From staff reports
Proud parents Jon and Jenny Horton are certain it was worth the wait.
And every Rowan County football fan should take a moment to salute Brantley Horton.
Horton finally saw his first college action for the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday in a 56-28 win at East Carolina.
Horton was an excellent baseball and football player at West Rowan. He quarterbacked the Falcons to an 11-2 season as a junior in 2007. Mostly he handed off to K.P. Parks, but he also threw for 898 yards and 12 touchdowns.
With B.J. Sherrill taking over as quarterback in 2008, Horton moved to wideout his senior season and was one of the best in West history, producing 47 catches for 876 yards and 11 TDs for a state-championship team.
His biggest catch came against Winston-Salem Carver in the 3A state playoffs. He slipped behind the defense, and fellow receiver Jon Crucitti, who now plays for Army, hit him with a 60-yard TD pass on a trick play that lifted West back into a game it had trailed by 10 points.
Horton attended Navy Prep School for one year. The 6-foot-2, 179-pound receiver has been a member of the football team at Annapolis since 2010, and he’s worked his way on to the travel squad. He not only traveled and dressed this weekend, he got into a game for the first time, playing a half-dozen snaps in the fourth quarter against the Pirates.
“After a year of prep school followed by three years at the academy, and never giving up on football, it was a pretty exciting moment for all of us,” Jenny Horton wrote in an e-mail. “Even Hurricane Sandy couldn’t steal our joy.”
Prep golf
The NCHSAA golf championships will be held today and Tuesday.
The 4A championship is at Pinehurst No. 6. 3A golfers will compete at Longleaf in Southern Pines. The 1A/2A championships will be held on the West Course at Foxfire Resort in Foxfire Village.
Salisbury’s Isabella Rusher is the defending individual champ in 1A/2A. She shot 74-83 – 157 on the Longleaf course last fall.
The Hornets also will seek to defend their 1A/2A team title. Rusher is joined by Grace Yatawara, Madeline Hoskins and Brooke Smith. Dale Snyder coaches the Hornets.
Rusher will start things off for the Hornets today. She’ll tee off at 9:10 a.m.
Salisbury won back-to-back 1A/2A/3A state championships in 2005-06.
Prep football
Pre-sale tickets for the Carson-East Rowan 3A playoff game at East will be on sale all week at East at the main office for $6.
In other first-round games on Friday, Northeast Guilford is at West Rowan, Waxhaw Cuthbertson is at Salisbury, West Montgomery is at North Rowan, North Forsyth is at A.L. Brown, and Jamestown Ragsdale is at Davie County.
Prep volleyball
Carson (34-3) will play in the 3A Western Final at Enka (25-1) on Tuesday.
The Eastern final will pit perennial champ Raleigh Cardinal Gibbons (18-3) against Greenville D.H. Conley (27-3).
The state championship match will be Saturday at Raleigh’s Reynolds Coliseum.
Prep tennis
Salisbury is home today in the third round of the 2A dual team state playoffs. The Hornets will take on Waxhaw Cuthbertson. Katelyn Storey and Anna Flynn, who finished as state runners-up in doubles, lead the Hornets.
• East Rowan is at Hickory today in the third round of the 3A dual team state playoffs.
Lizzie Weaver, the NPC Player of the Year and a state singles quarterfinalist, leads the Mustangs.
• Gray Stone is home today in the third round of the 1A dual team state playoffs against Kernersville Bishop McGuinness.
Individual state doubles champs Brooke Herlocker and Libby Fowler and state singles semifinalist Meghan Hedegpeth lead the Knights.
• Regional finals will be played on Wednesday, with state championship matches set for Saturday.
Prep soccer
Pairings for the soccer state playoffs are expected to be released sometime today.
CCC champ Salisbury will have a home game on Wednesday against a wild-card team.
Carson, which finished third in the NPC, is expected to be on the road at Ledford in the 3A playoffs.
Prep cross country
Cross country state championships are set for Saturday at Kernersville’s Beeson Park.
East Rowan’s boys qualified as a team in 3A.
Individual qualifiers include Carson’s Kyle Gillis an Zachary Marchinko and A.L. Brown’s Kelsie Simpson.
Gray Stone qualified its girls and boys teams in 1A.
Local golf
The annual match between Rolling Hills and McCanless known as the Rolling/Mac Cup was played over the weekend.
Ten two-man teams played for each club. Each match was six holes of Best Ball, six holes of Modified Alternate Shot and six holes of Captain’s Choice.
Three points were available in each match, one point for each six-hole competition.
McCanless prevailed 17.5 to 12.5 on Saturday at Rolling Hills. McCanless won 18-12 on its home course on Sunday.The final score: McCanless 35.5, Rolling Hills 24.5.
Youth cross country
The Hurley YMCA Warriors hosted their first annual cross country meet at Salisbury Community Park on a windy, but dry Saturday.
It was a sanctioned AAU meet and attracted 93 athletes from all over the Piedmont.
Salisbury-Rowan Runners timed all the races. The top three finishers received medals in each division, with ribbons for fourth, fifth and sixth places.
• The 8-under girls 2k race was won by Kaylyn Brown of the Gastonia Eagles in 9:01. Bryana Jackson of the Gastonia Eagles was second. Emma Calvert of the YMCA Warriors was third.
• The 8-under 2K boys race was won by Tristan Kraft of Tri-City Relays. Matthew Burroughs of the YMCA Warriors was second. Eli Julian of the YMCA Warriors was third.
• Leah Cressler of the YMC Warriors won the 3k race for girls, ages 9-10, in 14:10. Mykala Hamilton of the Youth 49ers was second. Madison Arter of St. Egberts Track was third.
• The 3k race for boys, ages 9-10, was won by Avery Kraft of Tri-City Relays in 12:52. Silvester Reed of Tri-City Relays was second. Tanner Arter of St. Agberts Track was third.
• In the 3k race for girls, ages 11-12, Bess Bryan of the YMCA Warriors won in 13:30. Second was Kaela Moore of Tri-City Relays. Aubree Cain of the YMCA Warriors placed third.
•In the 3k race for boys, ages 11-12, Andrew Burgess of the YMCA Warriors won in 11:01. Ethan Deffke (unattached) was second. Brooks Kennedy (unattached, Salisbury) placed third.
• In the 4k race for girls, ages 13-14, Destiny Dula of the Youth 49ers won in 19:32. Julianna Evans of the YMCA Warriors was second. Lindsay Dorman of the YMCA Warriors was third.
• In the 4k race for boys, ages 13-14, Ian Bradshaw (unattached, Salisbury) won in 15:29.
Coby Weant of the YMCA Warriors was second. Conrad Shuggart was third.
• In the 5k race for girls, ages 15-16, Gabriyelle Dixon of the Youth 49ers was the winner in 27:31.
• In the 5k race for boys, ages 15-16, Eduardo Andrade of the Gastonia Eagles won in 19:36. West Rowan’s Patrick Waldo was second. John Newton of St. Egberts Track was third.
• In the 5k race for young men, ages 17-18, Pfeiffer’s Alex Freeze won in 17:37.
Youth soccer
The local FCCA 9U team, the Green Dragons, played Saturday against Charlotte United Football Club and won two matches.
Colin Donaldson, Ben Childress and Maddox Goodnight scored two goals each. Wade Robins scored one goal
Griffin Smith controlled the midfield.
Luke Graeber, Bennett Clark and Will Webb played well defensively.
• The McCanless Couples played with a three-man Captain’s Choice format on Sunday.
The team of Walt Kincaid, Kim Kincaid and Bryan Reynolds finished first.
The team of Jan Godwin, Harry Owens and Tim Earnhardt placed second.
Closest to the pin was won by Roy Green. Godwin low the longest putt.