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North Carolina East-West All-Star Game

East West girls Snotherly July2023

NC East-West All-Star Games: Asheboro players make unique marks in soccer showcase

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Brecken Snotherly of Eastern Randolph heads up the court with the ball during Monday night’s North Carolina East-West All-Star Game for girls’ basketball at the Greensboro Coliseum. Snotherly played for the West team. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

BROWNS SUMMIT – Asheboro’s Calvin Smith and Cristian Ortiz each did something no other players in the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game could claim.

They were issued the only yellow cards during the boys’ soccer game Tuesday night at MacPherson Stadium.

“They were both kind of tactical,” Smith said of the infractions. “They weren’t cynical.”

Calvin Smith of Asheboro heads the ball over an East player during Tuesday night’s game at MacPherson Stadium. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Those moments aside, the duo from Asheboro embraced the opportunity to compete in the showcase for Class of 2023 standouts. They played for the West team.

The East scored two early goals and those held up for a 2-1 victory.

Smith was assessed his yellow card shortly after the midway mark of the first half. Ortiz was hit with a yellow card in the game’s final 15 seconds when he stopped an East breakaway.

“The situations that we were in,” Ortiz said. “Had to do it.”

West player Cristian Ortiz of Asheboro makes a move on East’s Alexander Walker of Wilmington Laney during Tuesday night’s game at MacPherson Stadium. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Ortiz said he was never issued a yellow card while playing for the Blue Comets. He said Smith was an unlikely recipient of a yellow card as well.

The West looked overmatched early in the game, with the East scoring twice in the first 13½ minutes. The tone eventually changed.

“It took us a few minutes to wake up,” Smith said. “I feel we controlled the last 60 (minutes).”

The West scored with about 11 minutes left. Smith was credited with an assist on a goal from Brock Gramann of Charlotte Providence.

“We started coming back,” Ortiz said. “It made it more interesting.”

Smith said he was “a little bit exhausted” based on several days of training and other North Carolina East-West All-Star Game activities in Greensboro and the game.

The girls’ soccer game ended with the East winning 6-2. That marked the most goals for a team in the history of the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game for girls.

Gracyn Hall of Randleman takes a shot in the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game for girls’ basketball. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Basketball

Gracyn Hall of Randleman and Brecken Snotherly of Eastern Randolph played for the West in the Monday night’s girls’ game at the Greensboro Coliseum. The East won 74-68.

Hall had six points in 18 minutes off the bench, making two of her four attempts from the field to go with two free throws. Snotherly was 1-for-4 with two points.

Football

In Wednesday’s game at Jamieson Stadium on the Greensboro Grimsley campus, the East posted a 14-0 victory.

Keno Jones of Northern Nash threw a touchdown pass and was named the game’s Offensive Most Valuable Player. Shamar Sutton of Northeastern and Avery Gaby of East Duplin scored the touchdowns. Lee County’s Dayreon Jennings was named the Defensive MVP.

Asheboro boys soccer Cristian Ortiz smiles 2022season

Soccer duo embraces Asheboro’s rise

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Cristian Ortiz of Asheboro reacts to scoring a game during the Class 3-A state playoffs last fall against West Iredell. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Blue Comets have two players in NC East-West All-Star Game

ASHEBORO – Calvin Smith and Cristian Ortiz helped take Asheboro’s boys’ soccer program to new heights.

They’re being rewarded with spots in next Tuesday night’s North Carolina East-West All-Star Game at MacPherson Stadium in Browns Summit.

With two players in the summer showcase, it’s an indication of the growth of Asheboro soccer.

Last year’s 23-2-2 record for the Blue Comets was part of a season that ended in the Class 3-A West Region final.

“I was just really proud of how far we made it,” Smith said. “It just kept going. We eventually found ourselves in the regional final.”

Smith and Ortiz earned their spots by playing well in the Mid-Piedmont Conference. Coach John Blake of league member Ledford is the West coach.

Smith, a defender, received numerous honors, including Defensive Player of the Year in the Mid-Piedmont Conference and all-star recognition.

With those accolades corresponding to Asheboro’s stellar two-year stretch, it means even more.

“I always felt we had the best group of players around,” Smith said. “It feels so good when you win with the team. Everybody’s mood is up.”

Asheboro’s Calvin Smith heads the ball during last year’s Class 3-A West Region final against Hickory. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Smith was a three-year starter for Asheboro. Ortiz, a striker, became an offensive force in his last season with 36 goals after serving mostly as a backup a year earlier.

“I didn’t play that much,” Ortiz said. “I kind of saw what they did.”

Then he carried that into his final high school season.

“I would always be the first one on the field,” Ortiz said. “I would always try to motivate all my teammates.”

Smith’s experience this summer included going with a team based in the Triad to Baton Rouge, La., for the U.S. Youth Soccer’s Southern Regional.

In a few weeks, the 18-year-old will be heading to play for Division II Chowan.

“I wasn’t ready to give up on it,” Smith said. “I’ve been playing since I was about 4 years old. I kind of always had a ball at my feet.”

Ortiz, 18, will be done with organized soccer after this month’s game. He plans to attend UNC Greensboro.

“I’m very excited,” Ortiz said. “I have one last game to play. It’s going to be good to be back on the field in a competitive way.”

Yet in the base of Smith and Ortiz, they’ve left their marks on the Blue Comets. Outsiders have taken notice of the soccer team.

“We never really did it for the attention,” Ortiz said. “I think they’ll still keep it going.”

“I think for sure they’re paying attention now if they weren’t before,” Smith said.

Randleman girls Gracyn Hall shoots in 2022 23 season

Hall makes family connection for NC East-West All-Star Game

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Gracyn Hall of Randleman takes a shot during her senior season. (Randolph Record file photo)

Randleman basketball player’s father competed in football showcase

RANDLEMAN – Gracyn Hall will represent Randleman one more time in girls’ basketball.

It’s appropriate on many levels including a family connection to the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game.

Hall and Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly are among the players for the West team in Monday night’s game at the Greensboro Coliseum.

“Playing in this game is a very big thing,” Hall said. “Just to be nominated was an honor and then to be chosen for this is special.”

Hall wrapped up a Randleman career during which she racked up nearly 1,700 points.

And now she follows a path traveled by her father almost three decades ago. Tyler Hall was a Randleman quarterback and he was picked for the 1994 North Carolina East-West All-Star Game in football.

“It’s pretty cool, actually,” she said.

Hall, 18, is preparing to head Emory & Henry, where she’ll join the women’s basketball team. The 5-foot-11 player expects to be slotted as a small forward.

The East-West All-Star Game provides a nice connection from her high school career to college. In past years, recent months would have involved offseason competitions.

“Normally during the summer, I’m constantly competing in AAU and traveling,” Hall said. “So I’m trying to do things to get me ready for college and show why I was chosen for this game.”

Hall had a different kind of senior school year because she participated in two fall sports – tennis and golf. She teamed up with classmate Elizabeth York for a runner-up finish in Piedmont Athletic Conference doubles in her only season of girls’ tennis.

“It really helped my footwork and agility,” Hall said.

Randleman had an incredible two-year run in girls’ basketball that included PAC championships and advancing deep into the Class 2-A state playoffs. Hall’s participation in the East-West Game provides an extension of that.

She was a major low-post presence for the Tigers. She also could pop out to the perimeter and sink shots and that’s that versatility that she hopes carries into college.

“She did so many things for us,” said Brandon Varner, who was Randleman’s coach. “She’s so deserving to be playing in this game.”

Hall is proud of what was accomplished with Randleman and how it played out.

“The best part was I was able to go out there with my best friends and win games,” Hall said. “Knowing you did everything you could and got the most out of it.”

AHS_Arham_Tyson

Painful lessons help growth of Asheboro lineman

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Asheboro’s Arhman Tyson makes a stop last season on Providence Grove’s Zane Cheek. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Tyson set to play in North Carolina East-West All-Star Game

ASHEBORO – While college football isn’t in Arhman Tyson’s immediate future, he’s not done on the football field.

The Asheboro standout will give it at least one more go-around in a showcase event.

“Since I was 7, I’ve been doing it,” Tyson said of playing football. “I kept getting better at it and wanted to see how far that could take me. It was something I was really good at. I learned football pretty quickly.”

Tyson said he also learned plenty during the past year when there were personal challenges after his father’s death during the football season. 

Tyson is Randolph County’s lone representative in the North Carolina East-West All-Star Game for football. He’ll play for the West team at 8 p.m. July 13 at Jamieson Stadium on the Grimsley High School campus in Greensboro.

His version of playing through pain was different from many other players last year.

Lewis Tyson Jr. died at age 49 on Sept. 23. Arhman Tyson had just left football practice and was with his father in a Ramseur store, where he collapsed from a heart attack.

Yet the next night, the senior played in a home game against Southwestern Randolph. That was part of what he referred to as becoming “a man of my business.”

He found outlets to work through the grief.

“It hurt a lot,” he said. “Even then, I realized that can’t get me all the way down. I still had things I had to get done.”

Asheboro coach Blake Brewer praised Tyson’s maturity on and off the field. He said he’s glad the lineman has a chance to run onto a football field again next week.

“No matter if you’re going to college to play or this is your last hurrah, it’s a chance to perform for yourself and your family,” Brewer said. “To show you’re one of the best of the best.”

Tyson will be Asheboro’s first North Carolina East-West Game participant in any sport since 2016.

He’s a 285-pound defensive lineman who was able to carve out significant credentials last fall despite playing on a struggling team. He was named the Lineman of the Year in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, overcoming Asheboro’s 1-9 record and winless mark – without a result closer than a 20-point margin – in league play.

Tyson said he realized there were times the Blue Comets needed an impact play, and he was glad to provide those.

“I just stepped up,” he said. “When something needed to happen, you got to step up.”

Brewer said he received inquiries from colleges about Tyson’s availability. Instead, he’s heading to North Carolina A&T, where he’ll major in biology. He isn’t going to pursue football right away.

“I was thinking about not playing college football my freshman year of college,” he said. “I want to learn college and get all that down.”

Going into high school, Tyson said he was also interested in playing basketball, but through peer pressure, he ended up on the wrestling team. He carved out a solid portfolio on the mats, becoming the county’s top heavyweight. 

His time with wrestling was cut short by an injury in February’s Class 3-A regionals, but there were lessons learned in that sport. 

“The bonding aspect (was the best),” he said, also noting the grind of a season. “Everything else was dreadful.”

Yet he liked how he could showcase certain abilities. 

“People think he’s big and slow, and you show that you can do whatever anybody else can do,” he said.