After 27 years, Panthers’ stadium hosted a prep football game. Now it’s time for more

Now this was cool: Two of the best high school football teams in the Carolinas, playing on the Carolina Panthers’ home field in what was dubbed the inaugural “Keep Pounding High School Classic.”

Somehow, this was the first time in Bank of America’s 27-year history that a high school football game had been played on that field.

I’ve got two words to say after witnessing it:

More, please.

Providence Day edged Northwestern Saturday night, 42-35, in an 11-touchdown shootout between two of the top 10 teams in the Carolinas. But the result was secondary to what this said about big-time high school football in the Charlotte area.

Namely, that this needs to happen more often — a huge high school game in a huge stadium.

Charlotte — with Bank of America Stadium, the Charlotte 49ers’ stadium and Memorial Stadium all available — could theoretically host all four of the N.C. High School Association’s four state championship games every single year.

That’s nowhere near occurring. But Charlotte — and I mean as a city, not just the Panthers’ stadium — being somewhere in the state title rotation is a no-brainer.

“It was an amazing opportunity,” Providence Day quarterback Jadyn Davis said.

“I’ll never forget it,” said Providence Day left tackle David Sanders, the No. 1-rated player in the entire Class of 2025 and also so good that he doubled as a defensive pass rusher and had several sacks.

I know the NCHSAA has deep ties with the Big Four major college programs and all of their football stadiums, and that’s understandable. It’s fun to play a state title game at UNC, Duke, N.C. State and Wake Forest, too.

But nowhere else in the state is there an NFL stadium, as well as an NFL owner in David Tepper and a franchise in the Panthers who now actively wants at least an occasional turn at these high school games (for many years, that wasn’t the case).

Organizers had hoped to sell 10,000 tickets for the first high school game at B of A. They ended up surpassing that, distributing 12,383 tickets, selling roughly 11,700 of those. They made ticket prices just $5 apiece to make it accessible (although, of course, parking near the stadium can cost you $20 easily).

It was a gorgeous night for football once the sun went down, with the Charlotte skyline lit up like a rainbow in honor of Charlotte Pride weekend. And there were big-time Division I players everywhere.

The headliners were Providence Day quarterback Jadyn Davis (headed to Michigan) and wide receiver Jordan Shipp (UNC, for now, although Davis joked that Shipp is “going to flip” after the game, and Tar Heel fans probably started worrying three seconds after that). Add in wide receiver Channing Goodwin (Michigan), and Providence Day had a nearly unstoppable passing trio.

Davis threw for 456 yards, five TDs and zero interceptions and showed off one of the most incredible arms I’ve ever seen at the high school level. Shipp and Goodwin each had topped 100 yards receiving — by the third quarter.

Shipp ended up scoring two TDs and pulling down 13 receptions for 234 receiving yards. Shipp was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. Goodwin had 148 receiving yards and two TDs, averaging 29.6 yards on his five receptions.

Said Davis of whenever he saw Northwestern was single-covering Shipp: “Just licking our chops.”

“All I had to do was run past the guy,” said Shipp, crediting Davis for throwing the ball so well and his offensive linemen for their blocking.

But Northwestern, based in Rock Hill, S.C., also had its moments. Running back Turbo Richard (Boston College) — and tell me that “Turbo” isn’t one of the best football names you’ve ever heard — actually stiff-armed a Providence Day player’s helmet completely off his head on one attempted tackle. And Northwestern also scored on a 75-yard TD pass from quarterback Finley Polk (410 passing yards, four TDs and three interceptions) to Jaylen Burris and another 28-yard TD pass that got volleyballed from one Northwestern player to another.

It was great stuff, and it celebrated high school football at its best.

If nothing else, give us one or two “Keep Pounding Classics” every August.

“Based on this game’s success, we’d like to do it again,” said Riley Fields, the Panthers’ director of community relations.

This was a perfect kickoff to the high school football season. (It should be noted that they tried to have a high school game at the Panthers’ stadium once before, but COVID wrecked those plans).

Yes, there would be some issues with the Panthers hosting the state championship games. For one thing, Bank of America Stadium hosts the ACC football title game on the first Saturday each December — the prep state championship games were played the second weekend of December in 2022.

And of course, the Panthers are playing then, and they don’t want a December full of road games.

But other NFL teams in other cities navigate those obstacles and host multiple state title games. Bank of America Stadium could do it, too, especially on a rotational basis with other Charlotte stadiums.

It’s time for what we saw Saturday night to become an annual tradition.

It’s just too much fun for it not to be.