Hibriten grabs quick lead, eliminates Eagles

Hibriten High used two turnovers by East Henderson to build an 18-point lead on Friday night en route to a 38-25 victory in the second round of the state 3A football playoffs. Hibriten (11-2), the overall West No. 3 seed and a second seed in the West pod, moves to the pod title game next Friday at home at 7:30 p.m.

The Panthers will face Asheville (10-2, West No. 5 seed and No. 4 pod seed), which outlasted Burns 38-35 in three overtimes on Friday night in Lawndale. On Friday night, Hibriten punted on its first possession before Eagles quarterback Seth Owen’s first pass was picked off by Devin Simon, who received an escort of Panthers on his way to a 42-yard touchdown and early 7-0 lead. East Henderson (10-3) quickly shook off the early miscue as Shaq Davis broke off a 70-yard run on the second play of the drive, all the way to the Panthers’ 10. But Hibriten’s defense held as the Eagles settled for a 20-yard field goal by Daniel Valdez.

The early track meet continued as Hibriten used a quick four-play drive to boost its lead to 14-3. Tripp Patterson (12 carries for 126 yards) spun out of a tackle at the 40, then sped away for a 66-yard score. On the ensuing drive by East Henderson, a lateral from Owen to Jonathan Maybin fell to the turf with Hibriten recovering at the Eagles’ 21. Four plays later, Hunt Prestwood barreled in from the 1 for the Panthers’ third score of the first quarter. The Eagles bounced back on the first play of the second quarter as Davis split the middle of line before hitting a fifth gear, speeding to a 79-yard TD run.  Davis finished the first half with 181 yards on his way to 284 yards on 32 carries. Hibriten took a 24-13 lead on a 26-yard field goal by Bobby Caudle just before the half. The Panthers essentially put the game away early in the third quarter on their first drive, when quarterback Michael Isbell shook off a blitz and found Trey Booker over the middle for a 62-yard pass play deep into Eagles’ territory. Two plays later, Jamaris Davenport made a leaping catch over two defenders, dragging one into the end zone on a 12-yard score. Davis added an 11-yard score later in the third quarter, but the Panthers padded the lead to 38-17 on a 44-yard run by Isbell early in the fourth quarter. East Henderson scored a safety by tackling Prestwood in the end zone, then added a 47-yard pass by Owen to Anthony Hampton for the final margin.

Halladay is unanimous Cy Young winner

Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies has unanimously won the NL Cy Young Award, making him the fifth pitcher to earn the honor in both leagues. Halladay pitched a perfect game in May and then threw a no-hitter in the playoffs. In his first season with the Phillies, he led the NL with 21 wins and topped the majors in innings, shutouts and complete games. Halladay received all 32 first-place votes in results released Tuesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Adam Wainwright of St. Louis was second and Ubaldo Jimenez of Colorado was third. San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum, who won the past two NL Cy Youngs, finished 11th.

Appalachian Wins Sixth-Straight SoCon Title

No. 3 Appalachian State University raced out to 38-0 lead and cruised to a record sixth-consecutive Southern Conference championship by dismantling No. 4 Wofford, 43-13, on Saturday afternoon at Kidd Brewer Stadium. With the easy victory in the de facto SoCon championship game, Appalachian (9-1, 7-1 SoCon) not only cliched at least a share of its sixth-straight conference title but also sealed the league’s automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Football Championship. ASU tied the SoCon record for consecutive conference crowns, set originally by Georgia Southern from 1997-2002. The SoCon championship is the Mountaineers’ 11th in 39 seasons in the conference. Since the SoCon began crowning a champion in 1933, only Furman, which has won 12 titles in 72 years in the league, has claimed more championships than ASU. Appalachian dominated Wofford in all phases of the game. Offensively, senior running back Devon Moore and junior wide receiver Brian Quick combined to score all five of the Mountaineers’ touchdowns. Moore turned in his finest performance of the season, rushing for 115 yards on 17 carries and three scores, all season highs. The 100-yard effort was his first of the season and eighth of his career. Quick caught five passes for 73 yards and scored on six- and 34-yard receptions. In three career games against Wofford, Quick has torched the Terriers for 426 yards and seven touchdowns on 17 receptions. Quarterback DeAndre Presley bounced back from last week’s sub-par performance at Georgia Southern to complete 15 of his first 17 passes and finish with 192 yards on 17-of-26 completions and 17 more yards on 11 rushes.

High School Football Playoffs: Round 1

Nine local teams came into the first round of the playoffs looking to keep their seasons alive. In the 4A West bracket, #6 West Charlotte traveled to Taylorsville to take on the #3 Alexander Central. But in the end, West Charlotte prevailed with a 20-7 win over the Cougars. In the 4AA West, #6 South Caldwell traveled to #3 Vance, only to come up short with a 13-7 loss to the Cougars. In 3AA West, #7 Enka traveled to Morganton to take on #2 Freedom. The Patriots prevailed with a 44-21 win over Enka. In the 3A Midwest, #7 Hickory traveled to China Grove to take on #2 Carson. Carson ended Hickory's season with a 45-33 win over the Red Tornadoes. In the 3A West, #7 Patton traveled to Lenoir to face #2 Hibriten. Hibriten shut out Patton with a 42-0 win. In the 2AA West, #6 Black Mountain Owen traveled to Newton to face #3 Newton-Conover. Owen defeated the Red Devils 28-25. Also in the 2AA West, #7 Bunker Hill traveled to #2 Shelby. Shelby prevailed 38-6 over the Bears. In the 2A West, #6 Maiden traveled to Columbus to face #3 Polk County. The Wolverines topped the Blue Devils 52-21.

Bears look to take down Shelby

Coming off a 49-20 win over arch rival Bandys, the Bears head to the playoffs to take on the Shelby Golden Lions in first round play. In their playoff meeting last season, the Golden Lions rolled with a 40-9 victory at Shelby. The Bears return to Shelby tonight looking for some payback. There's something the Bears have this season that they didn't last year, a secret weapon. Justin Lynch has been a major threat all season in the Bears backfield. Only a sophomore, Lynch ran for a career-high 226 yards last week against the Trojans. This kid is the real deal. The Bears will look to him to dominate the Golden Lion defense and lead the Bears to victory.

Player Profile: CJ Costabile- Duke Lacrosse

2010: Played in all 20 contests as a longstick midfielder … voted to USILA All-America third team … named to the NCAA All-Tournament team after scoring the overtime game-winning goal in the NCAA Championship game versus Notre Dame (5/31) … won 6-of-10 faceoffs against the Fighting Irish, including winning the faceoff en route to tallying the game-winner … finished the year with four goals and five assists for nine points … posted a .543 win percentage (75-of-138) in restarts and picked up 65 ground balls to rank third on the team in pickups … registered four goals, won 15-of-22 battles at the X and forced five turnovers in the four NCAA Tournament games … chipped in two markers and won 7-of-9 faceoffs in the NCAA quarterfinal win over North Carolina (5/22) … added one goal in the semifinal victory over Virginia (5/29) … registered game-winning assist and captured 10-of-13 restarts in regular season contest against Virginia (4/17) … was named ACC Player of the Week after his performance against the Cavaliers … won a season-high 13 faceoffs  and picked up nine ground balls against Maryland (3/6) … named to the All-ACC Academic Team.

Beckham keys Galaxy to victory

David Beckham set up goals by Edson Buddle with a corner kick and Omar Gonzalez with a free kick in an 8-minute span of the first half to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer's Western Conference semifinal Sunday night. Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made three saves for the Galaxy, who will play host to FC Dallas after winning the two-game series against Seattle 3-1. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena called Beckham's set pieces "terrific," he said, especially after the midfielder played the first game on a wet artificial surface in Seattle. "That was the difference in the game," Arena said of Beckham's set pieces. "He had a tough week recovering from the field in Seattle but he started coming around Friday." Steve Zakuani scored for Seattle Sounders FC to break a playoff goalless streak of 386 minutes over two years. "We still have to grow up a little bit," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "For a couple of guys on our team, the game was too big for them. It was too big an occasion for them. They just turned over the ball in bad positions, bad spots. "We can't give up goals on set pieces like that and we can't start to play 20 minutes into the game." Buddle scored his second goal of the playoffs in the 19th minute. He escaped defender Tyrone Marshall's grasp to head Beckham's corner kick inside the left post from eight yards. Gonzalez made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. After Beckham took a 32-yard free kick, Gonzalez dived to head the ball inside the left post from seven yards.