Briefly ... | Raleigh News & Observer

Sandlappers win annual NC-SC Shrine Bowl

The offensive struggle that is All-Star Game football continued Saturday with the playing of the 78th annual Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas.

In a time when high school offenses routinely roll up 400 yards or more a game, the Carolinas’ all-stars barely topped that number in combined yardage.

South Carolina, which lost the yardage battle, won the scoring war for the third straight year with a 21-12 victory at Gibbs Stadium on the campus of Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C.

“It’s kind of hard to learn an offense and execute it in one week,” said Durham Hillside offensive lineman Emanuel McGirt, who pulled a quad muscle late in the first half and didn’t play in the second half. “I don’t think it was a situation where anybody was not doing their job.”

The North Carolina offense was Triangle heavy with three linemen – Chapel Hill’s Logan Tisch, who will play at Clemson, and Hillside’s Marcus Pettiford and McGirt.

The game had a decidedly less Triangle-area centric backfield after Southern Durham quarterback Kendall Hinton, a Wake Forest recruit, suffered an ankle injury during an early week Shrine Bowl practice and couldn’t continue.

Wake Forest running back Bryce Love was unable to play because of injury as well. He suffered a shoulder injury during the Cougars’ run to the 4AA state final.

Princeton running back Johnny Frasier, who committed to Florida State in the fall, admitted he is “torn” about his college decision and said he will not make a final decision until signing day in February. He finished with 31 yards rushing on nine carries.

“I know I just have to come harder and harder next time,” Frasier said of playing in the upcoming Under Armour All-American Bowl next month.

Tar Heel basketball hosts UAB at 4 p.m. Saturday

Coming off an impressive win against Ohio State, the University of North Carolina men’s basketball team returns home this week to host the University of Alabama-Birmingham at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 27.

The game time is noteworthy, because the ACC originally announced a tip-off with a later time that subsequently was moved up.

Griffin a favorite for golf’s Haskins Award

At the halfway mark of the men’s college golf season, North Carolina freshman Ben Griffin is being called one of the favorites for Haskins Award, which honors college golf’s top player.

Golf Week’s Cassie Stein featured Griffin, a two-time NCHSAA champion when he was at East Chapel Hill, prominently on the latest Haskins watch list.

“Griffin is a frontrunner” for the award, Stein said.

Griffin had four top-10 finishes in the fall, including victories in the Bridgestone Golf Collegiate and the Tar Heel Invitational.

Golf Week included Griffin’s freshman teammate William Register, of Burlington, on the list.

“He may be a bit overshadowed by teammate and fellow classmate Ben Griffin, but Register has shown he can play with the best of them,” Stein said.

Reid-Shaw wraps up successful soph season

IndyReid-Shaw, a former Orange High School runner, has completed a successful sophomore season for the Swarthmore College cross country team.

Reid-Shaw led the Garnet with an 11th-place finish at the Centennial Conference Championship. She also paced her team to a fifth-place finish among the 52 teams at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championship in Carlisle, Pa. Reid-Shaw finished 23rd out of 370 runners, with a personal best 22:42 on the 6K course.

During the 2014 cross-country season, Reid-Shaw was named to the All-Mideast Region team, the Centennial All-Conference second team, and the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll.

10th annual Little River trail runs set for Jan. 17

Registration is underway for the popular Little River 10-mile and 7-mile trail runs in northern Orange County.

The 10th annual running of the LRTR will be Jan. 17 on the single-track trails at Little River Regional Park.

Proceeds from the $40 entry fee go to benefit the Little River Regional Park.

For more information, see trailheads.org/lrtr/.