10-19-21 roundup: College football and basketball, High school football, boys soccer, volleyball and girls golf, Pro football, Middle school football
By Richard Walker
Charlotte 49ers football coach Will Healy declined to say much about media reports about the school soon applying to leave Conference to apply for membership in the American Athletic Conference.
“There’s a lot of excitement around this program,” Helay said at his weekly news conference. “It’s really exciting to see what’s been said about this program.”
Later, Healy added: “I don’t think our guys care about the rumors that are flying around. They’re locked in and ready to roll on Thursday (at home against Florida Atlantic). They want to win football games now. And the rumors aren’t about now.”
Healy has a point since Action Network reported the AAC hopes to add the new teams to start play in 2023.
According to Yahoo Sports, which first reported the story on Monday evening, The 49ers and league rivals Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, Texas San Antonio and UAB will each have to pay a $3 million exit fee to Conference USA as they apply to leave and join th AAC.
The move will create a natural rivalry for Charlotte with East Carolina, which has been in the AAC since 2014.
It’ll also mark the fifth Division I league in Charlotte’s history.
Originally a NAIA school that was a member of the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference from 1965 to 1970, the 49ers were a NCAA Division I independent for six years before becoming an inaugural member of the Sun Belt Conference (1976-91) before joining the Metro Conference (1991-95), Conference USA (1995-2005), Atlantic 10 (2005-13) and Conference USA again in 2013.
The moves comes as part of a domino effect that began earlier this year when Oklahoma and Texas announced they were leaving the Big 12 for the Southeastern Conference.
The Big 12 added three AAC schools (Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston), which left the AAC looking at its options for future expansion.
The additions of Charlotte and the five other Conference USA schools would create a 14-team AAC that includes holdovers East Carolina, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, SMU, Temple, Tulane and Tulsa
Should Charlotte join the AAC, it’ll be a part of a league signed a 12-year, $1 billion TV contract with ESPN at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year and raise the school’s TV revenues considerably. Various reports have indicate that Conference USA schools, who are currently in a five-year deal for undisclosed compensation with CBS Sports.
College basketball
Legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s final team will enter the season as league favorite based on the voting of media members at last week’s 2021 ACC Tipoff event in Charlotte.
The Blue Devils earned the favorite’s role for the seventh time in the last nine seasons and were followed in the poll by Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
Krzyzewski, college basketball’s all-time winningest coach with 1,170 victories, announced in June that the 2021-22 season would be his last and current Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer would replace him as head coach starting with the 2022-23 season.
Duke received 47 of the 81 first-place votes and finished with 1,132 points. Florida State, which earned its highest preseason status in its ACC tenure, racked up 14 first-place votes and 1,034 total points. North Carolina tallied five first-place votes and 1,001 points, while Virginia recorded nine first-place votes and 949 points. Virginia Tech earned five first-place votes, while Louisville earned the other first-place vote.
Louisville, Syracuse, Notre Dame, N.C. State and reigning ACC champion Georgia Tech were voted sixth through 10th, respectively. Clemson, Miami, Wake Forest, Pitt and Boston College rounded out the poll.
The results of the 2021-22 preseason media poll, preseason all-league and preseason top player honors follow:
School, Points
1. Duke (47), 1,132
2. Florida State (14), 1,034
3. North Carolina (5), 1,001
4. Virginia (9), 949
5. Virginia Tech (5), 857
6. Louisville (1), 791
7. Syracuse, 781
8. Notre Dame, 599
9. NC State, 555
10. Georgia Tech, 524
11. Clemson, 430
12. Miami, 428
13. Wake Forest, 274
14. Pitt, 253
15. Boston College, 112
First-place votes in parentheses; 81 total voters
Preseason All-ACC
(Name, School, Votes)
First Team
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 68
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 52
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 49
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 46
Isaiah Wong, Miami, 37
Second Team
Michael Devoe, Georgia Tech, 25
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 23
Prentiss Hubb, Notre Dame, 17
Mark Williams, Duke, 12
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 9
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 9
Malik Williams, Louisville, 9
Preseason Player of the Year
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 28
Keve Aluma, Virginia Tech, 16
Buddy Boeheim, Syracuse, 13
Armando Bacot, North Carolina, 12
Kihei Clark, Virginia, 5
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke, 3
Caleb Love, North Carolina, 2
Mark Williams, Duke, 2
Preseason Freshman of the Year
Paolo Banchero, Duke, 64
Trevor Keels, Duke, 5
Terquavion Smith, N.C. State, 3
Dontrez Styles, North Carolina, 3
Igor Milicic Jr., Virginia, 3
Wooga Poplar, Miami, 1
Benny Williams, Syracuse, 1
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 1
High school football
Here are standings through Oct. 18 with conference record listed first followed by overall record:
BIG SOUTH 3A
Kings Mountain 5-0, 7-1
Crest 5-0, 5-2
South Point 3-2, 5-3
Forestview 3-2, 4-4
Cramer 2-3, 4-4
Ashbrook 1-4, 1-5
North Gaston 1-4, 1-7
Huss 0-5, 0-6
WESTERN FOOTHILLS 3A
Statesville 5-0, 7-0
North Lincoln 4-1, 6-2
Hickory 4-1, 5-3
East Lincoln 3-2, 6-2
North Iredell 2-3, 2-5
West Iredell 1-4, 1-5
St. Stephens 1-4, 1-6
Foard 0-5, 0-7
CATAWBA VALLEY 2A
Maiden 5-0, 8-0
Bunker Hill 4-1, 7-1
Lincolnton 4-1, 4-4
West Lincoln 3-2, 6-2
Newton-Conover 3-2, 3-4
Bandys 0-4, 2-4
East Burke 0-4, 1-5
West Caldwell 0-5, 0-7
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT 1A/2A
Shelby 4-0, 7-1
Burns 4-0, 6-2
East Gaston 3-1, 5-3
Thomas Jefferson 2-3, 4-3
Cherryville 1-3, 2-6
Bessemer City 1-4, 2-7
Highland Tech 0-4, 0-7
QUEEN CITY 3A/4A
Hough 5-0, 8-0
Chambers 3-1, 7-1
West Charlotte 2-2, 6-2
North Meck 2-2, 4-3
Mallard Creek 2-2, 3-3
West Meck 1-4, 4-5
Hopewell 0-4, 1-7
SOUTH MECK 4A
Myers Park 3-0, 6-2
South Meck 2-1, 6-2
Olympic 2-1, 5-2
Kell 2-1, 5-2
Berry Academy 1-3, 2-5
Harding 0-4, 2-7
SOUTHWESTERN 4A
Butler 5-0, 6-2
Catholic 4-1, 6-2
Providence 2-2, 4-4
Independence 2-2, 3-4
Rocky River 1-3, 2-6
East Meck 1-3, 1-7
Garinger 0-4, 0-7
OTHERS
Chase 2-1, 7-1
Clover 2-0, 3-3
Mtn Island Charter 4-1, 7-1
R-S Central 2-2, 2-5
Lk Norman Charter 0-0, 5-2
This week’s schedule:
(Friday)
Cramer at North Gaston
Huss at Crest
Kings Mountain at Ashbrook
South Point at Forestview
Burns at Cherryville
Highland Tech at Thomas Jefferson
Shelby at East Gaston
North Iredell at East Lincoln
West Iredell at North Lincoln
Maiden at Lincolnton
West Lincoln at East Burke
Mountain Island Charter at W-S Carver
Foard at Hickory
Statesville at St. Stephens
Bandys at West Caldwell
Bunker Hill at Newton-Conover
North Meck at Hopewell
West Cabarrus at Hough
West Charlotte at Chambers
West Meck at Mallard Creek
Olympic at Kell
South Meck at Myers Park
East Meck at Catholic
Providence at Garinger
Rocky River at Independence
Patton at Chase
Gaffney, S.C. at Clover, S.C.
Pro football
Here is the Carolina Panthers’ 2021 schedule (with results):
Sept. 12 New York Jets (W 19-14)
Sept. 19 New Orleans (W 26-7)
Sept. 23 at Houston (W 24-9)
Oct. 3 at Dallas (L 28-36)
Oct. 10 Philadelphia (L 18-21)
Oct. 17 Minnesota (L 28-34, OT)
Oct. 24 at New York Giants, 1 p.m.
Oct. 31 at Atlanta, 1 p.m.
Nov. 7 New England, 1 p.m.
Nov. 14 at Arizona, 4:05 p.m.
Nov. 21 Washington, 1 p.m.
Nov. 28 at Miami, 1 p.m.
Dec. 5 BYE WEEK
Dec. 12 Atlanta, 1 p.m.
Dec. 18 or 19 at Buffalo, TBD
Dec. 26 Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.
Jan. 2 at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
Jan. 9 at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m
College football
Here’s the Carolinas Division I schedule for this week:
(Wednesday)
Coastal Carolina at Appalachian State, 7:30 p.m.
(Thursday)
Florida Atlantic at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
(Saturday)
Wake Forest at Army, noon
Davidson at Butler, 1 p.m.
New Hampshire at Elon, 1 p.m.
N.C. Central at Morgan State, 1 p.m.
San Diego at Presbyterian, 1 p.m.
Robert Morris at Gardner-Webb, 1:30 p.m.
East Tennessee State at Furman, 2 p.m.
N.C. A&T at Hampton, 2 p.m.
S.C. State at Delaware State, 2 p.m.
Western Carolina at The Citadel, 2 p.m.
Charleston Southern at North Alabama, 3 p.m.
Clemson at Pittsburgh, 3:30 p.m.
East Carolina at Houston, 4 p.m.
Kennesaw State at Campbell, 4 p.m.
Wofford at Mercer, 6 p.m.
South Carolina at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m.
N.C. State at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Here’s the Carolinas Division II schedule for this week:
(Saturday)
Wingate at Virginia Wise, noon
Catawba at Mars Hill, 1 p.m.
Fayetteville State at St. Augustine’s, 1 p.m.
J.C. Smith at Shaw, 1 p.m.
Limestone at Lenoir-Rhyne, 1 p.m.
Livingstone at Winston-Salem State, 1 p.m.
Chowan at Elizabeth City State, 1:30 p.m
Barton at Tusculum, 2 p.m.
Charleston, W.Va. at UNC-Pembroke, 2 p.m.
Carson-Newman at Newberry, 4 p.m.
North Greenville at West Georgia, 6 p.m.
High school boys soccer
Here are the standings for teams from Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties through Oct. 19 with conference record listed first followed by overall record:
BIG SOUTH 3A
Cramer 10-0-1, 16-2-1
Forestview 9-2, 12-4-1
South Point 8-3, 12-6
Ashbrook 6-4-1, 8-5-1
North Gaston 5-6, 7-8-1
Huss 2-8-1, 5-8-1
Kings Mountain 2-8-1, 3-12-1
Crest 0-11, 0-15
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT 1A/2A
Shelby 11-0, 16-1-1
Highland Tech 9-1, 11-3
Thomas Jefferson 6-4, 6-6
Burns 5-6, 8-6-1
East Gaston 4-6, 5-13
Bessemer City 1-9, 2-12
Cherryville 0-10, 1-13-1
OTHERS
Gaston Christian 3-2, 6-8
Gaston Day 5-0, 13-2
East Lincoln 7-3-1, 9-6-2
North Lincoln 3-8, 7-11
Lincolnton 10-0-1, 12-0-3
West Lincoln 0-11, 2-16
Lincoln Charter 3-5, 7-9-1
Mtn Island Charter 0-9, 3-12
Piedmont CC 9-1, 11-2
This week’s schedule
(Monday)
Cramer 0, Ashbrook 0 (2 OT)
Forestview 4, Huss 1
North Gaston 4, Crest 1
South Point 3, Kings Mountain 0
Shelby 9, Cherryville 0
East Lincoln 9, West Iredell 0
North Iredell 2, North Lincoln 1
Lincolnton 3, West Caldwell 0
Newton-Conover 9, West Lincoln 0
Lincoln Charter 3, Community School of Davidson 2 (2 OT)
Langtree Charter 6, Mountain Island Charter 2
(Tuesday)
Forestview at Lincolnton, no report
Thomas Jefferson 3, Burns 0
East Gaston 7, Cherryville 0
Shelby 8, Bessemer City 1
NCISAA playoffs – Gaston Christian 4, Fayetteville Christian 2
(Wednesday)
Crest at Forestview
Huss at North Gaston
Kings Mountain at Cramer
South Point at Ashbrook
Foard at East Lincoln
St. Stephens at North Lincoln
East Burke at Lincolnton
West Caldwell at West Lincoln
Pine Lake Prep at Lincoln Charter
Mountain Island Charter at Christ the King
(Thursday)
Bessemer City at East Gaston
Burns at Cherryville
Highland Tech at Thomas Jefferson
Shelby at T.C. Roberson
NCISAA playoffs – Tuesday’s Hickory Christian-University Christian winner at Gaston Day
NCISAA playoffs – Gaston Christian at Cary Christian
(Friday)
Piedmont CC at Corivan Community
High school volleyball
Here’s the standings for two local conferences through Oct. 19:
BIG SOUTH 3A
Kings Mountain 14-0, 18-2
Crest 12-2, 18-3
South Point 10-4, 11-9
Forestview 8-6, 13-7
Cramer 5-9, 9-12
North Gaston 5-9, 6-14
Ashbrook 1-12, 1-15
Huss 0-13, 1-16
SOUTHERN PIEDMONT 1A/2A
East Gaston 11-1, 16-5
Highland Tech 10-1, 15-3
Cherryville 8-4, 12-13
Burns 5-5, 8-7
Thomas Jefferson 4-8, 6-11
Bessemer City 1-10, 1-16
Shelby 1-11, 1-16
(Tuesday’s semifinals)
No. 4 Burns at No. 1 Highland Tech, no report
No. 3 Cherryville at No. 2 East Gaston (EG 3-1)
(Wednesday’s final)
No. 2 East Gaston vs. Burns-Highland Tech winner
WESTERN FOOTHILLS 3A
Foard 13-1, 22-2
North Iredell 13-1, 20-1
East Lincoln 9-5, 13-7
Hickory 8-6, 13-9
West Iredell 4-10, 6-12
North Lincoln 4-10, 8-13
St. Stephens 4-10, 7-15
Statesville 1-13, 2-20
(Monday’s quarterfinals)
No. 8 Statesville at No. 1 Foard (F 3-0)
No. 5 West Iredell at No. 4 Hickory (H 3-1)
No. 7 St. Stephens at No. 2 North Iredell (NI 3-0)
No. 6 North Lincoln at No. 3 East Lincoln (EL 3-2)
(Tuesday’s semifinals)
No. 4 Hickory at No. 1 Foard (F 3-0)
No. 3 East LIncoln at No. 2 North Iredell (NI 3-0)
(Wednesday’s final)
No. 2 North Iredell at No. 1 Foard
CATAWBA VALLEY 2A
Maiden 14-0, 17-7
Bandys 12-2, 17-6
Newton-Conover 8-6, 9-9
West Lincoln 8-6, 14-11
Bunker Hill 6-8, 7-13
Lincolnton 4-10, 9-12
East Burke 4-10, 4-18
West Caldwell 0-14, 0-22
(Monday’s quarterfinals)
No. 8 West Caldwell at No. 1 Maiden (M 3-0)
No. 5 Bunker Hill at No. 4 West Lincoln (w 3-0)
No. 7 East Burke at No. 2 Bandys (B 3-0)
No. 6 Lincolnton at No. 3 Newton-Conover (L 3-1)
(Tuesday’s semifinals)
No. 4 West Lincoln at No. 1 Maiden (M 3-0)
No. 6 Lincolnton at No. 2 Bandys (B 3-0)
(Wednesday’s final)
No. 2 Bandys at No. 1 Maiden
High school girls golf
Four Big South 3A Conference golfers advanced to next N.C. 3A state tournament at Pinehurst at Foxfire after solid showings at Tuesday’s regional at Glen Oaks Golf Course in Maiden.
South Point’s Amelia Connor (88) finished 12th, Crest’s Allie McArthur (89) tied for 13th, Cramer’s Emma Goodson (98) tied for 22nd and Crest’s Rachael Hamby (100) finished 26th to advance.
Middle school football
Tri-County Conference standings through Oct. 18 with division record listed first followed by overall record:
(East)
East Lincoln 5-0, 6-0
Kings Mountain 4-1, 4-2
Burns 3-2, 3-2
North Lincoln 2-3, 3-3
Lincolnton 0-4, 1-4
West Lincoln 0-4, 0-5
(West)
Crest 5-0, 5-1
Shelby 4-1, 6-1
R-S Central 3-2, 4-2
East Rutherford 2-3, 2-4
Thomas Jefferson 1-4, 1-5
Chase 0-5, 0-6
Monday’s game
Shelby 40, East Rutherford 6
Wednesday’s game
West Lincoln at Lincolnton
(Playoffs)
Oct. 20 semifinals: West-2 (Shelby) at East-1 (East Lincoln), East-2 (Kings Mountain) at West-1 (Crest)
Oct. 27 championship game