High noon is approaching fast, meaning that the race is on for our nine events, and remember that each sport responds differently to rain 🌧.

  Tennis 🎾 courts and rain 🌧 simply don’t mix from a safety standpoint.

Baseball and softball games can be played in a small amount of rain, but that doesn’t necessarily make it fun to do so.

Soccer ⚽️ can handle a decent amount of rain, but the field needs to stand up to the test of having four teams play on it across the season.

4 Diamond 💎 games, 3 soccer matches and two tennis matches are set to be ➗️ today between The Hill and Dublin. Both Athletic Directors are now stuck in wait and see mode as there is nothing left to do but look up into the sky and wait.

Softball made the switch from JV first to Varsity first and pushed the start time up to 4:45 in hopes of getting enough of a heads start.

Hopefully, all the spectators are up to date on this change.

The Highlight of Thursday had to be breaking bread 🍞 with Hank, King of The Hill !

It had been a hot 🔥 minute since my neighbor & friend, Kris Richardson, and I were able to sit down together. So when we were able to squeeze in sometime in between the end of his work shift and the start of my announcing the Boys Soccer ⚽️ match, it was a must do !

Life continues to happen for both of us at a laser fast pace, with Kris having Gracie to keep him young. Whether it’s basketball, soccer, or softball, the youngest of the Richardson children enjoys playing a game or two. The older two children are enjoying college life, and while we weren’t trying to recreate the wheel , the 45 minutes was highly therapeutic to say the least.

Thursday night 🌙 was Soccer ⚽️ Night as Carroll County and Galax took to the Pitch four times with our Cavaliers winning three ➕️ playing to one draw !

Adrienne Harris McGuire and her Varsity Lady Cavaliers

The Hill – Our Junior Varsity teams set the stage early on Thursday afternoon as both Jeremy Puckett and Brittany Kinney coached their teams to shut out victories over the Maroon Tide.

At Tommy Thompson Field, the JV Boys scored at 9:33 of the first half, and then the defense made the 1-0 lead stand up the rest of the way. Jovanni Hernandez found Joni Rosales on a direct kick, and Rosales put the biscuit in the basket for the home team !

Former Cavalier, Daniel Torres Lopez, shared the booth with me for the early contest, and we did a Five Good Minutes segment during the break.

Brittany Kinney and her Lady Cavaliers played at the same time over on the turf at Galax High School 🏫 and CCHS scored early and often.

JV Ladies

The Varsity Girls 👧 struggled in the first half on the offensive end of the pitch but played strong 💪 on the defensive end, leaving them scoreless at the break.

The offense kicked ( Soccer ⚽️ term) it into gear in the final forty minutes, finishing the night with a 3-0 victory.

3-0 win!
1) Alisia goal – Callie assist
2) Callie goal – Alisia assist
3) Callie goal

Back on The Hill, Forrest Johnson and the Varsity Boys 👦 faced a significant challenge as Galax entered the night at 3-0 with a combined score of 16 – 1 in those matches.

E.J. Conner buried a direct kick from 30 yards out at 23 : 47 of the first half to give the Cavaliers the lead at 1-0. Conner was booming 💥 the ball on the long directs from start to finish, but now the question was, can CCHS make it stand up ?

      Galax would eventually score the equalizer moments later with Giovany Hernandez feeding  Mateo Pineda to tie 👔 the match at 1-1.

The second half was played at a high level, but neither squad could find the back of the net in the 40:00 minutes.

Sam Collins, recent graduate 🎓 and former Soccer player / State Wrestler, and personality stepped up for the Five Good Minutes conversation at the second break. Sam represented the Collins Family well !

One moment that took place in the JV match that stuck out happened when #25 for Galax, Carlos Rivas, was injured. When the young man needed assistance to return to the bench, it was CCHS #23 Jovanni Hernandez that offered his shoulder to lean on. Classy Moment !

Meeting with Francois Herbel before the match was a treat, and I should have known the young man would have ties to Marion Harris. That Harris fella might just be the Godfather of Soccer in Carroll County ???

Herbel ( pronounced Hair-Belt) is the Varsity Boys Coach for Galax after spending some time as the Girls Assistant Coach to Harris at CCHS before taking over the program after Harris retired.

Harris was at Galax keeping an eye 👁 on two of his three daughters, and he sent in a couple of pics 📸

Each of the coaches will have an opportunity to share their thoughts on their night 🌙 and we will welcome that when it happens.

Until then, know that we played hard across 280 minutes of soccer, and we scored 11 times while surrendering just one !

Rain, Rain 🌧 please stay away as we have a whole lot of Cavaliers looking to play today ! NCAA Women’s Hoops kicks off their Sweet 16 as well…

Morning 🌄 Brew
Two noticeable changes – Girls Varsity Soccer ⚽️ at 6pm. Varsity Softball at 4:45 with JV to follow.
Women’s College Basketball 🏀 Sweet 16

The rain 🌧 looks to be inevitable, with the big question being when will it start ? Hopefully, it will hold off long enough to get some of the events completed.

Holly Miller is the Senior of the Night at Cavalier Park, and Hix Miller will be tossing out our Ceremonial First Pitch !

Travis Osborne and his Bible Verse of the Day :

Proverbs 27:1 Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.

Howard Mayo and his Motovational Nugget for the Day ;

Four or five stories are waiting to be written from yesterday, and I will start on those shortly.

Have yourself a Blessed Day 🙌!