Sarah Wicker (1) of Maiden High makes a play at the net against Smoky Mountain’s Kendall Wike (4) in the Blue Devils’ first-round victory at home on Tuesday night in the 2A playoffs. Maiden plays at R-S Central on Thursday at 6 p.m. in the second round./PHOTO COURTESY OF OBSERVER NEWS ENTERRPRISE
East Lincoln battles N-C in Newton for South Fork 2A soccer lead
HobbsDailyReport.com
Maiden High eliminated visiting Smoky Mountain in three sets on Tuesday night, opening the state 2A volleyball tournament with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-15 victory.
The Blue Devils (20-5) — the West No. 11 seed — advances to play Thursday at West No. 6 seed R-S Central (20-6) after the Hilltoppers beat No. 27 Surry Central 3-0 in the first round at R-S Central on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Abbey Smith had 16 kills and nine digs and Faith Herman contributed 36 assists and seven digs in Maiden’s home victory. Abby Driscoll had eight kills and one block, Sarah Wicker added nine kills and one block, Lauren Xayavong provided 17 digs and three aces and Peyton McRee finished with 12 digs and three aces for the Blue Devils.
If Maiden wins in the second round, it advances to play No. 14 West Iredell or No. 3 East Lincoln in a third round match on Saturday. A Maiden-West Iredell match would be played at Maiden and a Maiden-East Lincoln match would be played at East Lincoln.
Fred T. Foard 3, Draughn 0
The top-seeded Tigers knocked a Northwestern Foothills 2A foe out of the bracket in the first round, winning 25-8, 25-23, 25-16 in Newton.
It was the third meeting of the year for the Tigers and Wildcats with Foard again winning 3-0.
Foard meets No. 17 Ledford (20-3) on Thursday at 6 p.m. at Foard, after Ledford advanced with a 3-0 win over No. 16 East Gaston in the first round.
If Foard wins on Thursday, it would be at home Saturday to play No. 24 North Lincoln or No. 8 West Wilkes in the third round.
East Lincoln 3, Canton Pisgah 0
The Mustangs, regular-season champs in the South Fork 2A, won a first-round home match 25-20, 25-16, 25-9 over the 30th-seeded Black Bears.
East Lincoln (21-2) is a No. 3 seed that has lost only to Maiden this season and faces No. 14 West Iredell in the second round on Thursday at East Lincoln.
East Lincoln gets Maiden or West Iredell in the third round on Saturday and that match will be at East Lincoln.
North Lincoln 3, Black Mountain Owen 0
The Knights (14-11) — seeded No. 24 — advanced with a 25-22, 25-14, 25-22 road victory in 2A.
North Lincoln goes on the road Thursday to play eighth-seeded West Wilkes (19-3).
The Knights would play Saturday in the third round if they beat West Wilkes, going to No. 17 Ledford or No. 1 Fred T. Foard.
West Iredell 3, Franklin 1
The Warriors won 25-23 and rallied after losing the second set 27-25, winning a 2A match with 25-20, 27-25 wins.
West Iredell, seeded No. 14, goes to No. 3 East Lincoln for a second round match on Thursday. A win there pits the Warriors against No. 11 Maiden or No. 6 R-S Central on the road on Saturday in the third round.
Hickory 3, Weddington 0
The 11th-seeded Red Tornadoes rolled to a home 3A win, 25-14, 25-14, 25-19 to reach the second round on Saturday.
Hickory travels to play No. 6 Cox Mill (19-3) on Thursday in the second round after Cox Mill eliminated No. 27 St. Stephens 3-0 on Tuesday at Cox Mill.
No. 14 Southwest Guilford (20-6) and No. 3 Carson (24-3) are in the bracket opposite Hickory. If the Red Tornadoes win, they would go to Southwest Guilford or Carson on Saturday in the third round.
Watauga 3, Stuart Cramer 0
At Watauga, the Pioneers (22-0, No. 4 seed) remained undefeated by winning 25-8, 25-9, 25-11 over 29th-seed Cramer in a 3A match.
Watauga is at home Thursday against No. 20 Sun Valley, playing for a Saturday third-round home bid against No. 21 North Henderson or No. 5 McMichael.
JUNIOR VARSITY FOOTBALL
St. Stephens 36, Watauga 7 (Monday)
The Indians won a Northwestern Foothills 2A makeup game on Monday night at home behind a 300-yard night on offense.
Sophomore running back Zac McLauchlin had eight carries for 145 yards and two TDs and freshman running back Tony Rangel added eight carries for 109 yards and three scores to spark St. Stephens (6-2, 2-2) quarterback Gavin Marley completed eight of 11 passes for 98 yards, throwing three times to sophomore tight end Zane McPherson for 48 yards.
McPherson led the Indians defensively with seven tackles and an assist with sophomore safety Omar Orozco and freshman nose guard Nick Guy each adding six tackles and one assist.
St. Stephens faces South Caldwell on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at St. Stephens and closes the season Nov. 1 at home against Hickory.
Watauga fell to 3-4 overall and is 2-3 in the league and closes the season on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. against Freedom in Morganton.
BOYS SOCCER
Bandys 4, West Lincoln 0
The Trojans won via shutout in a South Fork 2A match at home on Tuesday, improving to 8-4-1 to stay in third place in the conference race.
Bandys closes its conference schedule Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at home, facing North Lincoln.
The Trojans beat Lake Norman Charter 4-1 on the road on Monday, getting three goals by Macauley Bulen and one by Ben Joseph. Jesse Pope was in goal for that win.
West Lincoln, 0-13-0 in the league, is at home Wednesday at 5 p.m. to close the league schedule against Lake Norman Charter.
Hickory 3, Alexander Central 1 (Monday)
Ayden Kelly scored twice, leading the Red Tornadoes (14-3-4, 11-2-0) to a home victory that kept them tied for first place in the Northwestern 3A-4A with Watauga.
Brayden Rowland score the other goal for Hickory and Ben Boston, Jayrd Stillwell and Maurice Bailey each had one assist.
Hickory closes the conference schedule Wednesday at 6 p.m. with a match at St. Stephens.
Alexander Central, 5-7-0 in the league and in fifth place, has two league matches left, Wednesday at South Caldwell and Monday at Freedom.
Mustangs, Red Devils battle for lead
East Lincoln visits Newton-Conover on Wednesday at 6 p.m. for a match that could decide the South Fork 2A title.
East Lincoln is 11-1-0 and leads the league and has one other league match – Monday at North Lincoln – to go.
Newton-Conover is 11-1-1 in the conference and the match against East Lincoln closes the Red Devils’ league schedule.
Hibriten has clinched title
Hibriten, 11-0-0 as it heads to play at Draughn on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., has already clinched the Northwestern Foothills 2A title.
The Panthers are two up on second-place West Iredell and finish their conference schedule against the Wildcats (0-10-0), who also have a league match left on Thursday at East Burke.