Power, elusiveness all about Gazette's top offensive player Leeper

It was back in February when Troy Leeper’s father talked to his son about some of South Point’s previous big-time running backs and posed this question: Do you want to be one of them?

The answer, of course, was yes.

“He kept telling me things that would make me better,” Leeper said of his dad, Troy Leeper Sr., left tackle for South Point’s 1979 state championship team. “At first I wasn’t taking it in, then I started doing it, and it paid off.”

Leeper reached 1,000 yards faster than anybody in Gaston County history, led South Point to a perfect regular season and is honored today as the Gazette’s area offensive player of the year.

The 5-foot-10, 188-pound senior rushed for 2,105 yards and 36 touchdowns in 11 games. That’s a 191.4-yard average, and he topped 200 yards five times.

“We’ve been running this (triple-option) offense about 13 years and we’ve had a lot of great fullbacks,” head coach Mickey Lineberger said. “Troy had not only the ability to run straight ahead and between the tackles, but he also had great open-field skills.”

Leeper showed durability, power and elusiveness. And he was clearly more than simply a product of South Point’s offense. Prime example: A Lincolnton coach told Lineberger that Leeper ran for 170 yards after first contact against the Wolves. He wound up with 283 yards and two touchdowns that night against a team that reached the 2A state title game.

In a separate game, Lineberger recalled a play on which eight defenders hit Leeper before he finally went down.

“It wasn’t just one play like that,” Lineberger said. “It was every game.”

Leeper’s yardage this season set a school record and ranks fourth in county history. His 4,029 career yards rank second in the school record book and ninth on the county list. His 218 points this season and 404 career points both rank second in school history and third in county history.

Leeper piled up his staggering numbers despite playing only four complete games since most of them got out of hand early. He also had fewer games than expected considering the season ended surprisingly early. As the state’s top-ranked 3A team, South Point lost in the first round against Weddington after quarterback Patrick Horne broke his ankle late in the second quarter. South Point finished 10-1.

“Shoulda, coulda, woulda, but it happened so we couldn’t say anything,” Leeper said.

Despite all Leeper accomplished during the season, it was actually something during the preseason that he remembers most fondly: the team’s annual camp at Mars Hill College.

“It’s just a time to bond and get to know each other better so we can become a family on the field and off the field,” Leeper said. “I think that’s what really brought the team together.”