UCA | boys’ soccer
Parroquin, a senior, has been among the top scorers for the Eagles, who entered the Class 1-A state playoffs this week.
He capped the regular season by scoring three goals in Uwharrie Charter Academy’s 5-4 victory at Southwestern Randolph. That result avenged a four-goal loss from earlier in the season.
UCA was one of seven teams in Randolph County to qualify for the state playoffs in boys’ soccer.
Asheboro | boys’ soccer
Agudelo, a senior goalkeeper, has been up to the task for Asheboro, even without a lot of action in some cases.
Agudelo has been at the back end for the Blue Comets, who’ve recorded eight shutouts this season. He has been credited with 28 saves.
Last week, Asheboro posted a 3-0 victory at Oak Grove, with Cristian Ortiz scoring three goals. Edwin Perez had two assists, and Reece Gutierrez had one assist.
The Blue Comets, who entered this week with a 16-1 overall record and 6-0 mark in the Mid-Piedmont Conference, have a non-conference showdown scheduled for Friday night at Burlington Williams, which was undefeated until last week.
Wheatmore | boys’ soccer
Queen has been an offensive force early in the season as the Warriors have been on a tear.
A senior forward, Queen has 12 goals and four assists in nine games. That helped the Warriors to a 6-0-3 start.
Queen scored Wheatmore’s only goal in last week’s 1-1 overtime tie at home with rival Trinity in a Piedmont Athletic Conference game. Later in the week, he notched two goals and an assist as the Warriors won 7-1 at Randleman.
Henry Santos also had two goals in the Randleman game, while Hayden Hemming, Anakin Leister, and Collin Burgess also scored. Leister provided three assists, and Ryan Baynard added two assists. Burgess racked up eight goals across the first nine games.
Asheboro | boys’ soccer
Asheboro began the season with going 3-0 during the first week, boosted by Cruz’s production.
The senior striker and midfielder had a total of three goals and four assists in those games.
It was a strong opening stretch for the Blue Comets, who outscored their first three opponents by a combined score of 16-2.
Asheboro has a steady diet of non-conference games before beginning Mid-Piedmont Athletic Association play with a Sept. 26 home game against Oak Grove.
This week began well for Asheboro. On Monday night at home, the Blue Comets blanked 2021 Class 3-A state champion Western Alamance 4-0 behind Ortiz’s hat trick and Edwin Perez’s goal.
Southwestern Randolph | girls’ soccer
Lowe scored 27 goals across 22 games to pace the Cougars in that category.
Lowe also finished her senior season with seven assists for the third-most total on the team.
The Cougars posted a 14-7-1 record. That was the team’s most victories since 2017.
Lowe landed a spot on the All-Piedmont Conference team following the previous season’s selection for the 2021 All-Mid-Piedmont Conference team when Southwestern Randolph competed in a Class 3-A league.
Lowe had a team-best six goals in the shortened 2021 season, with the Cougars playing ten games.
Wheatmore | soccer | basketball | tennis
Williams completed a well-rounded high school career with all-conference recognition in two sports as a senior.
Williams landed on the All-Piedmont Athletic Conference teams in men’s soccer and tennis. He also was one of the Warriors’ top players in men’s basketball.
In soccer, the midfielder led Wheatmore with 35 goals (with eight goals, the nest-best total on the team). He tied for second on the team with four assists across the 18 games as the Warriors posted a 9-9 record.
On the basketball court, he rated second on the team with 8.3 points per game and led the Warriors with 2.6 assists per game.
He had another strong season in tennis, holding the No. 1 singles spot for Wheatmore and compiling a team-best 10-3 record in duals. At No. 1 doubles, he was part of a 9-3 record, teaming with Collin Burgess, Mac Berrier, and Bryan Williams at different times. Those results helped the Warriors to a second-place finish in the league.
He reached the state tournament in Class 2-A tennis for the second year in a row in singles.
Asheboro’s Arianna Lovingood-Smith’s makes an attempt in the high jump during the Class 3-A state championships last month at North Carolina A&T. (PJ Ward-Brown/Randolph Record)
There was plenty to digest for spring prep sports involving Randolph County teams in addition to Wheatmore’s girls’ soccer team and Randleman’s baseball team winning Class 2-A state championships.
Those accomplishments were certainly among the highlights, but other developments deserve certain attention as well.
Blue Comets jump ahead
Asheboro’s girls’ track and field team won the program’s first conference championship by capturing the Mid-Piedmont Conference title.
“We’ve had some good talent come through, but not spread out enough,” said coach Blake Brewer. “We never had a team this well-rounded.”
The Blue Comets churned out this championship in the Class 3-A league with only 17 participants.
Brewer said the elite runners and jumpers on the team were able to gobble up enough points to make up for shortcomings in some other areas.
That was led by senior Arianna Lovingood-Smith, who was named the Most Valuable Performer in field events in the league. She’ll take her talents to college at Charlotte, where she’s expected to be a member of the cheerleading squad.
Back for more
Multi-sport athletes are aplenty within the county, but a few of those turned in accomplishments that might have been a bit under the radar this spring because of their achievements in other sports in previous seasons.
Let’s take a look:
• Dominic Payne of Trinity is on the all-PAC teams for boys’ tennis and track and field this spring. That adds to his place on the all-conference teams in football and basketball earlier in the school year.
• Randleman’s Kylie Vaughan also doubled up with all-conference honors this spring, landing on the All-PAC lists for girls’ soccer and track and field.
• Providence Grove senior Zane Caudle placed fifth in the PAC Tournament for boys’ golf. He was the Player of the Year for boys’ basketball in the conference.
• Trinity’s David Makupson was the PAC champion in the 400 meters barely two months after becoming the Class 2-A state champion at 138 pounds in wrestling.
• Southwestern Randolph football and baseball standout Adam Cole made a venture to the track for late-season competitions and ended up the PAC and Midwest Region champion in the boys’ 100 meters.
• Asheboro golfer Salem Lee, who was fifth in the state last fall in Class 3-A, was the lone Blue Comet on the Mid-Piedmont Conference all-conference team for softball.
• Trinity’s Autumn Gentry, a junior who eclipsed the 1,000-point mark in her career for girls’ basketball, was an All-PAC selection in girls’ soccer.
• Uwharrie Charter Academy’s Jazmin Palma, who was a state runner-up in girls’ wrestling at 113 pounds, was picked to the All-PAC team for girls’ soccer. This came after last fall’s selection as Runner of the Year for PAC girls’ cross country.
• Providence Grove’s Luke Thomas (baseball) and Chase Whitaker (boys’ tennis) were on All-PAC teams this spring after they were the major award winners in football as the PAC Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. They were both on the PAC regular-season champion boys’ basketball team, with Whitaker an all-league pick.
• Eastern Randolph’s Brecken Snotherly placed third in the 1,600 meters and seventh in the 3,000 in the Class 1-A state meet. She was the school’s lone representative on the All-PAC girls’ basketball team.
• Southwestern Randolph’s Josie Allred placed second in the high jump in Class 2-A track and field after being an all-league pick for the Cougars’ Class 2-A state champion volleyball team in the fall.
• Randleman’s Chris Gentry was a state qualifier in boys’ track and field after landing on the All-PAC team for football.
Wheatmore’s Kara Comer, right, heads the ball over East Davidson’s Carson Suggs during a game in the Class 2-A state playoffs earlier this spring in Trinity. Wheatmore won the second-round game 5-1. (PJ Ward-Brown/North State Journal)
TRINITY – Wheatmore owns a state record in girls’ soccer.
Now it’s a matter of seeing if the Warriors can add a state championship to that.
It took overtime in Tuesday night’s regional final, with a 4-3 victory at Wilkes Central to keep the season alive.
In the fourth round of the Class 2-A state playoffs, Wheatmore scored three goals to set the record for goals in a season with 187.
That came in the West Region semifinal by taking down third-seeded Community School of Davidson in a 3-2 result last Thursday night.
All those results put the Warriors (24-0) in the state final, which will be played against Clinton on Friday night at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary.
Wheatmore, which now has 191 goals, will be in the state final for the first time. Wilkes Central was the runner-up in Class 1-A/2-A in 2006 in the final year before the North Carolina High School Athletic Association went to four classifications for girls’ soccer.
The state’s team record for goals in a season had been held by East Forsyth’s 1988 team with 185.
Ellie Garrison has 76 goals for Wheatmore, with freshman Natalie Bowman at 38 and junior Summer Bowman at 34. Senior Kara Comer is the Warriors’ assist leader with 33.
Garrison’s total is the most in state history in a sophomore season, 12 more than Aycock’s Cheynnne Warrick in 2011.
Garrison ranks in the top five nationally in goals for this school year.
Knocking off Community School of Davidson (17-7) was notable because the Spartans were the 2021 Class 1-A state champions. Community School of Davidson was the first opponent to score more than one goal against Wheatmore this year.
Wheatmore won in the third round earlier last week with a 6-1 home romp past seventh-seeded Hendersonville.
Garrison and Comer both had two goals and Summer Bowman and Natalie Bowman had the other goals. Comer and Natalie Bowman had two assists apiece.
Wheatmore’s Ellie Garrison takes a shot and scores a goal against East Davidson during a second-round victory in the Class 2-A state playoffs last Thursday. PJ WARD-BROWN/NORTH STATE JOURNAL
CLIMAX — Providence Grove’s magical softball season came to a close with Friday night’s 1-0 home loss to West Stokes in the fourth round of the Class 2-A state playoffs.
The Patriots, who were the top seed in the West Region, were doomed by a lead-off home run in the fourth inning. Fifth-seeded West Stokes advanced to the regional finals.
Providence Grove finished with a 24-1 record.
Emma Mazzarone struck out 11 batters and walked three in the two-hitter. Providence Groves hits came from Edi Austin, Maddie Flinchum and Makayla McClain.
Earlier last week, Providence Grove upended eighth-seeded Mount Pleasant 8-0 with Mazzarone striking out 15 and issuing two walks during a one-hitter. Mailey Way had three hits, while Mazzone slugged a two-run homer, Makalyla McCalin tripled and scored twice and Reann Saunders had two hits.
Girls’ soccer
Three Randolph County teams entered the week still alive in the state playoffs. All three had third-round games postponed Monday night, meaning they were then slated to try again Tuesday night.
In Class 2-A, unbeaten Wheatmore, the second-seeded team in the West Region, was matched up against seventh-seeded Hendersonville.
Wheatmore won in the second round with a 5-1 victory against No. 18 seed East Davidson.
In Class 3-A, No. 12 seed Asheboro had a road encounter with No. 4 seed East Lincoln.
Asheboro won a second-round game with a 1-0 outcome at fifth-seeded Hibriten, with Tess Moody scoring with two minutes left off an assist from Natalie Flores. Goalkeeper Sarah Allred made eight saves.
In Class 1-A, seventh-seeded Uwharrie Charter Academy was slated for third-round game at second-seeded Bishop McGuinness in Kernersville. UCA won in last week’s second round with a 3-1 home decision against 10th-seeded Mount Airy.
Baseball
Trinity’s strong showing in the state playoffs ended with a dramatic defeat in the Class 2-A fourth round Friday. Still, the Bulldogs finished the season with a 20-10 record.
No. 19 seed Trinity won three road games in the state playoffs, knocking off the Nos. 14, 3 and 6 seeds. Last Tuesday’s 7-6 victory against sixth-seeded West Stokes put them a victory away from the regional final.
That was shaping up well for the Bulldogs, who led 5-2 before Community School of Davidson rallied in the bottom of the seventh for a 6-5 decision at Hough High School in Cornelius.
Trinity won eight of its last 10 games.
In Class 1-A, Uwharrie Charter Academy made it to the fourth round before losing 7-5 at third-seeded Cherryville.
No. 18 seed UCA (10-15) advanced last week with a third-round 4-2 home victory against No. 23 seed Eastern Randolph.
Grant Little’s complete-game pitching lifted UCA past the Wildcats (9-17). The teams had split regular-season meetings in the Piedmont Athletic Conference.
Wheatmore | girls’ soccer
Garrison racked up more big offensive numbers as the Warriors completed an undefeated regular season with two more victories last week.
Garrison, a sophomore, produced four goals and one assist in a 12-3 triumph against visiting Uwharrie Charter Academy. Summer Bowman was credited with five goals and three assists, Natalie Bowman posted two goals and one assist and Maggie Messner had a goal in that game.
Garrison followed that a day later with six goals and one assist in the 9-0 romp past host Providence Grove to conclude the Piedmont Athletic Conference portion of the schedule. Natalie Bowman’s two goals and Kara Comer’s one goal marked the other scoring.
The Warriors took a 19-0 record into the state playoffs. As the West Region’s No. 2 seed in Class 2-A, they were slated to meet visiting East Rutherford on Tuesday night.
In the regular season, Wheatmore outscored its opponents by a combined score of 164-8.