Vikings Take Three of Four at Owen

The Avery Vikings traveled to Swannanoa for its conference opener in basketball Tuesday night against Owen.

Both junior varsity teams picked up their first victories of the season. Avery's girls won by a final score of 44-29. Mercedes Bentley netted 17 in the win, with 15 from Megan Tennant. The JV boys team won by a final of 31-26.

The Lady Vikings varsity girls earned their first win by a 64-50 final score. Katelynn Eudy netted 20 points to go with 10 rebounds to lead Avery, while Katie Ellis scored 10 points, to go with seven steals and six rebounds.

Avery's boys varsity team was not able to leave Swannanoa with a win as the home team earned a 57-43 win. Dustin Clarke scored 17 to lead Avery, while Luke Pittman had 13 points and two assists, and Cole Blackburn tallied five points, with ten rebounds, four steals, and a pair of assists.

The Big Red return to the court on Thursday in Morganton against Patton High, then return home on Friday for varsity only contests against Thomas Jefferson Academy.

Vikings Wrestling Competes in Doubleheader at Ashe County

The Avery wrestling team was active over the weekend with a pair of early-season events. As the Avery and Ashe County basketball teams squared off Friday night, the Big Red grapplers traveled to Jefferson to take on the Ashe County wrestling squad. Despite a strong effort, the Vikings fell in a hard-fought meet by a 48-28 final score.

Avery’s lighter weight wrestlers Bennett Sweat (103 lbs.) and Jacob McKinney (112 lbs.) picked up forfeit victories.

Other Vikings visiting the winner’s circle on Friday night were Nick Malgadey by 20-8 majority decision at 119 pounds, Forrest Sickler by first period pinfall at 135 pounds, and Lucas Lecka by second period pinfall at 189 pounds.

Following the tournament the Vikings had an early morning on Saturday as they participated back at Ashe County High School in the Ashe County Invitational.

Avery began the meet with a dual against the North Iredell Raiders, dropping the meet by a 64-15 final match score. Victors in the North Iredell match included Nick Malgadey by third period pin (112 lbs.), Brock Yackey by 9-2 decision at 119 pounds, Anthony Varacalli by second period pin (145 lbs.), and Lucas Lecka by first period pinfall at 189 pounds.

In the team’s second dual, the team wrestled an even dual against the Grayson County losing by a final score of 43-42. The two squads tied following the match’s conclusion, and the sixth criterion was used to determine a winner, which was which team scored the highest number of first points. Each team had one forfeit apiece, and six pins for each team, but Grayson scored the first point in seven matches to Avery’s five matches.

Winners in the Grayson meet included Bennett Sweat at 103 pounds (second period pinfall), Nick Malgadey at 112 pounds (second period pinfall), Brock Yackey at 119 pounds (second period pin), Anthony Varacalli by forfeit at 145 pounds, Jose Munoz by first period pin at 152 pounds, Lucas Lecka by pinfall in 20 seconds at 189 pounds, and Justin Crowder by first period pinfall at 215 pounds.

The Vikings were dominant in picking up its first dual meet victory in the tournament, routing 1A foe East Wilkes by a final score of 66-18. East Wilkes picked up 12 of its 18 points by forfeit victories. Winners in the dual included Sweat by forfeit (103 lbs.), Malgadey by first period pin (112 lbs.), Yackey by second period pin (119 lbs.), and Tyler Long by first period pin (125 lbs.). Forfeit victories were earned by Bryan Moody (140 lbs.), Varacalli (145 lbs.), Jose Munoz (152 lbs.), Trent Mitchell (160 lbs.), C.J. Vance (171 lbs.), Nathaniel Buchanan (215 lbs.), and Crowder (heavyweight).

Avery copied the feat in its next dual against Holston High School, winning by the same 66-18 meet score. Forfeit winners in the dual included Sweat, McKinney, Malgadey, Yackey, Long, Varacalli, and Lecka. Sickler won by second period pinfall at 135 pounds, with a victory by first period pin at 140 pounds by Moody. C.J. Vance (171 lbs.) and Justin Crowder (Hvy.) were both victorious in their respective matches by second period pinfall.

In the final dual meet of the day, Avery fell 51-28 to Galax High School. Match winners included Malgadey (majority decision 22-10 at 119 lbs.), Sickler (forfeit at 135 lbs.), Varacalli (first period pin at 145 lbs.), Jose Munoz (first period pin at 152 lbs.), Mitchell (first period pin at 160 lbs.), and C.J. Vance (second period pin at 171 lbs.).

To date, the best individual records on the Vikings team go to Anthony Varacalli (10-1 overall), with Sweat, Malgadey, Yackey, and Jose Munoz each holding records of 7-4 overall on the young season. Vance is also over .500 with a 3-2 mark in five matches this season.

Avery holds a dual meet on Thursday night against rival Watauga at Viking Gym starting at 6 p.m., and travels to Tuscola High School in Waynesville on Saturday for the NEO Invitational.

2008 All-Conference Fall Sports Selections Announced

All-Western Highlands Conference award recipients were named this past week for the fall sports season. The following is a list of those recognized, with Avery honorees in bold.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY:
Mary Chestnut-Smith (Avery County); Kristen Stout, Ana Reyes, Anna Fosberg, Lillian Rolfe, Alyssa Chet and Ana Unda (Hendersonville); Cynthia Griffin, Megan Bennett and Aleshia Reece (Madison).
Coach of the Year: Jessica Houston (Hendersonville).
Runner of the Year: Kristen Stout (Hendersonville).

FOOTBALL:
Christian Montgomery (Avery County); Wesley Cook, Robert Mills, Daniel Orr, Corey Cook, Darren Perry, Jon Bowie, Ben Walgenbach and Cedrick Allen (Hendersonville); Logan Jensen, Austin Burleson and Taylor Hall (Mitchell); Kirk Burnette, Jesse Ballew, Zach Howell, Taylor Fender, Dylan McMahon, Casey Randolph, Kyle Barrus, Clint Carlson and Chris Jones (Mountain Heritage); Andy Coleman, Seth Blankenship, Seth Stewart, Josh Leake and Brennan Kirby (Owen); Jordan Ollis, Andre Overholt, Kamron Kerr, Tony Wicklund, Zach Searcy and Tyler Philpott (Polk County).

Coach of the Year: B.J. Laughter (Hendersonville).
Player of the Year: Cedrick Allen (Hendersonville).
Back of the Year: Jesse Ballew (Mountain Heritage).
Lineman of the Year: Zach Howell (Mountain Heritage).
Special Teams Player of the Year: Stephen Roper (Hendersonville)

BOYS SOCCER:
Andrew Ingram and Kyle Griewisch (Avery County); Tyler Combs, Cody Labelle, Brayan Aguirre, Andrew Boyea, Juan Macias and Eddie Hernandez (Hendersonville); Isaac Justice and Petr Bunzayn (Madison); Jacob Martinez (Mitchell); Daniel Godfrey (Mountain Heritage); Stefan Cazzonelli, Jermaine Vernon and Brandon Roland (Owen); Heath Culbreath, Cole Weicker, Chris Abril, Tony Sciuva, Russell McIntyre and Hugo Santos (Polk County).

Coach of the Year: Lennox Charles (Polk County).
Player of the Year: Brayan Aguirre (Hendersonville).
Goalkeeper of the Year: Christian Maloney (Madison).

GIRLS TENNIS
Coach of the Year: Rhinanon Manis (Avery County).
Co-Players of the Year: Maddie Fahnley (Polk County) and Morgan Yackey (Avery County)

VOLLEYBALL
Katie Ellis and Rachel Buchanan (Avery County); Ellen Payne, Sarah Carswell and Brooks Walz (Hendersonville); Laurel Gregg and Heather Jenkins (Madison); Sam Smith (Mitchell); Alli Huskins and Taylor Fox (Mountain Heritage); Stephanie Jones (Owen); Maggie Conner, Denise Edwards, Kaitlyn Franks and Katie Wilson (Polk County).
Coach of the Year: Heather Clausen (Polk County).
Co-Players of the Year: Courtney Huskins (Mountain Heritage) and Avery Griggs (Hendersonville).

Congratulations to all Avery honorees!

Johnson Garners ACC, CBS Sports Coach of the Year Honors

Paul Johnson, whose first Georgia Tech team exceeded all expectations by winning nine regular season games, received a pair of honors last week when he was named the CBS Sports Coach of the Year in college football, and was named the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year Tuesday by the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA).

Johnson, an Avery County native and former student and coach at Avery High School, was selected over Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Utah’s Kyle Whittingham for the honor from CBS. Georgia Tech, ranked 14th in the BCS standings and 15th in the Associated Press poll, finished the regular season with a 9-3 record, remarkably better than every preseason projection.

Sports Illustrated predicted Johnson's first Yellow Jacket team would win just three games, and Tech was picked to finish fourth in the ACC's Coastal Division. With a 5-3 record in ACC play, the Jackets tied Virginia Tech for the Coastal Division title.

"This is an honor for the football program at Georgia Tech, the coaching staff and the players," Johnson said today. "There are a lot of great coaches in the ACC, so it's humbling to win such a prestigious honor."

Johnson, who came to Georgia Tech last December after a highly-successful, six-year tenure at Navy, inherited a roster low in scholarship numbers and overloaded with youth. Only 76 players are on scholarship, including three senior walk-ons who were awarded scholarships prior to the start of the season, below the maximum of 85 scholarships. The roster includes 75 freshmen and sophomores, and 16 of 22 starters are either freshmen or sophomores.

Many questioned whether or not Johnson's spread option offense would work in the ACC. Last Saturday, with no senior starters on offense, Georgia Tech rolled up 409 rushing yards against Georgia, which ranked 15th nationally in rushing defense at the time. For the season, the Yellow Jackets lead the ACC in total offense (377.3) and rank third nationally in rushing offense (282.3).

Johnson is the first Georgia Tech coach to be named ACC Coach of the Year since George O'Leary in 2000. O'Leary also won the award in 1998. Tech's Bobby Ross won the honor in 1990 after leading the Yellow Jackets to a share of the national championship. Bill Curry, in 1985, is the only other Georgia Tech coach to win the award. During Tech's tenure in the Southeastern Conference (1933-1963), Bobby Dodd won conference coach of the year honors twice (1951 and 1952) and William Alexander captured the award in 1939.

Johnson was honored, along with other conference individual award winners, last Friday in Tampa, Florida prior to the ACC Championship Game. His Yellow Jackets have accepted a bid to play in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Atlanta.