By Richard Walker One team from Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties will have a shot at the state finals next week after Friday night’s Western semifinal action. And since East Lincoln will host South Point, one area team is guaranteed a spot in the state finals. Burns and South Point outlasted their opponents while East […]
By Richard Walker It was a nailbiting finish in three of the area’s four high school football playoff games on Friday night as Burns, Kings Mountain and South Point took dramatic victories. Burns scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:30 to play in a 24-20 win over visiting Salisbury, Kings Mountain scored with 6.7 seconds left […]
By Richard Walker Boys basketball teams from Crest and Bessemer City and girls basketball teams from Ashbrook and Bessemer City are the choices of their rival coaches to win the Big South 3A and Southern Piedmont 1A/2A conference titles this year. Crest’s boys enter the season after back-to-back unbeaten first-place seasons in the Big South […]
By Richard Walker Former Huss standout Cress Worthy is a preseason All-CIAA selection at Fayetteville State. A senior guard, Worthy was named first team All-CIAA in the 2021-22 season when he averaged 14.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 30 games (28 starts) for the Broncos. The 2017 Huss graduate is one of several […]
By Richard Walker Perhaps the strangest Charlotte 49ers’ football season in the school’s 10-year history comes to an end on Saturday in what promises to be an emotional 3:30 p.m. matchup against Louisiana Tech. Five graduate players, 13 redshirt seniors and two true seniors will be honored before the game in their home finale which […]
By Richard Walker Burns and Shelby opened their bids for a Southern Piedmont 1A/2A Conference title on Friday night with high-scoring road victories. Burns set a school record for single game scoring in a 74-0 win over Highland Tech in a game played at Gastonia’s Huss High School and Shelby won 70-0 at Cherryville as […]
By Richard Walker When Cramer opened in 2013, since the school was so close to South Point, it seemed natural that the schools would soon become rivals. Well, as the ninth renewal of the series opens Big South 3A Conference play for both teams at Cramer on Friday night, the host Storm still seek its […]
By Richard Walker The 2022 high school football season opens in Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties on Friday night. Here’s a look at the history of this week’s games: Anson County at Mountain Island Charter – cancelled Ashbrook at Concord – Last year’s game, the first scheduled between the two schools, was cancelled Avery County […]
By Richard Walker Troy, Ala., made its third straight rally from a large deficit to win its first American Legion World Series title – and take the first title for Alabama in 55 years – on Tuesday with a 6-5 win over two-time defending champion Idaho Falls, Id. Idaho Falls was pursuing an unprecedented third […]
By Richard Walker Gaston Day School set school and county history on Thursday when it found out it won the N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association Wells Fargo all-sports award for Class 2A schools. The Spartans become the first Gaston County school in history to win a statewide all-sports award. In the 2021-22 school year, Gaston […]
By Richard Walker Local players are on the rosters of three of the seven baseball teams in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regionals that begin play later this week. North Greenville (45-8), the No. 1-ranked team in the country, is the No. 1 seed and host of the three-team Southeast Regional No. 1. Lenoir-Rhyne (44-11) […]
By Richard Walker Ten area high schools will be in the N.C. High School Athletic Association girls soccer playoffs that begin with Monday’s first-round games. There are four league champions – South Point (19-0) of the Big South 3A, East Gaston (15-2-1) of the Southern Piedmont 1A/2A and East Lincoln (15-3-3) of the Western Foothills […]
By Richard Walker The Gaston County Conference middle school track meet was held for the first time since 2019 on Tuesday – and Belmont’s boys and Holbrook’s girls came away as team championship at the Ashbrook High School track. Belmont won its first county title since 1992 and it marked the first time a Division […]
By Richard Walker Two league victories may not sound like much but for York Chester Middle School’s baseball program, it marks the best season in nearly 30 years. The Cougars, coached by Jason Huffstetler, improved to 2-6 on the season with Thursday’s 11-5 victory over Southwest. Shortstop Brandon Rice (2 hits), catcher Landon lafar (2 […]
By Richard Walker The Carolina Panthers stayed at No. 6 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft and chose a local player. Carolina selected N.C. State offensive tackle Ikem Okwunu, who played high school football at Providence Day. Ekwonu is the first N.C. State player drafted by the Panthers in their history. Carolina has five more […]
By Richard Walker Four local products have helped Wingate to a No. 1 NCAA Division II national baseball ranking, a top seed in the upcoming South Atlantic Conference tournament and a 40-win season – 2017 Crest High graduate Logan McNeely, 2018 North Gaston High graduate Austin Mitchell, 2020 Cherryville High graduate Brent Walls and 2021 […]
By Richard Walker HighSchoolOT.com named its second all-state boys basketball team and five players from Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties were honored. Here’s the full team with statistics and upcoming college destinations if available: Players are listed with their averages in the following format: points/rebounds/assists. And if a player notched more than 1.5 steals or […]
By Richard Walker Six teams from Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties will be competing in the N.C. High School Athletic Association boys tennis dual team playoffs that begin on Wednesday. Here are the first round pairings: Class 3A No. 4 South Point (11-0) hosts No. 13 Rockingham County (9-2) Class 3A No. 11 Crest (10-1) […]
By Richard Walker Two Gaston County high school prospects and the Carolina Panthers are preparing for this week’s NFL Draft in Paradise, Nev. Former East Gaston High standout Robert Washington and former South Point High standout Nick Muse are considered draft prospects or possibilities to sign free agent contracts for the draft that begins on […]
By Richard Walker Parker Agosta’s 1-hitter with 11 strikeouts in East Gaston’s 7-0 win over North Gaston in the 2022 Gaston County Baseball Championship finals on Thursday at Gastonia’s Sims Legion Park to earn him most valuable player honors. He was joined on the all-tournament team by East Gaston teammates Logan Agosta, Dylan Howell and […]
By Richard Walker Gastonia’s Harold Varner III keeps knocking on the door of his first PGA tour victory. But for the second straight year, Varner finished frustratingly close to a win when he finished one shot off the lead and tied for third place in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C. Varner (67-73-63-70) finished […]
By Richard Walker Earlier this year, a win on the Asian Tour gave Gastonia’s Harold Varner III a spot in his first-ever Master’s. On Sunday, Varner will take a third-round lead into RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, S.C., as he pursues his first-ever PGA tour win. Varner, a 2008 Forestview High graduate who also first […]
By Richard Walker Former Gaston and Lincoln county star athlete Sage Surratt will be a part of pro football history on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. when he and the Birmingham Stallions play the New Jersey Generals in the official restart of the old United States Football League. Surratt was a sixth round pick of the […]
By Richard Walker After improving by 10 wins but getting blown out in the play-in tournament for a second straight year, Charlotte Hornets fans almost certainly have mixed feelings about the franchise’s future. Has improvement from 23 wins in the 2019-20 season to 33 victories last year to 43 wins this season mean the trend […]
By Richard Walker The Charlotte Hornets begin what they hope is a two-game winning streak that’ll land them into the NBA playoffs for the 11th time in franchise history when they visit the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Both teams finished 43-39 in the regular season but the Hawks earned the right to […]
By Richard Walker John Drew, one of Gardner-Webb’s greatest basketball players in history, died on Sunday at 67 in Houston, Tex., of bone cancer. Drew is one of four eventual NBA players for the Runnin’ Bulldogs – Artis Gilmore, George Adams and Eddie Lee Wilkins are the others – and his No. 22 jersey is […]
By Richard Walker The Charlotte Hornets continued their strong finish to the season with a 124-108 home win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday afternoon. And the Hornets (43-39) will need to continue that momentum next week in the NBA play-in tournament to advance to the eight-team Eastern Conference playoffs. Charlotte finished as the No. […]
By Richard Walker Gastonia’s Harold Varner III struggled in Saturday’s unseasonable weather at The Master’s on Saturday. A 2008 Forestview High graduate, Varner shot a eight-over-par 80 to fall from a tie for sixth to a tie for 36th in arguably the PGA’s most prestigious annual event. Varner, who tees off at 11:10 a.m. for […]
By Richard Walker Gastonia’s Harold Varner III is tied for 11th after shooting a one-under-par 71 in the opening round of The Masters on Thursday. It is Varner’s first appearance in the prestigious tournament and the 2008 Forestview High graduate eagled one hole (No. 13) and birdied four others (Nos. 2, 8, 14 and 16) […]
By Richard Walker Former Belmont Abbey College assistant coach Jonas Hayes was named the 16th head men’s basketball coach in Georgia State history on Wednesday. Hayes, who coached at Belmont Abbey from 2007 to 2012, last Thursday guided Xavier to the NIT championship as an interim head coach. Hayes was named interim head coach at […]
By Richard Walker Gastonia’s Harold Varner III will tee off at 1:08 p.m. on Thursday in his first career appearance at the prestigious Master’s golf tournament in Augusta, Ga. A 2008 Forestview High graduate, Varner qualified through his high world golf ranking (currently No. 40) and he is paired with Sergio Garcia and Thomas Pieters. […]
By Richard Walker The Charlotte Knights begin their 2022 season with a six-game road trip to Norfolk that begins Tuesday night at 6:35 p.m. The team held its annual media day and Gastonia’s Wes Helms, entering his second season as manager, is thrilled to have a traditional schedule and protocol after the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled […]
By Richard Walker Two local baseball programs had a good weekend as Gaston College recorded a three-game sweep to reach 30 victories and Belmont Abbey won two of three games at perennial power Mount Olive. Gaston College won 7-4 and 4-3 in extra innings on Saturday then won 9-8 on Sunday to improve to 30-2 […]
By Richard Walker For the 27th time, an ACC team will play for the NCAA championship following Saturday’s 81-77 North Carolina victory over Duke in the Final Four in New Orleans. Duke has advanced to the title game to most (11 times) and won five NCAA tournament titles with six runner-up finishes. North Carolina has […]
By Richard Walker Former Belmont Abbey assistant coach Jonas Hayes guided Xavier to Thursday’s NIT championship as an interim head coach. Named interim head coach on March 16 when Xavier fired head coach Travis Steele, Hayes was an assistant coach at Belmont Abbey for five seasons (2007-08 to 2011-12) and has also been an assistant […]
By Richard Walker Back-to-back nail-biting wins over South Point this week have extended Crest’s conference winning streak to 35 games as well put the Chargers in first place of the Big South 3A Conference standings. As rain wiped away all area games on Thursday, the Chargers (9-3, 6-0) are idle until hosting North Gaston on […]
By Richard Walker The Charlotte 49ers and Gardner-Webb announced their 2022 college football schedules on Wednesday. Charlotte plays a schedule with eight Conference USA games and seven 2021 bowl teams and includes a first-ever home game against a Big Ten opponent (Maryland) and first-ever road game at South Carolina of the SEC. Fourth-year 49ers head […]
By Richard Walker North Gaston High School has a new football coach. Dan Rothwell, a Michigan native who spent 10 years coaching in his home state, was named North Gaston’s 10th head football coach on Tuesday. Rothwell has coached in Gaston and Mecklenburg counties the past six years, most recently as defensive line coach and […]
By Richard Walker The rebirth of the United States Football League could see the rebirth of one of the most accomplished athletes in North Carolina high school history. Sage Surratt, a star football and basketball player at East Lincoln and Lincolnton high schools, was selected with the 41st pick of the sixth round of the […]
By Richard Walker Nine NCAA schools have advanced to the Final Four 10 times or more – and three of them have advanced to this year’s Final Four as Duke, Kansas, North Carolina and Villanova make up the field that will play next weekend in New Orleans. North Carolina is making its record 21st Final […]
By Richard Walker On a Saturday in which Gaston College officially re-opened Sims Legion Park, its mascot “Mo the Rhino” was introduced and president Dr. John Hauser threw out the ceremonial first pitch, the baseball team set its own history. Right-handed pitcher Gus Hughes did the lion’s share of those honors with the first no-hit […]
By Richard Walker To call the current NFL offseason a rollercoaster would be an understatement. For the Carolina Panthers, that’s been unmistakably true as head coach Matt Rhule and general manager Scott Fitterer have tried to reshape a roster that ended last season 5-12 to complete a franchise-worst fourth straight losing season. This offseason, Carolina […]
By Richard Walker The Gaston County Conference middle school 2022 baseball and girls soccer seasons began on Thursday. Here are the results of baseball games: Belmont 18, Bessemer City 0: Zeke Pruitt and Gavin Smith combined on a no-hitter with eight strikeouts and Luke Oberman (3-3), Pruitt, Smith, Jonathan Kalmbach, Carter Rowe, Brody Crawford and […]
By Richard Walker The only good news for the Charlotte Hornets Wednesday was that they didn’t lose any ground in the Eastern Conference standings. With a chance for their longest winning streak since the 2015-16 season, the Hornets never led in a 121-106 home loss to the New York Knicks in front of 16,290 at […]
By Richard Walker The Gaston County Conference will crown its first middle school champions since 2019 in baseball, girls soccer and boys and girls track this spring. That starts this week for baseball and girls soccer on Thursday. In opening games for those two sports, Belmont visits Bessemer City, Mount Holly visits Grier, Southwest visits […]
By Richard Walker With a current world golf ranking of 40, Gastonia’s Harold Varner III will soon make a career milestone when he makes his debut at The Masters in Augusta, Ga. on Aug. 7-10. A 2008 Forestview High graduate, Varner is off to the best start of his career and this weekend will host […]
By Richard Walker The ACC continued a remarkable streak in NCAA tournament history when three teams advanced to this week’s Sweet 16. The league that started in 1954 has had at least one Sweet 16 team every year since 1980 – and has only missed out on the Sweet 16 five times in league history; […]
By Richard Walker Bessemer City’s Randall Pettus has been named N.C. 1A public high school player of the year and Class 1A first team all-state by hoopseen.com. A junior guard, Pettus averaged 26.4 points, 6.5 rebounds and 7.2 assists for the Yellow Jackets this season as they advanced to the state quarterfinals for the first […]
By Richard Walker One of Gaston County’s oldest sporting events will return after two years away due to the coronavirus pandemic as the Gaston County Baseball Championship returns in April to Gastonia’s Sims Legion Park. Started in 1987, the event will enter its 34th season with an eight-team field from among its 10 Gaston County […]
By Richard Walker Former Piedmont Community Charter and Kings Mountain High standout Adrian Delph continues picking up honors. Already named All-Sun Belt Conference for Appalachian State University, Delph on Wednesday was named first-team All-District by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). All-District honors are voted on by NABC-member coaches across NCAA Division I and […]
By Richard Walker A pair of Huss teammates are a part of NCAA women’s basketball tournament teams this week. For the Charlotte 49ers, 2002 Huss graduate Nicole Woods is a ninth-year assistant coach for a school making its third NCAA tournament appearance in history – and first since 2009. Charlotte is the No. 13 seed […]
By Richard Walker One week after joining the official National Junior College Athletic Association rankings for the first in school history in any sport, Gaston College moved up to No. 8 in the Division II poll that was announced on Monday. The Rhinos went 3-1 last week to give them a 20-win season with a […]
By Richard Walker The NCAA men’s basketball tournament field was announced on Sunday and five ACC teams, nearby Davidson and three teams with local connections in the 68-team field. ACC champion Virginia Tech, which became the first No. 7 seed to win the tournament when it knocked off top-seeded Duke 82-67 on Saturday, is the […]
By Richard Walker We’re two weeks into high school baseball season and all leagues will begin conference play this week if they haven’t already. Five teams in Cleveland, Gaston and Lincoln counties remain unbeaten – Burns (5-0) in Cleveland County, South Point 3-0) in Gaston County and East Lincoln (4-0), Lincoln Charter (4-0) and North […]
By Richard Walker The Belmont Sports Hall of Fame will return this year with a championship-winning football coach as the featured speaker. After being cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event that began in 1987 will be held on Tuesday, April 19 and 7 p.m. at Park Street United Methodist Church […]
By Richard Walker Holbrook Middle School’s girls basketball team completed one of the most dominant championship runs in Gaston County Conference history on Wednesday when it defeated W.C. Friday 51-12 in the 2022 title game at the Ashbrook High School gymnasium. The Lions not only completed a 12-0 season but they outscored their opponents by […]
By Richard Walker It’s been “back to the future” week for Augusta, Ga., University head basketball coach Dip Metress. Though in his 18th year as Jaguars head coach, Metress will face the school where he shined as a player and a coach in the quarterfinals of the 2022 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional on Saturday. […]
By Richard Walker Shelby High’s Kate Hollifield and Ford “Scooter” Lawrence took top honors for Southern Piedmont 1A/2A girls basketball in voting done by league coaches. Hollifield, who averaged 17.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.6 steals, was named the league player of the year. She finished her career with 1,720 points and has […]
By Richard Walker Quest Aldridge scored 23 points, hitting 13 of 15 free throws, and No. 3 seed Belmont Abbey used a late run to upset ninth-ranked and top-seeded UNC-Pembroke 79-73 on Sunday in the 2022 Conference Carolinas men’s basketball championship game played at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. It was the Crusaders’ (22-9) second […]
By Richard Walker Before last season, Shelby High’s girls basketball team had never even advance to a state championship. On Saturday at noon at Greensboro Grimsley High School, the defending state champion Golden Lions (22-2) will look to make their second straight appearance in the title game. The task will be daunting as Shelby faces […]