Falcons Nest - April 21st
Spring Sports Presses On!
Varsity Boys Golf
Treyburn Country Club was the venue for the Falcon golfers' latest test. They fared pretty well posting a third place finish amongst the State’s best programs, both public and private. Nick Joyce and Andrew Hobbs led the team with scores of 77. Jack Halloran and Pete Myers rounded things out with both posting scores of 79. The Falcons are hard at work sharpening their games for another showdown next week with the top teams in the State at Pinehurst #6. After that, their eyes are focused on the Tri-TAC Championship and NCISAA playoffs. The entire squad is playing very solid golf, a testament to their offseason preparation.
Varsity Track and Field
The Falcons Boys and Girls Track and Field traveled to Durham for a hot and competitive track meet against Burlington Christian Academy, Calvary Day School, Carolina Friends, Neuse Christian Academy, and New Garden Friends. The girls team continues to work and execute as they brought home a narrow margin, solid 2nd place while the boys are still awaiting a final score but should be a 2nd place finish as well.
Top Boys performances: K. McKeithen 1st place 100m and 2nd place 200m, A. Coon 1st place 200m and 1st place 400m, B. Kenney 3rd place 100, O. Little 2nd place 800m and 3rd place 3200m, G. Rabon 2nd place Shot Put, A. Davis 3rd place High Jump, and finally B. Hodges with a solid 2nd place Triple Jump. Additionally, the boys 4 x 100m relay (H. Hicks, Holt Neville, A. Coon, and K. McKeithen) secured 1st place, 4 x 400m relay 1st place (B Hodges, A. Coon, A. Davis, and B. Kenney), and finally the 4 x 800m relay (G. Adams, C. Kuzma, C. Manning, and O. Little) secured a 2nd place finish.
Top Girls performances: G. Simpson 1st place 800m and 2nd place 1600m, AT. Walker 2nd place 3200m, F. Surber 2nd place 100m Hurdles, L. Hobbs 1st place 300m Hurdles, R. Lefler 1st place Shot Put, C. Tanner 2nd place Discus, T. Judd 1st place High Jump and 1st place Triple Jump, and finally, R. Johnson 3rd place in Triple jump. Additionally, the girls 4 x 800m relay 1st place (AT. Walker, L. Hobbs, J. Caviness, and G. Simpson), and 4 x 200m 1st place (A. Wilson, J. Caviness, K. Moore, and T. Judd).
The State Qualifiers list continues to grow with Ashton Coon (100, 200), Mary Grace Huntley (High Jump), Tamiya Judd (High Jump), Gavin Rabon (Discus), Luke Harper (Shot Put), Grace Simpson (1600, 3200), and Kanye McKeithen (100) securing their lane at the State Finals in May.
The Team will continue next week with its last regular season competition next Thursday.
Varsity Boys Tennis
- O'Neal 9 - Cary Christian 0
- Ravenscroft 9 - O'Neal 0
The Falcons returned to their prior Spring Break form with a convincing win over Cary Christian whom they had beaten 6-3 in a previous match-up.
Later in the week, the Falcons hosted Ravenscroft. This was by far the best team we have faced thus far. Despite the team score, each member of the team played their best matches yet. The strong competition forced the team members to up their level of play, contributing to their becoming better tennis players. Coaches were greatly impressed with not only their raising their games but with their sportsmanship.
Varsity Girls Soccer
- O’Neal vs. Salem Baptist Christian School - Win 3-0
- O’Neal @ Grace Christian School of Sanford - Loss 0-2
As the temperature has heated up, the goal-scoring at O’Neal has cooled off. A myriad of injuries at the end of last week carried into this week limiting the Falcons' numbers and playing time and posing a new challenge for the team to overcome. The rotating squad proved a boon for some as different players got more playing time in new roles.
When O’Neal hosted Salem Baptist, Arden Johnson scored her first goal of the season directly from a free kick to launch a quick bout of goals. Allie Webb scored from distance, and Hadassah Niswender finished a cross from Victoria York who had her first official goal contribution of the season with the assist. The defense held that three-goal lead and the Falcons coasted to another conference victory.
Thursday’s game against Grace Christian of Sanford provided our offense with its staunchest challenge yet. The attackers came up short all game as the Grace defense proved itself to have both the speed and physicality to stymie the Falcons. The defense played well, but Grace scored a few lucky goals to bring O’Neal its first loss of the season.
The loss was a non-conference game, so it proves no real bump on the road to a conference championship. Next week, however, we’ll travel to Burlington Christian and Carolina Friends for two away conference matches on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
Middle School Boys Baseball
O’Neal MS baseball had one of their toughest weeks of the season and a glimpse of what is to come during the SEMSAC tournament. The boys played gritty baseball against a tough Cape Fear Christian on Monday coming out with a win to maintain undefeated in the conference.
(W) O’Neal vs (L)Cape Fear Christian
RUNS | HITS | RBIs | BB | SO | ||
W | O’Neal | 9 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 |
L | Cape Fear | 8 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
Jackson Mullis started pitching and gave up 3 hits in 2 innings delivering 2 strikeouts. Jaxson Graves came in relief behind a fired-up defense and pitched 4 innings allowing 3 runs and striking out 3 for a phenomenal second showing for the season.
Baker, Graves, Booth, Taylor, and Peal delivered O’Neal’s 5 hits and Baker, Peal, Maxwell, and Harrell stole a total of 9 bases on the day. Peal delivered a fly ball to left to score Christian Baker in the 6th for the win.
Tuesday’s scrimmage was against West Pine Middle School. O’Neal was challenged with a strong rival class of 7th and 8th graders on a smaller WPM field and got their second taste of adversity for the week. The boys played a two-hour contest disregarding run rules for the day. The Falcons had a tough defensive day contributing to the Falcons' loss with 9 errors on the day and a lot of lessons learned.
RUNS | HITS | RBIs | BB | SO | ||
L | O’Neal | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
W | West Pine MS | 22 | 11 | 13 | 9 | 4 |
Camden Harrell got the start pitching 1.2 innings giving up 5 hits and only 3 earned runs with 1 strikeout. Owen West pitched 1 inning allowing 1 hit and 4 earned runs. Parker Maxwell pitched 1/3rd innings allowing 4 hits, with 3 earned runs and 1 strikeout. Christian Baker finished with 1 inning allowing 1 hit, 2 runs, and 2 strikeouts.
Camden Harrell and Jackson Mullis started the game with doubles in the first. Harrell, Peal, and Graves delivered the remaining 3 hits with hard-hit singles.
The week closes with a forfeit from Freedom Christian and hard work with continued repetitions at practice. The boys are hungry to polish their trade and prepare for 3 games next week.
Middle School Girls Soccer
The Falcons hit the road on Tuesday for a non-conference match-up with local public school, West Pine. In a match that challenged the Falcons physically and tactically, they hung tough throughout the first half behind a few tremendous saves from goalkeeper, Lindsey Havenstein. The second half saw West Pine break through and overpower the Falcons to win the contest 4-0. Despite the score, the Falcons played with tremendous grit and determination throughout.
The Falcons return to conference play on Monday afternoon as they travel to Northwood Temple for a 4pm kick-off.
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