Earlier this week, the North Carolina General Assembly introduced House Bill 91, that would place high school athletics under the N.C. State Board of Education, and could dismantle the North Carolina High School Athletic Association.

If HB 91 is passed, a committee of 17 members would be formed to oversee athletics.

Nine of those members would be appointed by the Governor, and could include high school athletic directors, principals, superintendents, coaches, etc.

Four members would be appointed by the General Assembly, upon

Cherryville Post 100 and Rutherford County Post 423 will begin a best-of-3 series beginning Thursday to determine the Area IV champion and the one seed entering next week’s American Legion Baseball North Carolina State Tournament.

All three games of the series are scheduled to be played at Fraley Field in Cherryville, with Rutherford County being designated the home team for Game 2 on Friday.

After going 7-4 in the regular season and earning the three-seed in the Western division, Rutherford County has won nine of its 12 playoff contests.

Post 423 dropped Game 1 of their opening-round series to Gastonia, before

Cherryville Post 100 completed a three-game sweep of Mint Hill Post 555 with an 8-5 Game 2 victory at Fraley Field on Thursday evening, followed by a 9-0 rout in Game 3 on Friday night at Independence High School in Mint Hill.

With the series win, Cherryville will next face Rutherford County Post 423 in this week’s Area IV Finals that is scheduled to be a best-of-3 series beginning on Wednesday in Cherryville.

Rutherford County defeated Queen City 18-6 on Saturday evening to close out a 3-1 series win.

In Thursday’s pivotal Game 2, Post 100 overcame a three-run deficit to

MINT HILL—Cherryville Post 100 defeated Mint Hill by a score of 10-2 on Wednesday evening at Independence High School to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-5 semifinal series of the American Legion Baseball Area IV playoffs.

Game 2 of the series was set for Thursday night in Cherryville, but finished too late for Friday’s edition of the Lincoln Times-News.

Post 100 took the early lead in Game 1, putting a run on the scoreboard in the top of the first inning courtesy of a Zane Brockman single, a walk to Will Heavner and a big throwing error by Mint Hill on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Cole Irby.

Cherryville made it 4-0 in the top of the third with singles from Collin

Noah Ingle’s walk-off single in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Cherryville Post 100 a 12-2 victory and a three-game sweep of Lincoln County Post 455 Sunday night at Fraley Field in Cherryville.

The second-round series win puts Post 100 in the Area IV semifinals beginning tonight at 7 p.m. at Independence High School against Mint Hill.

Mint Hill defeated Burke County on Monday night 7-4 to take that quarterfinal series 3 games to 1.

Zane Brockman had two hits and drove in three runs to lead the Cherryville (14-5) offense in Game 3. Joseph Webb had a pair of RBIs with two hits, and Samuel Duncan and Cole Irby both had two hits and an RBI for Post

Cherryville Post 100 entered Sunday night’s Game 3 of the best-of-5 second-round series against Lincoln County Post 455 looking for a sweep.

Post 100 had taken a two games to none lead in the series with a 6-2 victory at Fraley Field in Cherryville in Game 1 on Friday evening, coupled with Saturday night’s 3-0 shutout win over the Cardinals at East Lincoln High School in Game 2.

Post 100’s Noah Huss pitched 4-1/3 strong innings of relief in the series opener on Friday at Cherryville. The right-hander was called on after the Cardinals had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with runners at first and third and no outs, and kept Lincoln County from scoring any

West Lincoln High School has announced the hiring of Garry Robinson as the new head coach of the Rebels’ men’s basketball team.

Robinson began his coaching career at East Wake High School in Raleigh in 1986 when he took over the varsity boys program. He coached in Lincoln County from 1996 through 2000, where he served as women’s head basketball coach at East Lincoln High School.

Robinson later coached in Catawba County, coaching both JV and varsity men’s basketball at Maiden High School from 2001 through 2008.

In addition to coaching basketball, Robinson has maintained his role as a tennis pro in Denver. He and his wife Anita have been married for 23 years

The American Legion Baseball Area IV Playoffs are scheduled to begin this Sunday, and there are still a few questions to be answered on this year’s seeding process.

One of the top questions being asked is will the seeding be based on winning percentage of games played, or will teams that played a full division schedule get seeded before those teams that did not.

It appears that when the regular season comes to an end on Friday evening, that the eight teams in the Area IV Western Division will all have played at least 13 games of a possible 14-game division schedule. Weather permitting of course.

However, in the Eastern Division, there are several teams that won’t get

The South Fork 2A recently released the All-Conference baseball team for the 2021 season and leading the way with five selections each were league co-champions Lincoln Charter and Cherryville.

The Eagles’ Jacob Smith, Davis Al-Hussaini, Mason Smith, Blake Nelson and Cole Nelson were all on the All-Conference squad.

Jacob Smith, a freshman, hit .415 for Lincoln Charter with 16 RBIs, while senior Davis Al-Hussaini hit .468 with five home runs and 31 runs driven in. On the mound, Al-Hussaini posted a 0.42 ERA in 33 innings pitched, striking out 57 batters and walking just nine.

Mason Smith, a junior, hit .431 for the Eagles with 5 homers and 24 RBIs. In 33 innings pitched, Smith’s ERA was 1.08 with 79 strikeouts and ten

GREENSBORO – The 2A State Track & Field Championship Meet belonged to North Lincoln, specifically Angie Allen, as the Knights swept the Men’s and Women’s Team State Championships. Allen was outstanding, winning three individual events for the Knights on the Women’s side.

North Lincoln needed all the points they could get from Allen to hold off Cummings in the Women’s team race, clipping the Cavaliers 69-64 in the team standings. Allen raced to victory in the 800-Meters with a time of 2:15.58. She added to her prowess in the 1600-Meter event, winning the event for the second straight State Meet with a time of 5:05.97 to best Katherine Hopkins of Lincolnton who placed second in the event. Allen capped her meet with a victory in the 3200-Meters, crossing the line in

The South Fork 2A Conference has released the All-Conference baseball team for the 2021 season, and leading the way with five selections was conference champion East Lincoln.

Garrett Michel, Graham Smiley, Jordan Fisher, Gavin Houser and Isaac Armstrong were all named to the All-Conference squad after helping East Lincoln win the South Fork 2A league by two full games.

Second-place North Lincoln had four players on the All-Conference squad, including Landon Reeves, Matt Heavner, Timmy Schafer and Daniel Carter.

Lincolnton’s Will Blackburn and Gavin Queen made the 2021 All-Conference

DENVER --After lead-off batter Garrett Michel drove the first pitch into the trees beyond center field, and two more runs scored on hard-hit singles coupled with a throwing error, East Lincoln found itself up 3-0 on Forbush Saturday evening in the third round of the NCHSAA 2A baseball playoffs.

Lincoln Charter couldn’t overcome a 4-1 deficit on the road Saturday night, falling 4-3 at Mountain Island Charter in their third-round 1A state playoff matchup and ending the season for the Eagles.

The Raptors jumped out early, scoring on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead after one inning.

Max McCreary scored on an infield error in the top of the second to pull Lincoln Charter to within a run, but Mountain Island pushed the lead to 4-1 in the home half of the fourth inning on an RBI single from Cohen Howard and another wild pitch.

Davis Al-Hussaini’s RBI fielder’s choice scored Dylan Verdi to make it a 4-2

Trailing 2-0 after four innings of play, North Lincoln exploded for a 7-run fifth inning to take control and defeat the Bandys Trojans 8-2 in the regular-season finale for both teams on Friday in Catawba.

Brett Bassani’s 3-run double highlighted the big inning and gave the Knights the lead for good. Daniel Carter and Jack Carter also had RBIs in the inning, and Bandys aided North Lincoln with a couple crucial errors.

Bassanni’s 3 RBIs, along with a pair from Jack Carter led the Knight’s offense.

Jack Waggoner pitched one scoreless inning in relief to pick up the win. Waggoner followed starting pitcher Seth Whitley, who allowed 2 runs (1

Lincoln Charter School has announced the hiring of two new head coaches for the upcoming 2021-22 school year.

The Lincoln Charter School athletic department is excited to announce the appointment of James “J.B.” Burnett as the new head coach of the varsity boys basketball program.

Burnett is a graduate of Le Moyen College in Syracuse, New York, where he played baseball. He has been an intricate part of the Lincoln Charter basketball program for the past two years and will look to continue developing the LCS program into the future.

Burnett has a great knowledge of the game and will incorporate skill

A familiar face is set to take over the leadership role of the Lincolnton High School football program.

David Byrd will take over the duties as the Wolves head football coach immediately after being named for the position on Tuesday evening.

Byrd is very familiar with the Lincolnton football program and its long tradition of winning. A 1987 graduate of Lincolnton High School, Byrd played under former head coach Von Ray Harris. He went on to play at Wofford College in Spartanburg under head coach Mike Ayers, where he excelled at linebacker, defensive line and offensive line.

Byrd is now entering his 20th year of coaching, splitting his entire career

Lincolnton High School has completed its search for the next varsity basketball coach with the hiring of Phil Robinson.

Robinson is no stranger to the Wolves’ basketball program. His father, Alton, played for Lincolnton in the mid-80’s under Lavell Hall, and Robinson grew up around the program. He would later play for former head coach Bob Cowie, before graduating in 2007.

Over the last eleven years, Robinson has helped with the LHS program in some capacity, whether as an assistant coach under John Cloninger, holding camps at LHS or taking his services to AAU teams.

Robinson, who played a couple seasons at Caldwell Community College, will

2A WEST

#1 North Davidson (11-4) vs. #16 Ledford (10-3)

#8 West Stokes (10-2) vs. #9 East Lincoln (13-1)

#5 West Wilkes (14-0) vs. #12 Fred T. Foard (12-2)

#4 Bunker Hill (13-1) vs. #13 Forbush (9-5)

#3 Pisgah (11-2) vs. #14 South Point (10-4)

#6 R-S Central (12-2) vs. #11 North Lincoln (11-3)

#7 Madison (9-3) vs. #10 Oak Grove (10-3)

#2 West Stanly (13-1) vs. #15 South Rowan (12-2)

West Lincoln High School recently gave out individual awards at the annual awards ceremony.

Winners in each sport were for:

Volleyball: Most Valuable Player: Jayleigh Drewery, Offensive Player of the Year: Eva Williams , Defensive Player of the Year: Morgan Chapman, Coach’s Award: Emma Bumgarner , All-Conference: Morgan Chapman, Most Valuable JV Player: Gracie Elmore.

Cross Country: Girls: Top Newcomer-McKenna Helms, Most Improved Runner-Ashlynn Eurey

Outstanding Runner-Jillian Mawyer; Boys: Top Newcomer-Evan Hartsoe,

The West Lincoln wrestling team completed a sweep of the South Fork 2A Conference Spring 2021 regular season and tournament championships last week at Newton-Conover High School.

The Rebels’ Andy Saine took first place in the 152-pound weight class, and Rickey Reynolds was the winner in the 152. Mason Avery of West Lincoln was the first-place finisher in the 170.

Eli Leatherman (113), Chase Norman (126), Langston Hoffman (132), Luke Stewart (138), Patrick Goins (160), Jake Gragg (182) and Luke Willis (285) all had second-place finishes for the Rebels.

East Lincoln had three first-place finishers. Devean Huskey was the winner

Will Blackburn pitched a complete-game shutout and Lincolnton pulled off a 3-0 upset over the county-rival Knights Friday evening at Jonathan Brookins Field in Lincolnton.

Blackburn, a sophomore, scattered four North Lincoln (9-3) hits while striking out 10 and walking three.

Gavin Queen and Gavin Jiminez connected on back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the second inning to give the Wolves an early 1-0 lead.

Lincolnton (4-8) would add two more runs in the home half of the fourth when Blackburn and Easton Dellinger hit consecutive doubles, followed by

The South Fork 2A recently announced its All-Conference Track & Field performers for the 2021 season, and conference champion North Lincoln led the way with a whopping 25 selections.

13 Lady Knights made the All-SF2A squad, including the league’s top sprinter Angie Allen, along with Angie Allen who was named the best long-distance runner.

North Lincoln’s Chloe Soorus was awarded the best in field events, and the conference’s Coach of the Year was the Knight’s Jerry Castro.

The North Lincoln men had a league-best 12 selections on the All-Conference team, including Ty Castro, who was named the best in field

Conference leader East Lincoln (10-1) scored single runs in the top of the second and sixth innings to take a 2-0 decision in a pitcher’s duel Tuesday evening at West Lincoln (2-9).

Cade Doolittle doubled home Seth Haigler to give the Mustangs an early 1-0 lead, and Gavin Houser’s RBI single scored Jordan Fisher with an insurance run in the sixth.

Houser went 3 for 3 at the plate to lead East Lincoln, while Doolittle and Fisher added two hits each.

Fisher pitched a complete-game shutout for the Mustangs, scattering five

The South Fork Athletic Conference is honored to be able to present “The Courage Award” for 2021 to West Lincoln High School athlete Judd Harrelson. Judd is currently in a courageous fight with cancer. He is a strong young man and the South Fork 2A Conference is with him all the way.

This is Judd’s story: During basketball workouts, Judd’s hip started to bother him, but he thought it was just out of shape and so on.

When he finally talked to the school’s athletic trainer, she knew something wasn’t right because the kid had played for 3 years prior, and as a senior, he knew the drill.

Judd went to the orthopedic doctor and things appeared ok, so they gave

North Lincoln won their fourth-straight game Thursday night with a 13-6 decision at Newton-Conover.

Timmy Schaffer, Landon Reeves, Matt Heavner, Daniel Carter, Jack Carter and Kyle Brittain all had two hits for the Knights, who pounded out 14 as a team.

Heavner drove in three of the North Lincoln runs, while Brittain and Daniel Carter drove in two apiece.

Heavner pitched four solid innings to pick up the win. The junior gave up one run (unearned) on one hit, striking out seven and walking none.

With the win, the Knights improved to 8-2 on the season, and remained

The South Fork 2A has announced the All-Conference softball team for the Spring 2021 season, and leading the way with 5 selections is the league champion Lady Mustangs.

East Lincoln’s Taliyah Thomas, Betsy Eatmon, Katie Hogue, Katelynn Crowe and Payton Baker were all named to the All-Conference squad, with Baker earning the Defensive Player of the Year award.

As a senior, Baker had a record on the mound of 15-1 with an ERA of 0.86. In 90 innings pitched, she allowed just 13 runs, while striking out 109 and walking only four.

Newton-Conover’s Grace Loftin was named the SF2A’s Offensive Player of