North Lincoln, N-C stars earn league defensive, offensive awards
By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Conference champion East Lincoln leads the postseason South Fork 2A boys’ soccer all-conference with five picks, but the Mustangs didn’t garner any of the individual awards.
The All-South Fork 2A team — selected by the head coaches — picked a defensive star from North Lincoln as Defensive Player of the Year, and offensive standout from Newton-Conover as Offensive Player of the Year and Coach of Year went to the leader of third-place Lincolnton.
Samari Collins of North Lincoln tops the defensive list, Noel Fong of Newton-Conover leads the offensive team, and Brad Bagan of Lincolnton was voted Coach of the Year.
East Lincoln went 10-1-1 in the league, finishing ahead of Newton-Conover (9-1-2) and Lincolnton (7-3-2).
Lincolnton’s three conference losses were 4-3 to Newton-Conover at Lincolnton, 2-1 in double overtime at home to East Lincoln and 3-2 to Newton-Conover on the road.
The Wolves’ tie were 0-0 at home against North Lincoln and 2-2 at East Lincoln.
East Lincoln, as a No. 5 seed, advanced to the third round before falling 3-0 to No. 1 Hibriten,
ALL-SOUTH FORK 2A
(as selected by conference head coaches)
Note: West Lincoln did not field a varsity boys’ team.
Bandys: Jake Reavis, Tommy Dollyhite.
East Lincoln: Landon Graden, Chase Lynch, Blake Swanson, Will White, Jackson Thrap.
Lake Norman Charter: Connor Reichert, Andrea Racziu, Chaz Hawley.
Lincolnton: Jose Sito Garcia, Aaron Lail, Jake Cerda, Alvaro Rodriguez.
Maiden: Adrian Campos-Martinez.
Newton-Conover: Noel Fong, Jesus Mejia, Alvaro Marino, Benji Soto.
North Lincoln: Samari Collins, Luke Custer.
Defensive Player of the Year: Collins, N. Lincoln
Offensive Player of the Year: Fong, Newton-Conover
Coach of the Year: Brad Bagan, Lincolnton