HobbsDailyReport.com
Sophomore quarterback Gavin Marley completed six passes – three for touchdowns – and threw for 91 yards on Thursday night as St. Stephens High topped Maiden 24-16 on the road in junior varsity football.
The Indians are off to a 2-0 start after beating Bunker Hill 28-21 in their season-opening game and they will play Fred T. Foard at St. Stephens on Thursday night.
Sophomore tight end Zane McPherson had two catches for 55 yards and two scores and sophomore running back Zak McLauchlin ran for 81 yards on 15 carries and had two catches, one for 30 yards and the game-winning TD.
Sophomore linebacker Nick Apollonio had eight tackles and two sacks to lead the Indians’ defense. Sophomores Troy Hicks (defensive back) and Mason Buff (linebacker) each had six tackles for St. Stephens while sophomore defensive back Omar Orozco added five tackles, sophomore defensive lineman Randy Lyons contributed five tackles and Luke Harris, a sophomore defensive end, had four tackles and a sack.
Maiden fell to 2-1 after wins over Fred T. Foard (50-0) and East Burke (46-0) to start the season The Blue Devils are idle on Thursday and open South Fork 2A play at home on Sept. 20 against Bandys.
Alexander Central 50, North Lincoln 26
Daniel Morgan ran 10 times for 190 yards, scoring four rushing touchdowns, as the Cougars (3-0) remained undefeated with a home victory.
Dayente Calhoun added 11 carries for 94 yards and a TD and Lance Justice ran for a score and had 14 carries for 94 yards for Alexander Central.
North Lincoln (2-1) had 229 rushing yards, led by 91 from Jack Carter.
Ibrahim Boston’s five tackles sparked the Cougars’ defense and Carter had a game-high 10 tackles for the Knights and Ty Williams added nine tackles.
Alexander Central led 28-7 at the half after TD runs by Calhoun, Morgan, Williams and Lance Justice.
Morgan scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter and on a 36-yard run in the game’s final five minutes.
Alexander Central is idle next Thursday and starts Northwestern 3A-4A play on Sept. 20 at West Caldwell.
North Lincoln is also idle next Thursday before opening its South Fork 2A schedule at West Lincoln.
BOYS SOCCER
Hickory 1, North Gaston 0
Ben Boston scored the only goal and Harrison Boston and Peyton Winkler combined in goal for a shutout as Hickory won at North Gaston.
Aydan Kelly had an assist on Ben Boston’s goal as the Red Tornadoes improved to 3-1-4.
Hickory’s junior varsity remained unbeaten (6-0) by beating the Wildcats 6-0.
The Red Tornadoes start Northwestern 3A-4A play on Monday night at 6 p.m., facing McDowell at Hickory.
East Lincoln 7, Cramer 2
The Mustangs got two goals each by Chase Gilley and Logan Gilley to win at home and improve to 7-1.
Pearson Cunningham, Noah Graden and Joe Benson added goals for East Lincoln and Chase Lynch had an assists.
The Mustangs open South Fork 2A play on Monday, facing Lake Norman Charter on the road in a 6 p.m. match.
VOLLEYBALL
Lake Norman Charter 3, Newton-Conover 1
Makayla Martin had a 20-serve streak and finished with eight aces, four kills, three digs and nine assists as the Knights won 25-10, 25-18, 25-8 on the road in a South Fork 2A match.
Liberty Harris had 10 kills, four digs and three aces and Pearce Augier provided four kills, three blocks and an ace for Lake Norman Charter.
Taylor Adleman added four kills, 12 digs and two aces and Lauren Leeper had three aces, four digs and nine assists for the Knights (6-2, 2-2).
Lake Norman Charter is tied with Bandys for third place and plays Lincolnton at home Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a conference match.
Maiden 3, North Lincoln 0
The Blue Devils, playing at home, won to stay tied atop the South Fork 2A with East Lincoln at 4-0.
Maiden won 25-11, 25-12, 25-13, paced by Sara Wicker’s 14 kills and two blocks and 11 digs by Abbey Smith.
Faith Herman provided 38 assists and 10 digs for the Blue Devils while Abby Driscoll and Nicole Hutchinson each had seven kills and Lauren Xayavong made 13 digs.
Maiden’s next match is a showdown with East Lincoln on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at East Lincoln. The Mustangs won last year’s South Fork 2A title, finishing a match up on the Blue Devils.
North Lincoln, 1-3 in the league and tied with Newton-Conover for fifth place, is at home Tuesday at 6 p.m. to battle the Red Devils.