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Wakefield junior Devon Enderle cruised to a sixth-place finish in the 3,200-meter run at the Boo Williams Winter Break Invitational in Hampton, Va., Dec. 28-29. Overall, the Wolverines put together an excellent showing in Virginia as the boys team captured first and the girls took second.
Wakefield track shines at Boo Williams Invitational
While other people might have been setting up their New Year's plans earlier this week, the Wakefield track team was making their own preparations.
For what, you ask? On-the-track dominance.
It isn't an overstatement to say the Wolverines stole the show at the Boo Williams Winter Break Invitational in Hampton, Va., Dec. 28-29. And here's the proof: The boys bested the field of 35 teams, scoring 75 points, 23 more than second-finisher Western Branch.
And not to be outdone, the Lady Wolverines (84.50) raced their way to a second-place finish, trailing only Elizabeth Seton (111).
Continued ...
Leesville Road's Shyheid Petteway (31) drives toward the basket as Jake Lenox gives chase during Thursday's 39-38 win over Wakefield. Petteway scored seven points in the victory.
'Underdog' Pride hand Wolverines first league loss
Although his Leesville Road boys basketball team's eight-point halftime lead over Wakefield Thursday might have been impressive — as well as unexpected — head coach Roderic Brewington knew the contest's conclusion was long from over.
With the sound of Wakefield head coach Pat Kennedy's voice reverberating from a nearby locker room, Brewington implored his troop with two simple goals: maintain their intensity and win the third quarter.
"I told our guys 'I have been watching sports my whole life, you're the underdogs. I've seen it hundreds of times, the underdogs come out flat in the second half and then they lose it,'" instructed the coach. "'You have to meet their intensity.'"
Part two of his instructions were focused strictly on the game's next eight minutes.
Wakefield freshman (22) Makayla Williams swoops in for two of her six points in Thursday's 53-16 victory at Leesville Road.
Lady Wolverines pounce on Pride
In its last Cap-7 Conference contest before the holiday break, the Wakefield girls basketball team wasted little time knocking off Leesville Road Thursday, jumping out to a 17-4 advantage en route to a 53-16 victory.
Powered by a strong first-half performance from senior Kayla Harris, who scored all 15 of her points in the opening two quarters, the Lady Wolverines never allowed the Pride to get into a rhythm.
With Harris causing havoc in the paint, senior Nicole Weaver provided Wakefield with an outside presence, tallying 11 points and hitting three three-pointers.
Wakefield receiver Nigel King — one of the most sought-after recruits in the state — plans to make his verbal commitment Friday, Dec. 18.
Wakefield's King
to announce college decision Friday
According to Wakefield assistant football coach Charles Johnson, highly recruited junior Nigel King plans to announce his verbal commitment Friday morning at the North Raleigh high school.
"He's made his decision, and I think it's a good choice for him," Johnson said earlier this week.
The coach added he and King discussed the choice at length this weekend.
Since receiving his first offer — LSU — in September, King has garnered several others including N.C. State, Louisville, Maryland and Colorado.
But Johnson conceded the Wolverine receiver will mostly likely choose between LSU and North Carolina.
Millbrook 103-pounder Brett Burton tightens his grip on Wakefield's Zach Koehler Wednesday. Burton scored a fall in the second period.
Wildcat wrestlers wreak havoc
at Wakefield
Momentum is supposed to be one of those unmeasurable elements of sports lore. It's fleeting, often hard to define and in no way quantifiable.
Yet during the Millbrook wrestling team's dominating 73-6 victory at Wakefield Wednesday, Dec. 16, you could see it and feel it.
The Wildcats were on a tear, and the Wolverines didn't stand a chance.
Sanderson 119-pounder Adam Tassitino won his weight class at Saturday's Wolverine Challenge.
Wakefield, Sanderson wrestlers hit mat at Wolverine Challenge
SHS' Tassitino takes first; WHS' McKinnon snags second
Last weekend's sixth annual Wolverine Challenge presented an array of noteworthy storylines — positive and, unfortunately, negative — for the Wakefield and Sanderson wrestling teams.
Some outcomes were predictable, others surprising and one early result was just downright heartbreaking.
On the predictable side, the Spartans' 119-pounder Adam Tassitino continued his early-season dominance, scoring four wins, including two pins, en route to winning his weight class.
Wakefield's Nicole Weaver (24) battles for position for a rebound Tuesday against Millbrook. She later hit a three-pointer lifting the Lady Wolverines to a 43-39 victory.
Christian, Wakefield hand Cats OT loss
Having just watched her Wakefield girls basketball team cough up an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead at Millbrook Tuesday— and now headed for overtime — head coach Danielle Blackburn put the game squarely on the Lady Wolverines' upperclassmen, recalled senior Nicole Weaver.
"During that timeout before overtime, Coach Blackburn told us she was putting in all our seniors and it was our job to finish the game," the forward explained. "And I think we got in the mindset that we weren't going to lose."
Brittany Christian, the Wakefield's one consistent threat all night, did her part, nailing an early three-pointer, giving the Lady Wolverines' an early 39-36 advantage, but Millbrook's Courtney Spearman answered back two minutes later with her own trey.
Wakefield's Nigel King (left) fights for room against Millbrook's Donzell Hill during Tuesday night's game. Nigel later won the game with a late jumpshot.
King's game-winner pushes Wolverines past Cats Tuesday
Prior to hitting his game-winning jumpshot Tuesday night, which lifted the Wakefield boys basketball team to a 49-47 victory over Millbrook, junior Nigel King unsuccessfully bided his time on the bench.
"He must have tapped me 40 times saying he wanted back into the game," laughed Wakefield assistant coach Dexter Cooley, recalling King's anxiousness.
But once King got his chance, he made the most of it.
As teammate Dominique McDonald in-bounded the ball with 4.4 seconds left in a tied game, King found himself open outside the three-point line. With Millbrook's Shi'Chee Moore swooping in for a steal — which nearly disrupted the play — King gathered himself, and put up a leaning jumper which went cleanly through the basket with less than a second left.
Continued ...
Following his outsanding 2009 season, Millbrook junior Justus Hoffmann was named the Cap-7 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year.
Cap-7 announces
All-Conference
football honors
WF-R's Trea Jones receives
Player of the Year award
Two days after the Heisman trophy was awarded to the best running back on the best college team — Alabama's Mark Ingram — the Cap-7 Conference released it's awards Monday morning, including the league's Player of the Year honors.
And like the Heisman, the Cap-7 coaches also voted to award the best running back on the best team with the league's highest accolade.
After leading the Wake Forest-Rolesville football team to an undefeated regular-season, and its second straight 4-AA Eastern Regional appearance, Trea Jones was named the league's Player of the Year.
Wakefield's Xavier Saddler-Mee (right) races to the hoop following a steal in the second half of Thursday's win over Sanderson. In the background, teammate Dominique McDonald can be seen cheering Saddler-Mee on.
Saddler-Mee, Wolverines knock off Sanderson in opener
His coach's explanation at halftime made sense to junior Xavier Saddler-Mee during the Wakefield boys basketball team's 64-49 victory over Sanderson Thursday night.
Trailing the Spartans 29-27 at the break, Wolverine head coach Pat Kennedy implored his squad to fight harder, and expend more energy than they showed in a somewhat lethargic first half of their Cap-7 Conference opener.
"Coach told us that if we wanted to win, we have to pick it up and it starts with defense," Saddler-Mee recalled. "And I put it on myself to try and lock down their best player, play him tight and try to deny him the ball, and I was able to get a couple steals. It seemed like they just threw it to me."
In fact, in one 30-second period — stretching from the end of the third and into the fourth quarter — the guard singlehandedly dashed the Spartans' spirits.
Continued ...
Sanderson's Derricka Lewis (left) scored 22 points in Thursday's match-up at Wakefield, but Kayla Harris (right) — and her 32 points — helped the Lady Wolverines to an 18-point victory.
Lady Wolverines fight off Spartan challenge
Wakefield senior Brittany Christian understood or came to understand three truths during Thursday night's 78-60 victory in the Cap-7 Conference girls basketball opener against Sanderson.
First, the Lady Spartans' shooters — especially Courtney Trumps, who scored 23 points — can definitely light it up. "We knew they had good guards," the Lady Wolverine recalled.
Secondly, Sanderson freshman Derricka Lewis is a star in the making — well, maybe already a star. "She was just killing it out there, taking it to the basket," she said. "She is going to be good. She already is good."
And finally, the best way to answer a run — like the 10-2 spurt by the Lady Spartans in the second quarter — is to go on one of your own.
After initially being sidelined with a leg cramp, Sanderson's Marshall Bass rebounded to record a first-round pin in Wednesday's Cap-7 Conference opener against Wakefield.
Spartan wrestlers
roll past Wakefield
Sanderson notches five pins in opener
Entering his first varsity match of the season Wednesday night against Wakefield, Sanderson 112-pound wrestler Marshall Bass was taken down before he could even hit the mat.
Moments after checking in for his match — which was the first bout of the Cap-7 Conference opener — Bass grabbed a seat on the nearby bleachers, hobbled by serious leg cramps.
A minute later, with the assistance of a Spartan trainer, Bass worked out the kinks in his lower leg, took the floor and scored a pin in 1:32.
The first-round victory set the tone for Sanderson, which scored a 45-18 win over Wakefield, including pins in four of the first six matches.
Senior Travis Carrington received the Ironman Award during last week's Wolverine football banquet, celebrating his hard work throughout his four-year career. In the future, the Ironman Award will be renamed the Travis Carrington Awards, said Wakefield head coach J.D. Dinwiddie.
Wakefield's Ironman
Senior Travis Carrington honored at Wolverine football banquet
Travis Carrington's senior season might have come to an end, but the Wakefield football player's legacy will live on long past his playing days.
At the Wolverines' football banquet at Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh Dec. 3, the Wakefield coaching staff, led by J.D. Dinwiddie, presented Carrington with the Ironman Award for his inspiration and work ethic during his high school career.
Born with a mild form of Cerebral Palsy, which affects the movement on his right side, Carrington played football all four years of high school, including on the varsity team his junior and senior seasons.
For their work on the pitch this fall, Millbrook's Austin Dietz (left) and Wakefield's Ryan Metts were both named to the Cap-7 Conference All-Conference team.
Cap-7 releases
All-Conference soccer selections
The Cap-7 Conference, arguably North Carolina's most competitive soccer league this fall, recently released its All-Conference selections.
Broughton — which won the conference's regular-season and tournament titles — led the league with seven All-Conference honorees, while Leesville Road and Sanderson tied for the second-most selections with six apiece.
Without further ado, the Cap-7 Conference All-Conference team ...
Wakefield's Savanna Johnson races against competition from Leesville Road , East Wake and WF-R during last week's swimming meet at North Carolina State University.
Pride, Wolverines hit the water
Leesville Road takes 20 of 24 swimming events Dec. 1
The Leesville Road and Wakefield swim teams got in some early-season work last week, competing against East Wake and Wake Forest-Rolesville at N.C. State's Carmichael Complex Dec. 1.
And the Pride flexed plenty of muscle in the pool, winning 20 of the meet's 24 events.
Leesville got off to a fast start, winning the women's 200-yard medley relay. Maggie Feltman, Jillian Schoening, Hannah Stephenson and Abby Vance combined to swim a time of 2:01.33 to notch the victory.
Leesville also bested the competition in the men's 200-yard medley relay as Connor Blevins, Charlie Barker, Matthew Hurley and Scott Johnson finished in 1:46.88. Wakefield's Alex Eiden, Grayson Davis, Rafael Lopez and Matthew Tolley snagged second with a time of 1:51.10.
Wakefield guard Donald McDonald (white jersey) slips past two Knightdale defenders for two of his 11 points Friday.
Knights run rampant over Wakefield
Following Friday night's 74-61 loss to Knightdale, the Wakefield boys basketball team can point to at least three different occasions when the contest's momentum clearly shifted away from the Wolverines.
First, when the Knights' Ronnie Frederick dropped in consecutive three-pointers as well as a lay-in — plus a foul — to open the second quarter.
For Wakefield head coach Pat Kennedy, his personal (un)favorite was the moment after the Wolverines' Keith Armstrong was called for goaltending in the second quarter. The coach wasn't arguing the call, but the fact that if Wakefield had scored during the possession, the game would have been tied with three minutes left in the first half. Instead, the Knights closed out the second quarter leading 28-22.
And thirdly, during a three-minute scoring blitz during the third quarter, Wakefield dropped in 11 points. The only problem was Knightdale scored 13 during the span.
Wakefield senior Kayla Harris scored 18 points in Wednesday's tough loss at Green Hope.
Undefeated
Green Hope hands Wolverines first loss
Three minutes into the second half of Wednesday's 56-46 loss, the Wakefield girls basketball team appeared to have Green Hope reeling — quite an accomplishment given the Falcons' blustering first half.
On the strength of Kristen Gaffney's 22-point first half — the sophomore finished with 28 — Green Hope (5-0) took a commanding 35-22 lead into halftime.
But the Lady Wolverines rallied, scoring the second half's first seven points, including a Brittany Christian trey, which brought an explosion from the Wakefield bench and forced a Green Hope timeout.
As Christian leapt in excitement, teammate Kayla Harris slapped her on the back as the Lady Wolverines went into their huddle, having positioned themselves right back in the game.
Wakefield senior Katie Slay (16) was named to the fourth annual Under Armour Girls High School All-America team. With her selection, Slay will attend the Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match & Skills Competition held in Tampa, Fla., Dec. 18-20.
Wakefield's
Slay named to
Under Armour
All-America team
If the Penn State University women's volleyball team makes a run at its third consecutive national championship this December in Tampa, Fla. — a good chance considering the Lions have won 90-plus contests in a row — Wakefield senior and future Lady Lion Katie Slay will be there.
But the title game won't be the emphasis of the Lady Wolverine's trip down south.
In a press release last week, the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) announced the rosters for the fourth annual Under Armour Girls High School All-America Teams, and Slay earned first-team All-America honors.
All 24 first-team representatives are invited to compete in the Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match & Skills Competition held in Tampa, Fla., Dec. 18-20.
And what's one of the perks of being a first-team All-American? Tickets to the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship Match held the same weekend as the high school All-Star event in Florida.
Wakefield junior Xavier Saddler-Mee (24) slips to the basket for two points during the Wolverines' 68-43 victory over Knightdale Monday, Nov. 23.
Wakefield knocks off Knightdale
Wolverines' 8-0 run to close first quarter leads to victory
Although early foul trouble forced starter Maurice Nash — who dropped 30 points in the Wolverines' previous contest — off the floor in the first quarter of Monday's game at Knightdale, the Wakefield boys basketball team didn't lack for firepower.
With Nigel King subbing in Nash's place, the junior torched the Knights' defense for 10 first-quarter points, including back-to-back treys in the final minute of the period, igniting a 8-0 Wakefield run.
After taking a 24-12 lead in the first, the Wolverines never looked back, thumping Knightdale 68-43, and improving its early-season record to 3-0.
For Wakefield head coach Pat Kennedy, King's performance — he finished with 12 points — kick-started a team-wide effort.
Last week, Wakefield sharp shooter Brittany Christian spoke with NorthRaleighSports.com about the 2009-10 Lady Wolverines, playing under Coach Danielle Blackburn and who's the next Wakefield star on the rise.
Keith Armstrong (42) scored 12 points and dropped in the winning bucket as time expired in Wakefield's 47-45 victory over Clayton Wednesday, Nov. 18.
Armstrong's
last-second shot
seals Wakefield win
Wolverines knock of Clayton
on opening night
Following Keith Armstrong's last-second lay-up to seal the Wakefield boys basketball team's 47-45 win over Clayton Wednesday night, head coach Pat Kennedy explained what got the Wolverines' game-winning play in motion.
And it probably isn't what you think.
After a timeout, Jake Lenox inbounded the ball to point guard Dominique McDonald with 14 seconds remaining. As McDonald pushed the ball up-court, Lenox, who raced down court, flashed to the top of the key. McDonald proceeded to dribble toward the corner, driving the Comet defense out, setting up Armstrong in the paint for the easy lay-in.
Wakefield senior Kayla Harris (30) dropped 29 points in Wednesday's 75-58 win over Clayton.
Harris, Wakefield clip Comets
Powered by seniors Kayla Harris and Brittany Christian, who scored 29 and 22 points, respectively, as well as a 13-2 first-quarter run, the Wakefield girls basketball team notched a 75-58 victory over visiting Clayton Wednesday night.
While the Lady Wolverines were forced to squash the Comets' third-quarter run, which reduced Wakefield's 20-point halftime lead to just eight points, the squad pulled out a convincing victory on opening night.
Harris, a recent University of South Carolina Aiken commit, provided the Lady Wolverines with consistent offense, scoring six or more points in each of the contest's four quarters. The senior also pulled down 16 rebounds.
"She had a very good stat line," Wakefield head coach Danielle Blackburn said.
A few days before the Wakefield boys basketball team's season opener against Clayton Wednesday, Nov. 18, senior Keith Armstrong spoke with NorthRaleighSports.com about this year's squad.
Click here to read what Armstrong had to say.
With Wakefield girls basketball coach Danielle Blackburn, senior Kayla Harris (left) signed to play basketball at the University of South Carolina Aiken Monday afternoon.
Wakefield's Harris signs with Aiken
Wakefield senior Kayla Harris knew the University of South Carolina Aiken women's basketball program was for her the moment the Pacers coaching staff mapped out their future together.
"They had a plan for me," the Wakefield forward explained. "They told me where they saw me at. I just felt like I was welcome and it made it much easier."
Although Harris' commitment to the Pacers wasn't official until Monday's signing day ceremony in Wakefield High's Media Center, the senior was set on Aiken just days after her August visit to the school's campus.
During his signing ceremony last week, Wakefield senior — and future UNC-Wilmington baseball player — Josh Abshire (center, seated) was joined by his family, including father Les (clockwise, from left), brother Cole, sister Claire and mom Edy.
Abshire commits
to Seahawks
Since making his verbal commitment to UNC-Wilmington this summer, Wakefield senior baseball player Josh Abshire has done his best to acclimate himself with the coastal university's campus.
Have visited the school a handful of times since, Abshire admitted he's driven around to get his bearings at his future home.
On Thursday, Nov. 12, Abshire officially became a member of the Seahawks' baseball program, signing his letter of intent papers with the perennial power in the Colonial Athletic Association.
"I know I made the decision a few months ago, but it's great to finally get it done and I'm looking forward to getting down there and playing," the senior said, following his signing ceremony in Wakefield High's Media Center.
Wakefield running back Courtney Crews needed a moment to himself after watching Garner rally from a 10-point deficit to pull out a 21-17 victory over the Wolverines Friday night.
Fourth-quarter rally leads Garner over Wakefield
Although Juwan Moye's 56-yard scamper in the fourth quarter didn't reach the end zone, the Garner running back's fourth-down dash dealt a punch the Wakefield football team never recovered from Friday night.
The play essentially ignited the Trojans' late rally as Garner overcame a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit, prevailing 21-17 in the 4-AA state playoff first-round match-up.
"That was a killer," Wakefield head coach J.D. Dinwiddie later said of Moye's run.
Why was the play so devastating? Because a defensive stop could have clinched a Wolverine victory.
Trailing 17-7, following consecutive Wakefield touchdown-scoring drives, Garner appeared, not just on the ropes, but set up for a knock-out blow.
