11-21-21 roundup: Pro football and basketball, High school football and soccer, College football
By Richard Walker
The excitement of the 73,350 fans who came to Bank of America Stadium on Sunday and many more who watched on television was the return of quarterback Cam Newton to town as the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback.
Newton had a solid game but it was the return of three members of the Washington Football Team who stole the show in a 27-21 win for the visitors.
Washington head coach Ron Rivera, who was the Panthers head coach from 2011 to 2019, was greeted with cheers by many who attended the game and guided his team to victory.
Washington quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who played six games with one start for Carolina in 2018, threw for 206 yards and three touchdowns.
Finally, Washington kicker Joey Slye, cut by the Panthers this preseason, converted three extra points and kicked two fourth quarter field goals after Carolina had tied the score at 21.
Newton completed 21 of 27 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 46 yards and another score for Carolina.
Christian McCaffrey continued his record-setting career with 59 yards rushing and seven catches for 60 yards and one touchdown, in the process becoming the fastest player in NFL history to reach 3,000 yards rushing and receiving by doing it in his 57th career game.
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 (L 3-25)
Oct. 31 at Atlanta (W 19-13)
Nov. 7 New England (L 6-24)
Nov. 14 at Arizona (W 34-10)
Nov. 21 Washington (L 21-27)
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
Pro basketball
Shelby’s Alvin Gentry is again a head coach in the NBA, according to a report in The Athletic on Sunday.
Gentry has been named interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings after the team fired head coach Luke Walton; Gentry had been Walton’s associate head coach the past two seasons in Sacramento.
A 1973 Shelby High graduate, the move will mean Gentry will be head coach of his sixth NBA team.
Previously, Gentry has been head coach of the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans.
Gentry, who inherits a 6-11 Kings team, has a 510-595 regular season head coaching record and 17-13 record in three postseasons.
High school boys soccer
N.C. Class 3A state runner-up Hickory (22-4-1) leads the All-Western Foothills Conference team.
Hickory had seven all-league selections, Brian Jillings was named coach of the year and Lewis Tate was co-player of the year. Other superlative honors went to Foard’s Irvin Martinez-Villa, North Iredell’s Thomas Mann (offensive player of the year) and East Lincoln’s Christopher Mileta (defensive player of the year).
East Lincoln’s all-league selections were Mileta, Landon Gruden, Jackson Thrap and Connor Henderson. North Lincoln’s all-league selection was Luke Custer.
Pro basketball
Here is the Charlotte Hornets’ full regular season schedule (with results):
OCTOBER
Wed. 20 INDIANA (W 123-122)
Fri. 22 at Cleveland (W 123-112)
Sun. 24 at Brooklyn (W 111-95)
Mon. 25 BOSTON (L 129-140, OT)
Wed. 27 at Orlando (W 120-111)
Fri. 29 at Miami (L 99-114)
Sun. 31 PORTLAND (W 125-113)
NOVEMBER
Mon. 1 CLEVELAND (L 110-113)
Wed. 3 at Golden State (L 92-114)
Fri. 5 at Sacramento (L 110-140)
Sun. 7 at LA Clippers (L 106-120)
Mon. 8 at L.A. Lakers (L 123-126, OT)
Wed. 10 at Memphis (W 118-108)
Fri. 12 NEW YORK (W 104-96)
Sun. 14 GOLDEN STATE (W 106-102)
Wed. 17 WASHINGTON (W 97-87)
Fri. 19 INDIANA (W 121-118)
Sat. 20 at Atlanta (L 105-115)
Mon. 22 at Washington 7:00
Wed. 24 at Orlando 7:00
Fri. 26 MINNESOTA 7:00
Sat. 27 at Houston 8:00
Mon. 29 at Chicago 8:00
DECEMBER
Wed. 1 at Milwaukee 8:00
Sun. 5 at Atlanta 6:00
Mon. 6 PHILADELPHIA 7:00
Wed. 8 PHILADELPHIA 7:00
Fri. 10 SACRAMENTO 7:00
Mon. 13 at Dallas 8:30
Wed. 15 at San Antonio 8:30
Fri. 17 at Portland 10:00
Sun. 19 at Phoenix 8:00
Mon. 20 at Utah 9:00
Thu. 23 at Denver 9:00
Mon. 27 HOUSTON 7:00
Wed. 29 at Indiana 7:00
JANUARY
Sun. 2 PHOENIX 7:00
Mon. 3 at Washington 7:00
Wed. 5 DETROIT 7:00
Sat. 8 MILWAUKEE 7:00
Mon. 10 MILWAUKEE 7:00
Wed. 12 at Philadelphia 7:00
Fri. 14 ORLANDO 7:00
Mon. 17 at New York 1:00
Wed. 19 at Boston 7:30
Fri. 21 OKLAHOMA CITY 7:00
Sun. 23 ATLANTA 7:00
Tue. 25 at Toronto 7:00
Wed. 26 at Indiana 7:00
Fri. 28 L.A. LAKERS 7:00
Sun. 30 LA CLIPPERS 1:00
FEBRUARY
Wed. 2 at Boston 7:30
Fri. 4 CLEVELAND 7:00
Sat. 5 MIAMI 7:00
Mon. 7 TORONTO 7:00
Wed. 9 CHICAGO 7:30
Fri. 11 at Detroit 7:00
Sat. 12 MEMPHIS 7:00
Tue. 15 at Minnesota 8:00
Thu. 17 MIAMI 7:00
Fri. 25 TORONTO 7:00
Sun. 27 DETROIT 7:00
Mon. 28 at Milwaukee 8:00
MARCH
Wed. 2 at Cleveland 7:00
Sat. 5 SAN ANTONIO 7:00
Tue. 8 BROOKLYN 7:00
Wed. 9 BOSTON 7:00
Fri. 11 at New Orleans 8:00
Mon. 14 at Oklahoma City 8:00
Wed. 16 ATLANTA 7:00
Sat. 19 DALLAS 7:00
Mon. 21 NEW ORLEANS 7:00
Wed. 23 NEW YORK 7:00
Fri. 25 UTAH 7:00
Sun. 27 at Brooklyn 7:30
Mon. 28 DENVER 7:00
Wed. 30 at New York 7:30
APRIL
Sat. 2 at Philadelphia 12:30
Tue. 5 at Miami 7:30
Thu. 7 ORLANDO 7:00
Fri. 8 at Chicago 8:00
Sun. 10 WASHINGTON TBD
High school football
Here are Friday’s regional semifinal pairings:
1A
(East)
#1 Tarboro (11-) vs. #4 Northampton County (10-2)
#2 Northside-Pinetown (11-1) vs. #6 Pender (8-3)
(West)
#4 Robbinsville (9-3) vs. #9 Murphy (9-4)
#2 Mount Airy (13-0) vs. #3 Mitchell (11-2)
2A
(East)
#1 Princeton (12-0) vs. #5 St. Pauls (11-0)
#3 Northeastern (12-0) vs. #10 Wallace-Rose Hill (11-2)
(West)
#1 Shelby (12-1) vs. #4 Reidsville (12-0)
#2 East Surry (12-0) vs. #3 Maiden (13-0)
3A
(East)
#1 Eastern Alamance (10-1) vs. #13 Jacksonville (10-2)
#6 J.H. Rose (9-4) vs. #23 Scotland County (8-4)
(West)
#4 Crest (10-2) vs. #16 South Point (10-3)
#2 Statesville (12-0) vs. #3 Dudley (12-1)
4A
(East)
#16 Leesville Road (10-2) vs. #20 Rolesville (8-5)
#6 Cardinal Gibbons (11-2) vs. #18 Panther Creek (10-3)
(West)
#1 Hough (13-0) vs. #13 East Forsyth (11-1)
#3 Weddington (12-1) vs. #10 Julius Chambers (12-1)
College football
Here’s last weekend’s Carolinas Division I results:
(Thursday)
Louisville 62, Duke 22
(Saturday)
Robert Morris 20, Campbell 17 (OT)
Georgia 56, Charleston Southern 7
Clemson 48, Wake Forest 27
North Carolina 34, Wofford 14
Davidson 45, Drake 14
Furman 41, Samford 34
Gardner-Webb 35, N.C. A&T 27
Coastal Carolina 35, Texas State 21
The Citadel 24, Chattanooga 21
Western Carolina 52, VMI 24
N.C. Central 34, Delaware State 28
S.C. State 31, Norfolk State 21
St. Thomas, Minn. 54, Presbyterian 15
Elon 43, Rhode Island 28
Appalachian State 45, Troy 7
East Carolina 38, Navy 35
Marshall 49, Charlotte 28
N.C. State 41, Syracuse 17
South Carolina 21, Auburn 17
Here’s last weekend’s Carolinas Division II results:
(Saturday)
NCAA Division II playoffs – Bowie State 31, Lenoir-Rhyne 10
NCAA Division II playoffs – Newberry 33, West Florida 30 (OT)
Here’s this week’s Carolinas Division I schedule:
(Friday)
Cincinnati at East Carolina, 3:30 p.m.
Coastal Carolina at South Alabama, 3:30 p.m.
North Carolina at N.C. State, 7 p.m.
(Saturday)
Wake Forest at Boston College, noon
Miami, Fla., at Duke, 12:30 p.m.
Charlotte at Old Dominion, 2 p.m.
Georgia Southern at Appalachian State, 2:30 p.m.
FCS playoffs – Davidson at Kennesaw State, 2 p.m.
Here’s this week’s Carolina Division II schedule:
(Saturday)
Newberry at Bowie State, 3 p.m.