Notebook: Big high school soccer weekends on tap

High school boys’ soccer fans will feast on two big weekend tournaments in as many weeks.

This Saturday, Cardinal Gibbons will be the host of the third annual Wake County Cup with games at 3, 5 and 7 p.m. Apex will play Cardinal Gibbons, last year’s champ, for the title match. Heritage, Raleigh Charter, Garner and Broughton will play in the other matches.

On Sept. 26, Millbrook will host the “East vs. West Showcase: A night of champions” headlined by a rematch of last year’s 4A championship at 3 p.m. between Broughton and Pfafftown’s Reagan High.

At 5 p.m., Jacksonville will play Corinth Holders and at 7 p.m. Millbrook will host Winston-Salem’s Mount Tabor.

Fox reaches 700: Pinecrest volleyball coach Barbara Foxx became the third N.C. High School Athletic Association volleyball coach to reach the 700-win plateau on Tuesday. Chapel Hill’s Sherry Norris (738), who retired from volleyball after the 2013 season, is the state’s all-time leader.

West outlasts Harnett Central: West Johnston volleyball (5-5, 3-2) won a 3-2 match against Harnett Central (6-7, 3-2) on Thursday, but not before the Trojans won a 40-minute second set 36-34. Teams must win each set by at least two points.

Adding to the tension, both teams had used up all timeouts by the 21-point mark.

NRCA volleyball: North Raleigh Christian Academy’s volleyball team successfully fended off all comers in its Volley with the Knights tournament over the weekend, going 8-0 against other private schools from across the state in best-of-3 matches.

North Raleigh Christian now is 15-1 this season, led in kills by sophomore Casey Justus and eighth-grader Skylar Buckley.

Lang leads: Grace Christian Raleigh senior Austin Lang leads the Triangle with 21 goals in his team’s nine games. Lang had 22 goals all of last season for the Eagles (8-1).

“He’s just dynamic,” coach Roman Pibl said.

Enloe soccer: Enloe has opened the boys’ soccer season 6-0 (2-0 in Cap-8 4A) after going 10-12 last year.

“We might not be the best technical team or the best tactical team, but they really put in the effort,” said coach Drew Womble. “A lot of it makes up for what we lose technically and tactically. It’s a pretty solid team.”

SWAC girls’ golf: Athens Drive leads the Southwest Wake Athletic 4A girls’ golf race with five first-place finishes in as many matches. Panther Creek, Middle Creek and Green Hope complete the top four.

Reigning 4A champ Jennifer Chang leads the league with 33.8 strokes per nine holes, followed by Holly Springs’ Natalie Peterson (36.3) and Athens Drive’s teammate Kayla Parsons (36.4).

New conferences: With exception to football, Chatham Central is in a new conference this school year. The Central Tar Heel 1A consists of the Bears, Chatham Charter, North Moore, Uwharrie Charter, South Davidson, East Montgomery and West Montgomery.

The Central Tar Heel and the Uwharrie Athletic 1A split off from the old Yadkin Valley 1A, which had grown to 13 teams stretching from Charlotte to Chatham County. The Yadkin Valley 1A is the name given to the football conference that includes nine schools from both leagues.

D. Clay Best and Andrew Tie contributed.

This story was originally published September 13, 2015 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Notebook: Big high school soccer weekends on tap."