By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — The story goes that after Duke’s basketball team fell to Virginia 109-66 in the first round of the 1983 ACC Tournament, the worst loss in program history, the staff of the Blue Devils went out for a depressed meal.

A member of the sports-information staff, raised his glass and proposed a toast. “Here’s to forgetting tonight,” he said.

Young Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski interrupted Moore and said, “No! Here’s to never forgetting tonight.”

Duke won the next 16 times it played against Virginia — and the rest is basically history.

That old Duke story comes to mind now as Catawba (2-8) closes its football season on Saturday with a 6 p.m. kickoff against the Tusculum Pioneers, who have replaced Mars Hill on the docket after a South Atlantic Conference scheduling change.

So is this a season Catawba tries to forget — or vows never to forget?

The vote might be split on that, but I’m thinking Coach Tyler Haines is on the Coach K side of the table and vowing never to forget it.

Maybe there’s payback coming for a lot of teams in the future after Catawba has suffered through an almost indescribable run of injuries and draining losses in 2024.

Other than the opener against Davidson, Catawba has been in every game. The final score against Lenoir-Rhyne last Saturday was a deceptive 33-14, but the Indians were in good position against the strong Bears before two fourth-quarter pick-sixes. Catawba led 14-3 at one point.

Carson-Newman and Wingate are battling each other for the South Atlantic Conference championship on Saturday, and Catawba certainly had ample chances to beat both of them.

Carson-Newman is 9-1. Catawba led the Eagles with 25 seconds left at Shuford Stadium.

Wingate is 8-1. Catawba’s game at Wingate essentially came down to the Indians being stopped short on a fourth-and-1.

So it’s not like Catawba is a bad team, but the Indians are a 2-8 team with five straight losses. There’s no getting around that.

Compared to Tusculum, Catawba has enjoyed an awesome season. Tusculum is 1-8 and has taken the sort of beatings you expect a 1-8 team to take on a regular basis — 30-3 against Mars Hill, 50-20 against Newberry, 49-21 against Limestone.

Last week against Carson-Newman, Tusculum hit rock bottom on Senior Day and Homecoming in Greenville, Tenn., losing 56-14.

Tusculum is 0-4 on the road and has allowed a whopping 39.2 points per game this season.

Catawba is allowing 35.3 points per game, so there’s a chance it will be a wild game.

Catawba should win Saturday, should send the seniors out with a smile and should build a little momentum toward the recruiting battles and even for next spring. But the Indians and their fans know they can’t take any win for granted at this point.