Jeremy Thompson of Middle Creek High lands regional coaching honor

It’s virtually unheard of for only two coaches to get votes in the ACC postseason awards derby, but that should be the case this year.

Other than Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and North Carolina’s Roy Williams, there’s just not another viable candidate.

Youth football coaches get a chance to learn from high school coaches this weekend.

The CB Custom Homes Johnston County Football Coaches Clinic will be
held 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Smithfield Recreation
and Aquatics Center.

Speakers will include Tuscola coach Donnie Kiefer, South Johnston coach
Joe Salas, Athens Drive coach Jeff Smouse, Wake Forest-Rolesville coach
Reggie Lucas and East Duplin coach Brian Aldridge.

This being my third year covering high school sports in the area, I've starting to pick up on a few things now that I wouldn't have when first starting out.

This includes looking at the "assistant coaches" section of a program or roster sheet and being able to pick out familiar names in new places. Here's a few assistant coaching changes to note since last year.

■ In a game between Athens Drive and Enloe, former Athens Drive assistant Garron Warwick coached for Enloe. Last year, he was on the Athens staff and was the first coach I interviewed once I began writing about high school sports.

■ Panther Creek has two assistants, Colby McDougall and Colin Fegeley, who were former Green Hope players and assistants.

■ Those two assistants just coached against their former coach, as Tim Paluzzi is now an assistant at Fuquay-Varina after being the head man at Green Hope years ago.

■ Athens Drive quarterbacks coach is Nick DeMuro. Yes, that Nick DeMuro, who as recently as 2007 was the quarterback for the Jaguars. DeMuro threw for 4,050 yards and 41 touchdowns and ran for 631 yards and 17 touchdowns his senior year as the Jags won the conference title.

■ Panther Creek has a new offensive coordinator -- Noel Mazzone. The father of the first quarterback in PC's brief school history, Mazzone probably has the best coaching resume' of anyone in the conference. He has been an offensive coordinator for N.C. State, Auburn, Oregon State and was most recently a wide receivers coach for the New York Jets. Now I know why PC excels in those bubble-screen passes.

West Raleigh is at it again.

The West Raleigh 10U Cal Ripken All-Star team is heading to the Cal Ripken World Series this month, hoping to match last year's 10U team, which won the World Series played in Abbeyville, La.

This year's West Raleigh Baseball Association 10U team is headed for Lamar, Colo., near Denver, where the 10-team, double-elimination championship event will be played Aug. 13-23.