Bunker Hill, Hickory go for dual-team victories

Bunker Hill and Hickory continue to pursue state girls’ high school dual-team tennis championships with third round matches on Monday.

The Bears (17-5), a wild-card entry from the Catawba Valley Athletic 2A, travel to play Salisbury (17-1) in 2A.

The Red Tornadoes (17-2), the top 3A seed from the Northwestern 3A-4A, go to Asheville (17-3) in 3A.

The state semifinals are Wednesday and the state championships are Saturday.

The other West 2A teams left are West Davidson (15-6) and Shelby (17-0), who play Monday at Shelby.

The other West 3A teams left are Weddington (14-1) and Charlotte Catholic (18-2), and they meet Monday at Catholic.

FOOTBALL

Whitaker earns award

Lenoir-Rhyne University head football coach Mike Houston announced Isaiah Whitaker has been selected as this week’s Ronnie Lott Heavy Hitter Award winner.

Whitaker wins the award for the first time in his career. 

Whitaker, a red-shirt freshman fullback from Salisbury, rushed for a career-high 177 yards and three touchdowns in L-R’s 52-28 victory over Wingate last Saturday at home. 

Whitaker leads the Bears in rushing yards this year (655) to go along with five touchdowns. 

L-R (5-3, 4-1) plays host to Newberry (3-5, 3-2) on Senior Day in a South Atlantic Conference game Saturday at 2 p.m. 

GoldToeMoretz will donate $1,000 in the names of each week’s winner of the Heavy Hitter Award to Habitat For Humanity of Catawba County.

GOLF

Trio of girls advance to state championships

Three area girls will play in the state championships on Monday and Tuesday in Pinehurst.

Sophomore Bree Keeler of Hickory and juniors Megan Kirsey of Freedom and Ashlyn Setzer of Fred T. Foard are in the field.

Keeler had a round of 86, Kirsey finished at 96 and Setzer had a 99 in the West Regionals to earn a spot in the state tournament field.

Lauffenburger wins final event, Ervin wins 2011 title

Hickory’s Mark Lauffenburger won the season finale Brushy Mountain Fall Open at Brushy Mountain Golf Club and John Ervin of Hiddenite won the 2011 UGA championship.

Lauffenburger finished with a 5-over-par 77, finishing six shots in front of second-place Tim Cooke of Granite Falls for his second straight win and fourth of the season.

Lauffenburger trailed by three shots at the turn to Ron Frady of Hickory, but shot an even-par 36 on the back nine -- including birdies at 17 and 18 -- to secure the win.

Frady finished fifth with an 86.

 SOCCER

Lenoir-Rhyne 1, Tusculum 1

Tusculum (7-7-3, 6-1-2 South Atlantic Conference) scored on an own goal late in the match to tie L-R in the regular-season finale men’s soccer match in South Atlantic Conference play.

L-R (7-8-3, 3-4-2) struck first when Mehmet Karailinc scored at the 11:38 mark.

It was the second straight tie for the Bears.

Both teams will compete in the SAC men’s soccer tournament that begins Tuesday.

Tusculum is seeded second in the tournament and will play host to seventh-seeded L-R.

L-R women open at home

Top-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne faces eighth-seeded Carson-Newman at home at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the first round of the South Atlantic Conference women’s soccer championships.

L-R defeated Carson-Newman 2-1 in the regular season at Carson-Newman.

The winner faces the winner of the Anderson-Tusculum match in the semifinals at Rock Hill, S.C., on Friday.

Anderson is the fourth seed and Tusculum is seeded fifth.

BANQUETS

Thompson will be feature speaker at FCA’s event

Basketball legend David Thompson will share his message on Nov. 8 in the Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s Legend of the Game event at the Hickory Metro Convention Center.

Thompson, who starred in high school basketball at Crest, in college at N.C. State and then in the NBA, will talk about his life and religion from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Various tables for groups of 10 are available, and individual admission is $25 for students and $50 for adults (an event t-shirt is included).

For more information, contact the FCA at hickoryfca@gmail.com.