Top teams set for Bojangles’ Bash hoops tourney
Another strong field will take part in the third annual Bojangles’ Bash basketball tournament.
The three-day event will be held Dec. 10-12 at Ridge View High and feature some of the top teams and players from the Midlands.
The Midlands teams in the tournament will be host Ridge View, Hammond, Westwood, Dreher, Spring Valley, Gray Collegiate, A.C. Flora, Lower Richland and Keenan. Other S.C. teams in the field will be Dorman, Northwestern and 22 FT Academy.
Hammond’s Seventh Woods and Spring Valley’s Jordan Bruner are two of the top prospects in the state for the Class of 2016.
The out-of-state teams in the field will be Trinity Christian out of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Florida schools Zion Lutheran and Miami Country Day. Trinity Christian will be without North Carolina State commit and five-star recruit Dennis Smith, who is out for the year after ACL surgery, but has highly touted freshman Joey Baker. The 6-foot-8 Baker has gotten interest from several Division I schools, including North Carolina.
Zion Lutheran will be in the event for the second straight year.
“We want to get the best quality of talent we can,” Ridge View coach John Combs said. “We are excited with the local talent, and we think it is an all-time high in the area. And we feel we are bringing in great talent from out of state. We are getting to the point where teams are calling us wanting to be in the tournament.”
The schedule for the three-day event hasn’t been finalized but should be in the next few weeks. There will be three games the first two days and a full slate of games on the final day Dec. 12.
Panthers helping high school teams affected by flood
The Carolina Panthers are awarding grants to assist high school athletics programs in North and South Carolina that were affected by flood damage earlier this month.
Grants will be made available to support specific project needs, including the replacement of damaged equipment.
Schools may submit funding requests ranging from $5-25,000. A select number of grants will be awarded. Grant applications can be downloaded at www.panthers.com/ assets/docs/ flood_relief_grant.pdf .
The deadline to apply is Nov. 6.
Airport Hall of Fame inducting four
Newberry football coach Phil Strickland will be one of the four inductees for this year’s Airport Hall of Fame Class.
The induction ceremony will be Friday before the game against Midland Valley. Strickland is a 1977 grad of Airport and has won 294 games at stops including Gaffney, Batesburg-Leesville and Newberry.
The rest of the class is Scott Cloer (’84), Dickie Furtick (’69) and David Cook (2005).
Gilbert names new soccer coaches
Gilbert will have two new soccer coaches for the upcoming season.
Adam Kelly was named the boys soccer coach, and Austin White will take over the girls program.
Kelly coached the girls soccer program from 2012-14. White was the coach at Batesburg-Leesville and led the Panthers to back-to-back region championships.
Midlands players in college football
How some players with Midlands ties fared in college football last weekend:
P.J. Brown (Lower Richland/Limestone) – Had seven tackles in double overtime win over Brevard.
Tyler Renew (Ben Lippen/The Citadel) – Rushed for 54 yards on eight carries in win over Samford.
Jalen Hammett (Blythewood/North Greenville) – Had three tackles against Tusculum.
Greg Huegel (Blythewood/Clemson) – Kicked two field goals in win over Boston College.
Farrington Huguenin (Kentucky) – Had three tackles in loss to Auburn.
Lynard Jamison (Blythewood/S.C. State) – Caught eight passes for 70 yards and TD in win over Howard.
Johnny Maxey (Richland Northeast/Mars Hill) – Had three tackles in loss to Catawba.
John Miller (Spring Valley/James Madison) – Caught three passes for 51 yards and TD in win over Elon.
Tyler Smith (Keenan/S.C. State) – Had eight tackles in win over Howard.
Vyncint Smith (Westwood/Limestone) – Caught three passes for 68 yards in double overtime win over Brevard.
Brandon Wilds (Blythewood/South Carolina) – Rushed for 119 yards and a TD in win over Vanderbilt.
Recruiting
Chapin senior pitcher Evan Estridge recently made a commitment to play baseball at Newberry College.
Lexington golfer Nicholas Beirs committed to play at Coker College.
Gilbert infielder Trace Whetsell verbally committed to play baseball at Limestone.
White Knoll catcher Austin Davies verbally committed to play baseball at Erskine.
This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 10:21 PM with the headline "Top teams set for Bojangles’ Bash hoops tourney."