By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

CHINA GROVE — Lineman of the Year in the South Piedmont Conference, a league which boasted a Florida State recruit, was an accolade for Carson senior Tristen McBride that was both impressive and meaningful.

So was his selection to play in the first winter East-West All-Star Game. That’s a piece of history that he’ll always own.

“East-West was great competition, including the practices,” McBride said. “But I love competition. Competition makes you better. All in all, just a very cool experience.”

McBride had some Division I offers to consider.

Programs such as Appalachian State and Charlotte wanted him as a PWO (a preferred walk-on), which meant that he wouldn’t have been on scholarship as a freshman, but he would have had the opportunity to earn one in the future. In the meantime, he would have been a full team member with all the benefits of being a Division I team member, such as training-table meals and gear.

Instead, McBride accepted a scholarship from Mars Hill, a Division II program that competes with schools such as Catawba, Wingate and Lenoir-Rhyne in the South Atlantic Conference.

McBride, 6-foot-3, 270 pounds, in all likelihood will be a significant recruit for Mars Hill, not just an extra name in the game-day program or on the fine print of a roster sheet. Potentially, he’s a person who will make a lot of tackles and a lot of impact. He can be a starter. Potentially, you’ll be reading about him as an All-SAC player someday.

McBride’s father, Shawn, was a terrific linebacker for Catawba when the Indians were at their peak in the David Bennett Era 20-plus years ago. He produced an epic five-sack game for the Indians, was All-SAC three times and All-Region twice. He’s now a battalion chief with the Salisbury Fire Department.

Catawba did its best to recruit the former linebacker’s son, and Tristen took an official visit to Catawba in January, but a week earlier he’d pretty much made up his mind after he went to check out Mars Hill.

McBride explored the campus in the mountains and bonded with Kevin Barnette, who is second-in-command at Mars Hill behind head coach Tim Clifton, who has been at Mars Hill since dinosaurs ruled the world.

Barnette’s job titles with the Lions are associate head coach and defensive coordinator.

“I had an amazing time on that visit to Mars Hill,” McBride said. “I really liked the vibe there from coaches and players.”

In early February, when Mars Hill announced the signing of McBride, it described him on social media as “a force of nature,” which is unusual hype for Signing Day, but in this case, it’s pretty accurate.

McBride also competes in basketball — he was Carson’s largest body — and track and field, but football is clearly his thing.

A three-time all-county and all-conference player, he’s been very good at football for a while, as he had the aptitude for it, the size for it, and the work ethic for it, even when he was a sophomore.

But there was major adversity to deal with even before his senior football season got started. He lost a friend and teammate when Dalton Gay died suddenly in late July.

Carson’s football program celebrates a level of accomplishment known as APEX players — with APEX serving as an acronym for Accountable, Powerful, Embracing pressure and being the X-factor. APEX players make honor roll grades, rarely miss a day of school or practice, never get into trouble in class, participate in multiple sports and do volunteer work in the community.

Gay was at the crest of the APEX list at Carson. Right behind him was McBride.

Gay was going to be the starting center for the Cougars as a senior, so McBride regarded it as both an obligation and honor to fill Gay’s shoes at center — in addition to carrying out his primary job, which was to anchor Carson’s defensive line.

“When we lost Dalton, a lot was kind of passed on to me,” McBride said.

As a two-way player, McBride racked up pancake blocks, quarterback hurries and tackles for loss.

Carson wasn’t great, just competitive during his senior year, but McBride was exceptional. He stood out. He was a handful on both sides of the ball. He played on about 95 percent of the snaps in a typical Carson game.

“If I had to pick my best games, I’d say it would be the win against South Rowan and maybe the loss to Northwest Cabarrus,” McBride said. “You always want to win more games, but we always left everything on the field, played as hard as we could. No regrets about my high school career.”

He was, as Carson head coach Jonathan Lowe put it, “someone that every opponent had to game-plan for.”

“Tristen was one of the best players I’ve had a chance to coach,” Lowe said. “Physical, coachable and always willing. He outworked everyone in the weight room. He always did whatever we asked him to do.”

Lowe said McBride had to overcome a back injury to put together the tremendous senior season that he had.

“He set high goals and he achieved them in spite of adversity, including the loss of a teammate,” Lowe said. “He accomplished goals like Lineman of the Year in a very competitive conference.”

Now McBride takes his very special act to Mars Hill. He’ll leave behind a major void at Carson, but he’ll be remembered as one of the school’s best football players. If they named an all-time Carson team, he’d be on it.

“He’s blessed with athleticism and size,” Carson defensive coordinator Jason Stanley said after Carson’s win against Concord. “But when you pair that with being a hard worker and a student of the game — with a high football IQ — you see the whole picture. We have a lot of kids with size and speed that come through the program, but if you don’t put in the work, you won’t be successful. Tristen was never scared to get dirty.”

While he has experience at virtually every position on both lines, McBride was recruited by Mars Hill specifically as a defensive tackle.

A 3.4 GPA student, McBride is looking at psychology as a potential major.

“I’m excited about getting to Mars Hill and getting started,” McBride said. “It’s been kind of a long road to get here.”