THE CHOWAN HERALD, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2,2017 IB
CHOWA^HERALD
Wednesday, August 2,2017
PHOTO BY KIM ULLOM
Monday, the Aces were among teams across the state
who began training during the first official day of high
school football practice to be better prepared for the
season ahead.
Sports
Media day previews season
BY CRAIG MOYER
For the Chowan Herald
New coaches, new team
leaders, new play styles
and a new conference high
lighted the third-annual high
school football media day at
Elizabeth City State on Fri
day morning.
A total of 11 schools from
the Northeastern Coastal
Conference and the newly-
founded Albemarle Athletic
Conference took part in the
event, as teams appeared in
reverse-alphabetical order.
Coaches and players
from Perquimans, Pasquo
tank, Northeastern, Eden
ton, Currituck and Camden
spoke about their upcoming
seasons at the event.
Here are the highlights
from each team’s time at the
podium:
Edenton
For the defending 2A
state runner-up Aces and
third-year head coach Paul
Hoggard, there is a lot of
change from last season,
with a new conference and
the loss of some talented
players, but the team is re
maining confident.
Edenton fell in the state
championship 58-12 to Re
idsville last season, but Hog
gard says his team is not
worried about last season’s
results.
“We got beat by a great
football team and that’s the
way it goes, you put that
See MEDIA, 2B
PHOTOS BY ERIN BRABBLE
Edenton’s Little League softball team joins the winner’s circle of teams from Chowan County who have gone the distance by
taking home a state title.
Press Box
Takeaways from
HS media day
The last Friday in July has become a high
school football tradition in northeast North
Carolina.
Along with it being the unofficial end of
the offseason, the day allows for area players,
coaches and media to meet in one setting.
Elizabeth City State’s WRVS 89.9 FM once
again hosted the NENC
High School Football
Media Day at the ECSU
new student center on
Friday.
With all six members
of the new Class 1A Al
bemarle Athletic Con
ference and five of the
six teams from the 2A
Northeastern Coastal
Columnist
Malcolm Shields
Conference in attendance, there were five
items from media day that caught my interest:
5. New coaches: The Albemarle Athletic
Conference will have three new coaches on
the sideline.
Little League team captures state title
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Edenton’s Little League 8U
All-Star softball team defeated
its rivals to win the state cham
pionship at the Tarheel State
Tournament held recently in
Smithfield.
“There were a lot of plays
made throughout the tourna
ment that will be remembered
by the girls,” Coach Mike Pip
pins said. “One big thing that
stood out to me was how well
we hit the ball from top to bot
tom. All 11 girls contributed
to us winning the champion
ship.”
The road to success starts
with a lot time on the field as
this talented team played in
three tournaments including
an invitational tournament in
Suffolk, Va. where the girls
finished with a 5-0 record and
won the championship. They
won the Tarheel League Dis
trict 7 tournament in Currituck
with a 4-0 record. They finished
the season undefeated with a 3-
0 record at the Tarheel League
State Tournament in Smithfield.
During the state tournament,
they defeated Roanoke Valley
15-9, next Currituck 16-8 mov
ing them into the final game.
As it was said from the mov
ie “Highlander” — “There can
be only one.”
After a final hard fought
Heavy hitter Lilly Brower knocks one out of the park at the state championship game.
duel, Edenton defeated Roa
noke Valley 11-4 to capture
the girls’ first Tarheel League
8U machine pitch state title.
Memories were made and les
sons were taught by coaches
— Holly Evans, Chad Cobb,
Darren Halstead and Pippins
— that will last a lifetime.
“I hope the things that we
as coaches taught them will
carry over into their playing
future whether its recreation
or school ball and other things
they pursue in the future as
well,” Pippins said.
The coaches and team
thanked sponsors Ray and
Theresa Bateman/Bateman
Logging and Sunshine of Eliza
beth City.
“We would really like to
thank them for all the sup
port they have given to this
group of girls,” Pippins said.
“We also would like to thank
the parents who stepped in
and helped when we needed
them.”
Pippins said he had a good
team to work with this season.
“I really enjoyed coaching
this group of girls. From start
to finish, they worked hard, did
what we asked and they had
fun. That’s all you can ask for,”
he said.
Players on the team: Sarah
Logan Cobb #6, Camy Pippins
#15, Harper Evans #4, Chloe
Chappell #2, Caroline Halstead
#24, Emily Sawyer #7, Shelby
Brabble #14, Lilly Brower #11,
Ava Bunch #8, Hailey Roberson
#9, Ashleigh Swain #17.
Manteo selected veteran coach Sport Saw
yer to lead the Redskins.
Sawyer comes to Roanoke Island after a
successful tenure at Washington, where in
2014 he led the Pam Pack to the 2AA east re
gional championship and a berth in the state
championship game.
One of the benefits that new Camden head
coach Joshua Blood noted was that he has
taught or coached the majority of the play
ers on the team when they were in middle
school.
First-year Perquimans head coach Ian Ra-
panick boasts having increased number of
athletes during offseason workouts.
4. Sense of normalcy: Along with the suc- ■
cess of Edenton and Plymouth earned on the
field last season, all schools in the area had to
deal with severe weather altering schedules.
The third week of last season was impacted
because of tropical weather.
It was a point that Currituck coach John
Wheeler noted his team faced last fall. Be
cause of field conditions, the Knights had their
Week 3 home contest against Hickory (Va.)
moved from Barco to Virginia Beach and had
to play on Labor Day instead of the previous
Friday. Flooding in Bertie County during the
middle of the season put the Falcons’ field un
der water.
Last October, damage from Hurricane Mat
thew led the North Carolina High School Ath
letic Association to extend the fall athletic sea
son by a week to allow schools in the eastern
part of the state time to recover and complete
their seasons.
Tire altered schedule led to short weeks to
practice and squeeze in games.
Let’s hope Mother Nature will be kind to the
area this fall.
3. Media day missed Creswell’s coach Rod
gers: With the Coastal 10 Conference dissolv
ing this summer, five former schools from the
league along with Bear Grass Charter formed
the Atlantic 6 Conference.
Creswell was one of the Coastal 10 schools
that landed in the Atlantic 6.
One of the more colorful personalities at
See TAKEAWAYS, 2B
Mattera recognized as top Athletic Director by national association
BY MILES LAYTON
Editor
Aces’ Athletic Director
Wes Mattera joins an elite
group of athletic adminis
trators, but Chowan County
has always known its athlet
ic director was top notch.
Mattera was recognized
as a Certified Athletic Ad
ministrator recently by the
National Interscholastic
Athletic Administrators
Association (NIAAA). The
NIAAA is a national profes
sional organization consist
ing of all 50 state athletic ad
ministrator associations and
more than 10,000 individual
members. It is dedicated to
promoting the professional
growth of high school ath
letic administrators and
preserving the educational
nature of interscholastic
athletics and the place of
these programs in the sec
ondary school curriculum.
“This achievement is a
direct byproduct of a Super
intendent, Dr. Rob Jackson,
an Asst. Superintendent,
Tanya Turner, and JAHHS
Principal Steve Wood all of
whom support and promote
professional development
and growth for its adminis
tration, teachers and coach
es,” Mattera said.
To earn this distinction,
Mattera has demonstrated
the highest level of knowl
edge and expertise in the
field of inteischolastic ath
letic administration, accord
ing to the association. The
voluntary certification pro
cess included a thorough
evaluation of the candidate’s
educational background,
experience and profession
al contributions, as well as
a rigorous, comprehensive
written examination.
As the Aces’ football
coach a few years back,
Mattera led the Aces to
three-straight conference
championships in a four-
year period. Though Mat
tera left for a short stint
as Thomasville’s football
coach, he came back to
Chowan County in 2015 to
serve as athletic director.
Since Mattera’s return, many
Aces’ sports teams have
achieved sports success
during his time at the helm.
Most recently, the football
and baseball teams have
had amazing seasons and
achieved glory at the state
level. The softball team and
athletes from cross country
to tennis have been able to
pursue their ambitions be
cause Coach Mattera “kept
the fights on” by doing any
job required.
“Coach Mattera is an ex
cellent athletic director. Un
der his leadership, the Aces
achieved historic success in
multiple sports in last year,”
Superintendent Rob Jack-
son said. “The state deter
mined that school was too
small to fairly compete at
See MATTERA, 2B
FILE PHOTO
An Ace through and through, JAHHS Athletic Director Wes
Mattera has achieved prestigious national recognition
as a Certified Athletic Administrator from the National
Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.