Raiders slip past RCMS in OT

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
Thursday’s middle school football game was in essence for the conference championship and by the way it played out, it was fitting that Reidsville and Rockingham were the parties involved.
Regulation was not enough to decide matters as the Raiders, who overcame a 14-0 deficit, scored and converted a two-point conversion to edge the Jaguars, 22-20 at Rockingham’s Cougar Pride Stadium.
Tied at 14-14, Rockingham County Middle School (5-1) scored first in overtime as John Jackson plunged in from 2-yards out. Jackson carried the ball all three times and gained 10 yards to put the Jaguars on top, 20-14. RCMS’s two-point conversion was no good.
On its first possession in OT, Reidsville turned things over to Raheem Johnson, who rushed four times for 10 yards — the final 1-yard tying the game at 20-20.
Johnson also ran in the two-point conversion and gave the visitors the victory.
The loss was the first for Rockingham County, which entered the game allowing just two touchdowns on defense.
On Thursday, the Jaguar defense was just as stout.
Reidsville (5-1) gained 194 yards of total offense, 159 coming after halftime.
RCMS led 6-0 at halftime with each team gaining 35 yards.
The Jaguars extended their halftime lead with 6:44 left in the third quarter. Following a Reidsville fumble, Jackson rushed in from 2-yards out and his conversion run gave the home team a convincing 14-0 lead.
After a Raider punt, RCMS was on the move again, but a fake punt pass on fourth and 11 netted 10 yards and gave RMS good field position at the 49.
Five plays later, the Raiders found pay-dirt. Johnson rushed twice on the drive for 25 yards and Rhmael Irving added a six-yard run. The scoring play was a second and 15when Hunter Welch connected with Justin Smith on a 35-yard scoring strike.
Later in the second half, the two would hook up again on a 27-yard TD that tied the game at 14-14.
Reidsville’s game-tying touchdown came with 2:13 left in the game.
But the Jaguars were not going away without a last-second fight.
With 55-yards in front of it, RCMS moved quickly down the field. On first down, Jackson broke loose for an apparent TD, but an illegal block call negated his 55-yard touchdown run.
Now with first and 10 from the RMS 40, Jackson gained 7 yards and a pass interference call against the Raiders put the Jags at the Raider 9.
With 11.2 seconds left in the game, Austin Dixon found Darien Miller near the goal line, but Miller was tackled at the RMS 1-yard line as time expired.
Johnson and Jackson were the two workhorses for their teams. Johnson gained 91 yards on 13 carries and Jackson gained 97 yards on 16 carries.
Reidsville completed four passes — as Welch was 4 of 10 for 84 yards.
Defensively, Chad Pruitt for Reidsville and Nick Lowry for Rockingham had standout games.
Reidsville closes out the season against Fieldale Collinsville next week and RCMS closes against Martinsville.

RCHS advances to second round of volleyball playoffs

From staff report
Rockingham County finally got its first-round monkey off its back and the team's sweep of Western Harnett, 3-0 Saturday sends the Lady Cougars into the Tuesday's second round.
RCHS (22-2), the Triad 3-A Conference's No. 1 seed, will face the winner of Nash Central and Gray's Creek.
Tuesday's game will be played at RCHS.

MHS falls 3-2 in round one
The season came to an end for the Morehead Lady Panthers, who lost 3-2 to South Johnston Saturday.
The Lady Panthers ended the season with a record of 12-10.
South Johnston (15-10) now faces either Eastern Alamance of Harnett Central on Tuesday.

MHS, RCHS reach volleyball semifinals

From staff report
Rockingham County and Morehead both advanced through the first round of the Triad 3-A Conference Tournament with three-game sweeps. The Lady Cougars rolled past Western Alamance, 25-5, 25-14 and 25-9 and the Lady Panthers defeated Greensboro Dudley, 25-20, 25-23 and 25-21 Monday night.
Tuesday night’s semifinal games, which were held at Northern Guilford High School, featured Rockingham County versus Northern Guilford and Morehead versus Bartlett Yancey.
RCHS won the regular season conference championship with a perfect 14-0 mark.
For the Lady Cougars, they were led by Erin Cox’s 16 service points, 11 kills, seven digs and three aces and Jordan O’Bryant’s 14 service points, 15 digs, nine kills and two blocks.
RCHS also got 12 digs from Macey Wilson, 26 assists from Denise Grissom and four blocks from Sarah Sparks.
For the Lady Panthers, they were led by Tori Roberts’ 22 assists and four digs, Brittney Stokes’ six kills and 10 digs and Emily Pulliam’s 14 digs, five aces and seven kills.
In the loss, Dudley got seven kills and two blocks from Yasmin Lee and nine assists from Lorin Gilmore.
In the other first-round games, Northern Guilford knocked off Western Guilford, 3-1 and Bartlett Yancey defeated Northeast Guilford.
Samantha Coffer led Northern with 24 kills and three blocks and Elayna Meachum added 20 assists and 14 service points.
Tonight’s championship game will also be held at Northern Guilford HS.

Prep Soccer
Western Alamance 6, Morehead 0
Daniel Boulware scored three times in the first 20 minutes as Western Alamance rolled past Morehead, 6-0 Monday night in Eden.
The Panthers, who were out shot 28-4, got 20 saves from the duo of Taylor Trantham and J.T. Chambers.
With the loss, MHS dropped to 2-8-1 in conference play (4-13-1 overall). Morehead is at Western Guilford tonight.
Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

McMichael, Reidsville prepare for state tournament, regionals

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
Heading into the 2008 North State tennis season, the early projections pitted McMichael and Reidsville to finish 1-2. Nearly three months later and a North State 2-A Conference tournament later and that is exactly how things played out.
McMichael had both a singles entry and doubles team reach the conference tournament finals, which helped the Lady Phoenix finish with 11 points and edged out the Lady Rams, who finished in second place with nine.
West Stokes was third with seven points, followed by Eastern Guilford (4) and Southern Guilford (1).
In the singles’ finals, McMichael’s Kelly Shemo went up against Eastern Guilford’s LeeAnna Robertson and it was Robertson who came out on top, 8-2.
Reidsville’s Morgan Farver, who lost to Robertson in the semifinals, defeated West Stokes’ Heather Devitt, 8-4 and took home third place. Shemo ousted Devitt in the other semifinal match, 8-6.
The tournament’s double crown went to Sarah Alston Trent and Francie Trent. After winning their first two matches in convincing fashion — 8-0 and 8-0 — the Trents edged out Stephanie Hauser and Caroline Frye of West Stokes, 8-6 in the semifinals.
In the finals, the Trents defeated McMichael’s duo of Brittany Manning and Emily Blakey, 9-7.
Manning and Blakey were equally strong along the way, allowing just four points in their first three matches.
In the doubles’ consolation finals, Hauser and Frye defeated McMichael’s Becky Bozorth and Katie Willard 8-5 and took home third place.
McMichael will now send five players to the 2-A tennis regionals and Reidsville will send three, but before that the teams must turn their attention to the dual team playoffs, which begin today.
The Lady Phoenix (11-0), a No. 1 seed, will host Northwood (14-5) — a No. 2 seed out of the Mid-State 2-A Conference.
Reidsville (7-3) is a No. 2 seed and will travel to Cardinal Gibbons (15-4), the No. 1 seed out of the Mid-State.
The winner of those two matches will meet in the second round Oct. 21.
Individual regional play will begin Oct. 24.
Qualifying from McMichael are Kelly Shemo (singles) and Brittany Manning and Emily Blakey (doubles) and Becky Bozorth and Katie Willard (doubles).
Competing from Reidsville will be Morgan Farver (singles) and Sara Alston Trent and Francie Trent (doubles).

Rams blank McMichael; MHS, RCHS fall

From staff report
Orlins Reyes proved to be all Reidsville needed as he scored three times in the Rams’ 3-0 shutout of McMichael Monday night at Community Stadium.
Reyes scored at the 9-, 19- and 57-minute marks.
Reidsville got assists from Javier Guzman, James Scheer and Carl Holder.
With the win, the Rams improved to 3-1 in North State play and 7-4-1 overall.
RHS out shot McMichael, 8-5 but the Phoenix held a 6-4 edge in corner kicks.
Ross Haigler recorded fives saves for the Rams, who close out the week with games against West Stokes (tonight) and Bartlett Yancey (Thursday).

Northern Guilford 4, Morehead 1
After falling behind 3-0 to Northern Guilford at halftime, the Morehead Panthers steadied the ship and played the second half to a 1-1 tie, but lost to the Nighthawks, 4-1 Monday night in Eden.
Drew Dippel of Northern scored the game’s first two goals and gave the Rams a 2-0 lead just 12 minutes into the match.
Matthew Beck, who also scored twice, scored three minutes after Dippel’s second goal as Northern took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
The Rams, who out shot the Panthers 22-8, extended their lead to 4-0 on Beck’s second goal of the night — eight minutes into the second half.
Morehead got on the scoreboard as Brandon Joyce, on an assist from Spencer Osborne, scored at the 58-minute mark.
The Panthers, now 1-7-1 in conference play and 3-12-1 overall, got 13 saves from Taylor Trantham and J.T. Chambers. The Nighthawks got four saves from goalkeeper Campbell Chambliss.
With the win, Northern improved to 6-4 in conference play and 9-7 overall.
MHS returns to action at Rockingham County tonight.
The match is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Northeast Guilford 5, Rockingham County 2
Ethan Ellington scored both Rockingham County goals, but Northeast proved to be too much for the Cougars, who lost in McLeansville, 5-2 Monday night.
While Ellington found the net twice for the Cougars, Ahmed Kheir scored three times for the Rams, who improved to 7-2 in Triad play and 9-4-1 overall.
Rockingham County dropped to 1-6-2 in conference and 3-9-2 overall.
Matt Johnson and Zach Moore added the other two Northeast goals.
Taylor Witty of RCHS recorded 10 saves and Kevin Mitchell had five for Northeast.
RCHS is back in action against Morehead Wednesday night.
Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Cougar Pride Stadium in Wentworth.

Panthers fall behind early, rally against Rams

From staff report
The Morehead Panthers surrendered two goals within 12 minutes of each other and trailed Northeast Guilford 2-0 at halftime Thursday night. However, the Panthers rallied and played much better in the second half in a 3-1 loss to the Rams.
Zach Moore (21:00), Victor Botello (33:00) and Ryan Holbrook (61:00) all scored for Northeast and gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
Morehead's Spencer Osborne scored with seven minutes left in the game and narrowed the gap to 3-1.
Northeast's slim margin came despite a 36-6 shot advantage. Morehead's Taylor Trantham recorded 14 saves.
With the loss, the Panthers dropped to 3-11-1 overall and 1-6-1 in Triad Conference action.
Northeast improved to 8-4-1 overall and 6-2 in conference games.
MHS is back in action against Northern Guilford Monday night in Eden.

Weather ends MHS-RCHS game at 1-1

From staff reports
Called after 63 minutes due to lightning, Morehead and Rockingham County were left with a 1-1 tie Tuesday night in Triad 3-A Conference soccer action. In North State action from Monday night, the Reidsville Rams hammered Winston-Salem Atkins, 6-1.

MHS, RCHS play to 1-1 tie
Rockingham County’s Ryan Stanley scored a goal at the 60-minute mark proved to be the difference maker as the Cougars turned a 1-0 deficit into a 1-1 tie.
Three minutes after Stanley’s goal, the game was called due to lightning. His goal, via a penalty kick, beat Morehead goalkeeper Taylor Trantham.
Morehead’s goal, which came four minutes into the second half, was by Spencer Osborne on an assist from Levi Richardson on a corner kick.
The game was scoreless at halftime.
Morehead out shot Rockingham County, 12-9 and held a 5-2 edge in corner kicks.
The Cougars are now 1-4-2 in Triad 3-A Conference games and 3-7-2 overall. The Panthers’ record moved to 1-4-1 in conference and 3-9-1 overall.
RCHS’s Taylor Witty recorded nine saves in goal, while Trantham recorded eight saves.
Both teams were back in action Wednesday night. Rockingham was at Northern Guilford and Morehead traveled to Bartlett Yancey.
The Panthers close out the week tonight at Northeast Guilford.

Rams roll past Atkins, 6-1
Four first-half goals proved to be all the Reidsville Rams needed in defeating Atkins, 6-1 Monday night in North State soccer action.
With the win, the Rams are now 2-1 in North State play and 6-4-1 overall.
Wednesday night, Reidsville faced off with Southern Guilford in a battle for first place. The Storm knocked off West Stokes Monday night to set up Wednesday’s contest.
Orlins Reyes scored three times for Reidsville, at the 1-, 25- and 26-minute marks. Javier Guzman had the other first-half goal for the Rams.
In the second half, Emanuel Garcia and Carl Holder found the back of the night to extend RHS’s lead to 6-1.
Atkins’ lone goal came five minutes in on an own-goal off of A.J. Brower.
Reidsville out shot Atkins, 22-7. Ross Haigler and Youvany Guzman combined to record six saves in net for the Rams.
Recording assists for RHS were Alec Cobb (2), James Scheer, Jake McLamb and Tyler Harris.

Lady Cougars finish first at quad-meet

From staff report
Both Rockingham County and Morehead were in cross country action on Tuesday as part of quad-meets and the Lady Cougars took home a first-place finish and the Lady Panthers and Cougars both had second-place finishes.
Facing Northern Guilford, Northeast and Dudley, the Lady Cougars finished with 20 points, while Northern was second with 54. The Cougars (33) finished six points behind Northeast Guilford, which won the boys’ race with 27 points.
Going up against Western Alamance, Western Guilford and Bartlett Yancey, the Lady Panthers finished second with 56 points. Western Guilford won with a team total of 15.
In the boys’ race, the Panthers finished third behind Western Guilford (60) and Western Alamance (15).

Rockingham Cross Country
Both Derrick Monjeau, on the boys’ side, and Jasmin Sutton, on the girls’ side, finished second. Monjeau’s time of 18:14 was three second off the pace of Dustin Dunn of Northeast (18:11). Sutton finished second, behind Erin McGuirk (20:14) of Northern, with a time of 22:38.
Other RCHS top-five finishes were Josh French (third, 18:24), Nicole Soblesky (third, 22:41), Jordan Loye (fourth, 22:51) and Kylie Keck (fifth, 22:58).
Both the Rockingham boys and girls teams are 3-1 in Triad Conference action. The Cougars are 7-3 overall and the Lady Cougars are 8-2 overall.

Morehead Cross Country
Chelsea Wilson’s seventh-place finish was tops for Morehead Tuesday. Wilson finished with a time of 26:04.
Ganna Brown of Western Guilford won the girls’ race with a time of 20:18.
On the boys’ side, Marty Hall’s 14th-place finish was top for the Panthers. Hall finished with a time of 22:08.
Western Alamance’s John Pratt won the boys’ race with a time of 17:33.
“Western Alamance’s boys look very dominant in the conference, as well as Western Guilford’s girls,” said Morehead coach Donna Turner. “MHS will really have to work hard to be in a good position by the time of the conference meet.”

Lady Cougars capture county golf event

County Golf at The Plantation Golf Course (Reidsville)
Rockingham Co. 140, McMichael 145, Morehead 180
RCHS - Melissa Miller 44, Kelly Wilson 45, Nikki Alderson 51
McM - Hannah Bailey 44, Courtney Vaughn 50, Mackenzie Webster 51
MHS - Melissa Underwood 56, Jessica Holland 60, Macey McFatter 64

McMichael edges Reidsville in North State tennis

From staff report
In a match that resembled state playoff atmosphere, the McMichael Lady Phoenix edged out the Reidsville Lady Rams Monday afternoon at Jaycee Park. In other county tennis action, Rock-ingham County could not overcome Western Alamance in an 8-1 loss at Rockingham Community College.

Lady Rams edged at home
In a match in which they lost five games by four points or less, the Lady Rams lost at home to the McMichael Lady Phoenix, 5-4.
In first singles, Sarah Alston Trent lost 10-8 to Brittany Manning. In fourth singles, Caroline Dallas won 10-8 over Becky Bozorth.
In second doubles, the Reidsville team of Carolyn Fagan and Ellen Solomon edged out Kelly Shemo and Rebekah Morrison, 8-6.
The other close matches of the day featured a 10-6 win for Morgan Farver or Morrison and a 10-6 win for Kimberly Legaux over Fagan.
Other winners included Shemo (10-4) over Francie Trent, Katie Willard (10-1) over Jordan Cot-ter, the duo of Manning and Emily Blakey (8-1) over Sarah Alston Trent and Francie Trent and the RHS duo of Farver and Lily Fagan over Bozorth and Willard — no score was given.
The four points scored by Francie Trent were the first point allowed by Shemo since the County Wide Tournament in August.
Both teams are back in action today. McMichael heads to Southern Guilford and Reidsville makes the trip to West Stokes.
Matches are scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

RCHS falls to Western Alamance, 8-1
Caroline Lindsay of Rockingham County won at first singles, but that proved to be the lone Lady Cougar win as they fell to Western Alamance Monday afternoon at RCC.
Lindsay won 10-8 over Rachel Pennington. In doubles action, Lindsay and Krystal Moore lost 6-0 to Pennington and Rebecca Fogleman.
In the other seven games, Western Alamance surrendered a total of four points — including three shutout wins.
Marcia Blackstock, Moore, Brooke Purgason, Lindsey Puckett and Autumn Carter all lost in singles action and Blackstock and Becky Livengood and Allison Nolker and Hannah Livengood lost in doubles play.
RCHS is back on the courts at Bartlett Yancey today.
Matches are scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

RCHS takes second in golf opener
Rockingham County opened its golf season with a second-place finish as part of a quad-match at The Plantation Golf Club Monday afternoon.
The Lady Cougars (2-1) finished behind first-place Western Alamance, which had the top team score of the day at 117. RCHS was second at 142, followed by Northern Guilford (148) and More-head (168).
Lori Beth Adams of Western Alamance was the low golfer as she carded a 33.
Rockingham County was led by Melissa Miller’s 42. Morehead’s low golfer was Melissa Under-wood at 54.
The Lady Cougars also got a 46 from Kelly Wilson and a 54 from Nikki Alderson. Discards were Elizabeth Ferguson (55) and Olivia Siler (57).
The Lady Panthers (0-3) also received a 54 from Macey McFatter and a 60 from Emily Rudisill. Jessica Holland (67) and Caroline Nooe (72) were the team’s two discards.
Morehead and Rockingham return to action on Wednesday at The Plantation plays host to the County Golf Tournament. McMichael will also be competing in the event.

Cougars nearly upset Northeast Guilford

From staff report
Rockingham County was 16 minutes away from nearly pulling off a big win over Northeast Guilford Thursday night. However, with 16 minutes left in regulation Zach Moore’s goal gave the Rams a 2-1 lead and the victory over the Cougars in Triad 3-A Conference soccer action.
Tied at 1-1, Moore beat Rockingham goalkeeper Taylor Witty at the 64-minute mark.
In the loss, Witty made 10 saves for the Cougars.
“Defense, midfield and forwards all played well,” said RCHS head coach Reg Gentle. “[Taylor] Witty played an outstanding game.”
Trailing 1-0, the Cougars tied the match when Pierce Moore scored at the 30-minute mark.
RCHS remained in the contest despite being out shot, 12-4. Northeast’s Kevin Mitchell recorded three saves.
“We started a little flat and that allowed them to get in their first goal,” added Gentle, who saw his Cougars allow an Ahmed Kheir goal just four minutes into play.
RCHS dropped to 0-2 in the conference and 2-5 overall. Northeast improved to 2-0 in Triad action and 4-2-1 overall.
The Cougars play host to Morehead Monday night.

Lady Cougars blanked by McMichael
Unbeaten McMichael was too much for Rockingham County Lady Cougars Thursday afternoon at Rockingham Community College. The Lady Phoenix dropped just 11 games in the six singles matches and blanked RCHS, 9-0.
DMHS is now 6-0 overall, while RCHS dropped to 0-9.
Caroline Lindsay, Marcia Blackstock and Krystal Moore all lost their singles matches, 8-1. Lindsay lost to Brittany Manning, Blackstock lost to Rebekah Morrison and Moore lost to Kelly Shemo.
McMichael’s Becky Bozorth defeated Brooke Purgason, 8-2 and in the closest match, Kimberly Legaux of DMHS edged Becky Livengood, 8-6. Hannah Livengood lost to Katie Willard, 8-0.
In the closest doubles match, Lindsay and Blackstock lost to Shemo and Legaux, 7-6 (7-3 tiebreaker).
Lindsey Puckett and Autumn Carter and Allison Nolker and Purgason of RCHS lost in doubles action. Nolker and Purgason lost 6-0 to Manning and Morrison and Puckett and Carter lost 6-2 to Lacey Stevens and Savannah Brown.
The Lady Cougars are back in action Monday against Western Alamance at RCC. McMichael is at Reidsville Monday.

McMichael volleyball edges Forbush
The Lady Phoenix needed five games to knock off Forbush Thursday night.
McMichael improved to 9-2 on the season, while Forbush dropped to 6-5.
Brooke Hensley led the way with 12 kills and nine digs and Alex Hopper added 12 blocks and five kills.
DMHS also got 13 digs and eight kills from Danielle Simpson and 12 blocks and six kills from Chelsie Angel. Tracy Ellis led McMichael with 34 assists.
McMichael returns to action at Reidsville on Tuesday.

Local Prep Football

Friday's Prep Football Scores
Reidsville (3-0) 56, Rockingham County (1-2) 7
McMichael (3-1) 17, Martinsville (Va.) (n.a.) 16
Lexington (2-1) 56, Morehead (0-4) 20
Friday, Sept. 19
Rockingham County at McMichael
Reidsville at Northeast Guilford
Morehead, Idle

Lady Panthers suffer first Triad Conference loss

From staff report
The Morehead Lady Panthers suffered their first Triad 3-A Conference loss of the season as the Northern Guilford Lady Nighthawks won in five sets, 20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 15-8 Wednesday night.
MHS, now 4-1 in conference play, is 8-3 overall.
With the win, Northern improved to 3-3 in conference games and 7-3 overall.
For Morehead, Emily Pulliam finished the night with 23 digs, three aces and five kills and Tori Roberts added 26 assists, 10 digs, five kills and three aces. The Lady Panthers also got nine kills, 10 digs and a pair of aces from Jinea Adams.
The Lady Panthers must rebound and turn their attention to a Monday showdown with Rock-ingham County (6-0, 9-2).
Monday’s game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in Wentworth.

Rockingham sweeps Northeast Guilford
Rockingham County remained unbeaten in the Triad 3-A Conference following Wednesday night’s three-game sweep of Northeast Guilford, 25-11, 25-19 and 25-17.
Overall, the Lady Cougars are now 9-2 and 6-0 in conference games.
With the loss, the Lady Rams dropped to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in Triad action.
Denise Grissom led RCHS with 19 assists, 10 service points, five digs and seven aces. Allison Sparks chipped in with five kills, two aces and six service points and Jordan O’Bryant added 10 service points, seven kills and three aces.
RCHS is back in action against Morehead Monday night.

Lady Panthers blank RCHS, 9-0 in tennis

From staff report
Led by a pair of single match shutouts from Jessa Rexrod and Kelly Snyder, the Morehead Lady Panthers blanked Rockingham County, 9-0 Monday afternoon at Rockingham Community College.
Rexrod blanked Hannah Livengood in fifth singles and Snyder shutout Becky Livengood in the fourth singles match.
Also winning for the Lady Panthers were Tori Huffman (first singles), Chelsea Robertson (sec-ond) and Meredith Hilliard (third).
Hilliard and Rockingham’s Krystal Moore played the tightest singles match, with Hilliard win-ning 10-6.
In doubles action, Huffman and Robertson, Hilliard and Snyder and Emily Adams and Rexrod all won for Morehead.
Rexrod and Adams, who won 8-6, had the closest doubles match — edging out Rockingham’s Lindsey Puckett and Brooke Purgason.
Both teams are back in action today, with Morehead at Western Alamance and Greensboro Dudley at Rockingham County.

Boys’ soccer results
Northern Guilford, in just its second season of varsity soccer, is beginning to show that they are going to be a team to reckon with in the Triad 3-A Conference. The Nighthawks, who are just 2-3 on the season, defeated host Rockingham County, 6-1 Monday night.
Northern out shot RCHS, 32-4.
In the loss, the Cougars (2-3, 0-1) got 17 saves from Jason Davis.
Rockingham’s lone goal came from Ryan Stanley.
The Nighthawks got goals from Corey Hilliard, Steven Markham, Adam Storm, Sean Semmler, Fillip Maj and Matthew Beck. Beck also added a pair of assists.
Northern’s Campbell Chambliss made three saves in goal.
RCHS is back in action against Northeast Guilford (3-2, 1-0) tonight in McLeansville.

Lady Panthers still perfect in Triad volleyball
Despite dropping game two, 25-18, the Morehead Lady Panthers recovered and took games three and four and knocked off defending conference champion Bartlett Yancey Monday night.
Now at 4-0 in Triad 3-A games, Morehead won game one, 25-22. Tied at 1-1, the Lady Panthers scored a close 26-24 win in game three and a 25-18 victory in the deciding game four.
Morehead (8-2 overall) got four kills and 18 digs from Brittney Stokes and 16 digs, four aces and five kills from Emily Pulliam.
Tori Roberts chipped in with 25 assists and three aces and Erin Sexton added 13 kills, five aces and eight digs.
The Lady Panthers are at Northern Guilford tonight.

RCHS still atop Triad volleyball standings
Rockingham County remains unbeaten and atop the Triad 3-A Conference standings following Monday night’s three-set victory over visiting Northern Guilford. The Lady Cougars won 25-15, 25-19 and 25-17.
With the win, the Lady Cougars (8-2 overall) are now a perfect 5-0 in conference games.
Rockingham County got 14 kills, six blocks and four service points from Jordan O’Bryant and three aces, six digs and 12 assists from Denise Grissom.
Megan Dickerson led RCHS with nine service points and she also added nine assists. Erin Cox finished the night with three blocks, seven kills, five service points and three digs and Sarah Cutler chipped in with four kills and six digs.
In junior varsity action, Rockingham County dropped its match, 17-25, 25-23, 20-25.
Rockingham County is back in action at Northeast Guilford tonight.

RCHS volleyball improves to 6-2

From staff report
Back-to-back wins over Bartlett Yancey and Reidsville helped Rockingham County run its record to 6-2 on the season, following the three-game sweep of the Lady Rams Wednesday night.
The Lady Cougars won, 25-10, 25-9, 25-8. On Tuesday night, RCHS knocked off defending conference champion Bartlett Yancey in five games, 25-18, 25-20, 21-25, 15-25, 15-2.
Megan Dickerson helped lead RCHS with 18 assists, nine aces and 16 service points. Erin Cox added seven kills and four digs and Katie Pace had two kills, six service points and three digs.
RCHS, which plays at Western Guilford tonight, also got three aces and five digs from Macey Wilson and four kills and four digs from Allison Sparks.
No details on Reidsville were made available.
Tonight’s game is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Greensboro.

Harris' goal all Rams need in 1-0 win over RCHS

From staff report
Tyler Harris’ goal just 1:55 into Wednesday night’s game was all Reidsville High School needed to get past Rockingham County, 1-0 in a non-conference prep soccer game.
Reidsville, which won the first meeting 5-2, won despite being out shot 10-7.
“It was a very evenly matched game,” said RC head coach Reg Gentle. “Both coaches can be very proud of their players.”
In the loss, Taylor Witty recorded four saves and Reidsville’s Ross Haigler made eight saves.
RCHS dropped to 1-3 on the season heading into tonight’s game at Eastern Guilford.
Reidsville (n.a.) plays at Northern Guilford Sept. 11.

Friday Night Prep Scoreboard

Friday's Local Prep Football Scoreboard
Reidsville 53, Morehead 6
McMichael 40, South Stokes 7
Rockingham County, Idle
Friday, Sept. 5
Burlington Cummings at Reidsville
Randleman at Rockingham County
McMichael at Morehead

RCHS rolls past Western Alamance

From staff report
Rockingham County played three sharp games and recorded a sweep of Western Alamance, 25-15, 25-9 and 25-12 Thursday night in Triad 3-A Conference volleyball action.
The Lady Cougars improved to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Rockingham County got strong efforts from Jordan O’Bryant, who finished with 21 spikes, 12 kills, seven service points and three digs.
Denise Grissom added 17 service points, four aces, seven digs and 18 assists.
The Lady Cougars also got 10 service points from Sarah Sparks, five digs from Macey Wilson and six spikes and five kills from Erin Cox.
RCHS is back in action against defending conference champion Bartlett Yancey Tuesday night.

Spangler hauls in two catches in WCU victory

Former Rockingham County Cougar Taylor Spangler, a red-shirt freshman, had two receptions for 34, including a 19-yard catch as Western Carolina University opened the 2008 season with a 35-0 win over Shorter College Thursday night.

McMichael hands MHS first loss of season

From staff report
The Morehead Lady Panthers suffered their first loss of the season and it came at the hands of county-rival McMichael Wednesday night.
The Lady Phoenix, now 4-2 on the season, defeated Morehead, 25-23, 25-13, 23-25, 25-14.
Morehead falls to 4-1 on the season. On Wednesday night, the Lady Panthers (1-0 in conference play) rolled past Western Alamance — winning three of four games. Also on Wednesday, the Lady Phoenix defeated Grimsley in four games.
For McMichael, Brittney Stokes had five kills and 11 digs and Emily Pulliam had five kills, 13 digs.
For Morehead, Tori Roberts led the way with 19 assists, 10 digs, three aces.
The Lady Panthers were back in action against Western Guilford Thursday night.
No results were available.

Lady Phoenix roll past RCHS, 8-1

NON-CONFERENCE PREP TENNIS MATCH
McMichael 8, Rockingham County 1
SINGLES
No. 1 Brittany Manning (M) def. Marcia Blackstock (8-0)
No. 2 Caroline Lindsey (R) def. Rebekah Morrison (9-7)
No. 3 Kelly Shemo (M) def. Allison Nolker (8-0)
No. 4 Becky Bozorth (M) def. Brooke Purgason (8-0)
No. 5 Katie Willard (M) def. Kelly Jones (8-0)
No. 6 Emily Blakey (M) def. Livengood (8-0)
DOUBLES
No. 1 Bozorth/Willard (M) vs. Blackstock/Lindsey(6-0)
No. 2 Kimberly Legaux/Gabby Harris (M) vs. Nolker/Purgason (6-1)
No. 3 Savannah Brown/Lacey Stevens (M) vs. Jones/Livengood (6-0)

Late goal lifts Cougars past unbeaten McMichael

From staff report
With just two minutes left on the clock, Rockingham County’s Justin Davis scored the game-winning goal that lifted the Cougars past previously unbeaten McMichael, 2-1 Monday night.
Davis’ goal, which beat McMichael’s Austin Irby, came at the 78-minute mark.
McMichael, 2-1, struck first with a Riley Shelton goal 12 minutes into the contest.
“We came out with a typical Monday game and the first day of school,” said RCHS coach Reg Gentle. “However McMichael played very well and I was very impressed with their play.”
At the 30-minute mark, Rockingham’s Ethan Ellington got the visitors on the scoreboard and tied the game at 1-1.
“Tying the game gave us some enthusiasm and momentum heading into the second half,” added Gentle.
Each team recorded eight shots. For RCHS, Taylor Witty made five saves in net and Irby recorded four saves.
Now at 1-1, the Cougars play at South Stokes Wednesday and at Eastern Guilford Thursday.
McMichael, which started the season with wins over Bartlett Yancey and Morehead, now faces Morehead Wednesday.

RCHS rallies past Western Alamance, 8-4

Staff Report
ELON – After a marathon 10-inning loss at Greensboro Dudley last Friday night, Rock-ingham County rebounded in Triad 3-A Conference baseball action, but needed a sev-enth-inning rally to win at Western Alamance.
The Cougars, who lost 4-3 at Dudley on Friday, scored four times in the top of the sev-enth inning and rallied for an 8-4 win over the host Warriors.
With the win, RCHS improved to 8-2 in the conference and 12-4 overall. The loss dropped Western to 4-4 in conference games.
Three errors in the top of the seventh inning, two on a single by Jordan Puckett did in the home team.
Tyler Burchett, who got the win for the Cougars in six innings of work, doubled to right field. Justin Davis, who scored twice, was inserted as a pinch runner. Josh Munson bunted Davis over to third and Bryan Mitchell reached on a throwing error, but on the play Davis was cut down at home.
The play did not ruin Rockingham’s late-game rally. With two outs, Cody Westmoreland walked and Adam Johnson’s single scored Mitchell for a 5-4 RCHS lead. Puckett then singled to center field and two errors brought home Westmoreland, Johnson and Puckett.
Ethan Ellington pitched a scoreless seventh inning and struck out one.
Burchett, who struck out two and allowed two earned runs (4 runs), had three hits and is now 8 for his last 9 (.889).
Westmoreland and Puckett each had two hits and Johnson had one hit.
The Cougars return to action tonight at home against Martinsville (5 p.m.). RCHS also host Bartlett Yancey (7 p.m.) on Friday night.
B-Yancey is one of the two Triad losses on Rockingham’s ledger.
“We can’t afford to slip up,” said RCHS coach Chris Loye. “We kinda backed ourselves into a corner with that loss Friday at Dudley.”

DMHS breaks skid, beats Magna Vista

By BRETT KNIGHT
Staff Writer
MAYODAN — McMichael got back to winning ways Friday night at home. After dropping two straight during the spring break week, the Phoenix scored early and often and cruised to a 10-5 victory over Magna Vista.
DMHS, which improved to 8-5 overall, scored in four of its six plate appearances, including three-run showings in the second and fourth. McMichael now has some momentum heading into Tuesday night’s showdown with West Stokes. Both the Phoenix and Wildcats sit atop the conference standings at 3-0.
“We played some team baseball and it’s the first time we have done that in a while,” said McMichael coach John Hall. “I wanted to go into the West Stokes game on a positive not and we are. We got our bats going at the right time.”
Friday’s game was tied at 4-4 after two innings of play, but McMichael outscored the Warriors, 6-1 the rest of the way.
Leading 5-4, McMichael broke the game open with three runs in the fourth. Ross Vaden was hit by a pitch to start the inning, stole second and scored on an RBI-single to left field from Allen Webster. Joseph Hughes drew a walk, while Clark Erskine was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Webster came home on a passed ball, while Hughes made it 8-4 scoring off an RBI-grounder from Corey Shelton.
The home team capped off the scoring with a pair of runs in the sixth. Hughes singled and Shelton doubled to put runners on second and third. Hughes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Kenlon Knight, while Shelton later scored on an error.
Picking up the win for McMichael was Steven Trant, who pitched three and two-third innings of relief in place of Hughes, who started. Trant surrendered one run, one hit and two walks to go along with one strikeout. Knight pitched the final one and one-third innings and had two strikeouts.

Former Ram auditions for pro scouts

By Travis Sawchik
Special to The Daily News
CONWAY, S.C. — NFL scouts struggled to organize and identify 15 numberless, body-armor clad former college players at Coastal Carolina’s pro day on Friday, hollering for media types and curious observers to back away from the mob time after time.
They did, however, know about Jerome Simpson, the former Chanticleers star who finished his career as the Big South’s all-time leading receiver and impressed at the NFL Combine last month with 40-yard dash runs of 4.43 and 4.47 seconds.
Simpson’s workout in Indianapolis earned praise from ESPN’s NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper, who recently listed Simpson as one of his four top sleepers for the upcoming draft.
Because of Simpson’s success in Indianapolis, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiving prospect did not participate in the majority of the physical tests that make up pro day — the 40-yard dash, 225-pound bench-press, broad jump and three-cone drill, but he did improve his vertical leap with a jump of 41 inches (he had a 37-inch jump at Indianapolis) and ran routes.
“I kind of felt good today,” Simpson said. “(The vertical jump) was kind of spur of the moment. I just felt like I could improve it (since) they said the combine jump (measurements) were off.”

Simpson to work out for pro scouts

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
CONWAY, S.C. – Boston College’s Matt Ryan had his, LSU’s Glenn Dorsey had his and now Coastal Carolina’s Jerome Simpson too will have his one-on-one day in the sun.
Simpson, who caught the eyes of several National Football League scouts at the February NFL Combine, will hold a pro day workout today on the Coastal Carolina University campus.
The former Reidsville Ram wide receiver who re-wrote the receiving-record books at CCU will perform in front of approximately 20 professional scouts looking to further raise his stock for the upcoming NFL draft in April.
“To me it’s just another workout day,” said Simpson. “Go out and play football. Something I have done all my life.”
The former Chanticleer receiver has already improved his draft status following standout performances at the East-West Shrine game in January and the Combine last month.
Since the combine, where Simpson impressed those in attendance with his 4.47 40-yard dash time – always a knock against Simpson – and his amazing 37.5-inch vertical leap. His 40-time was tied for 6th best among the 54 WRs in Indianapolis and his vertical mark was second.
Simpson, who measured in at 6-1¾ and 199 pounds, set a combine record with an 11-4 standing broad jump. He was already at the top of the list with his massive hand measurement of 11 – the largest of anyone who worked out at the RCA Dome.
“My results in the East-West game and the combine boosted my draft stock,” said Simpson. “Now they want to see if, when you’ve had some time off, can you still perform well.”
Duran Lawson, quarterback from The Citadel, will be throwing the ball to Simpson today in South Carolina.

Morehead blanked in Easter tourney finale

Staff Report
HAVELOCK — Any momentum the Morehead Panthers had from Tuesday’s win in the Crystal Coast Easter Tournament went quickly out the door in Wednesday afternoon’s finale against New Bern.
The Bears used a pair of home runs and a no-hit performance to come away with an easy 10-0 five inning victory at Havelock High School.
The Panthers, who defeated Havelock 3-0 Tuesday, dropped to 2-8 heading into the second half of the season. MHS is scheduled to take on Bartlett Yancey this Tuesday in Yanceyville.
New Bern got the scoring started early as Brett Williams hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. After added a run n the third, the Bears broke the game open with a six-run fourth highlighted by a three-run home run from Gabe Brown. The fourth inning saw just two New Bern hits along with four walks and one error by Morehead.
MHS, which had no base runners get past second base, had its best scoring chance in the top of the fourth. Both Stephen Corcoran and Preston Halstead drew one-out walks, but both were left stranded as Grey Davis recorded back-to-back strikeouts. Davis pitched four innings and struck out six batters. Rudy Rutti pitched a perfect fifth and had one strikeout.
Joe Glasgow reached base on an error in the second and Corey Smith reached base on another Bear error in the fifth. However, the miscues didn’t come back to haunt New Bern.
Taylor Trantham got the start for the Panthers and lasted 3 and 1/3 innings. He surrendered eight runs (five earned), six hits and five walks. Trantham also had one strikeout.
Corcoran went the final 1 and 1/3 innings where he gave up two runs (one earned) and three hits.
The game with the Buccaneers will be one of three games for the Panthers this coming week. MHS will also take on Graham (Thursday) and Northern Guilford (Friday).
Tuesday’s game will start at 7 p.m

Cougars rally to win CCET finale

Staff Report
HAVELOCK — Rockingham County won its last two Crystal Coast Easter Tournament games and finished 2-1 on its East coast road swing following Wednesday’s 5-4 win over host Havelock.
Now at 9-3 on the season, the Cougars had to rally from a 4-1 deficit. Rockingham County scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth and added the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“It was good to get those two wins,” RCHS coach Chris Loye said.
Bryan Mitchell, who got the victory and pitched six innings, doubled in Josh Munson in the fifth inning and Cody Westmoreland drove in Mitchell with an RBI-single.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Munson hit a sacrifice fly and scored Widerman, who led the rally with a single and stole second base.
Havelock’s Stanley Murphy put his team on top, 4-1 with a three-run homerun in the fifth inning.
In the win, Mitchell struck out six, surrendered five hits and allowed four earned runs. In one inning of work, Tyler Burchett got the save and had one strikeout.
Munson led RCHS with a 2 for 3 plate performance.
“This was good because we got some guys in and took a look at them,” added Loye. “We didn’t do as much as we wanted, but we were able to see some things.”
The Cougars return to Wentworth Wednesday night and then return to action on April 1 at Northern Guilford. RCHS also plays Northeast Guilford on April 4 and Reidsville on April 5.

Cougars edge E. Carteret

Staff Report
HAVELOCK – After losing its opening-round game of the Crystal Coast Easter Tournament on Monday, Rockingham County rebounded and got a win although in a shootout – 11-9 over East Carteret Tuesday afternoon.
The Cougars, now 8-3 on the season, exploded for seven runs in the top of the sixth inning and claimed a 10-1 lead.
However, East Carteret answered with its own barrage of eight runs in the bottom half of the sixth and narrowed the Cougars’ gap to 10-9.
RCHS added an insurance run in the seventh and Bryan Mitchell pitched the final one and one-third innings to get the save.
At the plate, Mitchell added a hit, but it was Josh Munson who came through with a good por-tion of RCHS’s offense. Munson, who had three hits, homered in the seventh to help extend the Cougar lead. He also singled and tripled.
Brian Widerman, who earned the win pitching, had two hits and Wes Wright and Zack Dickson each added one hit.
RCHS is back in action at 5 p.m. today against Havelock, which is 0-2 at the tournament. Have-lock lost to the Morehead Panthers, 3-0 on Tuesday.
The Cougars will return to regular-season action on April 1 at Northern Guilford. It is the first of four games that week as RCHS also plays Calvary at home on April 3, Northeast Guilford at home on April 4 and Reidsville on the road April 5.

Protzek leads Panthers to 3-0 win

Staff Report
HAVELOCK — Monday’s opener of the Crystal Coast Easter Tournament was highlighted by errors and missed opportunities for Morehead. Tuesday’s game with Havelock was a totally different story.
Highlighted by a combined shutout from Josh Protzek and Stephen Corcoran and two insurance runs in the fifth inning, the Panthers recorded a 3-0 victory over the Rams at Havelock High School.
The victory improved Morehead’s overall record to 2-7 heading into today’s finale against New Bern.
“This gives us a lot of momentum heading into our final game,” said MHS coach Jeff Roberts. “It allows us to look forward to playing them. I think this gives them an idea of what level they are capable of playing at.”
Protzek had a solid start on the mound, pitching five innings of six-hit ball. He surrendered no runs and three walks to go along with one strikeout. Protzek faced two batters in the sixth before giving way to teammate Stephen Corcoran. Corcoran sent down all six batters he faced to pick up the save.
“Josh did an outstanding job on the mound,” said Roberts. “He was hitting his spots and was working ahead in the count. Stephen Corcoran got a great save for us as well.”
Havelock, which defeated Northwest Guilford Monday night, got runners to third base in the first four innings, but all were left stranded. The Rams left 10 runners on base in the game.
MHS was limited to just three hits, but the visitors made them count. The Panthers got on the board in the bottom of the third. Corcoran got things started with a one-out double to the fence in right-center field, while Preston Halstead sent a line drive past the pitcher and into center. Joe Glasgow brought Corcoran home on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Morehead added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to increase the lead to three.
Chris Stanley led off with a double to left and moved to third as George Mabes reached base on an error following a bunt. Corcoran drove in Stanley with a sacrifice to right to make it 2-0. Halstead sent a Chris Dorman pitch to the shortstop, which allowed Mabes to go home. Mabes was called safe as Havelock Nathan Vicknair missed the tag.
Today’s game with New Bern will begin at 2 p.m.

Late miscue costs Panthers in CCET

Staff Report
HAVELOCK — If Monday’s baseball game between Morehead and East Carteret is a sign of things to come, the Crystal Coast Easter Tournament is going to be an exciting one. In a game that saw both teams combine for 21 runs, 18 hits and 14 errors, East Carteret used a late inning Panther error to squeak out an 11-10 eight-inning
victory.
Needing two runs for a victory, the Mariners got just that as Trey Fulcher scored from third base on the fifth Panther error of the game. With runners at second and third with one out, Travis Barbeau sent a grounder to shortstop Preston Halstead. Needing to get the lead runner, Halstead went home for the second out, but Fulcher was able to score the winning run as MHS catcher Josh Rice dropped the ball.
With the loss, Morehead dropped its overall record to 1-7 heading into today’s game against host Havelock.
The game went into extra innings with the score tied at 9-9 after seven. Morehead struck first in the eighth as the ninth Mariner error brought home Joe Glasgow, who singled earlier in the inning.
MHS scored in all but three innings, including the first as the Panthers plated three runs.
Chris Stanley drew a walk and later scored on an RBI-single from Stephen Corcoran (2 for 4 in the game). Halstead reached base on a fielder’s choice and scored along with Corcoran on a two-run single down the third base line from Glasgow, who finished the game 3 for 5.
Two MHS errors contributed to five unearned runs for East Carteret in the bottom half of the inning.

Reidsville falls short in GET

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
GREENSBORO — Despite out hitting R.L. Patton, 9-6, the Reidsville Rams could not overcame a three-run first inning and dropped a 7-5 game Monday afternoon in the second round of the Grimsley Easter Tournament.
In a game that featured some December-like snow, the Rams, 3-8 on the season, fell behind 3-0 on three swings off Patton’s bats.
“This was a pretty good team and we played more to their level,” said Reidsville coach Ernie Holcomb. “Every inning our pitchers started out in the hole and too many walks.”
In the bottom of the first inning, following a brief Reidsville scoring threat, Aaron Attaway singled off Ram starter Jason Pruitt. Attaway then stole second and came around with the game’s first run on an RBI-double from Matt Baker. A wild pitch allowed Baker to advance to third base and Dakota Spiess extended Patton’s lead with a two-run homerun to left centerfield.
Pruitt only pitched one inning and allowed three earned runs on three hits.
Ray Ray Butchee attempted to stop the bleeding, but the junior pitcher allowed four runs (3 earned) in two and two-thirds innings of work. Butchee allowed just two hits, but issued seven walks.
Cole Apple pitched the final one and one-third innings and allowed just a single hit and had two strikeouts.
In the team’s loss to High Point Central Saturday, Reidsville’s pitchers struck out eight and walked one, but Monday was a different story. On Monday, three RHS pitchers struck out two batters and walked eight.
The Rams got on the scoreboard with a run in the third inning and three more in the fourth off Baker. Reidsville scored a run in the top of the sixth inning, but the game was called after the tournament’s two-hour and 15-minute time limit expired.
Reidsville’s third-inning run snapped a 16-inning scoring drought. The Rams last run came in the fifth inning of a loss to McMichael back on March 19.
Jason Pruitt scored in the third inning, following the first of two straight hit batters. Jordan Stewart then singled to left field and scored Pruitt.
The Rams’ big inning came in the fifth and featured three hits and one Patton error. Jeremy Pruitt led off the inning with a triple to left field and Ray Ray Butchee followed with a walk. Following an Isaac Jones fielder’s choice groundout that cut Pruitt down at home plate, Craig Pruitt reached on an infield single and a throwing error allowed Butchee to score. With one out, Sam Pugh’s RBI-single scored Craig Pruitt and narrowed the gap to 7-4.
In the top of the sixth inning, Jason Pruitt’s RBI-single scored Jones, who singled to start the frame, but the threat was squashed by a 6-4-3 double play and a 5-3 groundout off the bat of Ryan Ellis.
“They are working real hard and the effort is there,” said Holcomb. “We had some base running mistakes in this game that took us out of some situations.”
For the Rams, Jones finished with two runs scored and Jeremy Pruitt and Ellis each had two hits.
Patton’s seven runs came from seven different players, but Attaway was 3 for 3 with two singles and a double.
The Rams, although their opponent is not known, are back in action at 10 a.m. today.

Reidsville blanked by High Point Central

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
GREENSBORO — Allowing runs in the early innings is something that has plagued the Reidsville Rams in recent games and Saturday afternoon was no different.
High Point Central (4-4) scored four runs in the top of the first inning and blanked the Rams, 6-0 in a first-round game of the Grimsley Easter Tournament.
Coming off an 11-0 loss to West Stokes on Thursday — in which the Wildcats scored all 11 runs in the second inning, Reidsville allowed four runs in the first off starter Craig Pruitt. Following a leadoff single to Houston Ison and a wild pitch that allowed him to get in scoring position, Central’s starting pitcher Justin Lassiter helped his own cause with a two-run home run to left field. A pair of Ram errors allowed the inning to stay alive and two more runs to come across.
Central scored one run in the second inning and later added its sixth run in the top of the fifth inning.
After Pruitt’s rocky first inning, RHS head coach Ernie Holcomb turned to Jeremy Pruitt, who performed well in six innings of work. Jeremy Pruitt allowed two runs (0 earned) on four hits. He struck out seven and walked none.
The two Ram pitchers surrendered just one walk, but it was six defensive miscues that put the team’s back up against the wall.
Reidsville committed five of its six errors in the three innings in which Central scored runs.
Offensively, the Rams — despite only four hits — had runners on in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings, but failed to score.
In all, Reidsville left six runners on base.
Lassiter pitched seven innings and allowed no runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out six RHS batters.

RCHS track sweeps Morehead

Staff Report
EDEN — Rockingham won all by two events in Thursday’s dual-track meet with Morehead and came away with an easy 118-26 victory over the Panthers. In the girls’ meet, Morehead recorded 10 wins but was edged by the Lady Cougars, 71-70.
Picking up wins for Morehead were E.J. Pickett (47.5 seconds) in the 300-meter hurdles and Tre Galloway (43-3.5) in the shot put.
The home team had 4 second-place finishes including Hunter Waldron, who recorded a time of 11.49 in the 100-meter dash. Maurice Dillard was runner-up in the 400-meter run (58.9), while Leverne Dillard placed second to Galloway in the shot put with a throw of 43-1.
Taking the runner-up spot in the long jump was Jamie Johnson (17-3).
No boys’ results for RCHS were called in prior to press time.
On the girls’ side, Jordan Loye of RCHS picked up a pair of wins in the 1600-meter (6:02) and the 800-meter runs (2:47).
Morehead’s Shenika Peace was a multi-event winner, taking first in the high jump (5-3), the 100-meter dash (13.0) and the 200-meter dash (27.7).
Nerisa Peace won the discus with a throw of 71-10 and was also part of the 4x100-meter relay team, which won with a time of 56.9. Peace was joined by Lynn Wade, Jakeita Artis and Brayl Fax. Josephine Doggett won the discus event with a throw of 27-3.
Wade, Artis, Fax and Danielle Pinnix won the 4x200 relay with a time of 1:56.1.
In the 300 hurdles, Keisha Wilson won with a time of 56.9 and MHS also won the 100 hurdles, as Ashley Scales finished with a time of 18.5.
The other Lady Cougar (3-1) wins came from Marie Valentine in the 400 (1:11), Megan Wilburn, who won the triple jump (27-5) and Orianna Clayton, who won the long jump (14-8).
MHS will return to action on April 1 as it hosts Dudley in a dual meet. The County Wide meet is scheduled for April 3 at Rockingham County. RCHS returns to action also on April 1 against Bartlett Yancey at home.
The meet with Dudley will start at 4 p.m.

MHS blanks Lady Phoenix

Staff Report
Morehead got back to its old ways Thursday night against county foe McMichael. After being limited to only one goal Monday night against Western Alamance, the Lady Panther offense erupted for seven second-half goals as the home team blanked the Lady Phoenix, 9-0.
MHS, who improved to 8-1 overall, has now scored 61 goals in its first nine games (6.7 goals per game).
The Lady Panthers got goals from Anabel Alvarez (18:00) and Jessica Moran (30:00, assist to Danielle Minichello) in the opening half. MHS scored seven goals in a 24-minute span in the second half led by Minichello, who had three goals.
She notched goals at the 53:00, 61:00 and 68:00 marks. Teammate Brittany Rumley made it 4-0 with a goal off a penalty kick at the 55-minute mark.
At the 71-minute mark, Stephanie Kinney scored off an assist from Krissy Snyder, while Keely Snnyder scored unassisted two minutes later.
Ashley Adkins capped off the scoring at the 77-minute mark on a penalty kick.
Keely Snyder had one assist in the second half.
“We went with a different lineup in the first half,” said MHS coach Ken Price.
“We felt like we could and wanted to get the seniors to score. It took awhile, but we did it.”
MHS recorded 39 shots and 10 corner kicks, while DMHS had only six shots and three corner kicks.
Morgan and Tori Huffman combined for three saves for MHS, while McMichael got eight saves from Caroline
Lanning.

Morehead will host Dudley on March 31.

RCHS scores 6-0 at Western Guilford

Staff Report
GREENSBORO - Rockingham County got five scoreless innings from Bryan Mitchell and two from Ethan Ellington and the Cougars rebounded from Tuesday's loss at Bartlett Yancey with a 6-0 win at Western Guilford Thursday night.
With the win, the Cougars improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Triad 3-A Conference. Western, 6-1 overall, lost for the first time this season. The loss dropped the Hornets to 4-1 in the conference.
"It was a good win for us in only our second road game of the year," said RCHS coach Chris Loye.
RCHS put together a five-run first inning and then turned things over to its pitching. In five innings of work, Mitchell allowed one hit and struck out 11. He did walk four before turning things over to Ellington. Ellington tossed two innings of one-hit baseball and struck out one.
In the top of the first inning, Tyler Burchett doubled in a run, Josh Munson singled in Burchett, Jake Wall singled in Munson and Zack Dickson doubled in Wall and Cody Westmoreland to help RCHS build its early lead.
Josh Munson finished the game with two hits and Burchett, Brian Widerman, Westmoreland, Wall, Dickson, Mitchell and Ellington all had one hit each.
Leading 5-0, the Cougars added an insurance run in the top of the fourth inning - thanks to a Mitchell sacrifice fly to left field that scored Burchett. With one out, Burchett had walked and moved up to second on a wild pitch.
The Cougars are back in action in next week's Crystal Coast Easter Tournament in Havelock. RCHS plays New Bern at 4 p.m. Monday.
RCHS was 2-1 at last year's tournament, suffering its only loss to Monday's opponent - New Bern.

Satterfield leads Phoenix to 7-2 victory over RHS

Staff Report
MAYODAN — Allen Webster and Craig Erskine did all the mound work and Ethan Satterfield provided the offense as McMichael scored a 7-2 win over Reidsville Tuesday night in North State 2-A Conference baseball action.
All seven of the Phoenix runs came in the first three innings and the Rams dropped their second North State contest in as many games.
“We didn’t play a bad ballgame,” said Reidsville coach Ernie Holcomb. “The just had a little bit more pitching and a little bit more firepower than we did.”
Reidsville jumped out to a 1-0 lead after one-half inning of play, but the home team answered with three in its bottom half of the first and later added four more in the bottom of the third.
Ram starter Craig Pruitt, who got the loss, pitched three innings and allowed seven runs (4 earned) on five hits. He struck out two and walked three.
In relief, Ray Ray Butchee no hit the Phoenix over the final three innings of work. Butchee struck out four and walked three.
With the loss, the Rams dropped to 0-2 in North State play and 3-5 overall. McMichael improved to 2-0 in conference and 6-3 overall.
Webster allowed four hits and two earned runs in four and two-thirds inning. He struck out six and walked two. In relief, Erskine allowed no hits and no walks in two and one-third. Erskine struck out three.
Both teams are back in action today. Reidsville plays host to West Stokes in another key conference game and McMichael battles Southern Guilford.
In the top of the first, Butchee walked and stole second. Jordan Stewart gave his team a 1-0 lead when his single drove in Butchee.
In the bottom of the first, the Phoenix got a two-run single from Corey Shelton.
The big blow came in the bottom of the third inning when Ethan Satterfield’s three-run homerun gave his team a 7-1 edge.
The Rams’ second run of the game came in the top of the fifth inning. Stewart walked and moved to second on a wild pitch. Kerry Hammock, who was 2 for 3 on the night, doubled in Stewart and narrowed the gap to 7-2.
Reidsville also got one hit each from Stewart and Jason Pruitt.
Today’s game is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Reidsville High School.

Shumaker, Lady Bucs blank Rockingham

Staff Report
YANCEYVILLE — Bartlett Yancey’s Shumaker sisters did all the damage and helped the Lady Buccaneers remain unbeaten in Triad Conference softball action, following Tuesday afternoon’s 3-0 shutout win over Rockingham County.
On the mound, Rachel Shumaker tossed a one-hitter and struck out seven in seven innings of work. At the plate, Hannah Shumaker rapped out three hits, including a double and a home run and drove in all three B-Yancey runs.
Rockingham County suffered its first loss of the season and now sits at 2-1 in conference play and 4-1 overall.
“It’s not that we didn’t put the bat on the ball,” said Rockingham coach Woody Wall. “We did hit some shots right at people.”
BY, now 3-0 in the Triad, scored single runs in the first, third and sixth innings of Rockingham County’s Macey Wilson. In six innings of work, Wilson allowed five hits, three runs and struck out five. The three runs allowed by Wilson were the first earned runs allowed by the junior pitcher.
Lindsay Puckett had the Lady Cougars’ lone hit – coming in the first inning. She later walked in the fourth inning, but both times was left stranded at first.
In the bottom of the first, a Rockingham error led to BY’s first run of the game and then a walk in the third led to the home team’s 2-0 lead.
“We know what it takes to beat them,” said Wall. “We just need to put a run or two on the board first and make them press.”
On Thursday, the Lady Cougars will welcome back coach Scott Isley, who has missed the past two weeks due to illness.
“The girls will be glad to have him back on the bench,” added Wall.
Thursday’s game at Western Guilford is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

Panthers score first baseball win

Staff Report
After going winless through the first five games, Morehead finally got into the win column Tuesday night against visiting Dudley. With the game tied at three, the home team took advan-tage of two wild pitches by the Dudley pitching staff in the bottom of the seventh as Corey Smith crossed home plate on the second one leading the Panthers to a 4-3 victory.
Morehead improved to 1-5 overall and 1-2 in the Triad 3-A Conference with the victory.
Smith got things started in the seventh drawing a one-out walk. He ended up on second with two outs in the inning. With Joe Glasgow at the plate, Dudley recorded back-to-back wild pitches which allowed Smith to score from second. On the second wild pitch, he slid safely into home plate as the pitcher missed the ball on the tag attempt.
Picking up the win for MHS was Taylor Trantham, who sent down all three batters he faced in the seventh. Josh Protzek went the first six innings and surrendered nine hits and three runs. He struck out seven and walked only one.
Both teams went scoreless through the first three innings before MHS plated a run in the bot-tom of the fourth.
Glasgow, who finished the game going 2 for 2, recorded a two-out triple to right field. He later scored on an infield error.
Dudley took a 3-1 lead as it scored one in the fifth and two in the sixth. However, the home team responded with a pair of runs in the sixth.
Stephen Corcoran led off the sixth with a double, while Preston Halstead walked. Glasgow sent an RBI-double to right field that brought home Corcoran. With Halstead on third, George Mabes laid down an RBI-bunt single to tie the game at 3-3.
MHS will return to action Thursday night at Northeast Guilford.
The game will start at 7 p.m.

York wins opener at Caraway

Staff Report
ASHEBORO – Reidsville’s Jason York caught everyone’s attention as the “Reidsville Rocket” rolled to a season-opening Late Model Stock victory Sunday night at Caraway Speedway.
York, who has won two previous season championships at Caraway, broke the track record with a qualifying time of 16.815 seconds (97.41 miles per hour). The Reidsville native led the Late Model race wire-to-wire.
Madison’s Lucas Ransone finished hird behind Randy Benson of Rockingham.
Brent Weaver of Clemmons won the Limited Late Model race, Michael Tucker of Thomasville won the Mini Stock race, Jerry Chriscoe of Randleman won the Custom Steel Fabricators Super Mini Truck race and Ray Forrest of Winston-Salem won the U-Car race.

McMichael wins close county golf tourney

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
REIDSVILLE — The four area high schools gathered at Pennrose Park Country Club for the annual County Wide Golf Tournament Monday and despite some chilly and windy conditions, the play could not have been much closer.
Led by Hunter Ward’s low round of 37, McMichael edged Morehead and Rockingham County and captured the county title.
The Fighting Phoenix finished with a team score of 164 – one shot better than Morehead and Rockingham County, who both finished with 165s. Reidsville finished in fourth with a 182.
McMichael also got 41s from Ben Claybrook and Joseph Rierson and a 45 from Clint Dillon. The Fighting Phoenix discarded Jay Brown’s 45 and Noah Coleman’s 51. Brown’s 45 would have counted for any of the other three schools.
“It’s going to stay that way for a couple of years,” said RHS coach Lynn Nesbit about the golf competition throughout the county. “None of the top three schools are losing a whole lot this year.”
Last year, McMichael was fourth at the county meet – which was won by Morehead in Eden.
Daniel Tatarski led RCHS with a 38 and the Cougars also got a 40 from Braden Cox, a 42 from Richard Crouse and a 45 from Kevin Isaacs. Discarded were Dallas Page’s 49 and Cody Roberts’ 51.
Rockingham County finished alone in second at the 2007 event.
“We had some high numbers today and it came down to the last man,” added Williams. “We’ve just got to get better round the greens.”
Morehead’s Dylan Morgan had the third lowest round of the day with a 39. Jerry Holland added a 41, William Martin had a 42 and Anthony Gammon chipped in with a 43. The Panthers’ discards were Taylor Freeman’s 50 and Hogan Turner’s 53.
Reidsville’s Payne McLeod was the team’s low man with a 40, followed by Zachary Bryan’s 43 and Ben Covington’s 45.
The Rams’ fourth score was 54, posted by both Josh Weston and Ross Haigler. Daniel Southard rounded out the list with 57.
Rockingham County returns to action on Wednesday against Morehead at Meadow Greens. Reidsville heads back out on the course on Wednesday against River Mill Academy and then opens North State play Thursday at Deep Springs.

Johnson C. Smith falls in tourney

Staff Report
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Maurice Hooper’s first trip to the Division II basketball tournament was short-lived.
Despite outscoring Augusta State 32-25 in the second half, Johnson C. Smith could not prevail — losing 58-54 in the first round of the men’s basketball tournament Saturday.
The Golden Bulls’ strong second half allowed the visitors to pull within one (52-51) with 2:00 left in the contest.
However, the Jaguars scored seven of the game’s final nine points and Johnson C. Smith watched as its season ended at 21-10.
With the win, Augusta State (23-6) now faces third-seeded Wingate today.
The second-seeded Jaguars were held to their lowest scoring output of the season, but the Golden Bulls struggled from the field — shooting 37 percent (23 of 62) from the field.
Augusta also benefited from 23 free throw attempts (making 13) compared to just seven attempts by the Golden Bulls (5 of 7).
Hooper, in 21 minutes of action, scored two points and dished out one assist. Johnson C. Smith was led by Jerry Hollis and Ryan Scott — each with 14 points. Hooper, a senior, ended his Golden Bull career with 1,294 points.
The Jaguars got a game-high 22 points from Tyrekus Bowman.
Johnson C. Smith’s 54 points was also a season-low for the CIAA Tournament champions.
The Golden Bulls also had their seven-game winning streak snapped on Saturday.

Lady Cougars remain perfect in Triad

Staff Report
WENTWORTH — Rockingham County continued its strong season as the Lady Cougars improved to 3-0 with a 7-1 win over Western Alamance Friday afternoon.
The win, which moved the Lady Cougars to 2-0 in the Triad 3-A Conference, sets up a big early-season matchup with Bartlett Yancey on Tuesday.
RCHS belted out 13 hits and starting pitcher Macey Wilson held the Lady Warriors to one run (unearned) on five hits. She struck out five and walked one.
Through three games this season, Wilson (3-0) has surrendered 2 runs (both unearned) in 19 innings of work.
“Right now we are playing very complementary to each other,” said RCHS coach Woody Wall. “We’ve had some mental mistakes on the base paths, but we’re gelling right now.”
The Lady Cougars jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with four runs in their first at-bat. Katie Pace drove in pair of runs with a two-RBI single and Lindsay Puckett and Moriah Seidelman also drove in first-inning runs. In the top of the third inning, Western answered with its lone run of the game, but the home team responded with three of its own in the bottom half of the third.
Kenzie Hanks’ single drove in two runs and Anna Carter singled in a run as RCHS grabbed its 7-1 lead.
RCHS out hit the Lady Warriors, 13-5. Kayleigh Dorsett, Jennifer Taylor, Pace and Carter each had two hits as nine different Lady Cougars belted out hits.
“We are swinging the bats well right now,” said Wall. “We are being selective and not striking out a lot.”
Seven different players scored for RCHS as Dorsett, Wilson, Puckett, Taylor, Ferguson, Carter and Pace all came across with runs.
Bartlett Yancey, which won the Triad 3-A Conference a year ago, plays host to the Lady Cougars on Tuesday afternoon.
“BY is going to be tough,” said Wall. “They have two good pitchers and that’s the kind of game where you’re going to have to score a run or two and play defense.”
RCHS also has games with South Stokes (Wednesday) and Western Guilford (Thursday).Tuesday’s game is scheduled for
4:30 p.m.

Erskine, Webster lead DMHS to 16-1 win

Staff Report
MAYODAN — McMichael took care of business early and put it in cruise control the rest of the way in Friday night’s North State 2-A Conference opener against visiting Winston-Salem Atkins.
The Phoenix cranked out three homeruns, including two from Craig Erskine and limited the Camels to two hits as they won, 16-1 in five innings.
“Our bats finally woke up in this game,” said McMichael coach John Hall. “We haven’t been hitting the ball that well as of late though.”
McMichael (4-3 overall, 1-0 in the North State), finished with 11 hits led by Erskine and Webster, who combined to go a perfect 5 for 5 with 10 RBIs.
Erskine had a career night going 2 for 2 with two homers and seven RBIs. Webster went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and a homer.
Webster got things going in the first inning with a two-run homer to center field. Ethan Satterfield singled prior to the homer.
In the second inning, Chris Woods walked, while Webster was hit by a pitch. Erskine cranked out his first homer moments later as he sent a three-run shot over the right field fence.
The Phoenix broke the game open with an eight-run third inning, which was highlighted by an Erskine grand slam (to right field). Steven Trant walked, while Satterfield and Webster both singled to load the bases for Erskine.
DMHS capped the scoring off with three runs in the fourth. Webster singled, Erskine walked and Joseph Hughes was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Clint Cure drove in Webster with an RBI-single, while Trant picked up an RBI the easy way drawing a bases loaded walk. Hughes came around to score on an error by the Camels.
Picking up the win for the home team was Clint Foulks, who pitched four innings of two-hit ball.
He surrendered just one run and no walks while striking out eight. Trant pitched the fifth and struck out two.
McMichael will be back in action Monday night at Magna Vista (5 p.m.) before returning home Wednesday to face Reidsville. The game with the Rams will start at 7 p.m.

Rockingham wins at Plantation

Staff Report
Rockingham County, playing its first home match of the season, defeated three teams — including Triad 3-A Conference rival Eden Morehead — Thursday at Plantation Golf Club.
The Cougars, who lost by one shot to both Morehead and McMichael earlier this week at Hemlock Golf Club, posted a 159 total Thursday for an eight-shot margin over the Panthers. South Stokes was third with 180 and Reidsville fourth with 190.
Rockingham and Morehead are expected to battle with Western Guilford in the Triad 3-A race this season.
The Cougars got a balanced effort Thursday with both Richard Crouse and Braden Cox shooting 39, Daniel Tatarski 40 and Kevin Isaacs 41
They discarded Dallas Page’s 42, a score that would have been second for every other team in the field.
The Cougars are without returning starter Randy Brill, sidelined with an injury. He may be back in action next week.
South Stokes Jonathan Montgomery was medalist with a one-over-par 37. He finished two shots better than Crouse, Cox and Reidsville’s Payne McLeod.
In addition to McLeod’s 39, the Rams got a solid effort from No. 2 man Ben Covington with a 44.
Morehead didn’t have a player break 40 playing the par-36 front nine of the Plantation course.
William Martin led the way with 40, Dylan Morgan and Anthony Gammon each shot 42 and Jerry Holland had 43
Next up on the schedule for both Reidsville and Rockingham is the county-wide championship Monday at Pennrose Park Country Club.
The action will start at 4:15 p.m.

Panthers edged by Reidsville, 5-4

Staff Report
REIDSVILLE — Reidsville won its second straight tennis match, edging Morehead 5-4 Thursday afternoon in a non-conference affair held at Jaycee Park.
Despite losing matches at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, the Rams won and improved to 2-3 on the season.
Morehead’s Ethan Hughes won at first singles, defeating Marlon Roach 10-1.
In second singles, Matthew Gilley defeated Josh McLamb, 10-3.
Tyler Harris of RHS blanked Chris Bowles, 10-0 in the match at fourth singles and Carl Holder of RHS edged Stephen Ziglar, 10-7 in third singles action.
Cameron Gentry rolled past Scott Bishopric 10-2 in fifth singles and James Scheer edged Cody Clark, 10-8 in sixth singles action.
Morehead won, as it did in singles competition, the first two doubles matches.
In first doubles, Hughes and Gilley knocked off Roach and Alex Frye, 8-3. Ziglar and Bowles won 8-3 over Holder and Gentry in second doubles action.
In third doubles, McLamb and Tommy Jurrissen rolled past Alex Winn and Clark, 8-1.
With the loss, the Panthers dropped to 2-3 on the season.
Reidsville returns to action on Wednesday against Southern Guilford. Morehead returns to action on Monday against
Northern Guilford.

Hooper, Golden Bulls going dancing

Staff Report
CHARLOTTE — For the first time in his Johnson C. Smith career, Maurice Hooper is going dancing – basketball-wise that is.
Following the team’s 65-57 victory over Fayetteville State on March 1, Johnson C. Smith captured its second-ever CIAA tournament title and in doing so advanced to this weekend’s Division-II tournament.
Hooper, who led the Golden Bulls in scoring this season at 11.6 points per game, had 13 points in the championship game.
Johnson C. Smith won all three meetings with Fayetteville State by an average margin of 7.3 per contest.
It seemed as though the Golden Bulls toughest task was behind them, having upset Virginia Union in the tournament semifinals.
Johnson C. Smith led Fayetteville State by as many as 14 in the second half, but the Broncos stormed back and trailed 48-47 with 5:36 left in the contest.
“We started getting uncomfortable,” said Hooper to the Charlotte Observer following the game.
“We stopped playing that good “D” that we had in the first half.”
Over the final 5:36, Hooper and company outscored the Broncos 17-10.
Hooper and teammate Jerry Hollis were both named to the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s all-conference team.
Hooper, a senior guard who is the all-time leading scorer in Reidsville Rams history, has been selected to the team the past two seasons.
Hooper went over the 1,000-point mark this season and currently stands at 1,292. He ranks fifth in the CIAA in terms of steals (1.65) and assists to turnover ratio (+1.40) and eighth in assists (3.5).
The Golden Bulls, 21-9 on the season, have won seven straight games – a season high.

Minichello leads MHS to win over Lady Cougars

Staff Report
WENTWORTH — Wednesday night’s final score: Danielle Minichello 3, Rockingham County 1. In actuality it was Morehead 4, Rockingham County 1, but Minichello was a one-girl wrecking machine scoring three times for the unbeaten Lady Panthers.
“Rockingham made us work,” said Morehead coach Ken Price. “More than any team we have faced so far.”
In a battle of unbeaten, it was Morehead (6-0, 1-0), which struck first.
Seven minutes into the game, Minichello scored on an unassisted goal.
The game remained 1-0 for 30 minutes when Minichello assisted on Britney Irwin’s goal (37:00).
“Irwin’s goal was a good momentum booster,” said Price. “We had our chances earlier in the game, but they stopped us. We got that goal, but then turned around and put another one in early in the second half.”
Two minutes into the second half, Minichello notched her second goal of the night on a penalty kick that got past Rockingham County goalkeeper Lindsay Harrell.
The Lady Cougars finally got on the scoreboard when Areeg Rehman scored at the 45-minute mark.
RCHS (4-1, 0-1) could have changed the momentum when, at the 50-minute mark, had its own penalty kick and a chance to narrow the gap to 3-2.
However, Adrianne Zeller could not beat Morehead’s Tori Huffman and the Lady Panther lead remained at 3-1.
“That was big,” said RCHS coach Reg Gentle. “It would have given us the momentum and made the score, 3-2.”
MHS, which out shot Rockingham 16-10, got the final say in matters as Minichello scored her third goal of the night – with 12 minutes left in the contest.
It was Minichello’s fifth straight game with three or more goals.
In the loss, Harrell recorded eight saves as did Morehead’s Huffman.
“I am not unhappy with the play of our team,” added Gentle. “The effort was there. The difference was Minichello. She is their kingpin and she plays with a lot of energy.”
MHS puts its unbeaten mark back on the line tonight against Eastern Guilford. RCHS plays host to Greensboro Dudley on Monday night.
Tonight’s game with Eastern is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Eden.

Hughes, DMHS too much for Panthers

Staff Report
MAYODAN — McMichael got back to winning ways Wednesday night, while keeping Morehead winless.
Led by Joseph Hughes’ 10-strikeout effort and a four-run second inning, the Phoenix recorded the season sweep of the Panthers with a 5-0 non-conference victory.
McMichael (3-2), which broke a two-game skid, has limited the Panthers to just four hits in the two games this season. MHS dropped to 0-5 on the season.
Hughes, a junior, pitched five and one-third innings and gave up only two hits to go along with 10 strikeouts. He also walked four batters.
“Joseph pitched well tonight,” said McMichael coach John Hall. “He had his breaking stuff working and made key pitches when he had to.”
Hughes actually sparked the four-run second as he led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo homerun to right field. Teammate Ross Vaden reached first on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on a MHS error, which allowed Clint Foulks to get to first.
Allen Webster, who finished with three RBIs, drove in Vaden and Foulks with a two-run double to right-center field to make the score 3-0.
Webster touched home plate thanks to a ground-rule double from Ethan Satterfield.
“We came through with runners in scoring position tonight,” Hall said. “That was the difference compared to our last two games where we weren’t doing that.”
In the fourth, Vaden reached base on an error and proceeded to steal second. He moved to third on a fly ball from Foulks and scored on a sacrifice fly to center from Webster off MHS starter Taylor Trantham.
Trantham pitched all six inning and surrendered two earned runs and four hits.
MHS, which was limited to just two hits, threatened in the top of the fifth as the visitors loaded the bases.
Chris Stanley walked, Corey Smith singled and Stephen Corcoran walked to load the bases, which chased Hughes out of the game.
However, Kenlon Knight got Morehead’s Preston Halstead to ground out into a 5-2-3 double play that ended the scoring threat and inning.
“He (Knight) made some clutch pitches for us,” said Hall. “He really got us out of a jam in the sixth.”
Knight pitched the final one and two-third innings where he gave up no runs, no hits and only one walk. He had a strikeout.
Both teams will return to action Friday night. Morehead will host Western Guilford, while McMichael hosts Winston-Salem Atkins in the North State 2-A Conference opener.
The games will start at 7 p.m.

McLeod medalist at PPCC

Staff Report
Payne McLeod shot a two-over-par 38 Tuesday and Reidsville and Northern Guilford tied at 187 in non-conference golf action at Pennrose Park Country Club.
It was the second straight individual win for McLeod. He was medalist in three-team match at Meadow Greens last week. The RHS junior birdied the first and sixth holes Tuesday but took a double bogey at No. 7 and bogeys at No. 4 and No. 8.
He was five shots better that Northern’s Jeffrey Jackman, who shot 43. The Nighthawks also counted 45, 47 and 51.
In addition to McLeod’s 38, the Rams counted 45 by Zachary Bryan, 47 by Ben Covington and 57 by freshman Ben Goodes. Reidsville’s discards were 59 by Josh Weston and 63 by Ross Haigler.
Reidsville will return to action Thursday at Plantation as Rockingham County plays host to a non-conference match involving at least two other schools.

MHS edges Western Alamance in Triad opener

Staff Report
After a slow start to Tuesday’s Triad 3-A Conference opener, Morehead finally caught fire in its last at-bat.
Trailing 3-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh the Lady Panthers plated two runs, including a game-winning RBI-sacrifice fly from Brittany Tucker as the home team recorded a 4-3 comeback victory.
“Great comebacks make great games,” MHS coach Gerald Ellis said. “It was great for the girls to be able to come back like that. Our top of the lineup did a great job today. It was a very competitive game.”
After falling behind 3-1 early in the game, MHS was within one run of tying the score in the bottom of the seventh, which was started with a single from Missy McCullough past shortstop.
Mandi McCullough moved her sister to second base on a sacrifice bunt and an error on the same play allowed Missy to score and tie the game at 3-3. The miscue moved Mandi McCullough to second and a sacrifice bunt from Kayla Price moved her to third with only one out. Tucker drove in McCullough with a sacrifice fly to right field as the Lady Panther snuck out the win.
MHS got a solid pitching performance from the duo of Mandi McCullough and Ashlee Lemons, who combined on a two-hitter.

Lady Panthers cruise past Reidsville

Staff Report
Scoring has come pretty easy for MHS this year and Monday night was no different.
Led by Danielle Minichello’s hat trick, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 3-1 halftime lead and never looked back as they defeated county foe Reidsville, 8-1.
MHS, which improved to a perfect 5-0 on the young season, has outscored its opponents 40-5, including a 10-1 win over the Lady Rams the first time around.
“We came out a little sluggish at the start, but picked it up in the second half,” MHS coach Ken Price said. “It’s nice to have more than one girl that can finish on the offensive end.”
Minichello, who had scored three goals or more in four straight games, scored two goals in the first 10 minutes. Assists came from Stephanie Kinney and Britney Irwin.
RHS (0-4) did cut the lead to one as Beth Neal scored the Lady Rams’ lone goal at the 19-minute mark off an assist from Carroll Davis. However, MHS accounted for the next six goals including one at the 22-minute mark as Irwin scored off an assist from Minichello.
“We had a couple of chances in the first half,” said RHS coach Jarod Williams. “I felt like it could have been a tie game at halftime.”
Leading by only two, MHS put the game away scoring three goals in a six-minute span to start the second half. Goals came from Kinney (46:00), Minichello (51:00) and Iriwn (52:00). Minichello and Krissy Snyder had assists during that span.
At the 52-minute mark, Snyder hooked up with Irwin for another MHS goal to make it 6-1. Snyder scored 12 minutes later and capped off the scoring with a goal at 76-minute mark.
The home team finished with advantages in both shots (30-4) and corner kicks (5-4).
Tori Huffman and Jessica Moran combined for five saves for the Lady Panthers, while Kinsey Kropa tallied 10 for the visitors.
MHS will return to action Wednesday night at Rockingham County in the Triad 3-A Conference opener (7 p.m.).
RHS is scheduled to take on Northeast Guilford tonight in McLeansville (6 p.m.).

Goodes finishes tied for 21st at TC

By STEVE WILLIAMS
Special to the Review
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Mike Goodes’ best finish on the Champions Tour was just a couple of shots away from being a top-10.
Goodes posted a final-round 1-under-par 70 Sunday in the final round of the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club and settled for a tie for 21st on a tightly-bunched leaderboard. Added to his 65 and 71 the first two days, Goodes had a seven-under-par 206 total, the same as 10 other players.
There was an eight-way tie for 13th with 205 and a five-way tie for eighth at 204.
Goodes’ finish earned $16,459, marking his best payday since turning professional in 2007. He moved from 74th to 70th on this year’s money list with $27,159.
The players who tied for 13th won $28,113 and the ones who tied for eighth claimed $44,880.
Bernhard Langer won the tournament and the $255,00 first prize. He needed seven extra holes to turn back Jay Haas after both finished at 199, three clear of third-place Scott Simpson and Ben Crenshaw.
Goodes owned the par-5 third hole, the par-3 fourth hole and the par-5 15th hole in the tournament. He birdied those holes in all three rounds, accounting for nine of his 11 birdies.
The birdies at Nos. 3 and 4 Sunday gave him some early momentum but he bogeyed the par-4 sixth and the par-4 11th to fall back to even on the day. The birdie at the 15th got him back to one-under as he posted a 34-36 card.
Goodes’ best previous finish was a tie for 33rd in the 2007 Senior PGA Championship and his best previous payday was $10,728 in the 2007 U.S. Senior Open.
TOSHIBA STATS: Goodes had an eagle, 11 birdies, six bogeys and 36 pars in the three rounds.
• He ranked eighth in driving distance with 293.8 and tied for fifth in driving accuracy with 76.2. He hit 74 percent of the greens in regulation (tied for 26th) and had an average of 30 putts per round (tied for 44th).
NEXT EVENT: Goodes is in the event qualifier today at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Santa Clarita, Calif. There are 61 players in the field competing for nine spots in this week’s AT&T Classic in Valencia, Calif.

Twenty-five DMHS athletes make all-conference

Staff Report
Highlighted three conference championships, McMichael High School's winter sports team were rewarded with 25 athletes that were named to the North State 2-A All-Conference team, which was recently released.
After securing yet another conference championship, the wrestling team, led by coach of the year Jon Bullins, had 12 wrestlers earn all-conference honors. Making the all-conference team this year were Greg Smith (103), Michelle Wilson (112), Dakota Holt (119), Alex Wilson (130), Josh Befort (135), Daniel Hopper (140), Ben Gleiser (145), Travis Ward (152), Joseph Silvers (160), Kenny Harris (171), Steven Chestnut (215) and Matt Gardner (285).
Southern Guilford's William Graves was named wrestler of the year as well as conference tournament MVP.
The girls’ swim team won its first ever conference title this past season thanks to all-conference selections Rachel Mabe, Samantha Honeycutt, Alex Vernon, Jac Davis, Mallori McKinlay and Crosby Butler. Mabe (50-yard freestyle), Honeycutt (100-yard butterfly) and McKinlay (100-yard backstroke) made all-conference in individual events. The team of Vernon, Davis, McKinlay and Butler was all-conference in the 200-yard freestyle relay, while Butler, Davis, Honeycutt and Vernon were conference champions in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Michelle Casto was named the conference's top coach (for both the girls and guys teams). Kaitlyn Kilfoyle of Eastern Guilford (swimmer of the year) and Brett Benson of West Stokes (conference meet MVP) also won awards.
Led by swimmer of the year in Sam Price and conference meet MVP in Elliot Casey, the boys' swim team had five all-conference selections.
Casey was conference champion in both the 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard butterfly, while Price was the top swimmer in the 50-yard freestyle. Jacob Davis was all-conference in the 200-yard individual medley.
Two relay teams were also all-conference including the 200-yard medley relay (Price, Davis, Casey and Bryan Alberts) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (Casey, Gavin Blakey, Alberts and Price).
Brooke Hensley was the lone all-conference representative for the Lady Phoenix basketball team. She helped McMichael to the state playoffs as the team lost to Graham in the opening round.
Reidsville's Eleisha Hairston was selected as the player of the year. Hairston averaged 22.3 points, 15.1 rebounds and 5.1 blocks per game. She was also named the conference tournament's most valuable player.
Reidsville shared the regular season title with Eastern Guilford.
Eastern's Tina Gunn was named North State coach of the year.
Despite not making the playoffs, the Phoenix boys' basketball team had one player on the all-conference team in senior guard Terrell King. Individual award went to Atkins' Shane Allen (player of the year) and Southern Guilford's Roderick McCullough (coach of the year). Reidsville's Quinton Price was named MVP of the conference tournament.

Goodes tied for 12th at Toshiba Classic

By STEVE WILLIAMS
Special to the Daily News
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Mike Goodes is in position for his best-ever finish on the Champions Golf Tour.
The 51-year-old Reidsville native followed Friday’s first-round six-under-par 65 with an even-par 71 Saturday and stands in a tie for 12th going into today’s final round of the Toshiba Classic at Newport Beach Country Club.
Goodes, a life-long amateur until turning pro as a 50-year-old, is in his second season on the Champions Tour. His best finish in 10 events in 2007 was a tie for 33rd. The Toshiba Classic is his third tournament this year with his best finish a tie for 35th in the ACE Group Classic.
The first-round six-under-par 65 put Goodes into the Champions Tour spotlight for the first time. He was tied for third, earning a tee time with superstars Jay Haas and Craig Stadler in the next-to-last group Saturday.
His 136 total is just one shot out of the top-10 and just three shots out of second place on a tightly-bunched leaderboard. Bernhard Langer, with a pair of 65s, is at the top of the list and he carries a three-shot cushion over four players (Morris Hatalsky, Jeff Sluman, Tim Simpson and Mark Johnson) into today’s final 18 holes.
After not making a bogey Friday, Goodes began the second round with a bogey on the first hole. But he recovered with back-to-back birdies at the par-5 third and the par-3 fourth. A bogey at the ninth left him with an even-par 35 going out.
He dropped another shot at the par-3 13th but quickly recovered with birdies at the par-4 14th and the par-5 15th. He missed the green at the par-3 17th and took his fourth bogey of the day. A par at the 18th left him with 36 on the back nine.
The 18th hole provided the highlight of the round Friday. He rolled in an eagle putt after reaching the green from over 200 yards out.
It capped a four-under-par 32 on the back nine that included birdies at Nos. 10 and 15. On the front nine, he had birdies at Nos. 3 and 4.
Goodes will be hoping for a top-10 finish today as it would give him an exemption into this week’s AT&T Champions Classic in Valencia, Calif.
If he finishes outside the top 10, he’ll have to play in Tuesday’s event qualifier.
There is a $1.7 million purse up for grabs today with the winner claiming a check of $255,000. A 10th-place finish would be worth approximately $40,000.
Goodes finished 99th on the money list a year ago with $52,684 and a single-week best of $10,726. This year, he ranks 74th on the money list with $10,700.
The Golf Channel will provide final-round coverage from 6:30 to 9 today. Goodes is in a threesome with Gil Morgan and Craig Stadler going off the first tee at 2:45 p.m. (EDT).

Panthers edge Fighting Phoenix, 5-4

Staff Report
MAYODAN — Morehead picked up its first win of the season Thursday afternoon in Mayodan. After being tied with Phoenix following singles play, the Panthers captured wins in two doubles matches to edge McMichael, 5-4.
Recording wins in singles play for the visitors from Eden were Ethan Hughes, Matthew Gilley and Cody Clark.
Hughes defeated McMichael’s Alex Cobb, 10-2 in first singles, while Gilley beat Josh Wall, 10-2 in second singles. Sixth singles saw Clark defeat Patrick Reamey, 10-4.
The home team got three wins in singles play as well including third singles as Gavin Blakey beat Stephen Ziglar, 10-8. In fourth singles, Michael Strandberg blanked Scott Bishopric, 10-0, while fifth singles went to Juan Balbuena with a 10-6 victory over Alex Winn.
MHS picked up the team win as it won in first and second doubles.
Hughes and Gilley defeated the McMichael duo of Cobb and Wall, 8-4 in first doubles, while Ziglar and Winn were victorious over Strandberg and Balbuena, 8-4 in second doubles.
The Phoenix duo of Blakey and Reamey beat Bishopric and Smith, 8-1 in third doubles action.
In exhibition doubles, Colton Lee and Ryan Joyce of McMichael defeated Justin Ward and Justin Hamilton, 9-3.
Both teams return to action Monday. MHS (1-2) hosts Dudley, while McMichael (0-2) travels to Southern Guilford for the North State 2-A Conference opener.
The matches will start at 4:30 p.m.

Mitchell, Cougars blank Panthers

By STEVE CANNULI
Sports Editor
WENTWORTH — Rockingham County’s Bryan Mitchell was literally “un-hittable” Thursday night as the junior pitcher faced off against Morehead in the Cougars’ Triad 3-A Conference opener. Mitchell tossed a no-hitter through five innings and struck out 12 as the Cougars rolled past Morehead, 11-0.
Mitchell struck out the side in both the first and fifth innings and two each in the second, third and fourth.
He faced 17 batters and allowed just two base runners. Stephen Corcoran reached first on a dropped third strike in the first and Taylor Trantham drew a walk off Mitchell in the third inning.
Neither runner advanced past first base.
Rockingham County (3-1), winners of three straight since a season-opening loss to Southeast Guilford, used a nine-run third inning to break the game open.
Leading 1-0, Rockingham County sent 14 batters to the plate and scored nine times on six hits. The Cougars also chased two MHS pitchers from the game during the third inning.
Josh Munson drove in four runs in his two at-bats and Zach Dickson and Tyler Burchett each had two runs batted in during the frame. Munson and Dickson both doubled in a pair of runs off MHS starter Chase Raiford and Burchett singled in two runs off Taylor Trantham. In his second at-bat of the inning, Munson singled off Stephen Corcoran and gave the home team a 10-0 lead.
Munson finished the game 2 for 3 with four RBIs and one run scored. Burchett was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Dickson was 1 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
MHS lost for the third time in as many tries. Having lost to RCHS, Reidsville and McMichael, the Panthers are scheduled to face the Fighting Phoenix again tonight in Mayodan.
RCHS is scheduled to face the Rams tonight at Reidsville. The Cougars defeated the Rams, 11-1 last Friday night.
Since the Cougars’ opening-day 10-0 loss to Southeast Guilford, they have posted scores of 11, 5 and 11 and have outscored their opponents 27-1 in those three games.

Irwin, Minichello lead Lady Panthers to win over DMHS

Staff Report
MAYODAN — McMichael failed at trying to stop Morehead’s early season scoring spree as the two teams met up Wednesday night in Mayodan. Led by the duo of Danielle Minichello and Britney Irwin, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a five-goal lead at halftime and cruised to an 8-0 non-conference victory.
The Lady Panthers, who have outscored their first three opponents (Southern Alamance, Reidsville and McMichael) by a 23-3 score, improved to 3-0. DMHS dropped to 0-3.
Minichello and Irwin both recorded hat tricks as they combined for six of the eight MHS goals. Over the past two games, the duo have combined for 14 goals.
“It’s been great having those two in there,” MHS coach Ken Price said. “They’ve been working well together so far this season.”
Minichello notched two goals to start the game as she scored at the 5:00 and 14:00 marks. Irwin got into the scoring action at the 25-minute mark thanks to an assist from Minichello. Three minutes later Irwin scored an unassisted goal, while Minichello capped the first half with her third goal of the half with a minute to go.
Irwin made it 6-0 five minutes into the second half as she scored off an assist from Krissy Snyder. Tori Huffman hooked up with Snyder at the 49-minute mark.
“Krissy has been played a huge role for us on defense this year,” Price said. “She has created a lot of scoring opportunities for us.”
Keely Snyder scored an unassisted goal with five minutes left in the game.
The visitors had a huge advantage in both shots on goal (32-6) and corner kicks (4-0).
Huffman and Jessica Moran combined for five saves for the Lady Panthers, while Caroline Lanning tallied 10 for the Lady Phoenix.
MHS will travel to Eastern Guilford tonight to take on the Lady Wildcats.
Game time is set for 6 p.m.