Local Sports Roundup: Wrestling, basketball seasons begin

Even as football rolls on and soccer nears its finish, wrestling and basketball seasons got under way last week. Also, a familiar soccer face made his all-conference team in his freshman year. Here’s a recap of some of last week’s highlights.

Soccer

■ Chris Betancourt scored three goals, leading No. 1 Southwestern Randolph to a 4-0 win over No. 8 Jordan-Matthews in the third round of the 4-A state playoffs. Aaron Avina netted the other goal. Fernando Hernandez had three assists and Jonathan Perez-Dominguez made one save.

■ Ozmar Martinez scored the goal in No. 10 Asheboro’s 5-1 loss to No. 2 Charlotte Catholic in the third round of the 6-A state playoffs. The Blue Comets finished the season 17-7-3.

■ Kevin Garcia scored two goals and Avina, Betancourt and Griffin Hall one each as SWR defeated First Flight 5-0 in the regional semifinals at SWR.

Boys Wrestling

■ Southwestern Randolph beat Salisbury 48-30 in non-conference action. Winning for the Cougars were Ryder Degraff (106), Tony Bustos Avendano (113), Jamie Jaimes (126), Donte Lattanzi (132), Ryan Owens (144), Aksel Valenzuela (165), Wesley Mulkey (175) and Rahiel Flores (215).

■ Andrew White, Paxton Kearns, Huntley Adcock, Caleb Saldana, Brennan Worrell, Ric Riccardella, Travis Nobles, Torin Brigman, Lorenzo Alston, Jesse Bowles, Michael Shropshire, Maddox Goble and Ayven Virasone Chitavong all went 2-0 as Uwharrie Charter overwhelmed Cary (78-0) and Southeast Guilford (71-3) in a tri-match. Rylan Alvarez was 1-1-1.

■ Trinity swept Asheboro (48-17), Jordan-Matthews (65-0) and Pinecrest (46-30) in a quad match at Asheboro. The Bulldogs’ Jeven Palmeri, Aiden Burkholder, Stephen Cross, Edgar Vasquez, Hezekyah Matson, Simeon Hammett, Grayson Carroll and Joseph Trahan were all 3-0. Ezekiel Martinez was 1-0. Anees Khan was 2-1 and Trent Walker was 1-2.

Jonny Mendez, Cadrien Thompson and Noah Delatorre were 1-0 for Asheboro. Jeffrey Harper and Quanta McRae were 2-1. Oscar Zelaya and Aaron Moran were 1-1. Turcan Kilic, Omar Basyouny, Hunter Arroyo and Braiden Morales were 1-2.

Girls Wrestling

■ Asheboro split a tri-match, defeating Jordan-Matthews 24-21 and falling 39-15 to Pinecrest. Grace Redding and Andrea Thornton were 2-0 for Asheboro. Baylee Willey was 1-0. Andreona Thornton and Brianna Munoz were 1-1.

Girls Basketball

■ Lainey Thomas scored 19 points in Uwharrie Charter’s 68-48 win over Falls Lake. Navaeh Staples scored 17 points and Naimah Al-Arif had 10.

College News

■ Former Asheboro soccer star Cam Letterlough was named first-team all-conference and freshman of the year for Chowan in the Carolinas Conference. Letterlough leads the Hawks with 15 goals.