Weekly Press Release from the Falcons

James Franklin, Athletic Director

The temperature and competition are heating up this spring!

Boys Varsity Golf 
Last Friday the boys golf team placed 4th in the North State High School Challenge at the Country Club of Salisbury.  In a strong field of the best public and private schools in the state the Falcons held their own. Jack Halloran led the team with a 1-over par 72, followed by Jacob Graham (74), Max Martin (76), Andrew Hobbs (76) and William Huntley (78). On Wednesday the Falcons teed it up again in the Moore County Cup against Pinecrest, Union Pines and North Moore at Mid South Club.  The Falcons finished second and had several golfers earn All County Honors (Max Martin 74, Nick Joyce 75, and Andrew Hobbs 76). The boys are all continuing to shape up their games to prepare for some big upcoming tournaments. Monday, they will take on NCHSAA 4A perennial powers Broughton, New Hanover and Pinecrest at the Donald Ross designed Cape Fear Country Club in Wilmington, NC. Wish them well in bringing home the trophy. 

Varsity Boys Tennis  

The boys tennis team got off to a difficult start having dropped their first two matches against Carmel Christian and Fayetteville Academy.  Each by an 8-1 score. The good news is that despite facing two extremely good teams, the Falcons played some of their best tennis.  In the end, the main goal for the team is to keep improving their level of play and reaching their potential by the end of the season.  Hats off to Noah Bass for coming back from a 6-1 first set loss to winning the match in 3 sets against Carmel Christian. 

Varsity Girls Soccer 

O’Neal @ Fayetteville Academy Final Score: 5-2, L 
What time did everyone wake up this past weekend? You don’t remember? Wait, you don’t know? Right... because time is an illusion as the government proves twice a year by making us literally time-travel as we change our clocks. Are we supposed to go about life like that's normal? Combine that with a prior week of exams, and it’s no wonder the Falcons were out of sorts at the very beginning of the season.  

The varsity girls soccer team played its first match of the season away at Fayetteville Academy on Monday. They went down 3-0 in the first half hour thanks to a relentless attack from a few skilled opponents. Hadassah Niswender was first on the goal-scorer list as she flicked a cross in from the penalty spot just before halftime. The defensive shakiness continued in the second half, but Charli Bunder pulled another back with a free kick from distance. The ladies knew they played below their ability and looked to bounce back the next day.  

O’Neal @ Trinity of Durham and Chapel Hill Final Score: 3-1 , W 
Just as we’ve all adjusted to the time change and are back in the routine of classes, the Falcons took the loss as a wake-up call and dominated their match against Trinity of Durham and Chapel Hill. They controlled possession for the entire game and took 36 shots. Three of those found the back of the net, two from Bunder on shots from outside the box, and one from Niswender after a long run down the left side. Trinity scored on a penalty kick, but with only 11 seconds left on the clock, it was a mere consolation.  

O’Neal travels to Trinity Academy of Raleigh on Friday 3/15 to face one of last year’s top-ranked teams. The Falcon’s home opener will be on Tuesday 3/19 at 4pm. I have it on good authority that we will not be required to change our clocks again between now and then, so 4pm will still be 4pm. We’ll see you then! 

Varsity Baseball 

Varsity Baseball scrimmaged NMHS away on Wednesday and couldn’t quite find a rhythm giving up 11 runs in the first two innings. The scrimmage solidified a better practice plan and approach to compete for an opportunity to hold a podium place in the SAC.  

 Jackson Mullis came through with his first Varsity hit in two starts, with a solid line drive to right. Two more hits came from Ricky Mullis and Jacob Bates. Defensive mishaps got the best of the Falcons along with leaving eight runners on base to close out the evening with a loss. The resilience is strong in the Falcons Nest preparing for conference games next week. 

Track & Field 

After a weather delay on March 9th rescheduled the Falcons first track meet, they traveled to Durham Thursday, March 14th to compete in their first track meet of the season... and boy were they ready. 

Competing against 4 other schools including St. Davis, Trinity School of Durham, Fayetteville Christian, and Rocky Mount Academy the Falcons held their ground. Every Falcon that stepped onto the start line saw each race to the end, giving every competitor their best efforts. We had a tremendous show of our middle school athletes as they competed in every relay at the meet in addition to some individual events... Some athletes had up to 3 different events! The coaching staff could not be prouder of the heart each middle school athlete had going into their events- most of these Falcons were competing in their first track meet or running a race they never competed in.  

Our upper school athletes set a great example for their younger teammates by showing them how Falcons compete and conduct themselves at track meets. Coming off the first track meet, the Falcons set a whopping 8 lifetime PRs in different events, ranging from Elizabeth Shank with > 2 minutes PR in the 3200-meter run, Gunnar Adams (800m), Aidan Blackwell (300m hurdles), Brennan Hodges(200m) and Reily Lefler in Discus. The Falcons were also trying out and excelling at new events and enjoying the beautiful 80-degree weather while cheering their teammates to victory. Ending the meet, four Falcons ran or threw State Qualifying marks- Gavin Rabon (Discus), Ashton Coon (100m,200m), Honor Hicks (110m hurdles, 300m hurdles), and Grace Simpson(800,1600, 3200). Altogether the Falcons showed up to compete as a team and were all smiles and tired legs loading the bus to travel home.  

contributed, photos by Curtis Self