Draughn's Connor Pinkerton (left) looks in a catch as East Burke's Jacob Dellinger defends on the play during the county rivals' 2023 gridiron clash in Valdese. The Wildcats and Cavaliers will once again meet to end the football regular season starting this fall, it was recently announced.
All four Burke County high school football teams recently announced their 2025 regular-season schedules, which feature plenty of changes from last season.
Draughn, East Burke, and Patton enter an eight-team conference this fall, leaving each school three nonconference games to schedule to open the season, while Freedom’s six-team setup allows for five nonconference games and means that conference play won’t begin until Week 7 (of 11 weeks total).
Patton’s and Draughn’s schedules both feature first-time opponents. The Wildcats host Wilkes Central on Week 3 (Sept. 5) after opening at Bunker Hill (Aug. 22) and versus Freedom (Aug. 29).
As previously reported by The Paper, the Patriots and Wildcats will be facing each other on the regular-season schedule for the first time since 2019.
Patton, meanwhile, for the first time ever will face Owen in Week 3 after its bye and before ending nonconference play in Week 4 at home versus Polk County.
Before then, Freedom – which, like Draughn, is coming off a playoff season – hosts Patton in both teams’ opener before traveling to Valdese and then to Icard to meet longtime rival East Burke in Week 3.
The Patriots also face T.C. Roberson on the road in Week 4 and host A.C. Reynolds in Week 5, marking FHS’ first meetings against those Asheville-area programs since 2016 and 2008, respectively.
EB opens with back-to-back foes with whom it shared a conference from 2017-21, hosting West Iredell in Week 1 before a trip to Foard ahead of the Freedom contest.
In addition to the three opening weeks of the season, this fall’s in-county matchups will take place Sept. 19 (Patton at EB), Sept. 26 (Draughn at Patton), and in the Oct. 31 regular-season finale (EB at Draughn).
The Wildcats and Cavaliers previously met to end the season annually from 2017-21, as did Freedom and McDowell, which also once again this fall is set for Week 11 (in Morganton).
Draughn, like Freedom, also faces a stretch of three consecutive road games, with the Wildcats’ coming to open league play. Draughn visits R-S Central and East Rutherford scheduled on either side of the Patton game.
Draughn, EB, and Freedom, however, will each play five home games and five road games in all, and each has their bye set for the week before opening league games. Patton, on the other hand, will play six home games and just four road games this season.
Another date to note will be Oct. 17, when first-year EB coach Chris Cogdill takes his Cavaliers down to face a Chase program that Cogdill guided to 35 wins over the last five seasons.
Before the opening of the regular season, Freedom will host the 15th annual Burke County Jamboree and has already announced its opponent for that evening as well as for its other preseason scrimmage, as has Patton.
The Patriots will face East Wilkes in the jamboree on Aug. 15 after having scrimmaged Lincolnton, Hickory, and St. Stephens, while the Panthers scrimmage at Wilkes Central on Aug. 11 before facing Foard in the jamboree.
NOTE: See Page 8B for complete Burke County 2025 schedules.
New conferences named; playoff field sizes set
Shortly after the NCHSAA’s statewide realignment for 2025-29 became finalized recently, two more pieces of news emerged pertaining to the setup for the next four years.
First, all three new leagues of which Burke County schools are members were officially named, as first reported by HighSchoolOT.com.
Draughn (3A), East Burke (4A), and Patton (3A) are now members of the Western Piedmont 3A/4A.Â
Freedom (6A) for a fourth consecutive realignment remains in a league referred to as the Northwestern, simply replacing the previous 3A/4A with 6A/7A classifications. And NCSSM-Morganton’s new nine-team league is the Catawba River 1A/2A/3A.
As previously announced, the other members of the WPC 3A/4A include Chase (3A), East Rutherford (3A), West Caldwell (3A), Hibriten (4A), and R-S Central (4A).
The NWC also includes Alexander Central (6A), South Caldwell (6A), St. Stephens (6A), Watauga (6A), and McDowell (7A), and the other CRC 1A/2A/3A members are Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy (1A), Carolina International (1A), Jackson Day (1A), Thomas Jefferson (1A), Mountain Island Charter (2A), Queen’s Grant (2A), Sugar Creek Charter (2A), and Piedmont Community Charter (3A).
The NCHSAA also recently announced a new format for the state playoffs. Sports in the 8A classification will feature 32 teams per playoff bracket, with 48-team brackets including 16 first-round byes for sports from the 1A through 7A classes.
Stilwell, NC win Classic; 3 named to WNC ASG
Stilwell
Connelly
Davidson
Shook
East Burke senior guard Braelyn Stilwell last weekend was part of North Carolina’s win over South Carolina in the 2025 Carolinas Classic All-Star girls basketball game, while three more county high school hoops players were selected to play in another all-star game this weekend.
Stilwell came off the bench and scored one point and added five rebounds and two assists as N.C. cruised to a 93-68 victory at Hoggard High School in Wilmington on March 22. Stilwell was EB’s first ever girls player to compete in the game and the first county player to do so since 2017.
Seaforth’s Gabby White was named MVP after she was one of three N.C. players to score 17 points (and one of five in double figures).
Meanwhile, three county boys players will join previously-announced girls player Peyton Caldwell of Freedom in RankingsReports.com’s fifth annual WNC All Star Games on March 29 at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa.
Freedom senior Amore Connelly — the county player of the year — and East Burke senior Barger Shook will play for the Blue team, and Freedom senior Elijah Davidson will play for the Red team.
Doors open at 1:30 p.m., and the girls and boys contests start at 6 and 7:30 p.m., respectively, preceded by 3-point and dunk contests.
EB’s Newton signs with L-R for men’s golf
Newton
East Burke senior Nick Newton recently signed with nearly Lenoir-Rhyne University to play men’s golf, the EBHS boys golf team announced via social media.
Newton last spring was named to the All-Catawba Valley 2A Conference team as he finished fourth individually among all conference players. He then qualified for the NCHSAA 2A West Regional for a second straight season, making the cut with a 76 at Cleghorn.
From there, Newton placed 16th in the 2A state championships, shooting rounds of 76 and 75 at Stonebridge Golf Club in Monroe.
Newton has currently won back-to-back CVAC matches after earning medalist honors once last spring, and he has shot par or better now in six high school rounds (spanning nine- and 18-hole matches).
He was also sixth at last year’s prep county championship match at Silver Creek and placed third in his age division at Mimosa Hills’ junior club championship in 2024 after an opening-round 70.
L-R has won one match during the 2024-25 season and finished fourth place or better as a team on five other occasions.
Crump starts, gets season-high minutes in finale
Crump
Morganton native Brayden Crump made his first NCAA Division I collegiate start and played a season-high 31 minutes as his Elon University men’s basketball team ended the season on Sunday in an 83-78 loss to Army in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) postseason tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla.
A 6-foot-8 freshman forward who played prep ball at Patton, Moravian Prep, and Winston-Salem Christian, Crump made 3 of 7 field-goal attempts for six points to go with five rebounds, a season-best three assists, one steal, and just one turnover for the Phoenix.
Crump saw action in 31 of 33 total games for Elon (17-16) this winter, averaging 4.4 points and 3.1 rebounds with season highs of 13 points (at Monmouth) and nine rebounds (at East Tennessee State).
App State to host annual Mimosa Intercollegiate
The Appalachian State University women’s golf team hosts its annual Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate tournament at the famed, local Donald Ross-design early next week, March 31 and April 1.
Two-time defending team champion Western Carolina is also back in the field, which will also include golfers from Gardner-Webb, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Presbyterian, and The Citadel.
The Catamounts won last year’s team title led by individual winner Elizabeth Lohbauer, who also placed inside the top 10 at Mimosa in the event in 2023. Lohbauer recently earned a third top-10 finish of the season in WCU’s most recent event.
Day one of the tournament is expected to feature 36 holes and begin at 8:30 a.m., while day two features 18 holes and begins at 9 a.m.
Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media.
