From staff reports

North Rowan quarterback Willis Mitchell has been invited to participate in the Blue-Grey All-American Bowl Mid-Atlantic Super Regional Combine in Richmond on June 23-24.

The combine will be held at the Washington Redkins training facility.

Mitchell, a rising senior, did well in the North Carolina Regional Combine in Greensboro in late March to earn the invitation.

His family moved to Rowan County from Florida a few years ago.

When the Mitchell family first met North coach Ben Hampton,  Hampton was told Willis was a football player who had just moved into his district.

Hampton took a look at the chunky kid and said, “Great, we can always use offensive linemen.”

Mitchell wasn’t thrilled, but he  kept his mouth shut. He reported to the offensive linemen when practice started, determined to earn his way. And he was a lot quicker and more athletic than he appeared at first glance.

He didn’t stay with the OL group long.  First, an assistant coach saw him long snap and his jaw dropped.  He called for Hampton.

Hampton asked Mitchell if could throw  a ball as well as he long-snapped, and the story goes that Mitchell hit a receiver on the run 40 yards away.

So Mitchell returned to quarterback, the position he’d usually played in Florida.

Mitchell was North’s backup  to Corbin Smith as a sophomore. He didn’t play much, but he looked pretty good for a backup.

As a junior, working with a very young receiving corps, Mitchell started. He threw for 1,871 yards and 20 touchdowns and also rushed for seven TDs for an 8-4 team.

He had a 311-yard passing game against Albemarle and threw for four TDs against South Davidson. He was All-Yadkin Valley Conference.

The best news for North Rowan is that Mitchell has grown a lot since last season. He’s added 3 inches and almost 30 pounds. He’s almost 6-foot-1 now.

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The Post reported earlier that South Rowan back Demarcus Blackwell is headed to the Mid-Atlantic Super Regional Combine.

Blackwell stood out in the Georgia Regional Combine in Atlanta.

A rising senior, Blackwell (5-7, 175) had outstanding rushing games for the Raiders in 2017 against East Davidson, West Davidson, Thomasville, Central Davidson and Salisbury. He scored TDs against Ledford, West Davidson and Thomasville.

Local golf

Michael Childress won in the first two rounds of  match play on Wednesday in the  N.C. Junior Boys Championship at Pine Island Country Club in Charlotte as  the field was trimmed from 64 to 16.

Childress survived a match that went 20 holes in the first round. He birdied the 18th to force extra holes.

Childress made a 15-putt on the second playoff hole  to advance. Then he won 5-and-4 in the  Round of 32.

The Round of 16 and the  quarterfinals will be held today.

Charlie Barr won his first-round match on Wednesday but lost in the Round of 32.

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Sixty-four GARS members played at  The Revival at the Crescent.

Low ‘A’  Flight player was Larry Petrea with a net of 59.23. Low ‘B’ Flight player was Frank Masingo with a net of 62.35.

Low ‘C’ Flight player was Rick Fior with a net of 54.91. Low ‘D’ Flight player was Jim Brown with a net of 55.87.

Bernard Caldwell and  Larry Petrea eagled the par-5  No. 17 hole, and Bob Sidden  eagled the par-5  No. 6 hole.

Larry Petrea had low gross with a 67, and Rick Fior had low net.

Winsten Mahaffey, 81, shot a 79. Ben Moore, 81, shot an 81. Frank Masingo, 82,  shot a 79. Ken Miller, 82, shot an 82. Clive Mahaffey, 82, shot an 82. Clayton Steele 86, shot an 82. J.C. Ritchie, 93, shot an 88.

Legion baseball

Kannapolis stayed hot with a 3-2 win against Mooresville on Wednesday.

Kannapolis (6-4, 4-0) got a complete game from Ryan O’Kelly, who held Mooresville to six hits.

Mooresville hurler Hunter Dula fanned a dozen Kannapolis hurlers.

Rowan County plays first-place Kannapolis at NW Cabarrus High tonight in what will be the biggest game for Post 115 in a number of years.

John Owen (4-0) is the probable pitcher for Rowan County. The Pitt Community College rising sophomore has been Rowan’s ace this summer.

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Connor Patterson, Connor Shipley, Hunter Little and Jordan Cassell combined for 13 hits and 15 RBIs in Wednesday’s 26-10 romp against Cary.

Eastern Randolph scored 16 runs in the fifth inning.

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High Point handed Randolph County its first Northern Division loss on Wednesday, taking a 5-2 win at McCrary Park.

Randolph had a costly error in the seventh with the bases loaded and ruined a strong mound effort by Tristan Marsh.

Alec Hunter had a two-run single for High Point to push a 3-2 lead to 5-2.

Legion softball

In Tuesday’s 9-5 loss to Concord, Mackenzie Sprinkle had two hits and three RBIs for Rowan County (3-2). Kary Hales had a double and Ellen Yang and Liza Simmerson had hits.

In Rowan’s 2-1 loss to Concord, Rylie Stewart pitched a complete game. Hannah Pratt had the only hit for Rowan.

Rowan plays a doubleheader at Davidson County tonight, starting at 7 p.m.

The Rowan roster is in Scoreboard.

Two state titles

North Rowan graduate Megan Honeycutt Assey coached Spring Valley High to the 5A girls basketball state championship in South Carolina   in March.

Her husband, Charles, recently coached Cardinal Newman to the 3A baseball state championship.

Megan was USA Today’s girls basketball coach of the year for S.C.