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ER Brecken Snotherly shoots v UCA Jan2023

Prep Roundup: Snotherly, Payne maintain rapid scoring paces: UCA, Asheboro wrestlers roll

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Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly prepares to launch a shot last week against Uwharrie Charter Academy. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

Here are some notable performances from around area high schools last week:

In girls’ basketball, Southwestern Randolph defeated host Eastern Randolph 59-52 as Jordin George had 15 points.

Still, it was a special week for Eastern Randolph senior Breck Snotherly, who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark with the Wildcats. Plus, she has more points from her time at Winston-Salem Christian.

Snotherly racked up 32 points in the Southwestern Randolph game. The next night, Snotherly produced 21 points when Eastern Randolph defeated host Jordan-Matthews 58-11.

She capped the week with 34 points when Eastern Randolph defeated visiting Uhwarrie Charter Academy 58-42 on Friday night.

Boys’ basketball

In Trinity’s 88-59 home romp past Providence Grove, Dominic Payne racked up 30 points, Dylan Hodges had 26 points and Brandon Campbell notched 18 points.

Payne, a junior guard, reached the 1,000-point career mark in late December.

Davonte Brooks tallied 29 points when Eastern Randolph beat visiting Southwestern Randolph 70-55. Later in the week, Timothy Brower pumped in 22 points to lead five Eastern Randolph players in double figures in a 96-51 drilling of visiting UCA.

Randleman topped visiting UCA 68-42 with Greg Price scoring 22 points. Ashton Troutman’s 23 points paced UCA.

Jerquarius Stanback’s 26 points carried Asheboro past visiting Oak Grove 74-56 in a Mid-Piedmont Conference opener.

Wrestling

Uwharrie Charter Academy, the host school, went 10-0 across two days in the Pin Down Autism Super Duals.

The Eagles smashed most of the competition. The closest meet came with a 51-21 beating of Southeast Guilford.

Lorenzo Alston of UCA went 10-0. Posting 9-0 records for UCA were Jack McArthur, Aldo Hernandez, Carson Robinson and Grayson Roberts. Corbin Grissom was 8-0 and Jair Ulloa went 7-0, while Brandon Jordan and Caden Bond both won nine matches and Brennan Worrell won eight times.

** At Walnut Cove, Asheboro won all five meets Saturday in the Rick Williams Duals at South Stokes.

The Blue Comets won against Patrick (Va.) County (by 42-31), Elkin (63-12), South Stokes (60-16) Reagan (51-28) and Starmount (42-30).

Xavier Santos (113 pounds), Diego Gutierrez (120, 126) and Michael Brady (182) all went 5-0 for Asheboro.

SWR basketball Landon Williamson Dec2022

Prep Notes: Area hoops teams show big progress

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Southwestern Randolph senior center Landon Williamson battles between Chatham Central’s Jacob Gilliland, left, and Aiden Johnson during last week’s game. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

RAMSEUR – The week before Christmas was relatively light for area teams and athletes, but there were some notable achievements anyway.

There was more high-scoring basketball action involving Eastern Randolph.

This time, a chunk of that was on the girls’ side with Brecken Snotherly pouring in 35 points as the Wildcats defeated visiting Burlington Williams 58-50.

On the boys’ side, Eastern Randolph rang up another big point total with an 84-66 home triumph against Burlington Williams. That pushed the Wildcats to a 7-1 record, with four of the victories coming when they exceeded the 80-point mark.

A season ago, Eastern Randolph won eight total games.

Randleman’s boys entered this week with a 7-4 record, also one victory shy of last season’s victory total.

** Dominic Payne racked up 26 points as Trinity trounced visiting West Davidson 76-38 in boys’ basketball. The Bulldogs carried a 10-2 record in this week’s holiday tournament games.

** Wheatmore’s Riley Strickland posted 26 points in the Warriors’ 62-40 victory at East Davidson in boys’ basketball.

** Southwestern Randolph’s Maddie Small scored 20 points in a 48-42 victory at Chatham Central in girls’ basketball.

In boys’ basketball, Sean Atkins had nearly half of Southwestern Randolph’s points, but the Cougars lost a 47-46 decision at Chatham Central despite his 22 points.

Wrestling

At Ronda, Asheboro won four of five meets in the East Wilkes Foothill Duals on Dec. 17.

The Blue Comets defeated Reagan 51-18, Corvian Community School 66-12, East Wilkes 43-23 and Wilkes Central 48-36. The Blue Comets fell 39-37 to Starmount.

Xavier Santos (120, 126), Diego Gutierrez (126, 132) and Michael Brady (182) all won five matches for Asheboro. Teammates Bearik Bigelow (106) and Eddie Soto (220) were among the four-time winners.

** In last week’s Mallard Creek’s Elizabeth Barry Memorial Tournament, Trinity placed third behind Mooresville and Bandys in the team standings. Edgar Vasquez Mora had the top finish for Trinity with a second-place spot at 106. Levi Dennis was third at 126.

Athelete-of-the-Week

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Spencer May

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Trinity | wrestling

In this match from last season, Trinity’s Spencer May works over Riley Shaw of West Wilkes in a 113-pound bout. (Randolph Record file photo)

May claimed tournament titles on back-to-back weekends.

He won on his home mats Dec. 10 on his way to winning the Most Outstanding Wrestler award in the Trinity Invitational.

In capturing the 120-pound division, May recorded pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals. In a high-level matchup in the final against Asheboro’s Xavier Santos, May prevailed with a 10-7 decision.

May, a junior, followed that performance by winning the title this past weekend’s Porter Ridge Invitational.

ER Davonte Brooks in hoops Dec2022

Prep Notes: 41-point mark hit twice by area boys; UCA, Trinity wrestlers excel

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Eastern Randolph’s Davonte Brooks goes up for a shot last week against Wheatmore. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

 

It was a big week for top scorers around Randolph County basketball last week.

Dominic Payne of Trinity and Davonte Brooks of Eastern Randolph were in the same category at times.

Payne poured in 41 points Friday in a 65-64 victory at Uwharrie Charter Academy. On the same night, Brooks posted 41 points in a 99-47 romp at Wheatmore. Teammate Timothy Brower had 28 points.

Wheatmore’s Parker Kines had more than half of his team’s points in that game with 26.

Payne scored 29 points in a 60-48 victory at Wheatmore.

Against Trinity, UCA’s Ashton Troutman racked up 33 points for more than half of his team’s scoring.

Brooks had big effort in a non-conference victory at Burlington Williams with 26 points in the 73-52 result.

Consider those individual totals when also on Friday night the final score of Randleman’s victory at Southwestern Randolph was 34-33.

On the girls’ side, Elizabeth York of Randleman scored 22 points in a 53-40 victory at Eastern Randolph. The Wildcats received 24 points from Kenly Whitaker.

Wrestling

At Asheville, Uwharrie Charter Academy had three individual champions and won the team championship in the Great Smoky Mountain Grapple at the downtown civic center.

Champions for UCA were Ethan Hines (106 pounds), Aldo Hernandez (138) and Lorenzo Alston (145).

Hernandez was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler, defeating Enka’s Noah Tocaben 12-6 in the final after a technical fall of Hoke County’s Landen Nelson in the semifinals.

Third place went to Jack McArthur (132), Carson Robinson (160) and Grayson Roberts (170). Roberts, a 2022 Class 1-A state champion, dropped a 14-7 decision to Maryville, Tenn.’s Michael Colligan, the eventual runner-up, in the semifinals.

The tournament included teams from multiple states. UCA scored 189 points to runner-up Newton-Conover’s 186.

  • At Indian Trail, Trinity rode the strength of six titlists to a third-place team finish in the Porter Ridge Invitational.

Trinity’s Brayden Hall (113), Spencer May (120), Levi Dennis (126), Charles Schaefer (138), Gavin Hardister (182) and Joey Smith (220).

Edgr Vasquez Mora (106) placed third for the Bulldogs.

Porter Ridge won the team title with 183 points, followed by South Point with 165½ and Trinity with 162½.

Trinity girls hoops Autumn Gentry Dec2022

Prep Notes: Girls’ players Gentry, York hit special marks

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Trinity’s Autumn Gentry takes a shot against East Davidson last week. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

TRINITY – There were special occasions last week for a couple of area girls’ basketball players.

Senior Autumn Gentry became Trinity’s all-time leading scorer. She scored 14 points against visiting East Davidson to reach the record.

The previous record of 1,252 was held by Jordan Parker.

Randleman’s Elizabeth York, a senior guard, eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for her career.

York had 24 points in a 57-41 victory against visiting Central Davidson in the game when she reached the milestone. Teammate Gracyn Hall, who passed the 1,000-point mark last season, had 21 points.

Randleman got off to an 8-0 start, including last Friday’s 55-39 victory against visiting Wheatmore in the Piedmont Athletic Conference opener. The Tigers were unbeaten in the 2021-22 regular season.

Boys’ basketball

In a rematch of last February’s PAC Tournament championship game, Uwharrie Charter Academy defeated Providence Grove 46-43 on Friday night.

Ashton Troutman scored 27 points for UCA in the league opener for both teams.

Providence Grove was last season’s regular-season champion, though UCA won the conference tournament.

  • Asheboro’s fast start to the season took a sudden detour.

The Blue Comets opened the season with five consecutive victories before last week’s 68-66 home loss to Ragsdale.

“We didn’t make a few plays down the stretch that probably could have made the difference,” Asheboro coach Brian Nance said. “We needed a test.”

Asheboro wiped out a 15-point deficit to take a lead before falling. Jerquarius Stanback had 21 points for the Blue Comets.

A night later, Asheboro dropped a 51-38 decision at Randleman in a non-league rematch from November. Tyshaun Goldston’s 22 points and eight rebounds were tops for Randleman.

  • Give credit to Eastern Randolph for winning different types of games with three home outings last week.

The Wildcats rang up a 94-62 victory against South Davidson and topped Chatham Central 92-91 on back-to-back days last week.

Timothy Brower (21 points) and Nicah Taylor (20 points) led the scoring against South Davidson. Davonte Brooks poured in 37 points against Chatham Central and 30 points against Western Alamance.

Then on Saturday, Eastern Randolph edged visiting Western Alamance 62-49 in a make-up game.

Wrestling

At Lumberton, UCA won five meets in Saturday’s Lumberton Border Duals.

The closest of the results was a 52-9 victory against Carolina Forest (S.C.).

UCA wrestlers who went 5-0 were Caden Bond, Devonte Harrison, Ethan Hines, Aldo Hernandez, Jair Ulloa, Lorenzo Alston, Grayson Roberts and Jaden Maness. Carson Robinson was 4-0.

Randleman Tyshaun Goldston dunks v Lexington

Prep Notes: Trinity players keep rapid scoring paces; Wrestlers win from Trinity, Wheatmore

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Tyshaun Goldston of Randleman dunks against Lexington during one of his big games last week. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

TRINITY – It was another big week for Trinity guard Dominic Payne.

He racked up 32 points in a 66-53 victory at Jordan-Matthews. That was just the appetizer. He scored 27 points in a 61-45 victory against visiting North Carolina Leadership Academy. Then he finished the week in style by going for 42 points when the Bulldogs defeated host East Rowan 82-68.

Payne wasn’t the only big scorer during the week for Trinity.

Autumn Gentry poured in 33 points to go with 11 rebounds and Kennedy Jackson pumped in 26 points in a 61-44 victory against East Rowan for the girls’ team.

  • Randleman’s Tyshaun Goldston had a big week as well.

It began with 21 points in a 67-47 romp past visiting Ledford. His basket off a steal provided the winning points in a 56-54 victory against visiting Union Pines. The Tigers lost 59-56 at Oak Grove despite Goldston’s 25 points.

  • On the girls’ side, Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly supplied 31 points in a 58-49 home loss to Western Alamance.

Wrestling

At Millers Creek, with three individual champions, Wheatmore’s team was the runner-up in the eight-team C.H. Necessary Invitational at West Wilkes.

Trey Swaney (132 pounds), Dominic Hittepole (160) and Zechariah Starkweather (170) were the champions for Wheatmore. Renato Barron (220) of the Warriors placed second.

West Wilkes won the title with 169 points and Wheatmore was next with 135.

  • Joey Smith of Trinity won the 220-pound weight class in the 20-team Mount Pleasant Invitational.

Smith defeated Alex Lahners of Cannon School in the final with a first-period pin. Smith notched two pins and two decisions by shutouts in the tournament.

Trinity’s Brayden Hall (113), Spencer May (120) and Gavin Hardister (182) all placed third.

Southwestern Randolph’s Erick Lopez (160) was fourth.

Trinity was seventh in the team standings and Southwestern Randolph was 15th.

SWR girl shoots over Asheboro Nance Nov2022

Prep Notes: Trinity’s Payne starts strong; Wrestlers compete in tourneys

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Southwestern Randolph’s Kenzie Martin shoots over Asheboro’s Kaylen Nance earlier this season. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

TRINITY – Junior guard Dominic Payne of Trinity has been off to a sizzling start in boys’ basketball.

Payne scored 37 points in a 67-66 overtime victory last week at Oak Grove.

He was back at it the next night with 25 points in a 71-28 trouncing of visiting East Davidson. Teammate Dylan Hodges added 21 points in that game.

  • Meanwhile, Asheboro’s boys’ basketball team won a notable matchup based on last season’s area conference champions.

The Blue Comets won 65-35 at Providence Grove. Last season, Asheboro was the Mid-Piedmont Conference Tournament champion, while Providence Grove was the Piedmont Athletic Conference regular-season champion.

Asheboro is off to a 3-0 start and within its next four games it was slated for rematches with each of those teams (Southwestern Randolph, Providence Grove, Randleman) that it has already defeated.

Wrestling

At Asheboro, there were two individual champions from Randolph County in the Asheboro Cold Turkey Invitational on Saturday at Asheboro Recreation Center.

Diego Gutierrez of Asheboro defeated Eastern Randolph’s Adrian Lopez in the 126-pound final.

Southwestern Randolph’s Luke White won at 138 pounds by defeating Ragsdale’s Jaxson Davis in the title bout.

Second places went to Asheboro’s Xavier Santos (120 pounds), Samuel Salinas (132), Christian Diaz (160) and Michael Brady (182), Southwestern Randolph’s Mason Leonard (145) and Tristin Richardson (152) and Providence Grove’s Nathan Hutcherson (195) and Colton Wood (285).

Northern Guilford was the team champion with 170 points in the 10-team event. Ragsdale was the runner-up with 151½ and Asheboro placed third with 135. Also, Providence Grove was seventh with 56 and Eastern Randolph placed eighth with 50.

  • At the West Rowan Invitational, Trinity was the team runner-up behind the host school last Wednesday among 10 teams entered.

Levi Dennis (126), Gavin Hardister (182) and Joey Smith (220) were individual championship for Trinity. Teammates Edgar Vasquez (106), Brayden Hall (113), Spencer May (120) and Charles Schaefer (145) were runners-up.

Wes Berrier Asheboro AD August 2022

New Asheboro AD sees grand potential, calls Blue Comets ‘a sleeping giant’

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Wes Berrier, the new athletics director for Asheboro High School, checks out the first day of football practice last week. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)

ASHEBORO – Wes Berrier’s view of athletics at Asheboro High School is one of great potential. He’d like to see the Blue Comets’ programs return to prominence.

“A sleeping giant,” the new athletics director said. “I feel I’m coming in at a great time. I’m expecting big things as far as our athletics.”

Berrier officially became the athletics director this summer, though he filled that role for the final couple of months of the 2021-22 school year upon the retirement of Steve Luck.

Berrier had been Asheboro’s wrestling coach until taking this new assignment. He remains a business teacher at the high school.

It has been a turbulent time for Asheboro athletics because of an ongoing campus construction project that has displaced most of the teams. They’ve been without the simply comforts of team locker rooms. Some of the challenges that existed in 2021-22 will remain at least for a few more months.

“Just being out of the school has made it tough for everybody. Kids like a routine,” Berrier said. “We’ve made it work. It hasn’t been fun. Things are going to be better.”

For 2021-22, Asheboro finished fifth out of six schools in the Mid-Piedmont Conference in the Wells Fargo Cup standings that gives an indication of overall ranking of each school’s teams for a school year.

“I think the morale will be improved where we can turn this ship around,” Berrier said. “Get everything built back up.”

Berrier, who turned 54 this summer, said it’s important to have a bridge between the high school and community. Among his goals is to help build a stronger booster club.

He said he has been encouraged by interest in the incoming freshman class with up 150 potential athletes coming into the high school. He oversaw a physical night for the newcomers and a session where middle schoolers were able to meet coaches across the athletics department.

Berrier had to step down as wrestling coach because of the city school district’s policy that prevents the athletics director from being a head coach.

The new AD’s son, Jake Berrier, will move from assistant coach to head coach for the wrestling team.

“He’s definitely ready for it,” his father said.

In Wes Berrier’s eight seasons as wrestling coach, the Blue Comets had eight state championships (7 male, 1 female) earned to go with 13 total state place finishes. During the past season, nine Blue Comets received All-Mid-Piedmont Conference honors and Berrier was the league’s Coach of the Year.

Because of the uncertainty of the on-campus facilities, Asheboro withdrew its bid to be the host school for a Class 3-A wrestling regional in 2023.