BEST OF 2025: Reflecting on Burke County’s biggest sports stories of the year

Compiling the top stories of any given year is no easy feat, but as 2025 draws to a close, that’s exactly what The Paper’s sports staff has attempted to do for the third year in a row.

Here’s our list of the top 10 local sports stories (in no particular order) from the past 12 months based on the weight of each story … both how big the accomplishment was historically as well as by overall number of people impacted by the feat.

NCSSM-Morganton enjoys historic fall

NCSSM-Morganton made a major impact during the fall sports season, capturing the school’s first two team state titles on back-to-back days as the girls cross country squad won the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA) 1A state title on Oct. 31 in Kernersville and the girls tennis team nabbed the 1A dual-team state championship on Nov. 1 in Burlington.

Senior Stella Friedman was the Lady Dragons’ top individual finisher during the state cross country meet, posting a runner-up time of 20:14.47. However, NCSSM-Morganton also got a third-place finish from junior Amelia Fleury, a sixth-place finish from junior Alexander Hexemer, a seventh-place time from senior Nicole Taylor, an 18th-place finish from junior Gracie Toplitz, and a 19th-place time from junior Lilah Johnson.

In tennis, NCSSM-Morganton cruised to a 5-0 victory over Bear Grass Charter on Nov. 1 to complete an unbeaten season. Junior Shrika Chatta was named MVP of the state title match, while other victorious players included senior Riya Reddy and junior Leah Gibson — who won the 1A state doubles title a week prior in Cary — as well as senior Kirsten Boyd and junior Anjana Ramanujam, the latter of whom was selected as the Lady Dragons’ sportsmanship award winner. (Senior Gina Boyd led 6-1, 4-0 when play was halted due to NCSSM-Morganton securing enough victories to clinch the match.)

Also of note, NCSSM-Morganton’s boys soccer team reached the 1A West Regional final before falling by a 3-1 score at top-seeded and eventual state champion Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, and NCSSM-Morganton’s volleyball squad earned 10 wins including the first playoff victory in program history.

Other prep teams make deep playoff runs

In addition to a memorable fall for NCSSM-Morganton athletes, several other Burke County high school squads also put together lengthy postseason runs in 2025.

The East Burke girls basketball team played in the 2A West Regional title game for the third consecutive year as it posted at least 30 wins for the second season in a row, while the Draughn volleyball team totaled a program-record 23 wins en route to an appearance in the 3A West Regional championship match, becoming the first county volleyball squad to play for a regional title since 2001.

Additionally, the Patton boys soccer team won 20 matches and made a 3A West Regional semifinal appearance in the fall; EB track and field competitor Kolby Byrd capped his prep career by winning the 2A state outdoor title in the boys shot put with a throw of 54 feet, 7.5 inches on May 17 in Greensboro; Patton sophomore Elise Sawdy finished first among female runners with a time of 19:04.92 during the 3A state cross country championship meet on Nov. 1 in Kernersville; and the Burke County Post 21 American Legion Lady Fastpitch junior softball team took state runner-up honors this past summer after earning the No. 1 seed during the regular season.

Freedom, EB football end decade-long droughts

For the first time since 2015, the Freedom football team won a state playoff game. Meanwhile, East Burke qualified for the postseason for the first time in a decade before nearly pulling off a first-round upset.

The Patriots won 10 games under second-year head coach JK Adkins, their most victories in a season since winning 11 in 2015, and their 40-6 home win over Central Cabarrus in the second round of the 6A playoffs on Nov. 14 — Freedom received a first-round bye — represented their first playoff win since they defeated Patton in November 2015.

Freedom was led by the efforts of The Paper’s 2025 Burke County high school football co-players of the year, seniors Kaden Davis and Kobe Johnson. Also the Northwestern 6A/7A Conference offensive player of the year, Davis set new county single-season records with 45 total touchdowns (30 passing, 15 rushing) and a 71.5 percent completion rate (138 of 193) while accounting for more than 3,000 total yards of offense (2,440 passing, 667 rushing), and fellow All-NWC performer Johnson finished with 18 TD receptions (tied for the most by a county player in a single season), a county-high 930 receiving yards, and a pair of defensive scores (fumble return, interception return) as he completed his career with a county-record 33 TD catches.

As for the Cavaliers, they returned to the playoffs in head coach Chris Cogdill’s first year at the helm and gave host Tuscola all it could handle before losing by a 13-6 final in the opening round of the 4A West bracket.

HS squads capture conference titles

The Draughn baseball team nabbed its fourth consecutive Western Highlands 1A/2A Conference championship in the spring, and the Wildcats also advanced past the first round of the NCHSAA 1A state playoffs for the fourth season in a row.

Other Burke County high school teams to win league titles in 2025 were the East Burke girls basketball team (third straight Catawba Valley 2A Conference title), the NCSSM-Morganton girls tennis squad (third straight conference title, first in Catawba River 1A/2A/3A Conference), the Draughn boys and girls swim teams (second straight WHC title for boys, while girls won after being runners-up in 2024), the Draughn and Patton volleyball squads (shared inaugural Western Piedmont 3A/4A Conference title, with the Lady Wildcats outlasting the Lady Panthers in five sets in the conference tournament title match), the Patton boys soccer squad (inaugural WPC champion), and the NCSSM-Morganton girls cross country team (inaugural CRC champion).

Coaches reach career milestones

A number of local coaches earned milestone victories this year, including Patton soccer coach Keith Scott, who has been the head coach of the boys and girls squads since the school opened in 2007.

The Panthers’ boys team defeated host Lincolnton by a 6-0 score on Aug. 13, pushing Scott to 400 career wins while also avenging a 2024 state playoff loss to the Wolves. Notably, Scott has guided the Patton boys to at least the third round of the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, which had never been done by another county soccer team (boys or girls) prior to the current run.

On the hardwood, East Burke girls basketball coach Crystal Bartlett became the program’s all-time leader in career wins with her 235th victory in a 44-12 road win over St. Stephens on Nov. 11, Freedom boys basketball coach Clint Zimmerman collected his 100th win in a 68-55 victory at Ashe County last February, and Draughn girls hoops coach Liz Taylor reached the century mark for her career thanks to her team’s 52-33 triumph over St. Stephens on Dec. 2 in Valdese.

Bartlett is in her 11th year as the Lady Cavaliers’ head coach, while Zimmerman is in his seventh year at the helm of the Patriots and Taylor is in her ninth year as Draughn’s head coach. Bartlett, Zimmerman, and Taylor are all graduates of their current schools.

Stilwell, Caldwell, Davis, Adkins participate in East-West games

Three Burke County athletes have appeared in North Carolina Coaches Association East-West All-Star games this year, with 2025 high school graduates Braelyn Stilwell of East Burke and Peyton Caldwell of Freedom playing for the West squad in the girls basketball game in July and Freedom senior Kaden Davis representing the West in the football game this past Sunday. Furthermore, Freedom’s JK Adkins served as West head coach for the gridiron contest, which like the girls hoops game was played in Greensboro.

Stilwell and Caldwell were only the sixth EB-Freedom duo to be selected in the same season and in the same sport, and Christa Mull of EB and Kelly McDaniels of Freedom in 1987 were the only other instance of it happening in girls basketball. Stilwell and Caldwell are now freshman guards at Lees-McRae and Mars Hill, respectively, after finishing their prep careers as two of the county’s top four all-time girls scorers (Stilwell ranks second, Caldwell fourth).

Davis, meanwhile, became Freedom’s 58th all-time East-West selection and its 14th for football and first since Desmond Caldwell was selected to play in the 2021 contest. In addition to his aforementioned accomplishments, he also accounted for seven touchdowns in a single game against A.C. Reynolds on Sept. 19, becoming one of only four county players in history to do so (remarkably, teammate Kobe Johnson also scored seven TDs on the same night as the Patriots defeated the visiting Rockets by a 70-20 final).

Liberty football, Table Rock boys hoops among top MS teams

It was another banner year for the Liberty Middle School football team, as the Knights posted a 6-0 record in Foothills Athletic Conference games in the fall to move to 18-0 in league play over the past three seasons. During its three-year run at the top of the FAC, Liberty has outscored conference opponents by a combined total of 712-86.

The Table Rock boys basketball team also continued its dominance last winter, winning the FAC regular-season and tournament championships for the second straight year. The Falcons finished 13-1 during the 2024-25 season after posting a 14-0 record in 2023-24.

Also at the middle school level, the East Burke girls basketball squad finished 13-1 en route to winning FAC regular-season and tournament titles, the Liberty softball team won both as well and went 12-0, the Table Rock girls track and field squad finished first at the FAC championship meet for the first time since 2017, and the EB archery team collected bullseye and 3D state titles for the second year in a row.

County products find success at college, pro levels

Numerous athletes who graduated from high schools in Burke County have starred at their respective colleges in 2025, with some of the notable names including KJ Byrd (2024 East Burke graduate) at Louisville, Madison Clay (2022 Patton graduate) at Catawba, and Lyrical Edwards (2025 Draughn graduate) at Caldwell Tech.

Byrd was named the Atlantic Coast Conference men’s indoor track and field freshman of the year in March after becoming the first freshman in ACC history to win the league title in the men’s heptathlon. He ultimately earned NCAA Division I All-American status during both the indoor (seventh at nationals in the heptathlon) and outdoor (fourth at nationals in the decathlon) seasons.

Clay led Catawba with a program-record 42nd-place finish among female runners during the NCAA Division II cross country national championship meet, with the Indians coming in 17th out of 34 teams as they also set a new program record for highest team finish at nationals. Also a track and field competitor at Catawba, the senior was previously the first cross country participant in South Atlantic Conference history — female or male — to win three consecutive league titles, having done so in her freshman, sophomore, and junior years.

And Edwards completed her freshman season of volleyball by receiving National Junior College Athletic Association Division III First Team All-American honors. The outside hitter totaled 336 kills (first on team, second in Region 10), 252 digs (second on team, eighth in Region 10), 59 aces (third on team, fourth in Region 10), 26 blocks, and 15 assists.

At the professional level, 2009 EB graduate Tyler Shatley officially retired from the NFL after spending 11 seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an offensive lineman, appearing in 145 total games (including a franchise-record 140 consecutive games from 2015-2023) and starting 51 contests at center or guard.

Longtime Morganton resident Duane Bock caddied for golfer Sepp Straka as he posted six top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour (highlighted by two wins) and helped Team Europe defeat the U.S. squad in the 45th Ryder Cup, upping Bock’s all-time record as a caddie in international events to 4-0 (he caddied for Straka in a previous Ryder Cup and was American Kevin Kisner’s caddie during two Presidents Cup victories).

And second-year semi-pro men’s soccer team Hickory FC — which had 2025 Patton graduate Isai Jimenez on its roster — won the National Premier Soccer League title before announcing a promotion to USL (United Soccer League) League Two for the 2026 season.

Valdese Sports HOF inducts inaugural class

The Valdese Sports Hall of Fame was established in October 2024, and the first induction ceremony was held this past May at the Old Rock School.

Thirteen members made up the inaugural class, which consisted of Ed Abee, Burton Barger, Joe Brown, Dave Bumgarner, Bill Cline, Doug Cline, Sammy Decker, Judy Keever, Connie Mull, Jerry Murray, Wayne Owens, Joe Temple Sr., and Danny Williams. Jerry “Jay” Murray Jr. served as the emcee, while sponsors for the banquet and induction ceremony included The Venue at Turkey Ridge, Mears Insurance, Brinkley Insurance, and Heritage Funeral Services.

The first Valdese Sports HOF class honored those who graduated from or coached at Valdese High School in or before 1965 exclusively, and preliminary plans are to induct around 10 in 2026 and then have “normal” size classes of two or three inductees annually after that. Inductions will take place on the third Monday of May each year.

There are three other athletics halls of fame in Burke County: the Burke County Sports HOF, Glen Alpine Sports HOF, and East Burke High School Athletics HOF.

Locals win titles in golf, putt-putt

Morganton native Alex Bock, who is currently a sophomore golfer at UNC Charlotte, became the youngest Burke County Open champion in 15 years when the 2024 Freedom graduate won the annual event just over a week after his 19th birthday in July.

The 2025 Burke County Open was a three-round tournament that was played at Mimosa Hills Golf Club on day one before moving to Silver Creek Golf Club for rounds two and three, with Bock leading wire-to-wire thanks to an opening-round 67, a second-round 69, and a final-round 68 that gave him a three-day total of 204 (12-under-par). His father, Duane, caddied all three days for his son, who as a prep golfer was a two-time Freedom male athlete of the year, two-time NCHSAA 3A West Regional champion (and one-time runner-up), and four-time NCHSAA state qualifier who finished in the top 15 on each occasion.

And on Oct. 22, Richard Miller of Valdese teamed with his brother-in-law, Bryan Deal of Hudson, to win a national title in the sport of Putt-Putt. The pair had never competed at nationals before and just started participating in Putt-Putt tournaments a few years ago, but during the week-long Professional Putters Association 2025 National Championship hosted by the 36-hole Main Beach Putt-Putt facility in Fernandina Beach, Fla., they finished with a final score of 43-under-par 101 to win the title by three strokes over defending national champions Todd Trent and Chris Hudson.

The doubles event at nationals included an 18-hole best ball round, an 18-hole alternate shot round, and an 18-hole singles round in which both competitors’ scores counted toward a 72-hole team total.