rowan County fairgrounds in Salisbury, and resulted in a 13–12 Concord win. Under the guidance of Coach Robert S. Haltiwanger, Concord would go on to defeat Salisbury a second time, playing at Locke Mill Park in Concord, and finish its initial gridiron campaign at 2–0. Coach Haltiwanger would later become teacher, coach and principal at Hanes High School in Winston-Salem, NC.

The school's athletic teams are known as the "Spiders." The nickname, unique to North Carolina high schools, was a tribute to longtime principal and CCS superintendent Dr. A.S. Webb. The athletic stadium at the 1924 Concord High School campus was named Webb Field in his honor, and Concord teams playing at Webb Field were said to be bringing opponents "into the spider's 'Webb.'" The nickname stuck—it was first found in print for the 1927 season, and Concord High athletic teams have been the "Spiders" ever since.

Webb Field was renovated and "rededicated" for the season football opener in September 1935 against Charlotte Central, which Concord won in a 49–12 rout. From 1924 to 1955, football games were usually played on Friday afternoons. Lights were installed at the stadium for the 1956–57 school year. Concord High football teams played at Webb Field through the 1966 season, until the opening of the new Burrage Road high school. Concord baseball teams continued to make Webb Field their home for another 25 years, and the facility (originally featuring a grandstand) also saw minor-league baseball for several decades with the Concord Weavers in the 1930s and 1940s. Webb Field is now on the National Register of Historic Places study list[*Citation needed*]
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Concord High also has the distinction of having a unique mascot in North Carolina schools. The mascot is known as the Spider-Man. A student dresses up like the Marvel Comics superhero and performs, usually at football games. In the history of the school, there have been two mascots: One who served from 2001 to 2003, and the most recent one from 2009 to 2011. The first wore a gold costume, while the second wore a costume with the black more emphasized.

Concord High competed in the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) from 1915 to 1929, and won a state football title in 1929, defeating Oxford 13–6 in one of the first 10 football games ever to be played at new Kenan Memorial Stadium at UNC-Chapel Hill.

However, shortly after winning the 1929 state football title, Concord High became a charter member of the new Western North Carolina High School Activities Association (WNCHSAA), and participated in this sports association from the next 47 seasons (1930–1976), when the WNCHSAA merged with the NCHSAA.

Concord won many WNCHSAA titles during the 47 seasons in this association, including the WNCHSAA football title in 1935 with an impressive 9–1–1 campaign during which the Spiders scored over 41 points on several occasions, and allowed 4 points per game, losing only 12–6 at S.C. state champion Gaffney. The 1935 Spiders defeated Newton-Conover 39–0 at Davidson College for the association title. Concord won the WCNHSAA again 12 years later in 1947, as star George "Ick" Alley and teammates were victorious in the postseason Harvest Bowl title game over Shelby 13-6.

The Western North Carolina High School Activities Association contained up to 42 schools, mainly from the mid-sized cities of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge foothills—from the mountains to the Winston-Salem area, and especially along the US 29 (now I-85) corridor between Kings Mountain and High Point, and continuing west along US 74 to Rutherfordton. The WNCHSAA schools featured some of the best high school sports in the state, with many longtime traditional sports powerhouses among their midst. Many of these schools continue to feature strong sports programs to this day, having won a large number of state titles since rejoining the NCHSAA. Since 1977, Concord High has been a 3A (AAA) member of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association and still competes in the South Piedmont Conference (SPC). The South Piedmont Conference dates back to the 1930 season and the WNCHSAA, and Concord High is the only charter member of the SPC that remains in that league, having never played in another athletic conference.

The school sponsors interscholastic football, volleyball, tennis (boys and girls), cross country (boys and girls), basketball (boys and girls), wrestling, swimming (boys and girls), baseball, softball, golf, track and field (boys and girls), and soccer (boys and girls).

Concord's football team is notable throughout North Carolina due to two recent state titles (2004 and 2006), and to its role as one half of the state's longest-running high school football rivalry with A. L. Brown High School in neighboring Kannapolis. What is now known as the "Battle for the Bell" was long thought to have begun in 1931, and has been played each year since that time. However, in 2013 new historical research uncovered a previous game from 1924, which is now the first meeting of the two high schools in football. Since 1950, the victor of the game has been awarded a mounted Southern Railway train bell that is painted in the colors of both high schools. The annual football game has long been a tradition in the area and is among the state's most highly attended single high school sports events, regularly drawing crowds of 10,000-plus. In recent years, A.L. Brown won the 2010 and 2011 games, with Concord winning back-to-back games in 2012 and 2013. The 89-game series record as of the 2018 game stands at Concord 43–42–4.

The 2006–07 school year was a very special year for Concord athletics, as the Spiders won both football and men's basketball championships

In 2006–07, the Concord's men's basketball team rolled through the season and made its second straight return to the state 3A championship game, making this back-to-back years for the Spiders. The Spiders won the 2007 3A state title game at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, and brought home its very first 3A state basketball championship ever in history, defeating Kinston High School 85-79. This win secured a state championship in both basketball and football in the same academic school-year, giving the Spiders the honor of being the first 3AA team to ever win both championships in the same school year.