Lucas to return to Wake Forest football duties

Wake Forest football coach Reggie Lucas will return to his duties with the team and school Wednesday after being charged with driving while impaired last week.

Lisa Luten, a Wake County schools spokeswoman, confirmed that Lucas agreed to a three-day suspension without pay Tuesday and will return to the football field and classroom Wednesday.

Lucas, 43, was arrested after being pulled over shortly before midnight on Nov. 12 in Wake Forest and charged with misdemeanor DWI.

Wake County schools confirmed Lucas’ suspension Thursday, and the coach was absent from the sidelines during Wake Forest’s 42-13 win over Leesville Road in the first round of the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4AA playoffs Friday.

The Cougars, the No. 1 seed in East region, are 12-0. The team will host No. 8 Southern Pines Pinecrest on Friday in the second round of the state tournament.

Lucas has been one of the state’s most successful young coaches. He was named as the Cougars’ coach in 2007 and has built an 84-17 record. He has led Wake Forest to the state 4AA football championship game twice.

Lucas was a high school football and basketball standout at Wake Forest-Rolesville High. He returned to his alma mater as an assistant coach under former head coach Earl Smith.

Wake plans stunt season: Stunt, a new high school varsity sport for girls in Wake County schools, is on the way. Eighteen schools, divided into two nine-team conferences, will begin competition in a series of tri-meets in April.

Stunt is a structured competition that has some similarities to competitive cheerleading. But in stunt, participants are judged on the mastery of skills in a designated routine. The scoring is based on executing a particular routine. The teams compete head-to-head simultaneously and perform the same routine.

One of the best analogies may be diving. Judges are looking to see mastery to a standard.

Tryouts begin March 2, a couple of weeks after most spring sports begin because many of the potential players are expected to be involved in cheerleading during the winter sports season.

A video of the routine that will be performed this season will be made available to coaches in February.

“We’re really excited about stunt,” said Deran Coe, the Wake County senior administrator for athletics. “To have 18 schools participating the first year is a good sign. We believe this is going to be a very good sport for us.”

Coe said some squads may have up to 40 participants.

NCHSAA cheerleading: Apex, Middle Creek and Leesville Road won N.C. High School Athletic Association Invitational Cheerleading championships last weekend at the Raleigh Convention Center.

Apex won the the medium varsity (13 to 16 participants) competition with 122.0 points.

Middle Creek (119.5) won the large varsity (17-20) group and Leesville Road won the varsity coed title (113.85).

Ledford (127.20 points) was the super large title champion and had the highest point total of the day to win the Carolina Cup, the overall title.

Haws wins $10,000: Franklinton High sophomore Brayton Haws earned a $10,000 paycheck last week by winning the Autumn Classic Late Model Stock Car race at the Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucuma.

“We were just trying to save tires, but when it was 15 (laps) to go all I heard over the radio was strike and go,” Haws told reporters in victory lane after the race. “Now here we are in victory lane holding a $10,000 check.”

Haws, 15 years old, has been racing go-karts and cars since he was 4 years old.

Woods at Word: Tim Woods is the new boys’ basketball coach at Raleigh Word of God. The Rams are expected to be led by UNC Greensboro recruits 6-foot-1 Demetrius Troy and 6-foot-9 James Dickey.

The Rams open their season Thursday at High Point Christian.

Crusaders lacrosse: Patricia Alexander is the new varsity girls’ lacrosse coach at Cardinal Gibbons.

She had a 43-22 record in four years at Broughton, including a 17-3 record in 2014. She also coaches the Carolina Fever club team.

Alexander replaces Taylor Chumney, who coached the Crusaders for two years but is now an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina. Gibbons was 16-3 last season.

Cary Christian: Most area high school basketball teams begin their seasons this week, but Cary Christian already has played five games. The Knights are 2-3, and senior Caleb Ellis is averaging 15 points per game.

Caryn Grant contributed to this report.

This story was originally published November 18, 2014 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Lucas to return to Wake Forest football duties."