{"id":844187,"date":"2026-03-31T03:11:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844187\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:11:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:11:32","slug":"state-champions-in-nc-and-sc-headline-2026-keep-pounding-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844187\/","title":{"rendered":"State champions in NC and SC headline 2026 Keep Pounding Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CHARLOTTE (CAROLINA SPORTS LIVE) \u2014 Once again, four Carolina high school teams will meet at Bank of America Stadium for the Keep Pounding High School Classic.<\/p>\n

Three of the four teams are in the Queen City News viewing area, with two of them from South Carolina. On Saturday, August 29, the Indian Land Warriors will face the Northwestern Trojans, followed by the Hough Huskies taking on the Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders.<\/p>\n

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The games start at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., respectively. General admission tickets are $8 and are available now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Keep Pounding High School Classic presented by Belk continues to celebrate the important role high school football plays in communities across the Carolinas,\u201d said Kristi Coleman, chief executive officer of Tepper Sports & Entertainment and president of the Carolina Panthers. \u201cBank of America Stadium will once again set the stage for the ultimate high school football experience, featuring two high-powered matchups that provide the energy and excitement of top-level high school football.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Northwestern Trojans, 13-1 in 2025, are aiming for their third straight 5A state title. Indian Land went 11-2 in 2025 and made it to the 5A state semifinals.<\/p>\n

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Hough, who was also invited to the Keep Pounding Classic in 2025<\/a>, finished their season 14-0 and won their first-ever 8A state title. They enter the 2026 season as one of the top schools in the nation. They\u2019ll face a Cardinal Gibbons squad that went 12-2 last season with a state semifinal appearance.<\/p>\n

In October 2024, the Carolina Panthers and Belk announced a multi-year partnership with Belk that included the naming rights to the Keep Pounding High School Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Belk, we love celebrating the communities we serve and the experiences that unite us,\u201d said Don Hendricks, chief executive officer of Belk. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to partner with the Carolina Panthers on this event, which shines a spotlight on the passion and potential of young athletes across our region. We\u2019re excited to bring it to life together again this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Queen City News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE (CAROLINA SPORTS LIVE) \u2014 Once again, four Carolina high school teams will meet at Bank of America…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[13065,115856,115855,235,260,2567,7,2682,58347,115857,13069,6,115858,236,47183],"class_list":{"0":"post-844187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-bank-of-america-stadium","9":"tag-belk","10":"tag-cardinal-gibbons","11":"tag-carolina","12":"tag-carolina-panthers","13":"tag-carolinapanthers","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-high-school-football","16":"tag-hough-huskies","17":"tag-indian-land","18":"tag-keep-pounding-high-school","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-northwestern-trojans","21":"tag-panthers","22":"tag-school-teams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116321603313327480","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}