Burke County high school football, basketball coaches give end-of-summer updates
Freedom girls basketball players go through a drill during team camp, which was held at Crump-Rogers Gymnasium in June.
There may be no regular-season games taking place, but summers have become a key period of growth and learning for high school teams statewide spanning multiple sports over recent years.
This week (July 20-26) marks the second dead period of the month for North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) sports teams, but local teams still got in a little bit of extra work this month ahead of the season, though the vast majority of the summer offseason schedule falls in June.
Here’s a look at what some county football and basketball teams did, along with how their head coaches felt the teams fared over the summer …
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Freedom
The Freedom girls basketball program is coming off a rare losing season, and next year’s projected roster made it through an intense month of team workouts in June as it seeks to turn things back around under 449-game winner Amber Reddick, the Lady Patriots’ 23rd-year head coach.
On June 9, the FHS girls attended a shooting/ballhandling camp run by former High Point Central coach Kenny Carter, a five-time state championship coach.
“It was a very skill-intensive camp, and I was impressed with our effort,” Reddick said. “It was also a great experience because many of the middle school players from our feeder schools also got to attend with us. It was great to have the current and future players working together.”
The Lady Patriots then attended a team camp at East Lincoln High School on June 17, going 2-1 in scrimmages versus some quality competition, including gaining a win over the hosts.
“It was a good camp experience and fun to put our team on the floor together in that environment,” Reddick said. “We are going to be a fairly young team (in 2026-27), but we have great leadership returning in our two seniors, (forward) Simone Wright and (guard) Aniah Queen (a returning starter). They really did a great job of stepping into a leadership role this summer.
“I thought we played with great energy, and we definitely have strength with the depth we have at the post position right now. I want to see us continue to improve on our fundamentals.”
Patton
The Lady Panthers tipped off the summer from June 2-4 with their youth camp, which 10th-year head coach Autumn Helms described as “a great success.”
“It was a great opportunity to build relationships within our community,” Helms added, “and we had the majority of our current players helping with camp, which also helped strengthen our team chemistry and leadership.”
PHS then got to the meat of its summer schedule as it hosted St. Stephens, Bessemer City, and West Lincoln at team camp on June 11 before attending a separate East Lincoln team camp held the week after FHS was down in Denver, on June 23.
Patton won two of three in its set of home scrimmages, then faced Bessemer City again as well as South Point and Mooresville while at East Lincoln. Helms said the East Lincoln scrimmages “gave us a chance to compete against quality opponents and evaluate where we are.”
“Overall, I’ve been really pleased with the commitment our girls have shown this summer,” Helms said. “They’ve consistently shown up, worked hard, and embraced the process. We have a few new faces who bring great energy and will add to what we do this season. Our returners have shown noticeable growth in their confidence, decision-making, and overall understanding of the game.
“Team chemistry is always a work in progress, but I’ve been impressed by how quickly this group is beginning to connect on both ends of the floor. We still have plenty to improve, but the foundation and buy-in have been the most impressive heading into the season.”
Draughn
Coming off a 20-win season in which it finished third place in its conference, reached the second round of the 3A state playoffs, and gained back-to-back wins over rival East Burke, Draughn went to work for a 13-day June summer program before hosting its youth camp last week.
The Lady Wildcats attended East Burke team camp on June 11 and Lenoir-Rhyne camp on June 12.
“We had some injuries that created some difficulty for us over the summer,” said 10th-year head coach Liz Taylor. “As far as strengths, we have a good group that I think is willing to work hard. We will have some young players as our three leading scorers from last year graduated. But we also do have some returners that will help us with their experience.”
Draughn’s returning players also participated in a summer challenge, dividing into teams to compete in various workout and team-building activities, with Team Mati (Kincaid) winning for the summer.
DHS also welcomed back some former players — Aubrie Snyder and Ella and Jenna Abernathy plus 2026 grads Taylor Holder and Kenley Berry — to assist with a few summer workouts.
“We are so proud of these girls for all of the hard work put in and having fun while doing it,” Taylor added. “We even got some special visitors back in the gym with us. It sure is great to be a Wildcat!”
BOYS BASKETBALL
Patton
Like their female counterparts, the Panther boys opened the summer by hosting their annual youth camp, then remained busy, hosting a pair of team camps, attending team camps at both Maiden and Lincoln Charter, and also scrimmaging South Caldwell.
At PHS, the team hosted St. Stephens, Bessemer City, and West Lincoln on June 11 before Millbrook, Freedom, Maiden, and McDowell attended on June 25.
“It was all competitive games and gave everybody some good on-court action against some outside teams,” said Patton third-year head coach Dax Bostian, who hopes for another win improvement like his squad enjoyed from his first season compared to last winter.
“We played some tough competition throughout the summer, and I was proud of the group for their commitment level. They worked hard, trying to get better each and every day. When you lose a group of seniors that played a lot of minutes, I think us playing a lot this summer and just getting everybody used to playing with one another was really beneficial for us.”
Patton didn’t graduate everything from 2025-26, though, with guards Kyle Taylor and Olando Norman set to return after averaging 15.5 and 13.7 points per game, respectively.
“We got to see a wide variety of teams, and it showed us some things we need to work on,” Bostian added. “But they also highlighted some of what I think our team is gonna be able to do this year.”
Freedom
Eighth-year head coach Clint Zimmerman’s Patriots attended Patton team camp last month, though Zimmerman did not reveal the exact rest of what his team’s summer looked like after coming off a conference regular-season title season but graduating eight seniors including three starters.
“This summer, we focused the majority of our time on skill development, a few team concepts in transition, and took a look at a different style defensively that could be good for us this winter,” Zimmerman said. “The guys worked hard in the weight room daily, and I feel like we had a productive summer. I thought our guys were excited to be in the gym and showed a lot of grit and toughness.”
Among the key FHS returners is county co-player of the year King Johnson and fellow double-digit scorer Jaden Watkins, both of whom are rising senior guards.
Draughn
The Wildcats’ summer was highlighted by their attendance at the Phenom Hoops Team Camp on June 26-27.
“I thought we showed some really good signs of growth,” said fifth-year head coach Drew McGuire. “Our two rising juniors and returning starters, Titus Dodd and Christian Hubbard, did a great job carrying the load and leading a very young group.
“We’re going to have to lean on several guys this season who have little to no varsity experience, but the only way they’re going to get better is by throwing them into the fire. I thought our freshmen embraced that challenge. Christian Williams, Damani Dula, and Tucker Price all had really solid weekends and showed they can compete at the varsity level. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, but I really like the direction we’re headed.”
East Burke
Coming off a renaissance season of sorts that nearly resulted in the program’s first taste of playoff success in a dozen years, the Cavaliers visited nearby St. Stephens for team camp on June 15, playing in three scrimmage contests, then played three games per day at Maiden’s camp from June 16-18.
“I think we had a good summer,” said 14th-year East Burke head coach Jerome Ramsey. “(I was) very proud of the commitment of our guys. They put in a lot of gym time in June. We have really good leadership from our seniors. Hopefully, we can find some depth as we head into the season.”
Draughn quarterback Fore Putnam motions to a teammate during a 7-on-7 football event at West Iredell High School in June.
FOOTBALL
Draughn
In addition to hosting the seventh annual Wildcat Invitational 7-on-7 event last month, Draughn’s gridiron group attended the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) team camp at Lenoir-Rhyne University from June 18-20 before closing the month of June at an FCA 7-on-7 event hosted by West Iredell High School.
“(At L-R), I thought our guys competed at a high level,” said ninth-year Wildcats coach Chris Powell. “We saw a lot of great competition and improved vastly from our (host) 7-on-7 tournament a week earlier. Our kids were flying around making plays on defense, and I felt the timing was a lot better on offense.
“(At West Iredell), we again made great strides. I feel like we are well ahead of where we were a year ago, and our players are really embracing the process.”
Patton
The still-youthful Panthers cranked it up for the summer at the same West Iredell 7-on-7 that Draughn attended on June 25, then traveled to Wilkes Central High School for another 7-on-7 event on July 8 as the team kept working later into the summer than did anyone else in the county.
“We hired a new defensive coordinator (Andrew Denton) this year, so it was a lot of learning at the FCA event,” Patton third-year coach Billy Whisenant said, “but I thought we showed much improvement in the second one.
“I’m happy with the improvement shown over those passing events and the development of our young kids. We are still working on communicating and being vocal defensively, and (we) have some younger kids learning our offensive system.”
