By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Area Athletes update …
T.J. Johnson’s huge day rallied UNC Pembroke to a 31-24 win against Newberry on Saturday.
In the third quarter, the former A.L. Brown caught a 10-yard touchdown pass.
Two minutes later, Johnson threw a 42-yard scoring pass on a trick play.
Johnson is the brother of current A.L. Brown receiver Keeon Johnson, a Virginia commitment headed to the Shrine Bowl.
? Ben DeCelle (East Rowan) contributed to UNCP’s win with five catches for 87 yards, and Cadarreus Mason (South Rowan) made five tackles, including one for loss.
? Ike Whitaker (Salisbury) rumbled for 98 yards on 20 carries, as Lenoir-Rhyne won 44-13 at Wingate.
Whitaker had a 39-yard run to key the Bears’ first scoring drive.
Whitaker ranks fourth in the SAC with 550 rushing yards.
? Josh Patch (East) made seven tackles for the Bulldogs. Joe So (Salisbury) started at center for Wingate.
? The results were mixed for Charleston’s John Knox (Salisbury) in a 14-10 loss to Glenville State.
Knox rushed for 43 yards and threw for 163 more, but he was picked off three times.
? Justin Avery (West Rowan) made five tackles for Livingstone in Saturday’s loss at Fayetteville State.
? B.J. Sherrill (West) threw his 13th touchdown pass for Catawba in a loss to North Greenville. The freshman ranks fifth in the SAC in passing yards.
Division I
? Chris Smith (West) had a productive day in Arkansas’ 30-27 loss to Mississippi in Little Rock.
Smith had a sack and another tackle for loss and was in on five tackles.
Smith leads the Razorbacks in QB hurries with eight and is tied for the team lead with 4.5 sacks.
? Appalachian State’s Jamill Lott (A.L. Brown) was credited with a forced fumble, a pass breakup and five tackles in the Mountaineers’ 38-27 win against Western Carolina.
? In UNC’s 43-35 win against N.C. State, Romar Morris (Salisbury) rushed three times for 12 yards for the Tar Heels and caught a 7-yard pass.
UNC’s Darien Rankin (Salisbury) intercepted a pass and returned it 11 yards. It was the second pick for Rankin, who also had an interception against Idaho.
? South Carolina State’s Javon Hargrave (North Rowan) had two tackles and two QB hurries in a 41-23 win against Howard.
? West Virginia linebacker Jared Barber (Davie) has played in four games and has made eight tackles, including a sack.
? Virginia and K.P. Parks (West) had the day off.
? UNC’s Damien Washington (A.L. Brown), Georgia Tech’s Domonique Noble (West), Western Carolina’s Shaun Warren (Carson) and Army’s Jon Crucitti (West) played in their teams’ games on Saturday but didn’t impact the stat sheet.
Division III
Averett’s Zack Grkman (Carson) had four tackles and two pass breakups in a 31-7 loss to Maryville.
Dontae Gilbert made three tackles for Averett. Gilbert and Grkman both had a tackle for loss.
? Hobie Proctor (West) had a 51-yard kickoff for Averett.? Adam Smith (Davie) had seven receptions for 108 yards for Guilford in a 68-24 loss to Hampden-Sydney.Guilford’s Jordan Farmer (Davie) had two tackles for loss, including a sack.
? Matt Turchin (West) averaged 55.2 yards on four kickoffs and was 3-for-3 on PATs in Emory & Henry’s 27-21 loss to Bridgewater.

Cross country
USC Upstate’s Ross Oden (East) ran a personal best 8k time of 25:25 to help the Spartans claim their second Atlantic Sun Conference championship title on Saturday in Fort Myers, Fla.
Oden finished 12th for a berth on the All-Atlantic Sun second team.

College volleyball
Lenoir-Rhyne’s Kayla Morrow (South) had four kills, two digs and two blocks in a 3-0 loss to Wingate.
Morrow ranks fourth on the Bears (16-7) with 129 kills. She’s been the top blocker for the Bears with 10 solos and 57 combo blocks.
L-R is tied for third place in the SAC at 8-4.
? Shanna Stewart (Carson) helped Johnson & Wales (16-10) qualify for the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association national championships that will be held Nov. 1-4 in Canton, N.Y. J&W was 2-2 against D-II teams.
? Sophomore setter Nicole Barringer (South) had 123 assists and 23 digs as Averett split four weekend matches, beating Virginia Wesleyan and Moravan and losing to Lynchburg and Salisbury.
Barringer had 43 assists in the 3-1 win against Virginia Wesleyan.
Averett (24-10) will be seeded fourth in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament that starts Friday in Martinsville, Va.
? Guilford setter Taylor Whitley (Carson) had 51 assists, 19 digs and seven kills as the Quakers dropped two Senior Day matches on Saturday.
Guilford (9-17) didn’t qualify for the ODAC tournament.
? Lela Moore (West) is the setter for Hollins, a D-III school in Roanoke, Va.
Hollins (6-23) didn’t qualify for the ODAC tournament, but Moore played well in four weekend matches. She had 91 assists and 28 digs.