HobbsDailyReport.com
GREENSBORO – Next season’s East-West All-Star Games will include the two head basketball coaches in the newest version of the Northwestern 3A-4A with the most career victories.
Freedom boys’ head coach Casey Rogers has been named the West boys head coach, and Hickory girls’ head coach Barbara Helms has been selected as the West girls’ assistant coach for games next July in Greensboro.
The selections were released on Sunday by the North Carolina Coaches Association (NCCA), also including staffs for football and soccer (see below).
Rogers — who played guard for the West All-Stars in 1998 as a cap to a sterling prep career at Freedom – has been the Patriots’ head coach for 11 seasons.
HELMS
Helms has been at Hickory for 14 years. and her coaching career includes stints as East Burke’s girls’ head coach and as head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University.
Brian Carver of Enka is the assistant coach for the West boys, while Helms will coach the West girls with head coach Rick Anderson of Mount Tabor.
The only other coach from the region selected was Shelby’s Lance Ware as a football assistant for the West.
Rogers’ teams at Freedom are 232-79 after the Patriots went 28-3 last season and won a conference title for the fourth time under Rogers. A former starting guard at Western Carolina, he has nine winning seasons, one .500 season and one losing season since replacing Joe Davis as Freedom’s head coach in 2006-07.
Freedom has one state title under Rogers and has been to four West Regionals, including last year (64-52 loss in final to Cox Mill).
After going 38-37 at East Burke over three seasons and reaching the postseason twice, Helms has coached each of her 14 Hickory teams to the state playoffs. The only prep team she has coached that didn’t finishing with a winning record was her first at East Burke (11-14 in 1996-97).
Helms’ teams are 364-44 at Hickory and her career record — 402-81 over 17 seasons — includes her 400th victory in February of last season over Hibriten.
North Iredell eliminated Hickory in the second round of last season’s 3A state playoffs.
Hickory has eight conference titles, two conference title shares and six West Regional appearances under Helms, a former Wake Forest basketball player selected as an ACC Legend in women’s basketball by the conference.
Her 2014-15 HHS team went 27-0 and won the state 3A title, beating Chapel Hill in a rematch of a title game from the season before.
By going 20-7 last year, the Red Tornadoes’ girls have won 20 or more games in 17 straight seasons and 25 times in the previous 26 seasons.
2018 EAST-WEST ALL-STAR COACHES
(Selected by North Carolina Coaches Association, games next July)
FOOTBALL
WEST
Head coach
Todd Willert, E. Forsyth
Assistants
Jason Adkins, E. Wilkes
Jason Fowler, Olympic
Jeff Frady, Enka
Chris Miller, Southern Alamance
Lance Ware, Shelby
EAST
Head coach
Thurman Leach, Garner
Assistants
Daniel Finn, SE Raleigh
Scott Garnder, Farmville Central
Eric Leary, White Oak
Brian Roach, Clayton
Guy Williams, Corinth Holders
BASKETBALL
BOYS
WEST
Head coach
CASEY ROGERS, FREEDOM
Assistant
Brian Carver, Enka
EAST
Head coach
David Neal, Apex
Assistant
Thomas Johnson, Perquimans
GIRLS
WEST
Head coach
Rick Anderson, Mount Tabor
Assistant
BARBARA HELMS, HICKORY
EAST
Head coach
Kim Miller, Swansboro
Assistant
Jay Poole, N. Johnston
SOCCER
GIRLS
WEST
Head coach
Todd Spinell, Concord Robinson
EAST
Head coach
Laura Kerrigan, Cary
BOYS
WEST
Head coach
Matt Parrish, Salisbury
EAST
Head coach
Paul Slater, Croatan