Members of Surry Central’s Golden Eagle Football Camp pose for a picture after two days of action. An additional 35 K-2 aged footballers attended the camp, but are not pictured. Between the two days of camp, more than 100 children took part in events.

Surry Central’s Mason Jewell tries not to get ran over during a tackling drill.

Former Golden Eagle standout Karson Crouse watches as campers execute a simulated tackling drill.

Surry Central varsity football coach Monty Southern gathers dozens of campers together at the end of the Golden Eagle football camp.

The third-sixth graders take part in a punt-pass-kick competition during the Golden Eagle Football Camp.

Surry Central assistant coach Stephen Priddy records distances during a passing competition.

Surry Central’s Eli Scott fields punts taken by campers.

Surry Central High School hosted the largest Golden Eagles Football Camp ever on May 31-June 1.

The two-day camp saw more than 100 children come out and take part in drills. Campers received instruction from Surry Central’s varsity coaching staff, as well as past and current members of the Eagles’ football team.

For the first time, the camp allowed children between kindergarten and second grade to attend. Depending on the day there were up to 35 K-2 campers in attendance.

Campers were also able to meet with coaches of the Dobson Eagles youth football organization to find out more about the league.

Former Bear Mounce wins Dutch Championship

Surry Central High School hosted the largest Golden Eagles Football Camp ever on May 31-June 1.

The two-day camp saw more than 100 children come out and take part in drills. Campers received instruction from Surry Central’s varsity coaching staff, as well as past and current members of the Eagles’ football team.

For the first time, the camp allowed children between kindergarten and second grade to attend. Depending on the day there were up to 35 K-2 campers in attendance.

Campers were also able to meet with coaches of the Dobson Eagles youth football organization to find out more about the league.

Mount Airy Middle School recognized two student-athletes as part of the school’s 2021-22 year-end awards.

Award winners were selected based on their success in the classroom as well as athletics.

The winner of the John Hamilton Award was Taeshon Martin. Martin, the son of Helena Shuff, was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track.

The winner of the Mary Alice Hayes Award was Audrey Brown. Brown, the daughter of Greg and Lynn Brown, was a two-sport athlete in tennis and softball.

East Surry High School senior Maegan Banks officially signed her NJCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue her academic and softball careers at Surry Community College.

“Playing college ball is a dream come true for me,” Banks said. “I’m excited to start on this journey.”

Banks joins a Surry Community team that is coming off one its best seasons ever. The 2022 Lady Knights won a program record 35 games, finished second in Region 10 play and ranked as high as No. 18 in the National Junior College Athletic Association DII National Poll.

In addition to their team success, Surry Community’s coaching staff of Blaine Bullington, Joel Jones and Gary Stone was named the Regional Coaching Staff of the Year by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

“Surry is close to home and offers a great start toward my degree and career path,” Banks said. “I really like the coaches, and felt a connection with them from the start. I have already been taking classes at SCC while in high school, so it feels like home.”

Banks was a four-year varsity starter with the Lady Cards softball program. She was an All-Conference selection her junior year, and helped East Surry win the Northwest 1A Conference Championship that same season.

Maegan played pitcher and outfield during her time at East. Banks’ reliability and willingness to do whatever the needed made her a vital piece of the Cardinals’ team.

“The best way to describe Maegan is consistent and confident,” said Cardinal coach Randy Marion. “I have always known that – as a coach – I could count on Maegan to give her best, and that the moment wasn’t going to be too big for her.”

Playing college softball has always been Banks’ goal, she said. She began playing at age 8 in East Surry Little League, then went on to play recreation, travel and high school softball.

“Travel ball has been the biggest factor in preparing me for being a college athlete,” Banks said. “I’ve worked hard, putting in countless hours and days, as well as overcame a couple of injuries to get here.”

She carried this work ethic into East Surry and became a leader for the Lady Cards.

“One of the great things about Maegan is she leads by example. She doesn’t mind putting in the extra work and her teammates see that,” Marion said. “She has worked extremely hard toward getting physically stronger over the course of her high school career, and it definitely paid off the last couple of years for her out in the field and at the plate.”

Banks extended gratitude toward multiple people for helping her get to this point:

“I’d like to thank God for leading and directing me through life in every way. I’d also like to thank my parents for taking care of me, driving me to countless practices, pitching lessons and tournaments and for always supporting me. They’ve always cheered me on no matter what.

“Thank you to all of my coaches through the years, for the good and tough times, for the support, instruction and encouragement, which has helped me become the softball player I am today.”

East Surry High School is set to host youth basketball camps during the first and second full weeks of June.

The Lady Cardinals Girls Basketball Camp is set for June 6-8. The camp will be held daily from 7:45 a.m. to noon and is open to rising third through rising ninth graders.

The East Surry Boys Basketball Camp will take place the following week from June 14-16, and will also run daily from 7:45 a.m. to noon. The boys camp is open to rising third through rising eighth graders.

Each camp features individual instruction and drills from experienced coaching staffs led by varsity girls coach Jay Boaz and varsity boys coach Chad Motsinger. Daily activities include individual skills development and competitions, shooting competitions and the potential to compete against camp counselors. Campers will also take part in team games with emphasis on teamwork, communication and movement without the ball.

The coaching staffs will encourage and teach fundamental basketball with an emphasis on maintaining the campers’ enthusiasm and having lots of fun. Campers will receive instruction on ball handling, offensive movements, defense and agility. Additionally, players will develop valuable skills to further their game with a specific focus on position play.

Through guest speakers, these camps will also teach campers to learn essential leadership qualities, the importance of teamwork and the power of positivity.

Cost for each camp is $100 payable by cash or check on the first day of camp. A t-shirt is included in the price of registration. Registration forms can be found online at bit.ly/3N862Ls

With questions, contact Coach Boaz at jboaz410@gmail.com or Coach Motsinger at cwmotsinger@gmail.com

After two years of pandemic-related shutdowns and delays, all spring sports state championships are back on schedule across the country, including some storied track and field meets.

More than two million students are involved in the traditional spring sports of track and field, baseball, softball and lacrosse, along with other sports and performing arts programs – the first opportunities for full-scale participation in some states since 2019.

Outdoor track and field is the top combined participatory sport at the high school level, with 605,354 boys and 488,267 girls involved in the sport rich in state championship history. Several state associations are into their second century of state meets in track and field, and competition – and attendance – is off to a great start.

In Iowa, where its first state high school track meet was held in 1906, a record three-day attendance of 39,415 was set last weekend in Des Moines as the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union staged another successful event.

In a state that has produced many record track performances since conducting its first boys state meet in 1911, the Texas University Interscholastic League completed another outstanding event May 12-14. Flower Mound High School took home top honors as the Class 6A girls champion, led by distance runner Natalie Cook who won both the 1,600 and 3,200 meters.

Four states with even longer track and field histories are set to begin state meets in the coming days. This weekend, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) will stage its 102nd State Track Meet after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

In a meet that annually draws more than 20,000 spectators to Buchanan High School in Clovis, the CIF State Track Meet has produced a Who’s Who of competitors over the years, including Allyson Felix, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Misty May-Treanor, Bobby Bonds, Lynn Swann, Reggie Bush and many others.

In a meet that began in 1908, the Ohio High School Athletic Association will hold its 114th Boys State Track Meet, as well as its 47th Girls State Meet June 3-4 at Jesse Owens Stadium in Columbus.

However, the true granddaddies of high school track and field are Wisconsin and Illinois. The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, after being shutout in 2020 and delayed to nearly July last year, will hold its 126th State Track Meet June 3-4 in La Crosse.

In Illinois, where the first state track meet was contested in 1893, the Illinois High School Association will conduct its three-day event later this week at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

Beyond opportunities for participation in state meets, the spring sports of baseball and softball have provided one individual and one team a chance to overcome adversity and challenges.

Easton Arendt has not let his disability of only two fingers on his left hand keep him from succeeding in high school baseball. The sophomore pitcher at De Pere High School in Wisconsin recently led De Pere to a 4-0 shutout victory with 12 strikeouts. In an article on the WFRV-TV (Green Bay) website, Arendt had the following comments:

”Early on, I would think to myself having this disability, I wouldn’t be able to do the things other people can. Then I got the mindset of working twice as hard as everybody else on the field or in any sport that I’m playing. Early on in my grade school days, there were times that I didn’t fit in with the other guys or classmates that I had, but that made me want to work even harder and prove to them that I can do the things that I can do. I used to view it as a disability, but now that I’m at this level, I use it as just a hand. I want to make kids that may have the same effect or something a little bit different to know that they can succeed.”

More than 360,000 girls are involved in fast-pitch softball across the country, but no team has won fewer games and yet learned more life lessons than Pasadena (California) Marshall High School.

In an article by Bill Plaschke in the Los Angeles Times, this incredible team, which recently completed an 0-18 season and has won only one non-forfeited game in three years, has truly demonstrated that high school sports is indeed much more than the final score. It is much more than winning games and championships. No, high school sports is about “improving each day,” about “showing up every day,” about “forming bonds, creating friendships, growing together,” about “laughing together, sweating together, playing hard together,” as some of the players shared.

We salute high school coaches and athletic directors across the country who have been instrumental in making sure student-athletes are involved in spring sports and performing arts.

Surry Central High School senior Kade Norman officially signed his NJCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue his academic and baseball careers at Rockingham Community College.

“It is a great honor to be able to play baseball at the next level while also furthering my education,” Norman said. “This has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Growing up I was always a three-sport athlete, but my love for baseball was always at the top. It feels great to know that all the cage work and extra time spent on the field paid off.

“RCC just seems like a great fit for me. I am just excited to get to play and work with my new teammates and coaching staff to continue to grow in this game.”

Even before he became the Golden Eagles’ head coach in 2020, Jeff Edmonds saw the impact that Norman had on and off the baseball field. This impact increased as Norman gained more and more experience at the varsity level.

“Kade was the steadying leader of our team each year he was here,” Edmonds said. “He came in as a freshman and became the first baseman and cleanup hitter right away. As he grew, he encouraged our younger players to be more accountable in their roles as varsity players, much as he did as a younger player here. He’s been the right voice for bringing our group together through good periods and tough patches.”

Norman’s leadership set him apart in all three of his sports. Selflessness was his trademark as he did whatever was asked of him, whether that be diving head first into a dogpile to recover a fumble, putting his body on the line to draw a charge late in a basketball game, or nearly doing a complete split to make an out at first base.

This also meant Norman was willing to step up in high pressure situations.

“He wants to be the guy at the plate with runners in scoring position, and he always gives a solid at-bat,” Edmonds said.

Kade was one of the players primed for a breakout season in 2020 before it was cancelled. He came back the following season and looked like he hadn’t missed a game.

This is when Edmonds realized college ball was more than just a dream for Norman.

“During his junior year, I saw Kade begin to drive balls with power to the middle of the field and the opposite gap while still being able to get to pitches on the inner half of the plate,” Edmonds said. “He showed an ability to handle velocity. I think he has the skill to hit well at the next level, especially when he’s focused year-round on baseball and hitting in particular.”

Just as the Golden Eagles football and basketball teams did earlier in the year, Surry Central’s baseball team had its strongest season in a handful of years. The Eagles started the season 11-3, and made the team’s first appearance in the state playoffs since 2017.

“Surry Central baseball and Surry Central sports as a whole was an amazing experience for me,” Norman said. “I loved the guys I got to play with, and they will all hold a special place in my heart.”

“I’m really happy for Kade that he’s getting an opportunity to go to school and to play baseball,” Edmonds said. “He’s a great student, and he knows what he wants to do with his life once baseball ends for him. Hopefully the baseball will continue going a good bit.”

In addition to his friends and teammates, Norman extended thanks to his parents, coaches and God for helping him get to this point.

“I would like to thank my parents for pushing me to be the best that I could be, and all of my coaches over the years; I would not have this opportunity if it wasn’t for these people,” Norman said. “A special thanks to Coach Edmonds and Coach [Hank] Whitaker for helping me get where I am, from contacting and talking to college coaches to helping me get into the cage when the weather was bad.

“And lastly, I would like to thank God for giving me the physical ability to play this game. I am truly blessed.”

East Surry High School senior Joseph Grezmak officially signed his NJCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue his academic and football careers at Louisburg College.

“It’s an amazing feeling. I’ve always wanted to play college ball since I first started in little league,” Grezmak said.

Before becoming an intimidating force on East Surry’s defensive line as a senior, Grezmak stepped away from the sport for a few years and didn’t pick it back up until his sophomore year.

“Since then I’ve dedicated a lot of time and effort to making myself a better athlete to be able to play in college,” Grezmak said.

“Joseph is a great young man that has really grown and matured,” said East Surry coach Trent Lowman. “He began playing with us as a sophomore and started to figure the game out pretty quick. He came in last spring after the quarantine and time off and had lost around 50-60 pounds. He’d really improved his health, but changed how he played the game and almost had to start from scratch again.”

Spots opened up on East Surry’s defensive line after the team lost its six-leading tacklers from the 2020-21 season. The turnaround was faster than usual, though, as the season ended in May and started again in August.

Instead of taking an offseason, Grezmak lived in the weight room to prepare for his senior year. He was already an animal at 6-foot-5, but he became even scarier when he, “put some weight back on in all the right areas,” according to Lowman. He entered the 2021-22 season listed at 245 pounds.

Grezmak quickly found his niche with the Cardinals’ defense as he turned into an All-Conference player. East Surry held opponents to fewer than 10 points per game during the regular season and fewer than 15 ppg for the season.

Joseph finished the year with 77 total tackles, 14.0 tackles for a loss and 4.0 sacks. He also blocked a punt, forced a fumble and led the team with four fumble recoveries – two of which he took to the end zone.

“We knew he was very capable as a player and a person to be a solid member of the squad, but we were all pleasantly surprised at his growth on the field and especially in the locker room,” Lowman said. “He became a huge asset to our team in many capacities and will definitely be missed.”

East Surry finished the season 13-1 overall. The Cardinals won the Foothills 2A Conference Championship and were Regional Runners-up in the 2A West. East’s only loss of the year came against the eventual 2A State Champions.

“Coming through East Surry is the best experience someone could ask for,” Grezmak said. “There are great coaches that set high standards and that are going to help you through anything and always be there for you. And, there’s an amazing community that supports the football team every Friday night.”

Grezmak has progressed greatly each year since returning to football in 2019. He said he was attracted to Louisburg because it gives him an opportunity to continue growing, which would then allow him to transfer to a four-year school and continue his playing career.

“I’d like to thank every coach I’ve ever had, but especially Coach Lowman for helping me turn my dream into a reality,” Grezmak said. “Also, I’d like to thank my family and friends who have supported me in the long run.”

“One thing is for certain: there is only one Joseph Grezmak!” Lowman said. “I love him, and I’m glad I was blessed to teach and coach him.”

Mount Airy High School is hosting two basketball camps during June.

The Northwest Basketball Academy is scheduled for June 13-16 and is open to rising third through ninth grade boys.

The camp runs daily from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and features individual instruction and drills from an experienced coaching staff led by varsity boys coach Bryan Hayes. Coach Hayes recently recorded his 100th career win as a head coach.

Daily activities include individual skills competitions, shooting competitions and the potential to compete against camp records. Campers will also take part in team Games with emphasis on teamwork, communication and selflessness.

The coaching staff will encourage and teach fundamental basketball with an emphasis on having fun. Campers will receive instruction on ball handling, offensive movements, defense and agility. Additionally, guards and posts will develop valuable skills to further their game with specific position work

This camp will also teach campers to learn essential leadership qualities, the importance of communication and life skills

Lunch will not be provided, so the instructors ask that campers be sent with lunch boxes or coolers. Drinks will be available for purchase daily in the concession stand. Parents/guardians may also bring their child lunch and are welcome to watch camp activities.

Cost of registration is $100, or $90 for second family members. All campers will receive a t-shirt.

The Mount Airy Lady Bears Basketball Camp is scheduled for June 27-30 is open to rising third through ninth grade girls.

The camp runs daily from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and features instruction from a two-time state championship coaching staff featuring: Angela Mayfield, a Mount Airy graduate that played basketball at Catawba College, and who just completed her sixth season as Lady Bears head coach in which she won her 100th game at the school; Abby Gallimore, who played basketball at North Surry and William Peace College and has coached basketball at the middle and high school levels for 21 years; Alica Henson, who played at North Surry and Montreat College.

Registration is $60 and includes a t-shirt. Contact Coach Mayfield for family discounts.

Forms for each camp can be found at bit.ly/3zf5wqC

Checks should be made out to Mount Airy High School. Registration forms, waiver & release forms and payments should be dropped off in the Mount Airy High School front office or mailed to 1011 N. South Street, Mount Airy NC 27030 addressed to either Coach Angela Mayfield or Coach Bryan Hayes.

The North Surry Greyhounds Boys Basketball Camp is set for June 20-23.

The camp will be held inside North Surry’s Ron King Gymnasium and is open to rising third through ninth graders.

Camp is held daily from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cost is $100 if registered on or before June 1, and $120 after. A t-shirt is included with the registration fee.

The camp is sponsored by the North Surry varsity and JV basketball programs. Counselors include: head coach Tyler Bentley; assistant coaches Tanner Hiatt, Jackson Smith and Rocky Horton; and current and former Greyhound basketball players.

The 2021-22 varsity Greyhounds finished with an overall record of 23-5. North Surry finished 12-0 in the Foothills 2A Conference, and swept the regular season and conference tournament championships. The Hounds finished the season as 2A West Regional Runners-up after falling to the eventual state champions in the Final Four.

Coach Bentley was named FH2A Coach of the Year, and five players were named either All-Conference or All-Conference Honorable Mention: Jahreece Lynch, James McCreary, Kolby Watson, Jackson Smith and Cam Taylor.

Registration forms can be found at bit.ly/3lTGrtN

With questions, contact Coach Bentley via email bentleys@surry.k12.nc.us or call North Surry High School at 336-789-5055.

WALNUT COVE — South Stokes dropped the second game of the 1A West Regional Championship on May 25.

Top-seeded South Stanly used a 5-run sixth inning to take its first lead of the game at 8-5. The No. 11-seeded Lady Sauras scored once and loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh, but failed to equalize before the Rowdy Rebel Bulls recorded the final out.

South Stokes (21-8) falls just short of reaching its first State Championship since 1998, while South Stanly (28-3) returns to the 1A State Championship Series for a second-consecutive season.

The Sauras remained firmly in control through the first five innings of play. Pitcher Madison Wilson allowed just two hits and one base on balls during this time, meanwhile striking out six batters.

Offensively, South Stokes recorded seven of its 12 total hits in the first five innings, helping the home team build up a 4-0 lead.

Wilson started the game with a single, but was called out at second on a fielder’s choice hit by Rebecca Amos. Amos stole second just before the second out, then teammate Addison Flynt hit a line drive to center field to score Amos and put South up 1-0.

The first three innings were completed in less than 30 minutes. South Stanly went three up, three down at the plate in in the first, second and fourth innings with just one hit coming during the second. South Stokes went three up, three down in the second and third innings after scoring in its opening at-bat.

Lady Saura Sydney Patterson was walked to lead off the bottom of the fourth. Patterson went to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Flynt, then rounded second and dashed to third when she saw the Bulls’ third baseman was out of position. Emily Mitchell joined Patterson on base when she a line drive into the thigh of a Bulls infielder.

With runners on the corners, Ryleigh Pinnix crushed a 3-run home run to put South Stokes up 4-0.

South Stanly recorded its second hit in the top of the fifth, but couldn’t advance past second base. The Bulls did manage to get on the board in the sixth, though.

South Stokes forced two quick outs in the top of the sixth thanks to a fly out and an unassisted ground out at first base. South Stanly put a runner on base after a Saura fielding error, then the Bulls’ Mattie Poulus hit a 2-run homer to cut the lead in half.

Still with two outs, Wilson walked the next two batters. South Stanly’s Mary-Ryan Hinson placed a blooper just over second base to bring another runner across the plate and make it 4-3.

South Stokes’ Pinnix singled up the middle to begin the bottom of the sixth, then she was joined on base by Mackenzie Smith after a line drive to left field. A Bulls fielding error on Smith’s hit allowed Pinnix to reach home and make it 5-3.

Wilson walked the first two batters of the top of the seventh to prompt a pitching chance. Mitchell took the mound but also walked back-to-back batters, this time scoring a run to make it 5-4. Poulos hit a sacrifice fly to bring in the tying run, then a 3-run homer hit by Cassidy Smith gave South Stanly its first lead of the game.

Wilson re-entered as pitcher and helped the Sauras escape without allowing any more runs.

South Stokes kept its composure in the bottom of the seventh. Amos and Patterson hit back-to-back singles, then Flynt was hit by a pitch. South Stanly’s Poulos threw her fourth strikeout of the game to leave bases loaded, but an error on a hit by Pinnix scored South Stokes’ sixth run.

After 6.1 innings on the mound, in which she allowed six runs on 12 hits, Poulos was pulled from the mound and replaced by Glover Ali.

Smith put the ball into play as Ali’s first batter, but the hit went right at the third baseman who made a quick throw to the plate for the second out. Ali struck out the next batter to secure the win for South Stanly.

South Stanly wins the Regional Championship Series 2-0. The Bulls’ first win over the Sauras – a 5-4 home victory – took place May 24.

South Stanly advances to the 1A State Championship Series and will face the winner of No. 1 Bear Grass Charter (23-4) and No. 2 Vance Charter (17-5).

Dobson native Adam Marion will be honored by Stewart-Haas Racing and driver Aric Almirola at Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

Army Private First Class Marion, a 2000 graduate of Surry Central High School, was serving in Iraq with the North Carolina National Guard in April 2008 when he was killed in action.

Almirola’s No. 10 car is customized with the stars and stripes of the U.S. flag, as well as a banner with Marion’s name at the top of the windshield. Adam’s parents, Pam and Donnie Marion, will be among those recognized prior to the May 29 race.

“I’m just so glad that we can do something to recognize him for all that he did for us; there’s truly no way to repay it,” said Joel Edmonds, who serves as Almirola’s spotter and has been involved in racing for three decades.

Edmonds grew up around Marion’s family and has been connected with them for most of his life. He said he still remembers where he was when the call came in about Adam.

“You know, there aren’t many people that live 26 years and accomplish as much as he did,” Edmonds said. “You look at all the good he did, and he’s still having that kind of impact so many years after.”

In addition to his military service, Marion was both a volunteer and a staff member at the Children’s Center of Northwest North Carolina. According to the Children Center’s community relations coordinator Valerie Smith, the center operates two residential homes for youth in Surry and Yadkin counties, as well as youth, family, and behavior health programs and services for both youth and families in seven counties in Northwest North Carolina.

Beginning in 2009, the Pfc. Adam Marion Memorial Golf Tournament has been held in his memory to raise funds for the center. The tournament became an annual springtime event and has raised more than $1 million.

The 2022 tournament featured more than 260 golfers and saw contributions made by several local businesses.

Because of the impact Marion had and continues to have on the community, Edmonds said he’s been trying to get him featured by multiple race teams over the years.

“There are so many of these heroes that have passed, so I knew it was always going to be a longshot that we could get him recognized,” Edmonds said. “I realize I’m getting toward the end of my career in full-time racing, so it really makes me feel good to finally get it done for him. The Lord works in mysterious ways, and it finally worked out that this could happen for Adam at this time.

“I’m very grateful that Stewart-Haas Racing and Aric Almirola worked to get him on the car and honor him. You always hear people say never forget, and that’s so true. You never want to forget that people like Adam are the reason that we’re able to do anything.”

Almirola made an appearance on Fox’s “Racehub Live” on May 25 and said the following on the decision to honor Marion:

“My family came over from Cuba in 1966, and we are so grateful for our freedom here in this country and the men and women that fight for it. This weekend, Memorial Day weekend, [it’s] such an awesome opportunity to race and to honor the men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice for us to have this freedom.”

When Edmonds heard the news that the race team approved his proposal, he said he immediately contacted Pam and Donnie to ensure they were okay with it.

“I just can’t imagine what strength it takes to put a smile on for all these tournaments, all these events,” Edmonds said. “I texted Donnie, and he replied two minutes later saying they would be honored. They didn’t know I’d been trying to do this for 10-12 years.

“I never did this for me, I just want people to know of Adam’s incredible life and sacrifice. Here we are 14 years later and he’s getting stuff accomplished that we can’t while we’re here.”

The Coca-Cola 600 takes place Sunday, May 29 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a scheduled 6 p.m. start time.

Mount Airy High School senior Sydney Seagraves officially signed her NCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue her academic and softball careers at Concord University.

“I’m really excited,” Seagraves said. “Up until a couple months ago I didn’t want to play in college, but I loved Concord and how it felt. It made me want to play softball again.

“I like how small the college is and how you get one-on-one with the professors, and also the coaches. The coaches know what they’re doing; they’re not super old, but not super young. It’s perfect because they can relate to you and help you.”

Seagraves’ ability to play collegiate softball was never a doubt for Mack Hodges, who coached her all four years of high school.

“To see her growth as a pitcher, a leader and a hitter has been fun to watch,” Hodges said. “She’s a natural leader on the softball field. She’s our best player and she’s willing to work as hard as anybody; that’s what you ask of your best players. She’s played third, first, pitched and she’d catch if we wanted her to. She would play anywhere that we needed her to play. She’s been a big part of what we do.”

Sydney began her journey in the sport with tee-ball before joining a 10U softball team at age 8. She initially started as a second baseman, but tried pitcher when her coached needed someone to step in.

“Ever since then I’ve been a pitcher,” she said.

She moved into the ranks of travel ball later and competed for such teams as the Drillers and Firecrackers. When Seagraves and her fellow class of 2022 members reached middle school, they quickly made history.

“The middle school hadn’t won a game in years, then my seventh grade year we finally won one,” Seagraves said. “It was the same with high school.”

The class of 2022 knew it had an uphill battle when they reached high school in the fall of 2018 since Mount Airy did not field a varsity softball team the previous spring. However, Seagraves said she knew there were a few good prospects that were coming with her from the middle school that wanted to help establish a program.

“We’ve struggled with numbers over the years for sure, but that senior group has been big,” Hodges said. “They’ve been around for four years, and they’ve battled through the fact that we’ve had to struggle with numbers and had to play with a lot of inexperienced players year after year. But, it never affected how they played and how hard they worked.”

The Lady Bears went winless in 2019, but only had two upperclassmen on the team and returned nearly everyone. The next season, Mount Airy picked up its first win in close to three years.

“Sydney’s sophomore year, the COVID year, we had a team that could’ve been a decent little group,” Hodges said. “We went and played at East Wilkes, and they’re always a pretty good team; Derrick [Hill] always does a great job. We go down there and beat them 1-0, and Sydney has a really good game pitching. That’s when I realized how special of a player she was and really started to see her growth.

“I remember she came off the field so excited and was like, “wait, we won?”

Unfortunately for the Bears, the season would be postponed less than 48 hours after the win before eventually being cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 2021 Granite Bears won their first three games for the program’s best start in more than a decade. Mount Airy was in a tough situation though as the regular season was shortened to a maximum of 14 games. The Bears were originally only supposed to play conference games, but only four of the six schools in the conference fielded softball teams.

“After last year, she kind of had some doubts about the future,” Hodges said. “I didn’t put any pressure on her. The biggest thing I told her was to keep her mind open and don’t shut the door completely, and just let her come back to it naturally. I think as she got closer to the time she realized how much she would miss it.

“She’s had a lot of big games for us this year, and has helped give us opportunities to win.”

Returning for her senior season helped open the door for Seagraves to find her college of choice, of which she is extremely grateful.

“I want to thank all my coaches and just everybody who’s helped me get to where I am, especially my mom and my dad,” Seagraves said.

Surry Central High School is hosting the Eagles Nest Basketball Camp June 6-9.

The camp is open to boys and girls that are rising third through ninth graders.

Daily camp is from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with the gym open at 8 a.m. each day. Cost is $110 and includes a t-shirt if registered after May 31. The early bird rate for the camp is $100 if registered by May 31.

Each day campers will take part in skill stations, instruction from coaches, individual competitions – such as Knockout, Hot Shot, 1-on-1-on-1 and free throw shooting) and daily league games.

The camp is sponsored by the Surry Central Basketball Programs. Counselors include: coach Marty Behrens and varsity boys coaching staff, coach Mandy Holt and the varsity girls coaching staff, coaches from Central Middle School and players from the Golden Eagle basketball teams.

Gatorade, water and concessions will be available all week, and pizza will be available to order each morning at $2.50 a slice.

Championship games and an awards ceremony will be held Thursday, June 9 around 2 p.m.

Registration forms can be found at bit.ly/3lJQ3ac

If you have questions, email Coach Mandy Holt (holtma@surry.k12.nc.us) or call Surry Central High School at 336-386-8842

RANDLEMAN — East Surry’s baseball season came to an end Friday in a fourth-round playoff game against the defending 2A State Champion, Randleman.

The Cardinals were held to just two hits in their first true playoff road game in six years, while the home Tigers had 10 hits – including a trio of home runs. East couldn’t convert when it chances to put runs on the board, and Randleman made the Cards pay for any mistakes.

Randleman advances to the Regional Championship for the third-straight postseason with a 10-0 win.

“I told the kids that we had to play just about a perfect game to have a chance. We didn’t, and they made us pay,” said East Surry coach Chad Freeman. “You tip your hat because they are the better team. There’s nothing else you can say about it really.”

Friday’s game marked East Surry’s fourth-consecutive appearance in the fourth round of the state playoffs, which is the second-longest active streak in the state among all classifications. The only team with more consecutive fourth-round appearances is Randleman, who competed in its 11th-straight in 2022. Since 2011, the Tigers have won two 2A State Titles and finished 2A State Runner-up three times.

“They’re so good and just relentless,” Freeman said. “One through nine, every single kid that they’ve got in the lineup takes great approaches and they don’t get fooled very often at the plate.”

Luke Brown and Anthony Ayers served as the Cards’ two pitchers against the Tigers (29-1). Brown faced 25 batters in 3.2 innings on the mound, allowing nine runs – including four earned runs – on eight hits, with five strikeouts and three walks. Ayers faced three batters to close the fourth inning and open the fifth, allowing one run on two hits.

“The score won’t show it, but Luke didn’t throw a bad game,” Freeman said, referencing costly fielding errors by the Cardinals that contributed to the five unearned runs. Freeman also mentioned the shallow outfield fence on the lines of Joe Brookshire field.

“With those first two home runs that put them up 4-0…I mean, they hit them well, but if we’re at our field or many other fields it’s at most a 1-0 lead,” Freeman said. [Luke] pitched well, it’s just that playing in this environment, at this field against this team was a different animal. They’re defending state champs for a reason, and they’re going to win states again.”

East Surry (24-2) put runners on base in the first, third and fifth innings. Leadoff Luke Bowman singled to start the game and was sacrificed over to second base, but was left on after a strikeout and a flyout.

In the third inning, Trey Armstrong was hit by a pitch and Folger Boaz rocked a double to move Armstrong to third with no outs. The Tigers met at the mound to regroup and it worked, as pitcher Drake Purvis struck the next three batters out.

Purvis, a sophomore left-handed pitcher committed to N.C. State, finished with nine strikeouts in five innings.

“Gotta give credit to Purvis,” Freeman said. “He buckled down when runners got on base, and we didn’t do what we needed to and execute in good situational approaches. That’s the difference between being in a game and still having a shot, to getting beat 10-0.”

Another Cardinal, Brett Clayton, was hit by a pitch in the fifth inning with one out. Randleman forced a double play to end the inning by catching a fly ball and getting the out at first.

East Surry finishes the year 24-2, and Freeman said the players have a lot to be proud of looking back on the season.

“The feeling right now stinks because you’re coming off of a loss, but I told the guys after the game not to let this game diminish what all we accomplished this season,” Freeman said. “I told them: ‘you bumped up to a new classification even though we’re still 1A size. We went 24-2. We made it to the fourth round against the defending 2A State Champions. It’s been one heck of a year.’

“I’m so thankful for the kids that I’ve got. They’re wonderful young men, competitive players and most importantly they’re good people. That makes it even easier and even better as a coach when you’ve got players that will play hard and love each other. It was a special season with a special group, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

East Surry had to come ready to play night in and night out, Freeman said, and added that was what pushed the team to get even better. He spoke of the “tremendous talent” in and around Surry County, and said it was evident by the close games the Cardinals had against the likes of North Surry, Forbush, Surry Central and West Stokes.

Following Friday’s game, Freeman gave a final salute to the Cardinal seniors: Bowman, Ayers, Armstrong, Peyton Inscore, Tristen Mason and Anthony Ward.

“You look back and these kids were sophomores when COVID hit, and several of them would’ve been part of a big run with that strong group that never got to play their senior season,” he said. “They took us on an amazing journey last year to a state championship appearance and played two tight games in the state finals.

“Then, they took us to a 24-2 season this year with a conference championship, a conference tournament championship and a fourth-round appearance – again, all while we are still pretty dang small and going against some pretty big and very good 2A teams. It’s a great group of kids, and I’m blessed to be their coach.

No. 1 Randleman faces No. 15 Community School of Davidson (17-6) in the West Regional Championship. The winner of the best 2-of-3 series in the West advances to the 2A State Championship Series to face the winner of the East’s No. 4 Whiteville (21-3) and No. 15 North Lenoir (19-8).

Reach Cory on Twitter @MaNewsSports

GREENSBORO — Millennium Charter and Mount Airy took part in the 1A State Championship Track and Field Meet on May 21.

The meet, held at N.C. A&T University’s Marcus T. Johnson Track inside Truist Stadium, featured four three individuals and one relay team from local 1A schools. Another local relay team qualified for the state meet, but was unable to compete.

Results are listed below by school.

Team points were accumulated for each school’s top-8 individual finish: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 6 for third, 5 for fourth and one point fewer through eighth place.

Millennium’s 4×800-meter relay team was the school’s second-ever state qualifier in outdoor track. One of the relay team members, junior Ava Utt, was the school’s first state qualifier in 2021. She was also the school’s first medalist by taking bronze in high jump last year.

Utt was part of girls 4×800 relay team that also featured Lion sophomore Clara Minix, as well as freshmen River Edge and Ruby Hoerter. The girls finished No. 11 in the race with a time of 12:00.42.

The Granite Bears had four state qualifiers in the boys competition: three individuals and one relay team.

Mount Airy’s 4×100 relay team of Mario Revels, Connor Burrell, Caleb Reid and Tyler Mason qualified by finishing fourth in the 1A West Regional Championship, but wasn’t able to compete at states due to an injury.

The three individual state qualifiers all finished just off the podium in their respective events.

Sophomore Deric Dandy competed in his first state championship meet and took fifth in the discus throw. Dandy’s best mark was 134-04.

Sophomores Blake Hawks and Caden Ratcliff also finished fifth in their respective events. Hawks competed in the triple jump as a freshman and finished No. 6 with a mark of 40-03.25. He improved to 41-02.00 in 2022 to finished fifth.

Ratcliff competed in the 800 meters as both a freshman and a sophomore. He took the No. 15 spot in 2021 with a time of 2:22.70, and improved to No. 5 with a time of 2:05.53 in 2022. The top-5 finishes in this year’s race were separated by less than six seconds.

Mount Airy’s boys were tied for No. 20 as a team with 12 points.

Members of the Surry Homeschool Basketball program are set to compete in North Carolina’s 2022 Home Educators All-Star Game.

Both the Surry Runnin’ Patriots boys and girls teams compete in the North Carolinians for Home Education Athletic Commission (NCHEAC). The NCHEAC East-West All-Star Game is scheduled for May 27 and will take place at Salem Baptist Christian School in Winston-Salem.

Four members of the Runnin’ Patriots will compete in the all-star game: Joshua Bunke will represent the boys team, and the trio of Faith McClary, Lindsay Cooper and Karlie Effler will represent the girls.

The Runnin’ Pats will team with other players from the NCHEAC’s Western Conference, which includes teams from Forsyth, South Guilford, Cabarrus and South Charlotte. The NCHEAC East features teams from Wilmington, North Wake, Rocky Mount/Wilson, South Wake and Wake Forest.

Joshua Bunke was named All-Conference for the third year in a row in 2022. He was also named to the All-Tournament team at the Triad Baptist Christmas Tournament.

For the season, Bunke averaged 17.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game. He shot 83% from the free throw line and led the Patriots’ attack with leadership on and off the court.

Josh achieved the 1,000 point milestone last year, and finished his career with 1,905 points.

Faith McClary, an excellent shooter herself, changed roles this year and became primarily a distributor as she repeated on the All-Conference team.

McClary ran the Lady Pats’ offense and worked constantly to get other players involved. She scored 204 points on the year while also dishing out 86 assists.

Faith will continue her basketball career at Bob Jones University in the fall.

In addition to being a repeat All-Conference selection, Lindsay was selected as conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.

Cooper usually drew the toughest defensive assignment and led the team in steals with 111. As good defense often turns into offense, Cooper also scored 314 points, assisted on 101 baskets and had five double-doubles.

Another repeat All-Conference selection, Effler is a versatile and creative scorer that can also get teammates involved.

She finished the year with 465 points and 113 assists. Often drawing the other team’s best defender, Karlie still managed to score consistently as an excellent outside shooter who can also drive to the basket, score in close and draw fouls.

Karlie is a 1,000 point scorer, having achieved this feat during last season.

She is also a lockdown defender who also surpassed 100 steals during the 2022 season.

GREENSBORO — Four local student-athletes won gold medals at the 2A State Championship Track and Field Meet.

East Surry, North Surry and Surry Central competed in the 2A Championship Meet on May 20 hosted at N.C. A&T University’s Marcus T. Johnson Track inside Truist Stadium.

Two of the local state champs hail from East Surry, while North Surry and Surry Central and each had one. The three schools combined to have 12 state qualifiers.

Results are listed below by school.

Team points were accumulated for each school’s top-8 individual finish: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 6 for third, 5 for fourth and one point fewer through eighth place.

Senior Clara Willard and sophomore Isaac Vaden swept the 2A Discus Throw Championships.

Willard competed in the 2021 1A Discus Championship and finished No. 11 with a mark of 79-01 feet. She jumped to the top 2A spot in 2022 with a championship throw of 118-09 feet. Willard tied Camden County’s Kennedy Lighty for the No. 1 spot, but won the tiebreaker with her second-longest throw.

Clara is just the third female state champion in outdoor track in East Surry history. She joins Suzanne Shelton, who won the 1A 1,600-meter Run Title in 1994, and Maya Bennett, who won the 1A High Jump Title in 2003.

Willard’s 10 championship points put East Surry tied for No. 25 in the team standings.

Like Willard, Vaden had a huge leap from last year’s 1A championship to this year’s 2A meet. Vaden finished No. 15 of 16 competitors in 2021 with a throw of 95-01. He left no doubts this season by throwing a championship distance of 145-01 – which won the 2A title by more than eight feet.

Vaden is the first male outdoor track state champion in East Surry history.

Also competing in the state championship for East Surry was senior Cooper Motsinger. Motsinger finished No. 6 in the 3,200 meters with a time of 10:27.20.

Vaden and Motsinger’s 13 points helped East Surry finish tied for No. 17 in the team competition.

Ella Riggs competed in her first outdoor track championship this year as a freshman.

Riggs took part in shot put and finished just off the podium in fifth place. Her throw of 34-08.50 was less than two feet behind the fourth-place finish, and she was the only freshman to finish in the top-8.

Riggs’ four points helped the Lady Greyhounds finish tied for No. 41 as a team.

Junior Jared Hiatt was the only local male competitor to compete in two different events at the state championship. He competed in long jump at the 2021 2A State Championship, but competed in both long jump and high jump at this year’s meet.

Hiatt captured the Long Jump State Championship with a final mark of 22-10.75. He narrowly defeated the defending 2A State Champion and the highest seed coming into this year’s championship, Terry Hayes of Wilkes Central, by 1.5 inches.

Hiatt wins his second overall state championship and first in outdoor track; he previously won the 2021-22 Indoor Track State Championship for long jump.

Jared is the second outdoor track state champion in North Surry history, joining 2018 2A Shot Put Champion Ryan Eldridge.

In addition to his gold medal in long jump, Hiatt won a bronze medal in high jump with a leap of 6-04. There was a three-way tie for second place in the event, and the final order was decided based on number of attempts needed to clear a mark.

Hiatt’s 15 points helped the Greyhound boys finish No. 15 as a team.

Golden Eagle senior Mia McMillen was one of only two local competitors, male or female, to compete in four events at the state championship level. She was also the only local athlete competing in their third outdoor track state championship meet.

McMillen had two finishes on the podium on Friday, including a gold-medal performance in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.08 seconds. Her championship win comes after two second-place finishes in the event as a freshman and a junior (no state championship was held in 2020).

Surry Central girls have now won a total of 25 outdoor track state championships since 1990; 20 individual titles and five relay titles. Mia wins the school’s first outdoor track championship since Sarah Brown won the pole vault title in 2019.

Like Hiatt at North Surry, McMillen added a bronze medal to go with her gold. Mia took third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.16, which was .09 seconds behind second place.

McMillen had two other finishes just outside the top-4. She finished fifth in long jump with a mark of 17-06.50, actually tying for fourth in distance but dropping to fifth due to number of attempts, and sixth in the 4×200 relay at 1:48.48 with teammates Aylin Rodriguez, Ella Priddy and Ivy Toney.

Toney, a sophomore, joined McMillen as the only other local competitor to compete in four events at the state meet. Also making multiple appearances at the state meet were Lady Eagle teammates: Priddy with three, Rodriguez with two, Madelyn Wilmoth with two and Yeira Munoz with two.

Toney, Munoz and Cassie Snead competed in individual events for the Lady Eagles. Snead was No. 9 in discus with a mark of 100-01.00, Toney took the No. 10 spot in pole vault with a mark of 7-06 and Munoz was No. 13 in the 3,200 meters with a time of 14:30.13.

Central’s 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams each finished sixth.

Wilmoth, Rodriguez, Toney and Priddy finished the 4×400 in 4:23.35, and the team of Wilmoth, Toney, Munoz and Priddy finished the 4×800 in 10:45.63.

Surry Central’s girls had the highest team finish of any local school. The Lady Eagles racked up 29 points to finish No. 8 of more than 50 teams.

Two Surry Central boys competed at the state championship as well: sophomore Ignacio Morales and freshman Allen Huffman. Both boys were competing in the outdoor track championship for the first time.

Morales took part in the 3,200 meters and finished third with a time of 10:05.43. He was the only sophomore to finish in the top-8.

Huffman competed in the 300 hurdles and finished No. 15 with a time of 44.82.

Surry Central’s boys tied for No. 31 in the team standings with six points.

WALNUT COVE — Mount Airy’s storybook baseball season came to an end Tuesday in the Sweet 16 of the 1A State Playoffs.

Mount Airy and South Stokes were tied 1-1 through the third inning, then South added a trio of runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Bears put runners on base in the fifth and seventh innings but failed to score again.

No. 1-seeded South Stokes advanced to the Elite Eight with the 4-1 win.

Mount Airy finishes the season 19-9 overall. The 2022 team’s 19 victories are the second-most in school history according to Mount Airy sports historian Doug McDaniel, trailing only the 1939 team that finished 20-0.

This year’s team also won seven consecutive games at one point – a feat last accomplished by the 1958 Bears who won 10 consecutive games.

Mount Airy was the only 1A team during the regular season to defeat South Stokes. The Sauras (18-6) defeated the Bears 5-4 in the Granite City on March 22, then Mount Airy turned around and topped South 6-1 in Walnut Cove on March 28.

The Bears quickly loaded the bases to begin the rubber match. Rylan Venable led off with a single, then Ian Gallimore was walked and Kamden Hawks reached first on an error. Reece Deaton looked to score the opening run with a hit to second base, but South turned a 4-6-3 double play to hold Mount Airy scoreless.

Mount Airy turned a double play of its own in the bottom of the opening inning to keep the game scoreless. The Bears then took a lead thanks to three hits in the top of the second.

Mount Airy’s first two batters, Cameryn Wilson and Landon Cox, singled to start the inning. Josh Penn reached first on a fielder’s choice that also sent Wilson to third, then a Brison George single sent Wilson to the plate.

South quickly put two runners on in the bottom of the inning after Nolan Coe and Maddox Nelson drew back-to-back walks with just one out on the board. The runners advanced a base on a groundout, then Coe scored on a single from Ethan Nelson.

The Granite Bears were able to put runners on base in 5-of-7 innings, but struggled to get them back home.

Logan Dowell and Kamden Hawks singled to begin the third inning. South turned another double play to get Hawks and Deaton out, but Dowell advanced all the way to third. The Bears’ senior was stranded after a flyout.

South scored the decisive trio of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Coe led off by reaching first on an error before being moved to second on a sacrifice by Nelson. Jordan Buck was hit by a pitch to put two runners on base, then both were scored on a Blake Hughes triple.

Hughes added run No. 4 when he crossed the plate after a wild pitch.

Mount Airy went three up, three down in the fourth and sixth innings, and fell victim to another double play in the fifth. South had a chance to extend its lead by loading the bases in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bears left all three runners stranded by forcing a pair of flyouts.

South picked up two quick outs in the top of the seventh before Brison George singled to keep the game alive. Venable followed his teammate with a double, but George got out trying to go home on the hit.

Six Bears recorded at least one hit in the game: Venable, George, Wilson, Dowell, Hawks and Cox. Wilson had the Bears’ only run, and George hit the lone RBI.

Mount Airy and South Stokes only combined to throw two strikeouts in the game.

Rylan Venable spent 5.0 innings on the mound for the Bears, throwing one strikeout, two walks and allowing four runs on five hits. Ashton Gwyn threw 1.0 inning and had two walks.

South’s Connor Young tossed a complete game with one strikeout, two walks, and allowed one run on six hits.

LOUISVILLE — Surry Community College’s trio of softball coaches was voted one of the top coaching staffs in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).

Surry’s coaching staff, made up of head coach Blaine Bullington and assistant coaches Joel Jones and Gary Stone, was voted an NJCAA Regional Coaching Staff of the Year for 2022 by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).

According to an NFCA press release, the organization is currently made up of nearly 6,000 coaches. Known for its high regarded coaching awards, the NFCA also educates and supports softball coaches on a variety of different levels from webinars to legal counsel, in-person events and the National Convention.

Surry was chosen as the NJCAA Division II recipient from the East Region. Joining SCC was Des Moines Area Community College (Iowa) for the Midwest Region, Murray State College (Oklahoma) in the South Region.

In the national press release, the NFCA says the following of Surry’s coaching staff:

“Head coach Blaine Bullington, along with assistant coaches Joel Jones and Gary Stone, led Surry to a 35-11 overall record, 22-6 mark in conference play and a No. 18 ranking in the most recent NJCAA DII national rankings.

“Behind the tutelage of Bullington and his staff, the Knights are one of the top offensive teams in NJCAA DII, ranking in the top five in several categories, including second in home runs (48), extra-base hits (156) and slugging (.593), and third in batting average (.375), doubles (104), total bases (696) and RBI (302).”

The Lady Knights’ 35 overall wins set a program record. The team also had four players named to Region 10 All-Region teams in addition to an All-Tournament selection.

“Coach Bullington and his staff are incredible both in working with our student-athletes,” said Surry athletic director Mark Tucker. “They work to develop our student-athletes with a comprehensive approach placing emphasis on academics, personal growth, and community service while continuously developing their skills on the softball field. Surry is extremely blessed to have Coach Bullington and his staff leading our program.”

The National Fastpitch Coaches Association NJCAA Division I and II National Coaching Staff of the Year will be announced on June 6.

ASHEBORO — The Lady Bears’ soccer team fell 3-1 to Uwharrie Charter in the second round of the 1A State Playoffs.

Hot off the team’s first playoff victory since 2019, Mount Airy struck first against Uwharrie with a Karyme Bueno goal nearly an hour into Thursday’s playoff match. The No. 7-seeded Eagles netted the equalizer eight minutes later on a free kick, then scored the go-ahead goal with just six minutes left on the clock.

Uwharrie Charter added an insurance goal with two minutes left in regulation to secure the playoff win.

”I thought we did a really good job early on then scoring that first goal,” said Bears coach Will Hurley. “I thought we could’ve had them when we got that 1-0 lead. I knew we needed to rest some of the girls, but having seven players out with injuries really hurt us. Uwharrie stayed in the fight and made some good plays down the stretch.”

Tuesday’s game was given a 5:00 kickoff time since Uwharrie Charter’s field didn’t have lights, meaning it was 91-degrees when the game began. Despite the heat, Hurley felt the Lady Bears were able to keep their stamina up through the first half and part of the second.

“Everything really came together at one point, “Hurley said. “I thought some of passing was really, really good, and we were able to move the ball up the field efficiently on a field that wasn’t easy to play on. Ashley [Escamilla] came in off the bench and played significant minutes in the midfield when Paola [Ramirez] went down.”

Ramirez left the game with an injury in the 25th minute. She and Morgan Hiatt advanced up the right sideline with 1-2 passes that put Ramirez in a 1-on-1 situation with Uwharrie’s keeper. Ramirez’s shot was deflected out of bounds by the charging keeper, and the ensuing collision took the Lady Bear sophomore out of the game.

The injury led to Hurley adapting his lineup once again. Mount Airy already had its striker shifted back to defensive mid, a center midfielder moved up to striker, and a defender moved up to midfielder to compensate for the cornucopia of injuries.

Defensively, Mount Airy’s back line of Kinlee Reece, Kylie James, Aubrey Wilmoth and Aliyah Flores held Uwharrie to just four shots in the first half. The Bears caught the Eagles’ speedy forwards offside, and any chances Uwharrie had after getting through the defense were stopped by keeper Mackenzie Hudson.

Mount Airy broke the scoreless tie in the 56th minute. Kate Deaton attacked up the left sideline and crossed to Karyme Bueno in the box, and Bueno finished to put Mount Airy up 1-0.

The Bears shifted into a defensive mindset after scoring. This deterred all of Uwharrie’s goal-scoring opportunities until the 64th minute, when the Eagles’ converted on a 35-yard free kick.

Hiatt’s long throw ins had Mount Airy back into Uwharrie’s 18-yard box, but the Bears’ shots couldn’t find the back of the net. The teams were knotted up at 1-1 until Uwharrie floated a cross from the left sideline into the side-netting of the far post in the 74th minute.

The Eagles shifted their formation into a defensive 4-3-3 after the second goal. With the center of the field more crowded, Mount Airy pushed for more attacks up the sidelines which set Hiatt up for more long throw ins. Deaton had a pair of good looks in the final four minutes as a result, but both shots went off frame in an attempt to bypass the crowded 18-yard box. Grey Moore added a shot on goal that saved by Uwharrie’s keeper.

With Mount Airy’s team now in an offensive formation, Uwharrie took advantage and added its third goal. The Bears moved into Eagle territory with less than a minute to play, but it was too little too late as the final whistle signaled the end of Mount Airy’s historic season.

“One thing I have to say about Uwharrie is that their girls were really respectful and really good to our girls,” Hurley said. “They battled for 80 minutes, then brought over freeze pops for our girls and talked with them after the game. There was a lot of great sportsmanship, and it was a pleasure to see.”

The Lady Bears finish the season 17-3-4. Mount Airy captured its first-ever conference championship this season while setting school records for single-season wins (17), fewest goals allowed (20), most shutouts (14) and the most consecutive matches without a loss (17).

Hurley knew early on this team was capable of great things, but said none of it would be possible if the girls hadn’t put in the work.

“I’d have to say there really wasn’t a single player that I’d consider most improved, because that honor would go to the entire team,” Hurley said. “Everyone really bought in and worked incredibly hard to be successful.

“We probably started out as an offensive team, then injuries really hit home and we became more of a defensive team in the end. Had we not had those injuries, I think we would’ve gotten better defensively and been great at both. It just says a lot about the girls’ character to keep fighting all year long. I’m just thankful I got to be a part of it.”

Hurley credited his three senior players – Hiatt, Hudson and Moore – for really setting the tone for the team to be successful.

“They treated everybody across the board equally,” Hurley said. “These three seniors did not get senioritis like most teams either. This has been the best team I’ve ever had as far as everyone getting along, and those three seniors made all the difference.

“Everybody was pretty upset after the game. When Morgan walked off the field I could see she was crying, so I ran over to her and told her it was alright. She said, ‘It’s just the greatest team I’ve ever been a part of.’ I think she was less upset about the actual loss and more that the season was over. She didn’t want to leave this crew.

“They really have been a pleasure to coach.”

Mount Airy and Millennium Charter Academy competed in 1A Regional Track Championships over the weekend.

Mount Airy took part in the 1A West Regional hosted by East Burke High School, and Millennium competed in the 1A Midwest Regional that was hosted by Davie County High School.

Millennium had one girls relay team qualify for the 1A State Championship Meet, and Mount Airy had one relay team and three boys qualify as individuals. The 1A State Championship Meet is scheduled for May 21 at North Carolina A&T University.

Full 1A Midwest Regional results can be found at bit.ly/38xflWi, and 1A West Regional results can be found at bit.ly/3aabSxg

Millennium had nine student-athletes compete in the 1A Midwest Regionals.

Ava Hiatt, Ava Utt, Clara Minix, Ruby Hoerter and River Edge took part in the girls competition, and Calvin Devore, Hartley Devore, Brody Krakenberg and Isaac Shipley competed in the boys. Utt, Minix, Calvin Devore and Hartley Devore were the only members of the 2022 Lions team that had experience in the Regional Championship.

The duo of Utt and Minix teamed with Hoerter and Edge to finish fourth in the girls 4×800 relay. The relay team finished the race in 11:44.97 minutes. Utt returns to the N.C. High School Athletic Association 1A State Championship, while Minix, Hoerter and Edge will make their first appearances.

Utt and Hoerter finished just outside the top-4 in individual events. Utt took fifth in high jump with a leap of 4-06.00 feet, and Hoerter was fifth in the 3,200-meter run at 14:37.94.

Hiatt and Minix also competed as individuals for the Lady Lions. Hiatt finished seventh in discus throw with a mark of 71-03.00, and Minix finished eighth in the 800 meters at 2:49.02.

The Lions’ 4×800 boys relay team finished just outside the state qualifying mark by taking fifth. The team of Calvin Devore, Hartley Devore, Brody Krakenberg and Isaac Shipley finished the race in 9:18.16.

Calvin Devore and Krakenberg had the boys’ two individual performances by competing in the 800 and 3,200 meters, respectively. Calvin finished seventh in the 800 with a time of 2:08.84, and Krakenberg was 14th in the 3,200 meters with a time of 13:08.90.

Mount Airy sent 11 student-athletes to the 1A West Regional Championship.

Sydney Seagraves took part in the girls competition, while Deric Dandy, Blake Hawks, Mario Revels, Connor Burrell, Caleb Reid, Tyler Mason, Caden Ratcliff, Declan Conner, Ware Viers and Noah Khuri competed for the boys.

Ratcliff and Hawks, both sophomores, qualified for the state championship for a second consecutive year. Ratcliff did so by finishing second in the 800 meters with a time of 2:05.40, and Hawks finished second in triple jump with a mark of 41-00.00.

Five other Granite Bears qualified for their first 1A State Championship thanks to top-4 finishes at regionals. Dandy finished third in discus throw with a mark of 146-03.00, and the 4×100 relay team of Revels, Burrell, Reid and Mason finished fourth with a time of 46.22 seconds.

Hawks nearly qualified in long jump as well, finishing sixth with a mark of 20-08.50. Hawks was just an inch behind the fourth-place finisher, and 2.5 inches behind the third-place finisher.

Seagraves added two top-10 finishes in the girls competition. The senior placed eighth in shot put with a mark of 29 feet, and finished No. 10 in discus throw with a mark of 85-10.00.

Also competing at regionals for Mount Airy: Conner finished 10th in the 3,200 meters with a time of 11:36.65; Revels was No. 12 in high jump with a height of 5-04.00; the 4×200 relay team of Revels, Burrell, Reid and Hawks finished No. 13 with a time of 1:42.99; and the 4×400 relay team of Ratcliff, Viers, Dandy and Khuri finished No. 15 with a time of 4:00.40.

A 2-1 win over East Rutherford booked East Surry’s ticket to the fourth round of the state playoffs for the fourth-consecutive postseason.

Junior Brett Clayton had two of East Surry’s seven hits and both of the team’s RBIs. Fellow junior Folger Boaz threw a complete game on the mound, striking out 12 batters and allowing just two hits.

“Words can’t do justice to how much I love this group of guys and how blessed I am to be their coach,” Cardinal coach Chad Freeman said following Tuesday’s win. “Top to bottom they play hard, play for each other, have fun doing it, but most importantly they represent our program and community well.”

East Surry’s first postseason since being promoted to the 2A division ran directly through the Mountain Foothills Seven Conference (MFSC). The Cardinals (24-1) defeated the MFSC’s No. 6 seed Hendersonville 8-2 in the opening round, bested MFSC Co-Champion R-S Central 3-2 in the round of 32, then topped the conference’s other Co-Champion, East Rutherford, 2-1 on Tuesday.

Additionally, East Surry defeated the team that would finish fourth in the MFSC standings, Polk County, 8-6 back on March 5.

The Cardinals recorded seven hits against the visiting Cavaliers (21-6). Avery Strange threw a complete game for East Rutherford, striking out seven batters and walking two in six innings.

East Surry only had two hits heading into the bottom of the third inning, then opened things up when Clayton – called Hercules by his teammates – crushed a solo home run that hit the top of the scoreboard at Barry Hall Field. The homer was Clayton’s first of the season.

“Brett is just a wonderful teammate, ” Freeman said. “All the boys love him; he is selfless, he works hard and you can’t ask for a better kid than Brett Clayton. He plays a tremendous defensive center field, and his hitting has gotten better and better and better. He’s had several doubles and triples this year. He’s strong as an ox; we’ve just been waiting for him to connect on one this year and, dang, he did tonight.”

Clayton also came up clutch in the field with a pair of big catches in center field, one in the top of the fourth and then another in the top of the fifth.

“He doesn’t move like you’d think a big boy would,” Freeman said. “He’s got pretty good speed.”

East Rutherford scored its only run off one of the team’s two hits. Boaz threw his seventh strikeout to begin the fourth inning, but followed with his only base on balls. The Cavaliers’ Marshall McGowan advanced to second on a wild pitch, then scored on a hit by teammate Isaac Lee.

Following the Cavs’ run in the fourth, East Rutherford had one player get on base for the remainder of the game – and didn’t get a ton of chances. Boaz finished with 12 strikeouts, including three innings of multiple strikeouts and two innings with three strikeouts in each.

“You can’t ask for a better performance than that,” Freeman said. “Folger was lights out on the mound. He gave us every opportunity to hold them, and the guys did what they needed to scratch across a couple runs and pull out the win. They also played great defense across the board.

“The ball that got through, which allowed them to score their run, had top spin and it hit the lip. It just squirted past Trey (Armstrong) because of the top spin. There was absolutely nothing he could’ve done about that.”

East Surry regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Anthony Ayers was walked to start the inning, then Caden Lasley laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Ayers to second. Matthew Keener hit a blooper to right field to put Ayers on third, and Clayton followed with his own hit to right to bring the run in.

Following the run, players in the dugout told Lasley, “That assist goes to you, Chuck. Great work.”

While East Rutherford failed to get past first base in the final three innings, East Surry put multiple runners on in the sixth in a situation almost identical to the fourth inning. Ayers led with a single to right and was moved to second on a bunt from Lasley. Keener singled, but Ayers stayed on second as the hit went to the Cavaliers’ shortstop.

Both players were left on after Strange threw his sixth and seventh strikeouts.

East Surry held East Rutherford to just three batters in the top of the seventh: McGowan grounded out to Tristen Mason at second, Lee struck out after facing a full count then Caleb Crain grounded out. The game ended when Armstrong fielded Crain’s grounder and made the throw to Luke Brown at first base.

“We’re excited to be moving on to the fourth round,” Freeman said. “2018 and 2019 we were one game away from the Western Finals, then last year the fourth round was the Western Finals because of COVID, and we were able to advance and make the state finals.

“Now, we get to go against the juggernaut that is Randleman.”

East Surry travels to Randleman (28-1), the No. 1 seed in the 2A West and defending 2A State Champion, on May 20. This is East Surry’s first true road game in the playoffs since 2016. The 2021 State Championship was held at a neutral site.

Only two teams in North Carolina – among all public school classifications – have made it to at least the fourth round of the state playoffs in each of the past four postseasons: East Surry and Randleman.

For the first time in Mount Airy girls soccer history, the Lady Bears are conference champions.

Despite falling 2-1 (OT) to South Stokes in the regular season finale on May 12, the Bears’ still earned a share of the Northwest 1A Conference Title. In fact, Mount Airy clinched part of the NW1A Title three days earlier with a 4-0 win over East Wilkes.

The Lady Bears’ first conference title adds to the team’s already impressive list of accomplishments for the 2022 season. This year’s team set the school record for the best start in program history by beginning 13-0-4. Mount Airy also set the program record for most wins in a season, surpassing the previous school record of 15 set in 2017 and tied again in 2019.

Prior to this season, Mount Airy’s best conference finish was third: behind Bishop McGuinness and East Surry 2014-17, then behind Bishop McGuinness and South Stokes in 2018, 2019 and 2021. The Bears previous school record for conference wins was six, which this year’s team shattered by going 10-2.

Mount Airy, Elkin and South Stokes shared the 2022 NW1A Title with identical conference records; Mount Airy defeated Elkin twice, Elkin defeated South Stokes twice and South Stokes defeated Mount Airy twice.

The N.C. High School Athletic Association’s final RPI rankings for the regular season ranked the NW1A’s top three teams No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7. South Stokes earned the top playoff spot, followed by Mount Airy and then Elkin.

Mount Airy (16-2-4) earned the No. 10 seed in the 1A West and will host No. 23 Alleghany (5-9). The winner of that game will face the winner of No. 7 Uwharrie Charter (7-6-1) and No. 26 Piedmont Community Charter (7-5-1).

Mount Airy extended its most successful soccer season on record with a 5-0 playoff win over Alleghany.

For 17 of the 20 players on Mount Airy’s roster, Monday’s win served as their first playoff victory. The remaining three – seniors Mackenzie Hudson, Morgan Hiatt and Grey Moore – competed in their only playoff victory as freshmen when the Bears defeated North Stanly 3-0 on May 7, 2019.

No postseason was held in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the 2021 playoffs only let in 16 teams in the 1A West.

The Granite Bears, who improve to 17-2-4 with the win, got after it early when Kate Deaton scored in just the fourth minute. Deaton added another goal four minutes later, then Paola Ramirez made it 3-0 at halftime with a goal in the 38th minute.

Goals from Kinlee Reece and Emilee Corn in the second half led No. 10 Mount Airy to its first playoff victory in three years.

“Our goal in this game was ‘we don’t give up goals like we did at their place,’ and we did really good with that,” said Bears coach Will Hurley. Mount Airy has only surrendered 17 goals in 2022, and five of those were scored by Alleghany (5-10).

“It does hurt your offense a little bit, but I just think that’s our game; we’re more of a defensive team now. We shifted when we started getting injuries, but that’s okay. We can come out of that once we get healthy so we can play well on both sides.”

The win serves as Hudson’s 14th shutout as the Bears’ keeper this season, and was the first time this season Alleghany was held scoreless.

Mount Airy, meanwhile, fired 20 shots at the visiting Trojans while allowing just two.

Despite dealing with injuries for most of the year, the Lady Bears came into the playoffs hot off a historic regular season. Mount Airy has already set new school records for most wins in a season, most consecutive matches without a loss, most shutouts and fewest goals allowed in the regular season.

The 2022 Bears also put their names in the history books as the school’s first to win a conference championship. Hurley said he knew at the beginning of the season that the team was in for an uphill battle having to play strong conference opponents in Elkin and South Stokes – the latter of which was led by nine seniors.

“I thought it was big when we beat Elkin at Elkin. That was huge,” Hurley said. “I knew we had an outside chance, but I didn’t know if we could pull it off when we kept getting injury after injury. I think they really started believing in themselves, though. We kept telling them not to worry about rankings or what happened in the past, just play the game.

“I’m happy for them, because they’ve done really well as a team. We don’t have a true superstar.”

Hurley added that Mount Airy approached to the postseason is the exact same as the regular season: take things one game at a time. When members of the team pointed out the Bears would likely run into No. 2 Bishop McGuinness, who shared a conference with Mount Airy from 2009-2021, in the third round.

“We practiced Saturday morning at 7 a.m. and they said, ‘coach, we’ve got to play Bishop,’ and I said, ‘no, you don’t. You have to play Alleghany, and right now that’s all that matters’” Hurley said. “Sometimes it’s tough to beat a team three times in the same season, and Alleghany’s got a great group that always fights.

“This is a home game, and there’s a lot of teams out there that aren’t playing at home. We can enjoy the moment, but we have to play hard and just worry about now. We can worry about the next round if and when we get there.”

By defeating No. 23 Alleghany, Mount Airy advances to the round of 32 and will travel to No. 7 Uwharrie Charter.

Uwharrie finished third overall and first out of the 1A teams in the Piedmont Athletic 1A/2A Conference. Uwharrie Charter (8-6-1) defeated No. 26 Piedmont Community Charter 7-0 in the opening round of the playoffs.

HIGH POINT — Strong performances from Surry County’s three 2A schools led to 14 local athletes qualifying for the State Championship Meet.

The 2A Midwest Regional Championship was held May 13 at the High Point Athletic Complex Track.

East Surry, North Surry and Surry Central combined to win seven Regional Championships. Central led the way with four, followed by East with two and North with one. Any competitor or relay team that finished in the top four at Regionals qualified for the 2A State Championship.

Team points were accumulated for each school’s top-8 finish: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 6 for third, 5 for fourth and one fewer point through eighth place.

Surry Central’s girls won the 2A Midwest Regional Runner-up Trophy with a total of 76 points, which was 22 points behind Regional Champion West Stanly. East Surry’s girls finished No. 18 with 10 points, followed by North Surry’s girls at No. 26 with five points.

East Surry had the highest finish of any local team in the boys competition at No. 11 with 20 points. North Surry wasn’t far behind at No. 13 with 18 points, then Surry Central was up next in No. 14 with 17 points.

Full events results can be found at bit.ly/3yCBZHi

Three Surry County individual performances met the MileSplit U.S. Second Team Standard: Surry Central’s Mia McMillen in long jump, East Surry’s Isaac Vaden in discus throw and North Surry’s Jared Hiatt in long jump.

The full list of Elite Performances can be found at bit.ly/3LlxjYS

Clara Willard was East Surry’s lone female state qualifier and regional champion.

The Cardinal senior finished first in the discus throw with a mark of 115-06 feet, more than seven feet farther than the second-place finisher. Willard and the event’s silver medalist – Cassie Sneed of Surry Central – were the only two competitors to throw farther than 97 feet.

Willard also competed in the shot put, where she finished No. 14.

Also competing in the regional meet for East Surry: the relay team of Grace Strader, Arianna Liberatore, Kate McCraw and Ember Midkiff finished No. 13 in the 4×200 and No. 15 in the 4×100; Madeline Dayton and Arianna Liberator competed in triple jump but did not place.

Ella Riggs was the Lady Greyhounds’ only regional qualifier.

Riggs took fourth in shot put with a mark of 33-10.10. Riggs, a freshman, qualifies for the outdoor track state championship after being one of two North Surry girls to qualify for the indoor track championship during the winter.

All seven of Surry Central’s regional qualifiers finished in the top four of at least one event at the regional championship: Madelyn Wilmoth, Ella Priddy, Yeira Munoz, Mia McMillen, Ivy Toney, Cassie Sneed and Aylin Soto.

McMillen qualified for the state championship in four events, which included two regional championship victories in 300 hurdles and the 4×200 relay. She won the 300 hurdles with a time of 46.15, nearly two seconds faster than the second-place finisher, and teamed with Soto, Priddy and Toney to win the 4×200 by more than two seconds.

Central’s 4×200 time of 1:47.10 set a new school record for the Golden Eagles.

McMillen’s two second-place finishes came in 100 hurdles, with a time of 15.70, and long jump, with a mark of 18-01.25 feet. McMillen and West Stanly’s Onii Bivens, who won long jump with a mark of 18-01.75, both met the MileSplit US Second Team standard for the event.

Also winning a regional championship for Surry Central was the 4×800 relay team of Wilmoth, Toney, Munoz and Priddy. The four Eagles cruised to a victory with a time of 10:46.00, better than the silver medalists by six seconds.

Munoz and Snead added individual second-place finishes in the 3,200 meters and discus throw, respectively. Munoz finished in 13:33.45, while Snead had a mark of 108-02.00. The Eagles’ 4×400 team of Wilmoth, Soto, Toney and Priddy also finished second with a time of 4:27.15.

Toney added an additional state qualification in pole vault with a third-place finish at 7-06.00.

In addition to the state qualifiers, Soto also competed in the 200 meters and finished No. 10 at 28.56.

Isaac Vaden and Cooper Motsinger were the two state qualifiers for East Surry’s boys.

Vaden won the 2A Midwest Regional Championship in discus throw with a mark of 156-08.00, which met the MileSplit US Second Team standard. Vaden’s throw was one inch shy of being 15 feet better than the second-place finish.

Vaden also competed in the shot put, where he finished sixth overall.

Motsinger finished fourth in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 10:40.14.

Also competing in the regional meet for East Surry: Sam Whitt finished No. 7 in shot put; Eli Becker finished No. 10 in shot put; the relay team of Layton Allen, Colby Johnson, Lindann Fleming and Kyle Zinn finished No. 11 in the 4×200 and No. 12 in the 4×100.

Like Jared Hiatt qualified for the 2A State Championship in two events: high jump and long jump.

Hiatt battled his Foothills 2A Conference nemesis, Terry Hayes of Wilkes Central, in every jumping event at the regional championship. Hiatt won the regional title in high jump with a height of 6-02.00, while Hayes finished second. Hayes finished first in the long jump with a mark of 23-00.00, and Hiatt finished second at 22-07.00 – both of which met the MileSplit US Second Team standard.

Hiatt also competed in the triple jump, where he finished No. 10 with a mark of 39-07.00.

Golden Eagles. Allen Huffman and Ignacio Morales qualified for the state championship.

Morales won the 3,200 meters to capture the 2A Midwest Regional Title, doing so with a time of 10:08.16. Morales finished more than eight seconds before the silver medalist.

Huffman finished third in the 300 hurdles with a time of 43.07, and was less than 1.5 seconds out of first.

Central also had three relay teams compete at the regional championship: the 4×800 team of Chris Nava, Jonathan Avila, Brangly Mazariegos and Sebastian Sanchez finished No. 11, the 4×200 team of Huffman, Nava, Isaac Eller and Sony Orozco finished No. 13, and the 4×400 of Eller, Nava, Huffman and Charlie Hernandez finished No. 14.

KERNERSVILLE — The Northwest Piedmont 1A Conference held its Track and Field Championship on May 4 at Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School.

Bishop McGuinness’ girls and Cornerstone Charter Academy’s boys came away with the team conference championships. Points were awarded for each top-6 finish: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 6 for third, 4 for fourth, 2 for fifth and 1 for sixth.

Millennium Charter Academy finished fourth in the girls standings and sixth in the boys. The Lions won one individual conference championship, and finished second in four events.

Ruby Hoerter finished first in girls pole vault by clearing a height of 5-06.00 feet. Hoerter also earned All-Conference Honors – given to competitors that finished in the top two of an event – in the 3,200-meter run, and as a member of MCA’s 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams.

Hoerter completed the 3,200 meters in 14:36.70.

She was joined by teammates River Edge, Clara Minix and Ava Utt on both the 4×400 and 4×800 teams. Millennium’s 4×400 team finished the race in 5:17.48, and the 4×800 team finished in 12:22.51.

Minix and Utt added All-Conference performances in high jump and the 800 meters. Minix was less than five seconds out of first place in the 800 meters by finishing in 2:46.88, and Utt was two inches from tying the conference champion in high jump with a mark of 4-08.00.

Hiatt also competed in the discus throw and shot put for Millennium, taking fourth in both. Palak Patel competed in both throwing events as well, finishing seventh in shot put and eighth in discus throw.

Seven Millennium boys competed in the NWPC Conference Championship: Liam Allred, Calvin Devore, Isaac Shipley, Diego Gomez, Ford Holmes, Hartley Devore and Brody Krakenberg.

The closest All-Conference performance for the MCA’s boys came in the 4×800 relay; Shipley, Krakenberg, Hartley and Calvin Devore took third at 9:50.93.

Calvin Devore also came close in the 800 meters by finishing fourth. His time of 2:11.43 was less than three seconds behind the race-winning time, and was exactly two seconds behind the second-place finisher.

Also competing for Millennium’s boys: Hartley Devore, Holmes and Krakenberg finishes sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 3,200 meters; Shiply finished 10th in the 800 meters, followed by Gomez at 11; Holmes and Gomez took 10th and 13th in the 1,600 meters, respectively; and Allred finished 15th in the 400 meters and 16th in the 200 meters.

The following Lions qualified for the Midwest 1A Regional Championship in the corresponding events:

River Edge, Ruby Hoerter, Clara Minix, Ava Utt, Palak Patel (alternate): 4×800

Calvin Devore, Hartley Devore, Brody Krakenberg, Isaac Shipley: 4×800

Surry Central recognized seven baseball seniors before an April 29 home game against East Surry.

Spencer LeClair, Dakota Mills, Kade Norman, Austin Cave, Kayden Gage, Brady Edmonds and Kendall White were honored for their contributions to the Golden Eagles’ program, with many being with the team throughout their entire high school careers.

In the Senior Night game, Central held East Surry to its second-lowest scoring total of the season at three runs. However, the Eagles struggled to score and came up short 3-0 in the regular season finale.

The Golden Eagles entered the Foothills 2A Conference Tournament as the No. 5 seed and dropped their quarterfinal game to No. 4 West Wilkes 7-3.

Surry Central qualified for the 2A State Playoffs as the No. 26 seed and opened the tournament at No. 7 Lincoln Charter. The Golden Eagles rallied late in the game when faced a big deficit, but four seventh-inning runs weren’t enough to bring Central back.

PILOT MOUNTAIN — A walk-off hit by Folger Boaz lifted East Surry to a 3-2 playoff win over R-S Central on Thursday.

The Cardinals initially took a 2-1 lead in the third inning. East held the visiting Hilltoppers from scoring additional runs through the sixth, then R-S Central tied things up in the top of the seventh. Strong defense from East kept the visitors from taking the lead, and hits from Luke Bowman and Boaz sealed the win for the Cards.

“It’s a mixture of emotions for us,” said East Surry coach Chad Freeman. “There’s nervousness, even though the game is over and we know the outcome. There’s excitement. There’s joy for our guys. Honestly, there’s heartbreak for their team. R-S has a quality coaching staff, their kids battled, they’ve got good kids; that’s the type of team you want to go up against.

“At the end of the day, it was two solid teams going after each other and we were fortunate to come away with the win.”

East Surry (23-1) put runners on base in each of the first two innings, but couldn’t score to match R-S Central’s run from the top of the first. This changed in the third inning when Bowman reached first on a fielder’s choice then moved to second on an error by the Hilltoppers. Boaz was intentionally walked with two outs, and a passed ball allowed Bowman to score.

The score was now tied 1-1 with the rain picking up. Luke Brown was walked, and Anthony Ayers singled to load the bases. Another passed ball sent Boaz home to give East Surry its second run.

R-S Central (19-7) took Drew Yelton off the mound after East Surry’s second run. Yelton threw 2.2 innings, allowed two runs on three hits and walked three batters. Hayden Wheeler took over on the mound and ended the inning with a strikeout

The Cardinals struggled against Wheeler through the sixth inning. The Hilltopper junior struck out eight of the first 11 batters he faced; one East Surry player grounded out, another flied out and only one – Boaz in the fifth – got on base via error.

“The first kid was a little bit craftier and more off-speed oriented, and [Wheeler] threw a little harder. We tried to get our guys to make an adjustment and be ready for the fastball, and we didn’t do a good job of that the first few innings he was on the mound. Finally that last inning, when we swung up to the top of our lineup, we did a little bit better job of it.”

The Hilltoppers also had chances to build a lead, leaving runners on base in each of the first six innings. Trey Shearer opened the fourth with a double, and Audrey Scruggs bunted for a single that moved Shearer to third as well.

Brown, who spent five innings on the mound for East Surry, struck out the next batter, then Ayers checked the runner on third before throwing a runner out at first. R-S Central sent a hit to left field that would’ve scored at least one run had it not been caught by Gabriel Harpe.

One inning later, R-S Central’s Tanner Boone singled and teammate Caleb White was walked. A balk put the runners on second and third with two outs, but Brown struck out his final batter to leave the runners stranded.

“Luke may not have had his best stuff today, but he battled and came up big,” Freeman said. “Part of it is a credit to R-S: they took phenomenal approaches, and their two-strike approaches were on point.”

Ayers took over on the bump in the sixth inning and East continued to stave off R-S Central’s comeback attempts. Even when the visitors managed to score the game-tying run in the top of the seventh, Freeman said his guys were able to stay calm due to their experience in high-pressure games.

One such game Freeman referenced was East Surry’s 2021 playoff opener against Community School of Davidson. The Cards, who went on to win the 1A West Regional Championship, were nearly upset in the first round by that CSD team.

“I think last year’s CSD game gave them the composure to not get rattled against Hendersonville, and even tonight when we had the shot to get the tying run at the plate and didn’t execute there,” Freeman said. “We’ve been through it enough that we’ve come back before. We’ve been in tight situations before and our guys didn’t panic, so that’s a credit to them.”

The Cards got out of the top of the seventh by forcing two fly outs, including one chased down by Harpe in left field, and got the third out when Bowman threw to Trey Armstrong at second to catch a runner stealing.

Bowman then went up to bat and picked up the first East Surry hit against Wheeler. The Cards already had one out on the board in the bottom of the seventh, then the second came on a fly out. Boaz approached the plate with two outs and hit right over the left fielder’s head. Bowman sped around the bases and reached the plate just as the ball made its way back into the infield.

As the celebration settled, Freeman praised the Cardinals for the resilience shown against a very good R-S Central team. East Surry’s goal is to survive and advance, and he said that’s exactly what they did.

East Surry will host the winner of No. 5 East Rutherford (20-5) and No. 12 Morehead (19-5) in the Sweet 16.

East Surry recognized five soccer seniors during halftime of a May 4 home match against Alleghany.

The Cardinals held a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes when four players and one manager paraded onto the field with members of their families: Brianna Whitaker, Liannette Chavez, Samantha Blose, Jamariah Lowery and manager Nick Lowery.

The Lady Cardinals went on to win the match 3-1. Blose scored both goals in the first half, with the second being assisted by Chavez. Morgan Bryant added an insurance goal in the 56th minute.

East Surry out-shot Alleghany 16-5 in the match. Cardinal keeper Katie Collins saved three of the Trojans’ shots, and one went off frame.

The win over Alleghany was East Surry’s fifth consecutive win, marking the Cards’ longest winning streak of the season. It is also East’s longest winning streak since the 2017 team won nine straight games.

The Lady Cards sit at 11-5-2 on the season, marking the program’s first season of double-digit wins since the aforementioned 2017 team finished 13-8. East Surry also finished third in the Foothills 2A Conference at 8-4.

When asked about his expectations for his senior season, Mount Airy senior Reece McDuffie said the following at his college signing in November 2021:

“I don’t know the last time we had a home playoff game, so that’s a huge goal. I think it’s very possible with the team we have.”

McDuffie’s words came to fruition nearly six months later as Mount Airy hosted Queen’s Grant High School on May 10. The Granite Bears put on a show against the Stallions, winning 11-1 in five innings to advance to the second round of the 1A State Playoffs.

Mount Airy’s most recent home playoff game – prior to Tuesday – was nearly a decade ago on May 14, 2013. The 2013 Bears dropped that game 4-2 to visiting Albemarle.

The 2022 Granite Bears kept their historic season alive by shutting the Stallions down. After scoring one run on two hits in the top of the first inning, Mount Airy held Queen’s Grant (9-8) to one hit for the remainder of the game.

Rylan Venable and Ashton Gwyn split time on the mound for the Bears (18-8). The duo allowed just three hits, walked one player and struck out 10 batters.

Mount Airy finished with 12 total hits, including a team-high four hits from Logan Dowell. Venable and Reece Deaton each had two hits, while Kamden Hawks, Cameryn Wilson, Landon Cox and Brison George each had one.

Hawks and George each hit doubles, and Venable had a 2-run home run.

Ian Gallimore scored Mount Airy’s first run in the bottom of the first inning. The sophomore was walked, moved to third on a Dowell single then scored on a ground out hit by Hawks.

Wilson and John Penn added runs No. 2 and No. 3 in the next inning. Wilson led the inning with a single, and Penn was walked. An error on a George hit brought Wilson in, then Penn scored on a hit from Venable.

Dowell crossed the plate for run No. 4 in the bottom of the third thanks a bomb hit to the center field fence by Hawks.

After slowly building a lead through three innings, Mount Airy exploded for six runs in the fourth. George, who was the first of 12 batters for the Bears in the inning, led with a double, then Venable smashed a homer to increase Mount Airy’s lead to 6-1.

Gallimore was walked to prompt a pitching change for the visitors. The substitution didn’t pay off, though, as Gallimore stole second then scored on a Dowell single.

Dowell advanced to third on a wild pitch, then Hawks was walked to put runners on the corners. Cash Hemric, running for Hawks, took a lead off of first and Queen’s Grant attempted to pick him off. An errant throw sent Hemric to second and scored Dowell to increase the lead again to 8-1.

Deaton scored Hemric with an RBI single, then Deaton scored on a hit from Landon Cox to make it 10-1.

The Stallions last chance to put runs up ended after three batters after Gwyn struck out three-in-a-row in the top of the fifth. Dowell had his fourth single in the bottom of the inning and stole his way around the bases before scoring on a Deaton hit.

No. 8 Mount Airy advances to the Round of 32 and will host No. 9 Bethany on May 13. Bethany (18-9) finished second in the Northwest Piedmont 1A Conference and defeated No. 24 Mitchell 8-3 in the opening round.

Queen’s Grant – 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, X, X = 1

PINEHURST — After finishing State Runner-Up in 2019 and 2021, East Surry’s golf team finally won the ultimate prize in 2022.

The Cardinals dominated the second day of competition at Foxfire Resort’s Red Fox Course to secure the 2A State Championship. The title is East Surry’s seventh in school history, and the program’s first since winning four consecutive titles from 2005-2008.

“I’m so proud and excited for those young men who worked so hard to get here,” said East Surry coach Darrin Haywood. “I would probably say that it was more of a feeling of relief than anything else. We have been so close and right there on the cusp so many times. Me and the boys were waiting for all scores to be counted, saying ‘We’re not believing it until it’s up on the board.’ Then they called me up there and it was just surreal.”

Haywood called the entire second day of competition a “very exciting but nerve-wracking five hours.”

East Surry finished the first day of competition tied for top overall spot with Midway High School. Though the Cards were in a prime position to win the state title, the team felt it hadn’t performed up to its potential through the first 18 holes.

“Monday, when we posted our score we knew that was not our best golf,” Haywood said. “We didn’t feel great being the first ones to post, but when we saw we were even with [Midway] it kind of relaxed our guys. Our kids knew that we had a lot left in us, and even though we didn’t play to East Surry’s standard of golf we were still tied for first.

“We weren’t behind anyone and it was ours for the taking. The kids showed a lot of confidence, saying ‘we’ve been here before. We’ve done as bad as we’ve done all year and are still in the perfect position to win.”

After combining to shoot 328 after the first day, East Surry bested Midway’s foursome by eleven strokes, 326 to 337, on the second 18 holes.

The Cardinals were led both days by Bradley Davis Jr. Davis shot 75 (+3) on the first 18 holes, which was just one shot in back of the overnight leader, Drew O’Neal from Beddingfield.

Davis matched his +3 round from the first day on the final day to put up a superb 6+ total for the tournament. Midway’s Logan Atkins posted the only even-par round of the tournament in the Final Round to pair with his opening round 76 (+4), winning the individual title by two shots over his counterpart from East Surry.

Atkins won the individual championship with a two-day total of 148, and Davis finished as State Runner-up with a total score of 150

“The thing about Bradley is that he’s just so consistent,” Haywood said. “He stays even keel and never gets rattled, and those are just some of the qualities that make him a very good golfer. He knew he was in the running for the top spot this week, and never got worried even when he didn’t play his best – which was still very good – in the first round.

“Brad might hit a rough shot then look at me and ask how everybody else was doing. It says a lot about him as a young man to care first about the team accolades. These guys love each other and wanted each other to succeed. It was always team-first with them.”

Following Davis, East Surry also got outstanding rounds from the rest of their scoring foursome to solidify the victory on the final day of the event. Chase Harris shot 78 (+6) thanks to a pair of matching 39’s on the front and back nine. Connor Key and Anderson Badgett contributed an 86 and an 87, respectively.

Also contributing to the Cards’ success was what Haywood called a ‘caravan of fans’ supporting the team.

“So much of the community was there and I was so surprised,” Haywood said. “There were people I never thought I’d see there just because they didn’t have a family member playing. It was incredible to see.

“Those kids see that everybody is there supporting them; not to make them nervous or add pressure, but to offer genuine support and see good golf. It helped the kids relax and feel like home. They were surrounded by people they grew up around and saw their entire life there to cheer them on. I think that really helped.”

East Surry added another piece of hardware when the N.C. High School Athletic Association presented the 2A Men’s Golf Championship Sportsmanship Award to Jordan Davis.

The third time was the charm for Elkin in its dual team series against Mount Airy.

After both regular season meetings went to the Granite Bears, the Buckin’ Elks went on the road Monday to face Mount Airy in the third round of the 1A State Playoffs. Mount Airy first defeated Elkin 6-3 on March 24, then secured the Northwest 1A Conference Championship by defeating the Elks 5-4 on April 12.

Another close match went the way of the Elks this time. Elkin defeated Mount Airy 5-4 on May 9 to advance to the 1A West Regional Championship. The Buckin’ Elks set up another third meeting in the regional final, as Elkin is set to face Bishop McGuinness for a shot at the 1A State Championship.

The May 9 edition of the Bears-Elks rivalry saw Elkin win three singles matches for the first time; Mount Airy held a 4-2 advantage after singles in each of the previous two meetings. Similar to the teams’ two regular season matches, Mount Airy won the top three singles matches: No. 1 Georgie Kriek defeated Owen Jennings 6-1, 6-4, No. 2 Carson Hill defeated Thomas McComb 6-1, 6-2, and No. 3 John Juno defeated Jack Zamudio 6-0, 6-3.

In addition to the top three spots, Mount Airy won No. 6 singles in its first meeting with Elkin and No. 5 singles in the second meeting. This time, however, Elkin swept courts No. 4-No. 6: Luke McComb topped Connor Sechrist 6-4, 6-1, Clay Sebastian bested Kieran Slate 6-1, 6-1, and Addison Blackwelder defeated Martin Cooke 6-1, 3-6, 1-0 (10-4).

Just as Mount Airy won the top three singles matches in all three meetings against Elkin, the Bears also won No. 1 doubles in all three. Kriek and Hill were the victors each time, defeating Jennings and Luke McComb in the first two meetings and topping Thomas McComb and Zamudio in round three, 8-2.

Elkin slid its top singles player, Jennings, to No. 2 doubles for the playoff match. Jennings teamed with Blackwelder to defeat Juno and Dylan Tilley 8-1.

This left all eyes on No. 3 doubles where Luke McComb and Sebastian took on Cooke and Jared Pinto. Elkin took a 1-0 lead before Mount Airy won back-to-back games. Luke McComb and Sebastian responded with two-straight wins, then Mount Airy tied the game score at 3-3 behind Pinto’s serve.

Elkin won three-straight to make it 6-3. The Bears won on Pinto’s serve again to cut the lead to 6-4, but Elkin won the next two games to seal the victory.

Mount Airy’s season ends at 15-5 overall. Monday’s loss was the Bears’ only defeat at the hands of a fellow 1A team.

Elkin improves to 14-5 with the playoff victory. The Elks will need another strong performance to get past Bishop McGuinness (15-1), who previously defeated Elkin 7-2 on March 30.

East Surry recognized six seniors prior to an April 28 home game against Surry Central.

The Cardinals honored Peyton Inscore, Tristen Mason, Anthony Ward, Trey Armstrong, Luke Bowman and Anthony Ayers ahead of the team’s final regular season home game at Barry Hall Field. East Surry went on to win the game 8-1.

East won the Foothills 2A Conference Regular Season Championship with a 12-0 conference record, then went on to defeat West Wilkes and North Surry to win the FH2A Tournament Championship.

The Cardinals (21-1) earned the No. 4 seed in the 2A West and will host No. 29 Hendersonville (9-13) on May 10.

PILOT MOUNTAIN — East Surry softball recognized four senior softball players ahead of an April 27 home game against West Stokes.

The four seniors – Rosie Craven, Maegan Banks, Haley Chilton and Clara Willard – were all four-year members of the varsity softball team. The Lady Cards dropped their Senior Night game 9-1, but turned around and won the regular-season finale the next night by defeating Surry Central 8-3.

East Surry finished the 2022 season 5-14 overall and 4-8 in the Foothills 2A Conference.

North Surry recognized seven senior student-athletes during an April 29 home match against North Wilkes.

The seven Greyhound seniors are: Savannah Seal, Camila Flores, Isabel Delfin, Weatherly Reeves, Nydia Cabrera, Callie Allen and Eve Bodnar.

North Surry defeated North Wilkes 6-0 to win its second Foothills 2A Conference match. The Greyhounds finished 2-10 in the FH2A Conference.

Mount Airy softball’s four senior players helped the team end a seven-year playoff drought.

Skylar Partin, Sofia Stafford, Sydney Seagraves and Savannah Horne were in the fifth grade the last time the Granite Bears made the playoffs. The 2015 team finished the regular season 6-11 overall and was named the No. 26 seed in the 1A West, where the Bears faced No. 7 Avery County in the opening round and lost 13-3.

Mount Airy finished just outside the playoff picture in 2016 and 2017, then wasn’t able to field a varsity team in 2018 – the class of 2022’s eighth-grade year.

This senior class has faced tough odds during its four years. The 2019 Bears had just two upperclassmen and played a brutal conference schedule that included four games against the eventual 1A State Champion North Stokes.

Things were looking up for the 2020 Bears after picking up a program-defining road win against East Wilkes, but then the season was shut down just days later due to COVID-19. The 2021 season was also an anomaly as teams were only allowed to play a maximum of 14 games, but the team showed improvement by starting the season 4-1.

The 2022 Bears lost some key pieces from the year before, but that didn’t stop them from competing. This year’s team finished the regular season 4-15 overall and 4-8 in the Northwest 1A Conference.

Seagraves was selected for the NW1A All-Conference squad, while Stafford and Partin were named All-Conference Honorable Mentions.

Mount Airy, seeded No. 27 in the 1A West, travels to No. 6 Cornerstone Charter on May 10. Cornerstone finished the regular season 14-2 overall and finished first in the Northwest Piedmont 1A Conference.

Local tennis players competed in the NCHSAA Individual State Championship Tournaments on May 6-7.

Three singles athletes and two doubles teams from local schools qualified for their respective state tournaments. One singles player from Mount Airy competed in the 1A State Tournament held at Cary State Park, while two singles players from East Surry and two doubles duos from Surry Central competed in the 2A State Tournament at Ting Park in Holly Springs.

The 1A Tournaments featured eight entries per bracket, and the 2A Tournaments had 16 entries per bracket.

Mount Airy junior Georgie Kriek reached the 1A State Tournament for a second consecutive season. In 2021, Kriek was one of eight state qualifiers and fell to Raleigh Charter’s Ryan Hill in a three-set thriller in the opening round.

Kriek had little trouble advancing to the state semifinals in 2022 after finishing second in the 1A Midwest Regional Tournament. The Granite Bear defeated Clover Garden’s Will Oldham 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round.

Kriek ran into Langtree Charter’s Nikhil Deshpande in the semifinals and fell 6-1, 6-2. Deshpande went on to win the 1A Singles Championship with a 6-1, 6-0 win in the finals.

Kriek’s season will continue as Mount Airy still stands in the 1A Dual Team State Playoffs.

East Surry’s No. 1 and No. 2 seeds this season both competed in the 2A State Singles Tournament. Both were first-time state qualifiers.

Top-seeded Cooper Motsinger, a senior, entered as the 2A Midwest Regional Champion. His Cardinal teammate Levi Watson, a sophomore, qualified as the fourth-place finisher at regionals.

Watson had the unfortunate draw of facing Pine Lake Prep’s Tyler Ramanata in the opening round. Ramanata, who won the 1A Singles Championship in 2021, defeated Watson 6-0, 6-1.

Motsinger defeated Lincoln Charter’s Connor Milligan 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round, then topped Franklin Academy’s Lance Keller 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

Motsinger ran into Ramanata in the semifinals and fell 6-0, 6-0. Like Kriek’s semifinal opponent, Ramanata went on to win the 2A Singles Championship. Ramanata only lost a combined three games in his four matches at the state tournament.

All four of Surry Central’s state qualifiers competed in their first state tournaments.

Central’s top-ranked doubles team of senior Jacob Edmonds and junior Josh Pardue entered the tournament as the 2A Midwest Regional Runners-up, and the team of junior Michael Tucker and freshman Tripp McMillen were the No. 4 seed from the 2A Midwest.

Pardue and Edmonds dropped their first-round match to Community School of Davidson’s Luke Breen and Julian Rizo 6-1, 6-3. Breen and Rizo won their quarterfinal match in straight sets, then lost to the eventual state champions in the semifinals.

Tucker and McMillen fell to Lincolnton’s Zach Zagorkski and Piero Ravolino 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round. Zagorkski and Ravolino lost in the quarterfinals.

MORAVIAN FALLS — East Surry pulled away from North Surry on Thursday to win the Foothills 2A Conference Tournament Championship.

The game was closely contested until the No. 1-seeded Cards nearly doubled their number of hits and runs in an explosive sixth inning. The No. 3 Greyhounds continued to battle and scored again in the top of the seventh, and even had two players on base when the final strikeout was thrown.

A 9-4 win over its county foe gave East Surry its 14th conference tournament championship in the program’s history.

“We have a lot of respect for the North Surry baseball program, and Coach [Daryll] Johnson always has them well-prepared,” said East Surry coach Chad Freeman. “They won 10-of-11 coming into the championship so we knew they were a scrappy bunch. We made some mistakes, but came up with key hits at some key times.

“A lot of guys stepped up for us, so hopefully this will give us some momentum as we prepare for state playoffs.”

East and North Surry are two programs very familiar with conference tournament championship games. East won the Northwest 1A Conference Tournament Championship in 2013-15, 2017 and 2018, then finished tournament runner-up in 2019. North won the Western Piedmont 2A Conference Tournament Championship in 2019, and was runner-up in 2017 and 2018.

No conference tournaments were held in 2020 or 2021.

“I’m incredibly proud of the guys for fighting to get here and putting us in a position to compete for a championship,” Johnson said. “The box scores were almost identical, but East Surry was able to get his when they needed them and they made some big plays. They have a culture they live by and they’ve been very successful. We have culture too, and we want to be successful every time we go out there. Success is measured a lot of different ways, and I don’t always judge on what the scoreboard says.

“We’re not done. We’re gonna get ready for wherever we have to go if we’re blessed with a playoff berth.”

The road to the FH2A Championship

North felt it had unfinished business with top-seeded East Surry after the most recent meeting between the teams. The Cardinals came away with the 2-1 win despite not advancing past second base past the third inning. The Greyhounds loaded the bases three times after scoring their only run, but couldn’t convert a run.

“Honestly, I thought they outplayed us in that game at our place,” Freeman said. “We weren’t as sharp as we should’ve been, we were just fortunate to make the plays needed to pick up the win. As a whole, they were better prepared for game two even though we won the game.”

Knowing his team had shown they could compete with East, the top-ranked team in the FH2A Conference, served as extra motivation for Johnson and the Greyhounds.

“It was a bad feeling coming out of that game, and we took that game and grew from it,” Johnson said. “If the ball had bounced our way a few times when it didn’t, things might’ve ended differently. That game, like the ones against Forbush and the game at West Wilkes, was a wake-up call for us.”

North Surry’s 17-11 loss at West Wilkes on April 4 was a turning point for the team. The Greyhounds, who fell to 6-7 overall following the loss, committed a season-high nine errors against the Blackhawks.

“We had a team meeting and discussed some things that will stay between us as a team,” Johnson said. “They agreed it was unacceptable. We weren’t mentally tough at the beginning of the season and, while we’re not completely where we want to be, we’ve come a long way since then.”

The Greyhounds proceeded to win 10 of their next 11 games, including a 3-0 win over No. 2-seeded Forbush to reach the conference championship game. Forbush defeated North Surry 8-2 and 9-1 in their two regular season meetings.

“It’s been a long season, but it’s been a good season,” Johnson said. “I’ve watched other teams and seen how they respond to adversity, then take a look at mine. I wouldn’t trade my guys for anything…there’s a lot of respect in that dugout for the people inside our circle. That’s got us to where we’re at.”

East Surry, meanwhile, had to grind out wins in multiple close games to keep its undefeated conference campaign alive. This included two close games against Forbush, the aforementioned win over North Surry, a come-from-behind win at West Wilkes and a victory at Surry Central to close the regular season.

The No. 1 Cardinals defeated No. 4 West Wilkes 10-1 to reach the conference tournament championship.

“We made sure to emphasize in practice that we couldn’t take North Surry lightly, and the guys knew that,” Freeman said. “We talked about it and no one on our team has been part of a conference tournament championship team. It’s something special, and North is playing for the same prize.”

“Another wildcard is that we never faced Cam Taylor in the regular season either. He threw great for them the second half of the conference season, and we really weren’t sure what to expect.”

Freeman likened the tournament championship to a heavyweight boxing match.

“It was like two good boxers going back-and-forth with each other,” Freeman said. “One side would get on a run with a few quality punches, then the other would fight back and gain momentum. It was a great quality game, and that’s what you expect for a championship.”

North Surry (16-9) was first on the board with a run in the top of the first inning. Leadoff Ethan Edwards reached first on a Cardinal fielding error, moved to second and then third on a pair of wild pitches. James McCreary scored Edwards with a blooper over the third baseman’s head.

The Cardinals (21-1) mirrored the Hounds and put their leadoff on first after a fielding error. Trey Armstrong was hit by a pitch and then Folger Boaz was walked to load the bases with no outs. After picking up a strikeout, North Surry pitcher Cam Taylor walked Anthony Ayers to bring Luke Bowman across the plate to tie the game.

North faced another set of loaded bases after the walk, but turned a double play to end the inning. Caden Lasley hit a grounder to Edwards and first, and Edwards rifled a throw to Brodie Robertson at home for the force out. Robertson quickly threw back to Edwards at first for the third out of the inning.

East Surry added three runs in the bottom of the second to take its first lead of the evening. Matthew Keener and Bowman each singled, and Tristen Mason was walked to load the bases similar to the first inning. Armstrong, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the FH2A Tournament, hit a 2RBI single to Keener and Mason.

“Trey was just phenomenal all tournament; he really played out of his mind,” Freeman said. “He played great in the field and had that spectacular diving save. Throughout the entire tournament, he only got out once at the plate.”

A sacrifice fly hit by Boaz brought Bowman in to make it a 4-1 game.

North Surry returned fire in the top of the third when Edwards and Kolby Watson hit singles. A Cardinal error on Watson’s hit allowed the runners to advance to second and third, then Robertson joined his teammates after being hit by a Luke Brown pitch.

Myles Draughn scored Edwards with a single to make it 4-2. The Cardinals got Watson out when he attempted to go home, but a ground out hit by McCreary allowed Trevor Isaacs – running for Robertson – to score and make it 4-3.

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Boaz grounded out to score Bowman. North Surry had chances to retaliate in the fifth and sixth, but left two runners on base each time.

The Hounds caught some bad luck in the sixth inning with runners on the corners. Edwards was up to bat and faced a 2-2 count. Edwards attempted to dodge a pitch thrown his way, but his bat inadvertently made contact with the ball. Taylor never got the chance to run home on the wild pitch since it was ruled a foul ball, and it made the count stay at 2-2 instead of going to 3-2. Brown struck Edwards out on the next pitch.

East Surry went to the top of the lineup in the bottom of the sixth and erupted for back-to-back doubles, put a runner on base with an intentional walk and then rattled off two more doubles to increase their lead to 9-3. North Surry led the hit-count 7-6 prior to the bottom of the sixth.

“We just took good approaches, and when we got pitches to hit we took advantage of it,” Freeman said. “We also had strong baserunning throughout the game.”

The Greyhounds continued to battle and added a run in the top of the seventh. The Cards committed two fielding errors that opened the door for Watson to score, but North once again left two runners on base.

“I’m proud of them, and I’ve been sure to tell them that,” Johnson said. “It’s been tough to get where we are, and it’s definitely not been easy. But, we don’t want it to be easy. That’s how you get better.

“Hopefully we get a good draw in playoffs. We played some bad games and had some bad performances, so we put ourselves here and now we’ve got to do something about it.”

Taylor spent 5.1 innings on the mound for North Surry. He threw two strikeouts, hit batters, walked three and allowed eight runs on eight hits. McCreary threw the final .2 innings and allowed one run on two hits.

Brown got the win on the mound for East by throwing six strikeouts, two walks, and giving up three runs on seven hits in 6.0 innings. Anthony Ayers pitched the final inning and had one strikeout, one walk and allowed one run.

The Surry Central softball team recognized its four senior athletes prior to an April 28 home game against East Surry.

Arial Holt, Alyssa Woods, Carlee Jones and Emma Gentry rode onto the field in style on the back of motorcycles. Each senior was presented gifts by the team and recognized before the start of the game. East Surry won the regular season finale 8-3.

Surry Central was given the No. 6 seed in the Foothills 2A Conference Tournament and traveled to No. 3 Wilkes Central on May 2. Surry Central broke a winning drought by upsetting Wilkes Central 15-4. Wilkes Central came into the conference tournament having won nine of its past 11 games, and its only two losses came against eventual conference champion and conference tournament champion Forbush.

The Golden Eagles faced No. 2 West Wilkes in the FH2A semifinals. West Wilkes jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but couldn’t put Surry Central away. The Eagles cut the lead to 4-2 with a 2RBI single hit by Kailea Zurita in the top of the fifth inning, then tied the game on a 2RBI double hit by Woods in the top of the sixth inning.

West Wilkes rallied and put up five runs in the bottom of the sixth, then held Surry Central scoreless in the top of the seventh.

Surry Central sits at 4-14 as it waits for a potential postseason bid to the 2A State Playoffs.

DOBSON — Surry Central hosted the 2022 Foothills 2A Conference Track and Field Championship on April 28.

Surry Central’s girls and Wilkes Central’s boys came away with the team conference championships. Points were awarded for each top-8 finish: 10 points for first place, 8 for second, 6 for third, 5 for fourth and one fewer point through eighth place.

Surry Central senior Mia McMillen was named FH2A Female Athlete of the Year, and Golden Eagle coach Kevin Pack was named Girls Coach of the Year.

Wilkes Central senior Terry Hayes was named Male Athlete of the Year, and his coach Anthony Smith was named Coach of the Year.

Team results and individual breakdowns are included below for each Surry County school. Full meet results can be found at bit.ly/3MMXWqY

Four of Surry Central’s eight gold medals were won by McMillen, who repeats as female athlete of the year.

McMillen was the only athlete at the conference championship – in boys or girls – that won four gold medals in individual events. McMillen took first in the long jump, 100-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles and 100-meter dash.

Yeira Munoz had Surry Central’s remaining gold in track events by winning the 3,200 meters, and Ivy Toney added a gold from a field event by winning pole vault.

Toney and Munoz helped the Lady Golden Eagles win gold in two relays. Toney, Andrea Gonzalez, Ella Priddy and Madelyn Wilmoth won the 4×400, and Munoz, Priddy, Toney and Wilmoth won the 4×800.

Surry Central had two second-place finishes and three third-place finishes.

Priddy finished second in the 400 meters, while Cassie Sneed took silver in the discus throw.

Toney finished just behind Priddy in the 400 meters, Munoz took third in the 1,600 meters and Lanie Fitzgerald was third in pole vault.

East Surry finished first in two events: discus throw and the 4×100 relay.

Clara Willard won discus for the Cardinals, and also took third in shot put. The team of Faith Braithwaite, Madeline Dayton, Ember Midkiff and Arianna Liberatore won the 4×100 relay.

East’s 4×100 team also finished second in the 4×200. Two of those relay members helped the Lady Cards win three other medals: Dayton finished second in triple jump, and Braithwaite finished second in the 200 meters and third in the 100 meters.

The Cards’ remaining top-3 finish came from Chloe Anne Tew, who finished second in high jump.

Greyhound freshman Ella Riggs had both of North Surry’s top-3 finishes. Riggs won gold in shot put, then took third in discus throw.

North Surry had two girls finish just outside the top-3: Isabel Delfin finished fourth in the 400 meters, and Anna Escobar was fourth in shot put.

Ignacio Morales and Allen Huffman each won four medals for the Golden Eagles.

Morales finished first in the 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters, while also finishing second in the 800 meters and third as part of Surry Central’s 4×800 relay team. Morales was joined in the 4×800 by Brangly Mazariegos, Jonathan Avila and Sebastian Sanchez.

Huffman had the Golden Eagles’ other gold medal finish by winning the 300 hurdles. He joined Isaac Eller, Josue Rodriguez and Chris Nava on the 4×400 team that finished second, and was part of two relay teams that finished third. The team of Huffman, Ayden Wilmoth, Brian Williams and Evan Wall won bronze in the 4×100, and Huffman, Wilmoth, Wall and Rhylee Anderson finished third in the 4×200.

Mazariegos had Central’s remaining medal performance by taking third in the 1,600 meters.

Cardinal sophomore Isaac Vaden swept the throwing events by winning discus throw and shot put. Vaden’s wins were the Cardinals’ only gold medals.

Cooper Motsinger added a silver medal by taking second in the 3,200 meters, and the relay team of Layton Allen, Kyle Zinn, Colby Johnson and Lindann Fleming finished second in the 4×100.

Colby Johnson and Eli Becker each added a third-place finish. Johnson won bronze in triple jump, and Becker finished third in shot put.

North Surry’s three medal-winning performances were all achieved by junior Jared Hiatt. Hiatt won the FH2A Championship in long jump and triple jump, while finishing second in high jump.

Hiatt and Hayes had the only two performances in the meet that met the MileSplit US Second Team Standard. Hiatt did so by leaping 22-11.50 feet in the long jump, and Hayes was only 3.50 inches behind him. No other athlete jumped within 3.80 feet of either Hayes or Hiatt.

Aaron Mauck finished just outside the top-3 with a fourth-place finish in discus throw. North Surry also had two relay teams finish fourth: Hiatt, Chuck Powers, Jake Simmons and Matthew Senter did so in the 4×100, and Powers, Simmons, Senter and Elijah Shelton were fourth in the 4×200.

Millennium Charter baseball closed its regular season with the program’s longest winning streak.

The Lions (6-12, 3-7 Northwest Piedmont) won back-to-back games on April 21 and 22 for their first winning streak since joining the N.C. High School Athletic Association. Following a 5-4 walk-off win over rival N.C. Leadership Academy, Millennium went on a hot streak and scored 51 runs over its next three games.

MCA’s first obstacle as the season was winding down was Oak Ridge Military Academy. Millennium trailed 2-1 in the April 27 game, then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second inning. ORMA scored one run in the top of the fourth, then the Lions responded with a 10-run inning.

Millennium went on to defeat Oak Ridge 17-4.

The Lions hammered 16 hits against ORMA. Tristan Shockley, Zeke Harrison, Calvin Devore, Hartley Devore, Ethan Holladay and Phillip Byrd each recorded two hits in the victory, while Aryan Hira, Landon Martin, Landon Jarrell and Evan Key recorded one hit each.

Byrd led the Lions with four RBIs, and Shockley had three.

Byrd, Martin and the Devore’s split time on the mound, combining to throw five strikeouts, four walks and allow three hits.

Millennium closed the regular season with a Senior Night double-header against Carver. The Lions’ six senior players were recognized before the start of game No. 1: Key, Harrison, Jarrell, Shockley, Calvin and Hartley Devore.

The seniors went home happy with wins of 16-1 and 18-0.

Byrd pitched one game and nine strikeouts while allowing no hits. Hartley Devore and Holladay threw the other game, combing to strike out three batters.

Across two games: Byrd and Hartley Devore each had six hits; Shockley, Holladay and Key each had three hits; Martin had two hits; and Harrison, Jarrell and Calvin Devore each had one hit.

Millennium and N.C. Leadership Academy tied for fourth in the NWPC and played each other in the first round of the conference tournament. NCLA won that game 7-1 to advance to the tournament semifinals.

Millennium now waits to see if it will receive a bid for the 1A State Playoffs.

WALNUT COVE — No. 5 ranked South Stokes handed No. 4 Mount Airy its first loss of the season on Friday with a 3-2 come-from-behind overtime win in the Northwest 1A Conference.

With the win, the Sauras tied the Bears atop the conference with one loss each.

“The girls played as a team, and we kept our composure in a very physical game,” said Sauras’ coach Danny Bowman. “We maintained during the first half, but we also allowed them to control too much of the game. In the second half, we slowed down a little and played our game. We stepped up in the overtime period and scored our third goal early. It gave us the confidence we needed to hold on and get the win.”

The Bears’ Grey Moore gave her team an early 1-0 lead at the 31:14 mark of the first half. The senior scored on a header with the help of a pass from Karyme Bueno off a corner kick.

Mount Airy was able to take advantage of the physicality between both teams with 22 minutes left in the first half. The Sauras were called for a foul so Moore lined up for a free kick from 25 yards out. Moore’s kick bounced over the Sauras’ initial front line and then took a spinning bounce past goalie Alicia Rangel for a 2-0 advantage into the half.

Both teams had moments of control in the first 10 minutes of the second half until South’s Ella Carroll closed the gap with a goal with 29:49 left in the contest.

Mount Airy controlled the next 20-plus minutes of play, keeping the ball on the Sauras’ defensive side of the field. Rangel continue to make saves in the goal to keep her team within striking distance.

With 8:57 left in the match, senior Jenna Shotton, who committed to play for Guilford College earlier in the day, took an unexpected shot from 40 yards out on the right hash. The senior’s kick sailed over multiple Bear defenders and found the back of the net, tying the contest and eventually sending the game into overtime.

The teams played two 10-minute overtime periods, with the Sauras scoring with 5:45 left in the first 10 minutes on of a corner kick by Shotton. Her kick found Abby Tilley in the middle of the field, and she placed the ball over the out-stretched hands of the Bears’ goalie Mackenzie Hudson giving the home team’s its first lead of the game.

The Sauras held strong and were able to withstand a fury of kicks by the Bears in the last minute of the game to get the win and draw even in the standings.

Rangel finished the game with 14 saves on 22 shots from the Bears. Hydson recorded 13 saves on 20 South Stokes’ shots.

South Stokes improved to 14-3 overall and 8-1 in league play after its 7-0 win over county-rival North Stokes on Tuesday. Shotton scored her conference leading 29th and 30th goals of the season in the win.

Mount Airy dropped to 14-1-4 overall and 8-1 in league play.

The Sauras travel to Elkin (11-3-1, 7-2) on Thursday and the Bears go to Alleghany (5-6, 5-5). The Elks gave South its only loss in league play with a 3-2 overtime victory in Walnut-Cove two weeks ago.

Robert Money can be reached at 336-749-1193.

LEXINGTON — New classification, same result.

East Surry captured its second consecutive regional golf championship on Monday by winning the 2022 2A Midwest Regional Championship. The tournament was held at the Sapona Country Club in Lexington on May 2.

The Cardinals won the 1A Midwest Regional Title in 2021, then secured the 2A Midwest Regional Title this season.

“Winning the regional is one goal that we set before the season started,” said East Surry coach Darrin Haywood. “It was great to watch the guys compete on a tough course that demanded accuracy. I also am proud of our individual scores from Monday.”

The Cardinals won the regional championship by 19 strokes, with East’s top four golfers all finishing in the top-10. The top three teams automatically qualified for the 2A State Championship Meet.

A total of 79 golfers competed in the 2A Midwest Regional. East Surry junior Anderson Badgett was the medalist at the event with a low score of 74.

Badgett’s Cardinal teammates Chase Harris, Connor Key and Bradley Davis also finished in the top 10. Harris was fifth at 78, Key was sixth at 79 and Davis was 10th at 83.

The top nine individuals that weren’t part of the three state-qualifying teams will compete as individuals at the 2A State Championship. Six local golfers fall into this category, and are listed below along with East Surry’s individual scores

The 2A State Championship will be held May 9-10 at the Foxfire Golf Club (Red) in Pinehurst. East Surry looks to win its first state title since 2008, which was also the last time the Cards had an individual state champion (John Welden).

Since winning it all in 2008, the Cardinals finished second in the state three times – 2014, 2019 and 2021 – and third three times – 2011, 2012 and 2013.

“In order to win the state title as a team we have a few things to improve in our game,” Haywood said. “We are at the point of tweaking a few things to continue to bring our scores down. I am so excited for next week and the challenge that lies ahead at Foxfire. We are approaching the tournament one hole at a time.”

Though they may have lost a few members along the way, Mount Airy baseball’s class of 2022 is experiencing success that the program hasn’t seen in more than 50 years.

The Granite Bears defeated Elkin 5-2 in the opening round of the Northwest 1A Conference Tournament. With the May 2 victory, the Bears win their seventh consecutive game and improve to 17-7 overall. According to Mount Airy historian Doug McDaniel, Mount Airy last won eight games in a row in 1958 and most recently won at least 16 games in a season in 1939.

Mount Airy (17-7, 10-2 NW1A) began its current win streak on April 13. Since then, the Bears have defeated Surry Central twice, Alleghany twice and Elkin three times. The Bears have outscored opponents 75-23 during this run, which includes four games scoring in double figures.

The Bears, ranked No. 1 in the 1A West by MaxPreps, closed the season with a Senior Night game against Alleghany. Mount Airy’s four senior team members are: Josh Penn, Logan Dowell, Reece McDuffie and Reece Deaton.

Ashton Gwyn got the win on the mound, while Dowell and Gallimore also spent time on the bump. Gwyn tossed six strikeouts, and Dowell and Landon Gallimore each had three.

Deaton and Rylan Venable each had two hits against the Trojans, and Brison George, Cameryn Wilson and Kamden Hawks each had one. Nine different Bears scored in the 12-2 victory.

The Alleghany win helped Mount Airy secure the No. 2 seed in the NW1A Tournament, allowing the Bears to host Elkin on May 2.

Dowell pitched five innings for Mount Airy and threw five strikeouts, one walk and allowed one run on three hits. Gwyn pitched the remainder of the game and had three strikeouts, two walks and allowed one run on three hits.

Deaton and Landon Cox racked up two hits each, and George, Wilson, Penn, Dowell and Hawks each had one.

Successful teams aim to peak at the right time in a season, and it appears North Surry softball is doing just that.

North Surry is riding a four-game winning streak in which the Hounds have outscored opponents 41-6. These four wins include: a 9-1 road victory against Surry Central, a 9-1 win over West Wilkes, an 11-0 Senior Night victory over North Wilkes and a 12-4 win over East Surry.

All four wins are significant as the Greyhounds (11-10, 7-5 Foothills 2A) battle for a playoff berth.

The win over Surry Central broke a three-game losing streak for North Surry; two of those losses were by one run to the teams that would finish first and third in the FH2A Conference. The remaining loss came against one of the top-ranked 1A teams in the state.

After beating Surry Central, North Surry posted possibly its biggest win of the year by upsetting West Wilkes. The Blackhawks had won eight-straight games and 13-of-14 prior to the game against North Surry. The Hounds’ 9-1 win handed West Wilkes its largest defeat of the season.

North Surry recognized seven senior players as part of the team’s Senior Night game against North Wilkes: Marissa Casstevens, Trista Berrier, Sara Bledsoe, Micah Felts, Kadie Fulk, Carley Puckett and Bella Aparicio.

Berrier was perfect in the five-inning shutout victory. The senior pitcher threw eight strikeouts while walking zero batters and allowing zero hits.

Offensively, North Surry scored all 11 of its runs in the third inning. Berrier led the way with three hits, including two doubles, while Aparicio had two hits, and Puckett and Sarah Mauldin each had one hit.

Like the North Wilkes game, North Surry scored all of its runs against East Surry in one inning. The May 2 FH2A Tournament game marked North and East Surry’s third meeting, with the first two going the way of the Hounds. East Surry took a 1-0 lead before North exploded for 12 runs in the fourth inning.

Aparicio and Fulk each had three hits and three RBIs in the win over the Cardinals. Jordan Snow had a pair of hits, and Mauldin, Felts, Puckett and Sadie Montgomery each had one hit. Snow had one double, and Aparicio had a triple.

The North Surry Greyhounds baseball team is running at full speed entering the postseason.

North Surry was 6-7 overall after dropping a home game to West Wilkes on April 4. Four days later, the Greyhounds beat West Wilkes on the road to begin a 5-game winning streak.

As of May 3, North Surry has won nine of its past 10 games to improve to 15-8 overall.

The Hounds have scored double-digit runs in seven of those nine victories. This includes a Senior Night victory over North Wilkes on April 29, as well as a 10-6 win over Wilkes Central in the Foothills 2A Conference Tournament.

North Surry’s five seniors – Alec Singleton, Trevor Isaacs, Keaton Hudson, Ethan Edwards and Caleb Collins – ended the regular season with an 11-1 victory to finish 7-5 in conference play. This set the No. 3 Greyhounds up against the No. 6 Wilkes Central Eagles in the opening round of the FH2A Tourney.

North Surry started with a 6-2 lead through three innings, but found itself in a tough spot when Wilkes Central battled back to tie the game at 6-6 in the fifth.

Myles Draughn led off in the bottom of the fifth with a ground rule double that bounced over the fence in left-center field. A wild pitch moved Draughn’s courtesy runner, Jay Eades, to third, then a sacrifice fly from Cam Taylor allowed Eades to score.

Wilkes Central put the potential game-tying run on first in the top of the sixth after being walked. North had just one out on the board, but kept the plate clean with a classic 6-4-3 double play.

Jackson Smith was up first in the bottom of the sixth and smashed a double down the right field line. Jake Beamer bunted to move Smith to third, and an overthrow at first base allowed Smith to score and Beamer to reach second.

Edwards kept the bats moving with a hit to left field. Wilkes Central’s throw home was off the mark, which allowed Beamer to score run No. 9 and put Edwards on third. North Surry added their final run when Edwards scored off a wild pitch.

Seven local tennis stars are headed to the Individual State Championship Tournaments.

One athlete from Mount Airy, Georgie Kriek, will compete in the 1A State Tournament as a singles competitor. The remaining six athletes will compete in the 2A State Tournament: East Surry’s Cooper Motsinger and Levi Watson qualified for the singles championship, while the Surry Central teams of Josh Pardue/Jacob Edmonds and Michael Tucker/Tripp McMillen will compete in the doubles championship.

Kriek reached the 1A West Regional Singles Championship before finishing second in the bracket.

Motsinger won the 2A Midwest Regional Singles Championship, while Pardue/ Edmonds were runners-up in the 2A Midwest Doubles Championship.

Watson finished fourth in the 2A Singles Tournament, and Tucker/McMillen finished fourth in the 2A Doubles Tournament.

Two Northwest 1A Conference rivals entered the 1A West Regional Championship on opposite sides of the singles bracket: Mount Airy’s Kriek and Elkin’s Owen Jennings. Kriek defeated Jennings twice during the regular season, and Jennings topped Kriek in the NW1A Singles Championship.

Kriek breezed through the first two rounds of regionals to qualify for the state tournament. The Granite Bear topped Cornerstone Charter’s Jacob Stanfield 6-3, 6-0 in the opening round, then beat Draughn’s Corey Powell 6-0, 6-1.

Kriek reached the championship round by defeating Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy’s Charlie Schweppe 6-2, 6-4. Schweppe went on to finish third in the bracket.

Jennings defeated Kriek 6-2, 6-2 in the finals.

Mount Airy also had a doubles team qualify for regionals: Martin Cooke/Jared Pinto. The duo of Cooke/Pinto fell to Bishop McGuinness’ Joshua Hanflink/Evan Sturgill in the opening round, while the Bishop team went on to finish third.

Motsinger and Watson were seeded No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the singles bracket.

Motsinger won without ever surrendering more than three total games in a match. Through four rounds of the tournament, he only lost a total of six games.

Motsinger defeated the No. 15 seed, West Davidson’s Ethan Ullring, 6-0, 6-0 in the opening round, then topped the No. 7 seed, North Wilkes’ Mitch Adams, 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.

Like the 1A singles and 2A doubles bracket, a Surry County team occupied half of the semifinal spots. East Surry’s Watson reached the semis by beating the No. 12 seed, West Stanly’s Nate Barringer, 6-3, 6-4, before topping the No. 4 seed, West Davidson’s Bain Bennett, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

Motsinger advanced to the championship match by defeating Wheatmore’s Jagur Williams, seeded No. 3, 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals. Watson fell to Salisbury’s Will Koontz in the semifinals. Koontz was the top-seeded player in the bracket and defeated Watson 6-0, 6-1.

Koontz was undefeated on the year coming into the regional finals. Motsinger defeated Koontz 6-1, 6-2 to win the 2A Midwest Singles Championship.

Both Motsinger and Watson advance to the State Championship Tournament in hopes of becoming East Surry’s first-ever Singles State Champion.

East Surry’s lone doubles team in the Regional Tournament was the duo of Kade Talton/Nick Lowery. The team, seeded No. 10, defeated Walkertown’s No. 7 team of Kooper Bray/James Brown 6-2, 6-2 in the opening round, but fell to Mount Pleasant’s No. 2-seeded duo of Jadon Carnes/Gonzalo Gomez in the quarterfinals.

Surry Central’s Pardue/Edmonds entered as the No. 1 seed in the 2A Midwest Doubles Tournament. The duo defeated Forest Hill’s No. 16 team of Stephen Herrera/Keith Evan in the opening round, then beat North Stanly’s No. 8 team of Kaleb Burrage/Judson Busch 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Pardue/Edmonds won a marathon semifinal match over Salisbury’s No. 4-ranked team of Colin Donaldson/Gray Davis. The pair of undefeated teams went to two set-tiebreakers before a winner could be crowned.

Pardue/Edmonds won the first set of the semifinal 7-6, (7-5), and Donaldson/Davis won the second set 6-2. The tiebreaking set was also decided with a tiebreaker, which went the way of the Golden Eagles 7-6 (7-4).

Now 19-0 as a doubles team this season, Pardue/Edmonds faced yet another undefeated squad: Mount Pleasant’s Carnes/Gomez.

Carnes/Gomez defeated Pardue/Edmonds 6-1, 6-2 to win the Regional Championship.

Pardue/Edmonds aren’t the only Golden Eagles with a chance to become Surry Central’s first-ever Doubles State Champions. Tucker/McMillen entered as the No. 3 seeded team and posted back-to-back wins to qualify for the state tournament.

Tucker/McMillen defeated No. 14 Collin Burgess/Jacob Youngs of Wheatmore 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round, then topped Forbush’s No. 6-ranked team of Calvin Norman/Cooper Hennings 6-4, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Tucker/McMillen fell to Mount Pleasant’s Carves/Gomez in the semifinals, then lost to Salisbury’s Donaldson/Davis in the consolation finals.

North Surry High School senior Jair Gonzalez officially signed his NCAA National Letter of Intent and will continue his academic and soccer careers at Pfeiffer University.

“It feels unreal, but amazing,” Gonzalez said. “It’s everything I’ve been pursuing since I was little. At first I had my doubts because of the way I started out playing in high school. It was a completely different environment than middle school, but as time went on things clicked together for me.”

Jair has been a cornerstone of the Greyhounds soccer team for four years. He walked into Charlie Atkins Stadium and became a starter his freshman year, then went on to become an All-Conference and All-Region player that garnered the attention of college scouts.

“I never doubted him because I’ve seen how hard of a worker he is and what he’s willing to do to accomplish something,” said Eric Jessup, who served as North Surry head soccer coach from 2017-21 before swapping to an assistant role ahead of the 2021-22 season. “He puts a lot of time into the sport and plays year round. You could see him each year getting a little better, little better, little better… to the point where you thought ‘hey, this kid could definitely play at the next level.’”

Another coach that was present for Gonzalez’s development as both a player and a young man was Kevin Shore. Shore served as Jessup’s assistant coach during Gonzalez’s first three years, then took over as head coach for Jair’s senior year.

“When he came in as a freshman, a lot of times he just needed a little bit of guidance and maybe some parameters,” Shore said. “You could see him develop as a team player and as the leader of the team. This year, all the team members looked up to Jair.

“If there was some backbiting going on, you could look at Jair and he would end it. He’d say ‘This is what we’re going to do and this is how we’re going to go about things,’ and everything would get better. You need that leadership to be successful.”

Gonzalez’s soccer experience and natural abilities led to success on the field. He picked up the sport at a young age and played a lot of indoor soccer. As he entered middle school, Jair started getting more serious about playing in college and decided to play travel soccer. He later joined Northern Triad Soccer Club coached by Sam Lowe.

Gonzalez wasn’t the crucial piece of the puzzle just because he was a talented player at one or two positions. Rather, according to Shore, he was a talented player wherever the team needed him to play.

He said his natural position is in the midfield, which is where he started when he first came to North. But as older players graduated and holes opened up, Jair was moved to defense where he found his fit for the Greyhounds.

“Jair is one of the kids that we’d do a starting lineup and say ‘hey, what do you think,’” Shore said. “ He was one of the few players on the field that, of the 11, he had the green light if he needed to go from defense to striker and we would back his play. He was an asset all the way around.”

“If you really think about it,” Jessup added, “I don’t think we really took you out of a game this year. We’d just shift you somewhere else on the field if someone needed a break.”

After some discussion, the trio of Shore, Jessup and Gonzalez could only think of one instance throughout the entire 2021-22 season in which Jair was subbed out by the coaches excluding injuries and cards. The game in question was North Surry’s playoff game at Trinity, which marked the school’s first playoff appearance since 2018.

“That was just giving direction, making sure he had his mind right to go back out there and make an impact,” Shore said. “But what makes Jair so unique was that if he did take the freedom to push up to striker and there was a turnover, he would undoubtedly sprint back. He gave as much effort going up to the offensive end as he would coming back on defense. You can’t say that about everybody all the time; they weren’t that excited about it. But at the same time, he knew he was necessary to get those stops.”

“I just tried to play the best I could every game,” Gonzalez said. “I try not to get off the field unless it’s completely necessary for me to. I’ve always tried to bring everyone up as much as I could. We’ve always had our arguments, our differences, but we’ve always tried to work through them together.”

Even after his final high school season, Jair’s impact on North Surry soccer is still being felt.

“I think Jair set the standard for what it takes to lead on the team,” Shore said. “Even today in April, I’ve got kids talking about summer workouts and they’re saying ‘I want to take Jair’s spot. I want to be like Jair.’ It’s good to hear those comments because it shows his teammates realize what he brought to the table.”

Shore and Jessup spoke of how Jair’s college recruitment would serve as a shining example for upcoming North Surry soccer players. The coaches expressed their gratitude to Gonzalez for his dedication to the program and to his teammates over the years, and Gonzalez gave it right back.

“I really want to thank Coach Shore and Coach Jessup,” he said. “I honestly don’t think I would be at this point I’m at today without their help throughout these four years.”

Jair also extended thanks to his family for their unwavering support. Gonzalez mentioned wanting to succeed in the sport to have the experience that his dad earned but couldn’t experience.

“My dad’s been my main inspiration,” Jair said. “Back when he was younger he had the opportunity to possibly go pro, but did not because he was too young to leave home.”

With his parting words at Gonzalez’s signing, Jessup wanted to let Pfeiffer know what kind of person they were getting this fall.

“Jair is a winner, just all the way around,” Jessup said. “He’s going to be a winner in life, he’s gonna do great in college – whether hitting the books or playing on the field – and he’s going to do great with whatever he decides to do after.”

DOBSON — Each half of Wednesday’s soccer match between Surry Central and North Surry was like an entirely different game.

The first 40 minutes saw North Surry strike early and hold on to a hold halftime lead for the first time in more than three weeks. North’s defense took a major hit in the final minutes of the first half, which proved doubly brutal for the Greyhounds when the Golden Eagles played with new energy in the second half.

A trio of quick goals by Central turned the tides of the game, and a fourth goal later in the half put the exclamation point on the 4-1 win.

“We just came out completely different in the second half,” said Central coach Adan Garcia. “We played a little sloppy at the start and felt the effects. We didn’t have much luck against their defense in the first half either, but we were able to adjust and I’m proud of the girls for making the necessary changes.

“They (North) gave us a tough battle, regardless of the score line. That was a tough, tough win.”

Garcia said the Eagles completely changed their formation during halftime. As someone that traditionally plays a more conservative 4-4-2, Garcia decided to play risky and change to a 3-4-3.

“We thought we could contain them enough to keep them from outscoring us in the second half, but knew we wouldn’t have a chance if we didn’t put the ball in the net,” Garcia said. “We wanted to try and get around [Kim] Elias in the back so we tried to get to our outside mids, drag her out and find the wings.”

Central’s plan worked, and within five minutes had evened the game at 1-1.

North Surry’s defense was locked in during the first half. The Greyhound limited shots on the goal, and forced Central to try and fire from distance.

“Our defense hasn’t given up a many goals since we moved Weatherly Reeves and Kim Elias both back there,” said Greyhound coach Eric Jessup. “Those two work so well together and it’s fun to watch. Sometimes we’ll run a diamond in the back with both of them in the center, and then other times we’ll have three in the back with a sweeper.”

Elias also scored North’s lightning-fast goal early in the game. Central gave up a foul five yards outside the 18-yard box, and Elias sent an absolute firecracker into the net with the wind on her side.

North Surry’s defense had to call an audible after Reeves was injured late in the first half. She left the game and did not return.

“That was such a big loss for our team,” Jessup said. “She’s our team leader. Does a lot of the talking from the back, takes all the throw-ins, she knows where to be and what to do and helps others on the field as well. She’s really hard to replace.”

Jessup said he had to pull a midfielder back to Reeves’ spot on defense, then plug another player into the midfield spot. The sudden change led the team to a troublesome start to the second half, which, paired with Central’s offensive explosion, changed the entire dynamic of the game.

“That was a big loss for our defense, but I’m definitely not taking anything away from Coach Garcia,” Jessup said. “They played a great second half and were able to finish really well. They came out in the second half and scored three quick goals, so I know he drew up a great gameplan.

“Most of all I hate it for her (Reeves). I know not being able to play really hurts her.”

Lillian Orozco scored Central’s game-tying goal that sparked the strong second half. Estefany Avila sent a hard pass on the ground to Orozco in the middle to finish in the 45th minute. A few minutes later, Orozco took another shot that was blocked down by North’s keeper. Miranda Calderon swooped in and poked the ball in to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

In the 57th minute, Central’s Dafne Salgado-Perez took a pass from Orozco up the sideline to set up a deep cross. Avila crashed from the left wing and redirected the cross with her knee into the goal.

The fourth and final goal for the Eagles came on an Orozco shot at the edge of the 18. Her shot was low and hard, and sailed over the line near the post.

“All we worked on this week was long-range shooting,” Garcia said. “It’s going to give us a little boost in the East Surry game and for the rest of the season.”

“Our girls played hard and we had some really good stretches, especially in that first half,” Jessup said. “Sometimes this is just how things go. We need to rebound and come out fighting again when we get back on the field.”

ROARING GAP — The Mount Airy golf team finished second at the Northwest 1A Conference Championship meet on Tuesday.

The meet was hosted at held at the Roaring Gap Club in Alleghany County and featured golfers from all seven NW1Aschools: Mount Airy, Elkin, North Stokes, South Stokes, East Wilkes, Starmount and Alleghany.

Elkin won the NW1A Tournament Title in a close three-man race against South Stokes and Mount Airy. The Buckin’ Elks won with an 18-hole team score of 332 despite not having the lowest score on either the front or back 9.

Elkin’s James Owings was the medalist at the conference championship with a final score of 77 strokes. Owings tied South Stokes’ Keelan Robertson for first, then won a one-hole playoff for the victory. Robertson went on to be named NW1A Golfer of the Year.

Mount Airy had the lowest score on the front 9, and South Stokes had the lowest score on the back 9. The Granite Bears and Sauras tied for second at the NW1A tournament at 334 strokes.

The trio of Mount Airy, South Stokes and Elkin also made up the top three of the regular season standings. South Stokes won the regular season championship, Mount Airy finished second and Elkin was third.

South Stokes coach Kent Mendenhall was named NW1A Coach of the Year.

*The top four individual performances contribute to team score. Scores are formatted as: front 9 score + back 9 score = total score

T-2. Mount Airy Granite Bears 165+169=334

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