Local Sports Roundup: Wheatmore Warriors upset West Wilkes in football playoffs

Wheatmore continued its late-season surge with an upset in the first round of the state football playoffs. Meanwhile, three local soccer teams advanced into the third round. Here’s a look at those and other highlights from the week.

Football

■ Quarterback Connor Benton threw for 224 yards and a touchdown as No. 22 Wheatmore surprised No. 14 West Wilkes 21-14 in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. Benton also had a 16-yard touchdown run to break a 14-14 tie in the fourth quarter. Gavin McPherson ran 22 times for 82 yards and a touchdown. Bentley Mills caught 5 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. 

Soccer

■ Yael Rebollar-Ortiz and Chris Betancourt scored the goals in Southwestern Randolph’s 2-0 win over Northwood in the team’s final regular season game. Noah Freeman had an assist.

■ Henry Martinez Cruz scored two goals as No. 10 Asheboro blanked No. 23 St. Stephens 6-0 in the first round of the 6-A state playoffs. Carlos Gonzalez, Ozmar Martinez, Julian Bitti and Jonathan Ortega all scored one goal. Martinez had two assists. Erik Gervacio, Ortega, Gonzalez and Martinez Cruz all had one assist. 

■ Kevin Bautista, Seth Johnson and Bryan Carbajal scored the goals in No. 12 Providence Grove’s 3-0 win over No. 21 Goldsboro in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs. Aldo Rubio had four saves and an assist. Johnson had a save.

■ Grayson Carter scored the goal as No. 20 Wheatmore fell 8-1 to No. 13 Hendersonville in the first round of the 3-A state playoffs.

■ Martinez Cruz scored the game-winning goal late in overtime as Asheboro beat Glenn 5-4 in the second round of the 6-A state playoffs. The winning goal came as a putback after a free kick by Juan Macias was deflected. The Blue Comets were led by Martinez, who had three goals. Gonzalez also scored. Zamire Bush and Macias both had two assists while Martinez had one. 

■ Fernando Hernandez scored three goals in No. 1 Southwestern Randolph’s 11-2 rout of No. 17 Cummings in the second round of the 4-A state playoffs. Rebollar-Ortiz scored a pair of goals. Braydon Tyl, Jonathan Lopez-Degollado, Kevin Garcia, Gio Hernandez, Aaron Avina and Betancourt all had one goal. Rebollar-Ortiz had two assists. Homero Aguilar, Garcia, Betancourt, Hernandez and Hernandez-Dominguez all had one assist. Jonathan Perez-Dominguez made four saves.

Boys Cross Country

■ Wheatmore finished eighth in the 3-A state meet. The Warriors’ Ayden Fitzgerald was seventh overall.

Girls Cross Country

■ Wheatmore was 10th in the 3-A state meet. The Warriors’ Scarlett Hildreth was eighth overall. 

Providence Grove’s Laurel Bernhardt was 11th.

College Volleyball

■ Former Uwharrie Charter standout Chloe Painter dished out 132 assists in three matches over the weekend as Davidson-Davie Community College won its first-ever region championship. Painter was named tournament MVP.

Former Trinity stars Faith Powell, Kaitlyn McCoy and Karrington Batten also played key roles for the Storm.