The late radio great Larry King used to say that people don’t read stories wrapping up the biggest news of the year because everyone already knows what happened.
One thing he didn’t mention was for something that might not be widely read, it’s a challenge to put one of these together, especially when you’re doing it solo.
In looking back at 2023's notable high school sports stories, I’ve tried to balance things out as best as possible and include the things that were of the widest interest and had the greatest impact on people in our reading audience.
One more thing to remember — just like Time magazine’s annual Person of the Year award, all of the events and people on this list may not be especially popular, but in my opinion, the things on this list were important to a lot of folks and possibly altered the way we’ll look at local high school sports in 2024.
With that said, here’s my take on the biggest stories in local prep sports.
Seventy-First football
For the last three seasons, the Falcons have been the big story in local high school football. This year they had their third consecutive one-loss season, ending it with a 33-26 defeat to Hickory in the 3-A championship game in Chapel Hill.
Led by versatile quarterback DeAndre Nance, the Falcons continued to dominate the United 8 Conference. Over the last three years, they’ve gone unbeaten in the regular season, including a 21-0 record in conference action.
Among private schools, Trinity Christian reached the finals of the NCISAA 11-man Division II football playoffs, losing in the title game to Asheville School 42-29.
Trinity finished the season 10-2.
General Assembly vs. NCHSAA
The North Carolina General Assembly continued to dismantle the N.C. High School Athletic Association as Senators Tom McInnis, Todd Johnson and Vickie Sawyer got fellow Republicans in the N.C. House to join in their crusade against the association.
Senate Bill 452 put limits on how the NCHSAA can raise money and prevents the organization from granting scholarships.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker suggested the association will have to eventually stop playing state championship games in large college facilities and that politicians and not people familiar with the intricacies of high school sports will oversee competition in the near future.
In other action, the General Assembly eliminated a policy the NCHSAA approved on the controversial name, image and likeness issue that could allow high school athletes to profit from their own image.
Many folks who know more about these things than the General Assembly said the NCHSAA policy was one of the best-worded NIL plans they had seen.
Solid basketball performance
Nobody brought home a state championship, but the local high school basketball season had some notable accomplishments on both the men’s and women’s sides.
For the men, E.E. Smith’s boys advanced to the regional finals, led by high-scoring James Scott, before dropping a 37-31 decision to 3-A runner up Northwood.
The women had an even more impressive run. Cape Fear, E.E. Smith and Terry Sanford all made it to the fourth round. Cape Fear upset top-seeded Smith 67-60 while Rocky Mount routed Terry Sanford 63-48.
Cape Fear, sparked by Jayda Angel, saw its bid for a state title end in the regional final with a 57-50 loss to Rocky Mount.
Terry Sanford boys’ golf
Golf has long been a sport of stars at Terry Sanford, but the 2023 team will be remembered as one of the best in school history.
Led by individual champion Ethan Paschal, the Bulldogs won the 3-A championship at Foxfire Resort and Golf Club, shooting 300-298-598 to win by 31 shots over Stuart Cramer.
Paschal had to survive a three-man playoff for medalist honors, scoring a birdie on the fourth extra hole to take the title.
He shot 71-69-140. Teammate Thomas Horne, who tied for sixth, shot 72-76-148.
Paschal later committed to play for the University of North Carolina while Horne will attend Georgia Southern.
Another Fayetteville golfer, Gavin Drose of Cape Fear, tied with Horne at 71-77-148.
Smart Trojan swimmers
Swim teams don’t often make statewide headlines but the one at Pine Forest achieved an honor outside of the pool that was pretty impressive.
This past season the Trojan boys were recognized as the NCHSAA swim team with the highest overall grade point average in the state, an impressive 3.884 on a 4.0 scale.
“These kids have a lot to be proud of,’’ said head coach Jen Ryan, a former West Point swimmer. “They’re smart cookies.’’
Williams makes ‘The Show’
Former Cape Fear High School pitching standout Gavin Williams continued his rise in baseball as he made his starting pitching debut with the Cleveland Guardians last season.
Williams appeared in 16 games with a record of 3-5 and an earned run average of 3.29. He recorded 81 strikeouts in 82 innings pitched.
In honor of his outstanding career performance, Cape Fear High School recently held a ceremony retiring his No. 16 jersey.
Hedgecoe still rules
Drew Hedgecoe of Terry Sanford continued his dominance of NCHSAA tennis, capturing his second straight 3-A singles championship.
Hedgecoe definitely has a lot of excellent tennis genes in him. His mother, Claire Hedgecoe, won a state doubles title with Elizabeth Williams in 1993. Hedgecoe’s uncle, David Cheatwood, was a state singles champion in 1995.
NCHSAA expanding
Member schools of the NCHSAA approved an amendment to the association bylaws that allowed eventual expansion to as many as eight classifications. The change won’t take place until the 2025 school year, but it will give the yet to be selected committee that places member schools in conferences a lot more moving parts to deal with.
Aponte on top again
Cape Fear High School wrestler Samuel Aponte added to an already impressive resume as he took home his second NCHSAA wrestling title.
Aponte, who compiled a 34-4 record this year, earned a 10-5 decision over George Coleman of Fred T. Foard in the championship match of the 106-pound weight class.
More honors for Ralph
Former Terry Sanford High School and University of Connecticut standout Shea Ralph added another laurel to her impressive resume as she was announced as an inductee into the next class of state legends in the N.C. Sports Hall of Fame.
Ralph earned All-America honors in basketball at Terry Sanford and was National Player of the Year. She followed that with All-America recognition while at UConn, also winning a national championship.
She moved on to coaching positions at Pittsburgh and UConn, and currently is the head women’s coach at Vanderbilt University.
Good year for Sochovka
Pine Forest head football coach Bill Sochovka earned a lot of recognition for himself this year. He guided the East All-Star football team to a 35-7 win over the West in the annual East-West All-Star game put on by the N.C. Coaches Association.
The same day his team won that game he was announced as an assistant coach for next December’s Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas that pits the top high school football seniors from North and South Carolina against each other.
Bui, Galaviz sparkle
A pair of Terry Sanford tennis players brought home a state 3-A doubles championship. Pauline Bui and Loren Galaviz prevailed over Caroline and Kathryn Adkins of Wilson Fike High School.
The Terry Sanford team came as close as you can to adding a state championship to the haul, but dropped a 5-4 battle with Lake Norman Charter in the 3-A dual team finals.
Lake Norman, which finished 24-0, took an 11-10 (7-3) win in the deciding doubles match to clinch the victory.
Cape Fear was hoping to repeat as dual team champion but was eliminated in the third round by Rocky Mount on a 5-3 decision.
The Colts’ Shea Bieniek and Andi Brinker advanced to the third round in doubles before losing to Adkins and Adkins of Fike.
Sports Club Hall inductees
The Fayetteville Sports Club added another class of inductees to its Hall of Fame.
President Greg Parks said the inductees included former Terry Sanford, East Carolina and European basketball star Courtney Willis Colborne; distance runner Marsha Koufax, soccer standout Rachel Yepez Rogers, North Carolina and WNBA basketball star Latoya Pringle Sanders, former Pine Forest football coach Gary Weller and South View and Davidson basketball star Kenny Wilson.
Baseball’s best
Terry Sanford and Cape Fear continued to rule the roost among Cumberland County high school baseball teams.
Both teams were at the top of their respective conference races and both reached the third round of this year’s NCHSAA playoffs.
Terry Sanford fell 9-8 to Northern Nash and Cape Fear was eliminated by Hillsborough Orange.
State champion cheerleaders
The cheerleading squads from Cape Fear and Gray’s Creek both brought home state titles in the NCHSAA cheerleading championships.
Cape Fear won the performance cheer varsity coed non-tumbling title in the large school division.
Gray’s Creek took the performance cheer junior varsity non-tumbling championship.
Fayetteville Academy winners
Fayetteville Academy’s women’s lacrosse team completed the regular season with a 15-1 record and advanced to the championship game of the NCISAA Division II lacrosse finals.
They fell to Asheville School in the title game 17-8. Asheville ended the season 12-2.
Track winners
Multiple athletes from public and private schools in Cumberland County came home with championships in track and field this year.
The two big winners among NCHSAA competitors were JaMeesia Ford of Jack Britt and Zoe Dorsey of Terry Sanford.
Ford took state titles in three events in the 4-A track meet, the 100, 200 and 400 meter runs. She was named women’s MVP of the 4-A meet.
Dorsey was the winner in the 400- and 800-meter runs in the 3-A state meet.
Ford is bound for the highly successful track program at the University of South Carolina, coached by former Douglas Byrd assistant football coach Curtis Frye.
In the NCISAA Division II state meet, injuries forced coach Frank Bailey of Fayetteville Christian to cobble together a 4x100 relay team of Alex Kardouni, Kaleo Arnold, Demaree Clark and Tristan Kasper. They managed a 44.82 to win. They also took the 4x200.
Bailey’s women’s team of Isabella Bailey, Dezzy Clark, Isabelle Kaiser and Victoria Harrison also won the 4x200.
Winning individual titles for Fayetteville Christian were Clark in mens high jump, Isabella Bailey in womens triple jump, Dezariyah Clark in womens long jump and Juliana Bailey in discus.
Fayetteville Academy’s Kevin Dennison competed in the NCISAA Division II meet.
He won the 100 and 200 meters.
Trinity Christian had one winner, Jamiyah Johnson in the women’s shot put.
Byrd slump ends
Douglas Byrd High School started the athletic year as bad as you can, failing to win a single contest in any fall sport.
But the losing streak was finally ended later in the fall by the Byrd women’s basketball team. Shania McLucas scored 19 points to hold off Red Springs for a 34-32 win over Red Springs.
Just before the Christmas break, the Eagle women picked up their second win of the young season, downing Durham Academy 51-40.
Classic champions
Four champions were crowned in the annual Holiday Classic basketball tournament for men and women before the holiday break.
For the boys, Pine Forest beat Jack Britt 38-37 to win the Chuck Mohn bracket. The Bernie Poole bracket winner was Seventy-First, 59-57 over Westover.
In women’s action, Terry Sanford beat E.E. Smith 78-60 to take the Latanya Hardy Bracket. Cape Fear downed Richmond Senior 61-51 to win the Brenda Jernigan bracket.
Follow Earl Vaughan Jr. on X, formerly known as Twitter: @EarlVaughanJr.
