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

The NFL announced this week that beginning with the upcoming season, 17 regular season games will be played instead of the normal 16. The pre-season will be cut back from four games to three (which is good), giving an extra week to play another regular season game. The Panthers opponent for that 17th game? The Houston Texans.

Charlotte Hornets

First off, injury news has not been kind to the Hornets of late. I didn’t write a QC Sports Report last week, but first it was rookie Lamelo Ball sidelined and now Gordon Hayward will miss at least four weeks with a foot sprain. It will be interesting to see how missing two key players will affect the team’s performance going forward, especially as they compete for a playoff spot. This week, however, was a good one for the Hornets, as they went 2-1 to improve their record to 25-23, good enough to be tied with the Miami Heat for the 4th spot in the East. Things are still tight though, as they are just 2 games from falling out of the top eight in the East. The Hornets, Heat, Hawks, Knicks, Celtics, and Pacers are all within three games of each other right now.

Friday night’s win was a big one, since it came against the Indiana Pacers, one of those competing teams. With a 114-97 final score in Indianapolis, Miles Bridges led the way with 23 points and 10 boards to help Charlotte gain a game on Indiana.

The night before was a tough night in Brooklyn against the Nets, who are tied with the 76ers for 1st in the Eastern Conference. Gordon Hayward was the leading scorer with just 13 points and the Hornets just scored 89 on the night. It was a game the Hornets weren’t expected to win though, and to be honest, it’s fine if they lose those games right now with the situation they’re in, as long as they win the ones they should win.

That’s exactly what they did on Tuesday night. Going up against one of the worst teams in the Conference, the Wizards, the Hornets captured a 114-104 victory in the nation’s capital. Terry Rozier led the way in scoring with 27, while Cody Zeller did the same in rebounds with 13. Next up is a game tonight in Boston. If the Hornets can walk out of there with another win tonight it would be a big one since it would put another game in between them and the Celtics, who are currently in 8th place.

College Baseball

This week’s final scores:

Charlotte 49ers (18-9)

Friday: Florida Atlantic 5, Charlotte 9

Saturday (Gm 1): Florida Atlantic 8, Charlotte 9

Saturday (Gm 2): Florida Atlantic 4, Charlotte 5

Sunday: Florida Atlantic 10, Charlotte 11

Davidson Wildcats (16-9)

Tuesday: Wofford 6, Davidson 7

Thursday: North Alabama 4, Davidson 8

Friday: North Alabama 4, Davidson 6

Saturday: North Alabama 0, Davidson 5

Appalachian State Mountaineers (11-12)

Tuesday: App State 7, Wake Forest 15

Thursday: Postponed (@Coastal Carolina)

Friday: Postponed (@Coastal Carolina)

Saturday: Postponed (@Coastal Carolina)

High School

Football

Providence vs. OlympicCredit: Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer — Providence vs. Olympic
Credit: Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer

Here are the final scores in our area from Week 6:

Mallard Creek Mavericks 14

Hough Huskies 35

Lake Norman Wildcats 28

Hopewell Titans 0

West Charlotte Lions 0

Mooresville Blue Devils 46

North Mecklenburg Vikings 0

Vance Cougars 42

West Mecklenburg Hawks 46

Harding Rams 14

North Lincoln Knights 42

Lincolnton Wolves 14

Ardrey Kell Knights 23

A.C. Reynolds Rockets 0

Olympic Trojans 0

Providence Panthers 20

Rocky River Ravens 24

Independence Patriots 22

Hickory Ridge Ragin’ Bulls 56

East Mecklenburg Eagles 0

Butler Bulldogs 70

Garinger Wildcats 8

Myers Park Mustangs 16

Porter Ridge Pirates 7

Sun Valley Spartans 6

Marvin Ridge Mavericks 28

Parkwood Wolf Pack 17

Piedmont Panthers 14

Monroe Redhawks 14

Weddington Warriors 45

Statesville Greyhounds 41

East Rowan Mustangs 17

North Iredell Raiders 13

South Iredell Vikings 39

Jesse Carson Cougars 28

West Rowan Falcons 48

Ledford Panthers 6

Salisbury Hornets 42

West Iredell Warriors 0

Hibriten Panthers 50

Patton Panthers 0

Bunker Hill Bears 48

East Burke Cavaliers 30

Fred T. Foard Tigers 14

West Caldwell Warriors 7

Draughn Wildcats 21

Hickory Red Tornados 0

Alexander Central Cougars 48

Freedom Patriots 0

Watauga Pioneers 21

St. Stephens Indians 13

South Caldwell Spartans 44

East Forsyth Eagles 31

Davie War Eagles 14

South Point Red Raiders 28

Shelby Golden Lions 16

Burns Bulldogs 14

Crest Chargers 37

Chase Trojans 50

R-S Central Hilltoppers 49

Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 (As of Thursday, April 1)

16. Burns

15. Maiden

14. Ardrey Kell

13. Providence

12. Shelby

11. Hibriten

10. Olympic

9. Crest

8. Charlotte Catholic

7. Kings Mountain

6. Butler

5. Myers Park

4. Weddington

3. Richmond

2. Hough

1. Vance

Garett

Queen City Sports Report