Queen City Sports Report
Welcome to the weekly sports roundup in the greater Charlotte area presented by The Sports Chief. Every Sunday, let The Chief be the one to catch you up on all the latest sports happenings in and around the Charlotte, NC area. We take a look at professional sports, as well as semi-professional, college, and high school. If you like what we’re doing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @thesportschief where you’ll be notified of all our latest postings, and visit our website at www.thesportschief.com.
Professional
Carolina Panthers
panthers.com
The Panthers made headlines this week when they finally addressed a situation at the position fans have been anxiously awaiting for: the quarterback position. They traded a couple of draft picks (this year’s 6th, plus next year’s 2nd and 4th) for Jets quarterback Sam Darnold. The trade was a great one for the Panthers because they didn’t give up much to get a quarterback with high potential. He was the 3rd overall pick just a few years ago, and while he hasn’t exactly panned out with the Jets, he gets the opportunity to surround himself in a better situation to thrive. The Jets are a mess, and have been for a while, so he wasn’t in a good situation to succeed anyway. There’s a chance he will be much better in Carolina. Like I said in my article this week, it’s a low risk, high reward deal for the Panthers. You cannot be mad about that. To read that article I published this week on the Darnold trade, click HERE.
Charlotte Hornets
Impacted by a flurry of recent injuries to big time players, the Hornets haven’t let that get them down. After going 2-2 last week, they have won both games they have played so far this week. Out in the Midwest this week, first they played an Oklahoma City team which they needed to beat. And they did just that. Some of the lesser-know players stepped up in the absence of bigger names, such as Jalen McDaniels who led the team with 21 points and Brad Wanamaker who led the way with 6 assists, while also adding 12 points of his own. The 113-102 win was big because, like I said last week, the Hornets just need to focus on winning the games they should win right now, and anything extra is icing on the cake.
atthehive.com
They got that icing on the cake two days later with a game against the Eastern Conference’s 3rd place team, the Milwaukee Bucks. Wanamaker again led the way in the assist category with seven total, while Miles Bridges scored 27 points. Cody Zeller added 12 boards and the Hornets walked away with a big 127-119 win against Milwaukee. Charlotte is now in 4th place in the East, eight games behind conference leaders 76ers and Nets, and 4.5 games behind 3rd place Milwaukee. Next up on the schedule is an important game against the Atlanta Hawks, which just started a few minutes ago as I type this.
Semi-Professional
Charlotte Knights
There’s no new news on Charlotte’s Triple-A baseball team, but I just wanted to remind everyone that the season is now less than a month away, after being pushed back a month from its original start date. On May 4th, the Knights open up with a six-game homestand against the Gwinnet Stripers, the Triple-A club for the Atlanta Braves.
College Baseball
This week’s final scores:
Charlotte 49ers (22-9)
Friday: Charlotte 11, Florida International 8
Saturday (Gm 1): Charlotte 5, Florida International 4
Saturday (Gm 2): Charlotte 3, Florida International 1
Sunday: Charlotte 9, Florida International 5
Davidson Wildcats (19-10)
Tuesday: Canceled (@Presbyterian)
Friday (Gm 1): Dayton 1, Davidson 2
Friday (Gm 2): Dayton 8, Davidson 10
Saturday: Dayton 9, Davidson 12
Sunday: Dayton 11, Davidson 5
davidsonwildcats.com
Appalachian State Mountaineers (13-13)
Tuesday: App State 2, NC State 13
Friday: Georgia State 2, App State 4
Sunday (Gm 1): Georgia State 7, App State 9
Sunday (Gm 2): In Progress
High School
Football
Hough Huskies
Jonathan Aguallo/The Charlotte Observer
Here are the final scores in our area from Week 7:
Mooresville Blue Devils 0
Mallard Creek Mavericks 62
Hough Huskies 29
Vance Cougars 22
Hopewell Titans 20
West Charlotte Lions 26
Lake Norman Wildcats 43
North Mecklenburg Vikings 22
Independence Patriots 22
Myers Park Mustangs 32
Porter Ridge Pirates 32
Hickory Ridge Ragin’ Bulls 35
East Mecklenburg Eagles 0
Butler Bulldogs 56
Marvin Ridge Mavericks 17
Charlotte Catholic Cougars 21
Garinger Wildcats 0
Rocky River Ravens 46
Weddington Warriors 54
Cuthbertson Cavaliers 13
Parkwood Wolf Pack 14
Monroe Redhawks 49
Sun Valley Spartans 7
Piedmont Panthers 12
West Mecklenburg Hawks 14
South Mecklenburg Sabres 38
Providence Panthers 10
Ardrey Kell Knights 41
Jay M. Robinson Bulldogs 35
Central Cabarrus Vikings 38
A.L. Brown Wonders 28
Concord Spiders 0
Northwest Cabarrus Trojans 14
Cox Mill Chargers 44
West Rowan Falcons 10
Statesville Greyhounds 17
South Caldwell Spartans 20
Alexander Central Cougars 49
St. Stephens Indians 27
Hickory Red Tornados 19
McDowell Titans 30
Freedom Patriots 6
Hibriten Panthers 62
Patton Panthers 0
Draughn Wildcats 41
East Burke Cavaliers 28
Bunker Hill Bears 38
West Caldwell Warriors 7
Chase Trojans 34
South Point Red Raiders 36
Burns Bulldogs 70
R-S Central Hilltoppers 39
Crest Chargers 7
Kings Mountain Mountaineers 28
Huss Huskies 17
Ashbrook Greenwave 30
Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 (As of Wednesday, April 7)
16. Hickory Ridge (4A)
15. Lake Norman (4A)
14. Maiden (2A)
13. Ardrey Kell (4A)
12. Olympic (4A)
11. Hibriten (2A)
10. Providence (4A)
9. Charlotte Catholic (3A)
8. Kings Mountain (3A)
7. Crest (3A)
6. Butler (4A)
5. Richmond Senior (4A)
4. Myers Park (4A)
3. Weddington (3A)
2. Hough (4A)
1. Vance (4A)
Garett