Jordan’s Brandon Massey ‘doing fine’ after surgery on neck fracture

Jordan football player Brandon Massey is recovering from surgery after suffering a broken neck in Friday’s football game at Cardinal Gibbons.

Massey was making a tackle near the end zone on the play that injured him. With Gibbons up 42-13, the game was called with 10 minutes, 57 seconds left in the game. Massey, the son of Shaw University coach Robert Massey, was taken off the field in an ambulance.

Durham Public Schools athletics director Larry McDonald said that Massey was “doing fine” after Saturday’s procedure.

The school’s Twitter account posted on Sunday that “Brandon’s family report some positive signs Sunday a.m. post-surgery. They are grateful for your thoughts and prayers.”

Regional golf: Most of the state’s regional girls golf tournaments are Monday, but the 4A East regional at Heritage Golf Club in Heritage in an exception. Green Hope, Athens Drive, Cardinal Gibbons, Wakefield and Heritage will compete for one of three spots in next week’s N.C. High School Athletic Association state tournament. More than 20 individuals will qualify as well.

On Monday, the 3A East (includes Cape Fear Valley and Two Rivers conferences) played at Wedgewood Country Club in Wilson, the 3A Central (includes Big 8 Conference) at Greensboro National Golf Club and the 1A/2A East at Lane Tree Golf Club in Goldsboro.

Dual-team tennis: The NCHSAA dual-team girls tennis playoffs begin Tuesday.

In 4A, Cap-8 champ Sanderson, PAC-6 champ Cardinal Gibbons, Southwest Wake champ Panther Creek (back-to-back defending state champs) and Greater Neuse River champ Clayton are on the same half of the East bracket. Only one of those teams will make it to the 4A East regional final.

The individual tennis regionals are scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Volleyball playoffs: The NCHSAA volleyball playoffs will be announced Thursday morning. The bracket is seeded, meaning that teams will not know their seed (Nos. 1-32) or opponent until then. Conference rematches are possible in the first round.

Panther Creek claimed its first conference title on Thursday with a 3-2 (27-25, 20-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10) win at Southwest Wake runner-up Fuquay-Varina. It is the first time since 2007 a team other than Apex and Green Hope took home the championship.

Wake Forest recruit Caitlyn Della had a game-high 19 kills.

“They’ve worked really hard. They understand that it’s not about the wins and losses necessarily but about the way they’re playing the game and the intensity and the passion,” Panther Creek coach Holly Fong said.

The Greater Neuse River and Two Rivers will play conference championship games on Wednesday night at the highest remaining seed.

This story was originally published October 19, 2015 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Jordan’s Brandon Massey ‘doing fine’ after surgery on neck fracture."