Reeling from three straight losses in conference play, North Lincoln got its football season back on track a bit on a chilly, windy evening at Lincolnton Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback Kyle Kovalchuk rushed for two touchdowns and passed for two others, and the Knights scored on their first six possessions en route to a 42-12 win over Lincolnton on senior night for the Wolves.

In squaring its overall record at 3-3 (2-3 in the South Fork 2A), North Lincoln doubled up the Wolves in total yards and controlled the game throughout.

Lincolnton (1-4, 1-4) scored its two touchdowns in the closing minutes of

The North Carolina Soccer Coaches Association recently released the All-State boys team for the Spring 2021 season, and three South Fork 2A standouts were present on the squad, including a pair from Lincoln County.

East Lincoln senior defenseman Chase Lynch was named to the 2A All-State team. Lynch, just one of three defenders on the squad, helped the Mustangs to a record of 12-2-1 and a third-round appearance in the 2A state playoffs.

Also making the team was Lincolnton’s Jose Garcia. A senior striker for the Wolves, Garcia scored 11 goals and had 14 assists in 13 games.

Noel Fong, a senior forward at Newton-Conover, was also on the 2A All-State team.

     Lincolnton’s Katherine Hopkins ran in the “Dash for Doobie” meet in Winston-Salem over the weekend. The meet itself was a preseason meet at Ronald Reagan High School, and the only event is the 3200-meter run. The event had seven female heats, with girls from 15 different states competing.         And out of all that, Hopkins finished third in her heat and second out of all the 2A runners. Most notably, Hopkins set a new school record in the 3200-meter run with a time of 11:27.95.

(Published March 31, 2021)

Coming into Friday night’s highly anticipated South Fork 2A conference game between East Lincoln and Maiden, the Mustangs needed to find a way to win a close game against their league rival.

The past three meetings between the two teams had been decided by one, two and three points, and all in favor of the Blue Devils.

This battle for first place in Denver between a pair of unbeaten teams again went Maiden’s way, and the 46-38 loss by the Mustangs drops them into the number two spot for now with yet another very important contest on the horizon.

With the Blue Devils already leading 7-3 early in the second quarter, East

VALE—West Lincoln’s recent success in football has allowed the program to exorcise some long-standing demons.

In 2019, the Rebels won the first playoff game in school history. In fact, they advanced to the third round of the playoffs that year. The same season, West ended a long victory draught against Bandys.

Another dubious streak fell Friday night at Douglas C. Leonhardt Memorial Stadium, again involving Bandys.

The Rebels beat the Trojans 27-7 on homecoming night for their first home win over that program since 1992.

With three straight wins after an 0-2 start, West Lincoln (3-2) controls its

Senior running back Allan Shade ran for 203 yards and 4 touchdowns Friday night and Newton-Conover spoiled the Knights return to Pumpkin Center with a 27-16 South Fork 2A Conference road win at North Lincoln.

The Red Devils opened up a 14-3 lead by the end of the first half, then held off the Knights down the stretch for their second win of the season.

Quarterback Justice Craig completed 12 of his fifteen pass attempts for Newton-Conover for 108 yards, hooking up with junior receiver Zane Redmond six times for 57 yards.

Senior Jack Carter led the Knights offensively, running for 106 yards and a touchdown on 7 carries. Daniel Carter had seven carries for 48 yards, and

The South Fork 2A recently released the Men’s Soccer All-Conference team for the Spring of 2021, and league champion East Lincoln leads the way with five All-SF2A selections.

The Mustangs’ Landon Graden, Chase Lynch, Blake Swanson, Will White and Jackson Thrap were all named to the All-Conference squad.

Graden, a sophomore, had 24 points for head coach Billy Howell’s team, including 8 goals and 8 assists. Swanson produced 33 points for East Lincoln with 8 goals and 17 assists, and Thrap had 25 points with 12 goals.

White, the Mustang goalkeeper, allowed just eight goals in 15 games with

The East Lincoln Mustangs boys soccer team’s season came to an end on Saturday with a 3-0 loss at Hibriten in the third round of the 2A state playoffs in Lenoir.

East Lincoln, the defending 2A West champion, finishes the season with a record of 12-2-1 and were champions of the South Fork 2A Conference.

Hibriten, the champions of the Northwestern Foothills 2A Conference, advances to the fourth round, where they’ll take on Ledford, a 4-2 winner over Fred T. Foard. The Panthers improved to 17-0 on the season.

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Thursday

A stingy defense and a ball-control offense propelled West Lincoln to a 21-0 win over the county-rival Wolves at Memorial Stadium in Lincolnton on Saturday afternoon.

Following a scoreless first quarter, the Rebels got on the board with a Hunter Leonhardt 15-yard run early in the second period to take a 6-0 lead.

Neither team threatened again until late in the half when the Wolves reached the West Lincoln two-yard line, but time expired, leaving Lincolnton without an opportunity to tie or take the lead into the break.

The second half was more of the ground game for the Rebels, and more ball

In one of the wilder games of the weekend, North Lincoln saw its playoff hopes diminish greatly in a 40-21 loss to the Maiden Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon in a contest played at Maiden Middle School.

The game had more than 20 penalties combined for well over 200 yards, and a total of seven turnovers between the Knights and the Blue Devils.

With the two teams tied at 14 all after trading scores back-and-forth throughout the first two quarters, all the momentum seemed to swing in Maiden’s favor on one single play.

Just before the half, Blue Devil quarterback Ethan Rhodes found Chris Culliver racing down the left sideline for an 80-yard touchdown pass, and

The East Lincoln Mustangs football team improved to 4-0 on the season with a hard-fought 24-20 win at Bandys on Friday.

Playing with several key injuries, East Lincoln was able to overcome an early 7-0 deficit and hold off a late Trojan rally to pick up another South Fork 2A Conference win and set up a battle for first place this Friday night against Maiden.

Parker Dehart’s 29-yard scamper into the end zone gave Bandys the first score of the night with 1:54 to play in the first quarter.

The Mustangs, who didn’t pick up their first first down of the contest until the 7:23 mark of the second quarter, got on the scoreboard seconds later

On yet another very mild March evening for high school football, North Lincoln and East Lincoln battled it out on the gridiron for a current share of the top spot in the South Fork 2A Conference as we approach the halfway point of this spring season.

In the end, it was the Mustangs who came out with the perfect 3-0 record, 2-0 in conference play, with a 40-30 win over the rival Knights in Denver.

It took just three plays for East Lincoln to get on the scoreboard.

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Mizzell hooked up with receiver Austin Smith for a 35-yard scoring strike just 48 seconds into the game for a 6-0 lead, and Paulie Menegay’s 10-yard touchdown run late in the quarter gave the

Quarterback Mason Huitt hooked up with wide receiver Samuel Duncan for three scores Friday night and the Rebels overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat Newton-Conover 27-19 in Vale.

After the Red Devils scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns on one-yard runs by Allen Shade to go up 13-0, West Lincoln got on the board with the first Huitt to Duncan scoring pass of the night to trim the score to 13-6 heading into the halftime break.

The duo hooked up again early in the third period, then added the two-point conversion run by Mason Avery, and the Rebels had their first lead at 14-13.

Newton-Conover would then retake the lead later in the period on Shade’s

The Southern Piedmont 1A Conference recently released the 2021 men’s and women’s basketball All-Conference teams, and the Lincoln Charter men’s team led the way with three players on the squad, as well as the league’s player of the year and coach of the year.

Conference Player-of-the-Year Sam Cogan, a junior, led the Eagles this season with 19.8 points per game, while also averaging 8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 2.9 steals per contest.

Troy Fulton, 16.8 points, 4 rebounds and Carter Seitz, 10.3 points, 11.2 boards were also named to the SP1A All-Conference team.

Lincoln Charter’s late assistant coach Jamie Seitz was named the

Lincolnton head basketball coach John Cloninger recently announced his retirement from the position.

In his three seasons at the helm, Cloninger guided the Wolves to a record of 29-36, including an 8-6 mark this past season. The Wolves made the playoffs in two of his three seasons, and likely would have made it this year under normal circumstances.

“”I’m just thankful to everyone that gave me the opportunity to do what I wanted to do,” Cloninger said. “I’ve been very fortunate to be a part of Lincolnton athletics for 20-plus years.”

Cloninger pointed out that he’s a little burned out from coaching, and that

The South Fork 2A Conference has released its All-Conference men’s and women’s basketball teams for the 2021 season, and one Lincoln County player along with a Lincoln County coach have earned the league’s top individual awards.

Men’s conference champion North Lincoln placed a pair of seniors on the All-Conference squad in Cole Seagle and Jack Carter.

In addition to receiving All-SF2A recognition, Seagle was named the conference’s Player-of-the-Year. Seagle averaged 22.8 points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals, helping lead the Knights to their first-ever men’s basketball conference title.

Carter chipped in 17.6 points per contest, along with 3.2 assists and 2.5

TRINITY—Lincoln Charter was on a mission to win a state championship in memory of assistant coach Jamie Seitz, who died from complications of COVID-19 before the season even began.

And after three quarters of play Saturday at Wheatmore High School, the Eagles led Wilson Prep, a second-year program, 45-39 in the NCHSAA state 1A championship game.

But how do you hold up against a team that brings in wave after wave of long, talented athletes off a bench that runs 15 players deep?

Fatigue, foul trouble, frustration, and the sheer size of the Tigers combined

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Mizzell threw four touchdown passes and the Mustangs dominated every phase of the game in Friday night’s 41-0 rout of the rival Wolves at Lincolnton.

Mizzell hooked up with four different receivers on the night, with scoring passes of 22, 10, 53 and 13 yards, as East Lincoln piled up 462 total yards of offense.

The six Mustang touchdowns came from six different players in a very balanced attack that saw East Lincoln run for 268 yards and throw for 194.

After penalties forced the first East Lincoln drive to stall, the Mustangs got on the board at the 4:35 mark of the first quarter on Mizzell’s first TD pass

Maiden quarterback Ethan Rhodes scored from three yards out with just 31 seconds remaining to tie the game at 20 apiece and Carson Foard added the extra point to give the Blue Devils a dramatic 21-20 win at Thomas E. Brown Stadium in Maiden Friday night.

The contest see-sawed back and forth all night, with the Blue Devils taking an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter, before West Lincoln tied the score with a 5-yard touchdown run from Mason Avery in the second period.

The Rebels took the lead after the break on quarterback Mason Huitt’s one-yard run, then added the 2-point conversion run to go up 14-6.

Maiden would answer later in the quarter with a score and a successful try

North Lincoln (2-0, 1-0 SF2A) used a dominant ball-control offense Friday night to dominate non-conference opponent West Mecklenburg (0-2) 34-0 in Pumpkin Center.

The Knights ran the ball 47 times in the contest for 243 yards and four rushing touchdowns.

Junior quarterback Kyle Kovalchuk ran for two scores, gaining 25 yards on eight carries, and senior QB Jack Carter, who just came off the basketball court, added 24 yards on seven carries and a touchdown.

Brennan Rogers led the team in rushing with 78 yards on 14 carries and a score. Daniel Carter added 60 yards for the Knights on seven carries, and

DENVER – With a select audience of parents, students, and fans looking on, Lincoln Charter cut down the nets Tuesday night in Machado Gymnasium.

The ceremony was a sweet moment in a season that has been like no other in the school’s basketball history, a journey marked by emotional highs and lows and another deep playoff run.

The Eagles (16-2) held off Mount Airy 64-54 in a grinding, back-and-forth game for the Western 1A Regional championship.

But their work is not done yet. The program goes for its second state title Saturday when Lincoln Charter plays Wilson Prep (7-2) at 3:30 p.m. at 

HENDERSONVILLE — After starting the basketball season in quarantine due to four members of the team testing positive for COVID-19, Hendersonville now finds itself just one win away from its ultimate goal: A 2-A state title.

Tuesday night in front of hundreds of fans at Hendersonville Middle School, the West top-seeded Bearcats (17-0) held off the No. 3-seeded North Lincoln Knights by a final score of 75-59.

Leading the way in scoring, as they’ve done all season long, were the dynamic duo of junior Dwight Canady and sophomore Keenan Wilkins. Wilkins had three 3-pointers and finished with 26 points, and Canady had four 3s and ended up with 24 points.

Although they had the most points on the team, it was once again a total 

The North Lincoln boys raced out to a 20-12 lead by the end of the opening period, then rolled past the Golden Lions by a score of 87-56 in Saturday evening’s third-round 2A state playoff game in Pumpkin Center.

Samari Collins led the way with 20 points and nine rebounds, including 5 key offensive boards that sparked the Knights.

Jack Carter also chipped in 20 points for North Lincoln, and Cole Seagle added 17 and Daniel Carter and Jack Waggoner 11 apiece as the Knights had five different players in double figures.

Seagle added six assists and 3 steals for North Lincoln, and Daniel Carter, 

Sam Cogan poured in 24 points and Troy Fulton added 21 and the Lincoln Charter boys defeated Mitchell County 80-42 with a dominating third-round performance Saturday night in Bakersville.

Elijah Burnett had 15 points and 7 assists for the Eagles, and Marcus Farley, along with Carter Seitz added 10 each for Lincoln Charter, who advanced to the Western Regional Finals for the fourth time. Seitz pulled down 11 rebounds in the contest, while Farley added seven boards.

The Eagles shot 50-percent from 3-point range, going 7 for 14 from behind the arc. Fulton made good on 5 of his 3-point attempts, and Cogan hit on

The East Lincoln Mustangs waited until Saturday to open their season against non-conference opponent Mountain Island Charter in Denver, and it wound up coming down to the Mustangs final drive of the game.

With the Raptors holding possession of the football in the games final moments and hanging on to a 27-21 lead, things turned in East Lincoln’s favor very quickly.

Sophomore linebacker Ben Cutter stepped in front of a Mountain Island Charter pass with just over four minutes to play in the contest, picked it off, and rumbled his way inside the 10 yard line.

Seconds later, the linebacker turned running back plunged his way into the

Lincolnton junior all-purpose back Deandre Smith scored four touchdowns, helping lead the Wolves to a 27-13 come-from-behind victory over the Newton-Conover Red Devils on Thursday night at Battleground Memorial Stadium.

Newton-Conover built a 13-0 lead with a Javin Cauthen one-yard fumble return midway through the second quarter, and an Allan Shade 2-yard touchdown run followed by a Dax Shannon PAT with 9:35 to play in the third quarter.

It wasn’t until the 1:52 mark of the third period that Smith got the Wolves on the board with a one-handed grab of a pass from quarterback Connor 

After trailing by a point at the half of Tuesday night’s first-round 2A state playoff game against Forbush, North Lincoln exploded for a 50-point second half and cruised past the Falcons 77-55.

The Knights outscored Forbush 24-8 in a decisive third quarter, then stretched the margin with a 26-19 final period to advance to the second round that was to take place on Thursday night, and was too late for press time.

Senior Cole Seagle led the way for North Lincoln, pouring in a game-high 35 points with four assists and four rebounds. Seagle knocked down 4 of his 6 attempts from behind the 3-point line.

Fellow senior Jack Carter added 21 points for the Knights, and Jake Terrill

Former Maiden High School football coach Tom Brown passed away early Thursday morning at the age of 77 following a battle with COVID-19 and other various health issues.

A native of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, the legendary Brown moved to North Carolina to play his college football at Lenoir-Rhyne.

After college, Brown got into coaching where he served two stints as head coach of the Maiden Blue Devils, along with being the head coach at Bunker Hill and East Burke. He guided the Blue Devils to the 2A state championship in 1978, before stepping away from football for a period.

Brown returned to coaching in the early 80’s at Bunker Hill, then went back

The North Lincoln boys completed a 12-2 regular season, capturing their first-ever men’s basketball conference championship with a 66-46 win over Bandys Friday night in Pumpkin Center.

Senior Jack Carter led the way for the Knights, pouring in 22 points, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range. Cole Seagle added 13 points and Jack Waggoner also chipped in 13 with 3 of 3 shooting from behind the arc.

North Lincoln, who knocked down nine 3-pointers in the game, won the South Fork 2A Conference championship outright by one game over East Lincoln.

The team will enter Tuesday’s 2A state playoffs as the top seed out of the

The North Lincoln Knights locked up the South Fork 2A Conference’s number one seed Tuesday night with their 73-55 win over the rival Wolves at Lincolnton.

Cole Seagle scored a game-high 32 points in the victory, knocking down three 3-pointers and connecting on all nine free throw attempts.

Fellow senior Jack Carter added 19 points for North Lincoln, who improved to 11-2 on the season with one game remaining.

With the game tied at eight apiece in the early going, the Knights closed the first quarter on a 16-6 run to stretch the lead to double digits. North Lincoln maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the half, and led 

After dropping two of their first three games of the 2021 season, the East Lincoln Lady Mustangs have gotten on a roll.

Since their 5-point loss at Maiden back on January 19, the Lady Mustangs have won 8 of 9 games in the South Fork 2A, putting them in position for the conference’s number-two playoff seed with just two games remaining.

Last week, East Lincoln picked up a big two-point win on Tuesday at Bandys, another contender for the second seed.

Then on Friday evening, the Lady Mustangs avenged the earlier loss at Maiden by defeating the Lady Blue Devils 69-53 in Denver.

Taliyah Thomas continues to lead East Lincoln during their run, this time

The Lady Wolves picked up their first win of the year with a tremendous defensive effort, holding West Lincoln to only 15 points in the game, including just three after the halftime break.

Mackenzie Sand-Odom led Lincolnton with 11 points on the night.

The Lady Wolves outscored the Lady Rebels 7-2 in the third period, and 9-1 in the final quarter to gain the victory.

Chloe Norman led West Lincoln with 10 points.

Lincolnton will play at Lake Norman Charter on Friday, while West Lincoln will host Bandys.

The Lincoln Charter women’s swim team was 1A/2A West Regional champions at last weekend’s event, outsourcing second-place Lake Norman Charter 105-86.

Grace Wilson took first place in the Women’s 200-Yard Freestyle event with a time of 2:00.44 and the 400-Yard Freestyle Relay team of Brooklyn DeCann, Gabriella Malta, Lauren Manion and Wilson was Regional champion with a time of 3:48.56 to help lead the Eagles.

Lincoln Charter’s relay team of Jade Chamblee, Madeline Carey, Malta and Manion had a second-place finish in the 200-Yard Freestyle event with a time of 1:43.86. DeCann took third place in the Women’s 500-Yard

After trailing by seven at the end of the opening quarter, the Knights outscored the Mustangs 21-5 in a decisive second period to take control of the game.

North Lincoln then held off every East Lincoln rally in the county battle for the top spot in the South Fork 2A Conference Friday night in Denver.

Seniors Cole Seagle and Jack Carter led the way for the Knights. Seagle finished the night with a game-high 24 points, and Carter added 13 for first-place North Lincoln.

Jeremiah Jones, Drew Bean and Logan Craig scored 12 points each to lead 

After Friday night’s humbling loss at Lake Norman Charter, the East Lincoln boys responded in a big way Tuesday evening with a 59-38 win over the rival Wolves in Denver.

The Mustangs led by nine at the half, then outscored the Wolves 16-11 in the third period before pulling away in the fourth quarter.

Jeremiah Jones scored a game-high 17 points to lead East Lincoln, while junior Drew Bean added 15.

Amontre Finger and Connor Williams scored nine points each to lead Lincolnton.

With the win, the Mustangs improved to 7-2 on the season, and are now in

The East Lincoln girls picked up a big South Fork 2A Conference win on Friday with their 64-58 victory over second-place Lake Norman Charter.

The win, the Lady Mustangs fifth of the season, keeps the team in contention for one of the two automatic playoff spots. East Lincoln (5-3) is now just one game behind the Lady Knights for second place in the league.

Madison Self had 16 points, 14 rebounds and an assist to help lead the Lady Mustangs on Friday. Taliyah Thomas came up big with 18 points, 3 boards, 1 assist and a steal. Ginny Overbay added 10 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist.

East Lincoln will host Lincolnton when conference play resumes on Tuesday.

Following Tuesday night’s wins by North Lincoln, East Lincoln and Lincolnton, and the first loss of the season for the Knights at Lake Norman Charter on Wednesday, three county boys teams have found themselves at the top of the South Fork 2A Conference standings at the midseason point.

The Mustangs, one of four teams to get in all seven of their contests at the midseason point, went 6-1 during that stretch, losing only to the first-place Knights.

North Lincoln, now 4-1, does have to make up postponed games with Maiden and Lincolnton as we head into the second half of the season.

And the Wolves, also 4-1, lost only to East Lincoln by a single point a