North Johnston's Jacques Alston tied the N.C. High School Athletic Association state record for kickoff returns for touchdowns during a game on Friday night. Alston returned kicks 90 and 91 yards for scores in the Panthers' 42-14 loss to Roanoke Rapids.
He becomes the 12th player in NCHSAA history to return two kickoffs for TDs in a game and the third this season. Harnett Central's Jarrod Spears and Apex's Malik Hayes did the same earlier this season.
Malik Hayes was a bright spot for Apex in Friday's 56-33 loss to Athens Drive.
Hayes returned two kickoffs for touchdown, of 75 and 88 yards respectively, which ties him with several others in NCHSAA history for the most kickoff returns for touchdown in a game.
Tyree Massey of Spring Lake Overhills ran for seven touchdowns in a 46-21 win over Fayetteville Westover on Friday.
Massey ran the ball 18 times for 248 yards. The seven touchdowns are tied for second-most in NCHSAA history for one game.
EDIT: The following blog has been edited after the school's official stats were forwarded to sports editor J. Mike Blake. The school had Leatham down for more passing yards, more completions and more attempts than those originally reported. All changes are in italics and underlined.
For the second time this season, Middle Creek quarterback Garrett Leatham registered one of the top-10 marks for completions in a game.
On Friday, Leatham completed 33 of his 50 attempts for 425 yards and two touchdowns in a 21-20 win over Lee County. The 33 completions is tied for sixth-most in state history for a single game.
On Sept. 3, Leatham completed 30 of his 55 passes in a 26-16 loss to Garner. That number is now tied for 10th-most in state history. His 55 attempts in that contest were the fourth-most in a game in state history.
His 50 attempts against Lee are tied for 15th-most in NCHSAA history.
So far this year, Leatham has completed 154 of his 262 attempts (58 percent) for 1,966 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Leatham has thrown for 8,069 yards in his career. Leatham is the eighth quarterback in NCHSAA history have thrown for more than 8,000 yards in a career.
He needs 19 yards to pass Nick DeMuro (Athens Drive '08) on the all-time list.
Providence Grove High School junior setter Lia Johnson set an North Carolina High School Athletic Association record with 73 assists in a match last week.
So far it's been quite a year for high school return men.
In a 26-16 loss to Garner, Middle Creek quarterback Garrett Leatham threw 55 passes and completed 30 of them for 371 yards and one touchdown. If that seems like a record for most passes in a game to you, you're close.
It's been almost five years since Josh Adams was breaking tackles for Cary High. But not until now will Adams take his rightful place in NCHSAA history as the 6th all-time rusher in state history.
Adams is in the record books as having two of the highest single-season rushing totals, but has been omitted from the all-time rushing list. That's because the stats from Adams' freshman year have been hard to recover.
Athens Drive post player Keisha Gatling now holds the state record for field goal percentage in a season.
Gatling made 189 of her 255 field goal attempts this year — an unheard of 74.1 percent from the floor. That number breaks the previous high of 72.2 percent by Chiquita Currie of St. Pauls during the 1999-2000 season.
The stat has been reported to the NCHSAA by The Cary News.
Green Hope sophomore Kristen Gaffney has one more game left this season — Saturday's 4-A championship — and in it, she could break a record held by former UConn and Fayetteville Terry Sanford player Shea Ralph.
Ralph holds the state record for most points scored by a sophomore with 818. Gaffney is 12 short of that with 806.
Anything can happen in the state final, but it should be noted that Gaffney's lowest point total of the year is 13 in the Tri-Nine Championship against Athens Drive.
Gaffney might already have the record had she not missed an earlier game this year against Fuquay-Varina with illness.
Gaffney has posted six triple-doubles this season and went over the 1,000-point mark for her career in her last game.
