Monroe stops Porter Ridge in Sweet 16 battle; Mooresville, Hopewell, Sun Valley win

Monroe High is a 2A school, but the Redhawks took down an unbeaten 4A Porter Ridge team with a strong second quarter Friday night.

The Redhawks outscored Porter Ridge 28-14 in a high-scoring second quarter and went onto win, 41-24.

Monroe improved to 4-0 on the season and has outscored opponents 198-31. The Redhawks face Union County rival Forest Hills on the road next Friday.

Porter Ridge, coming off a 41-7 win over West Cabarrus, will host rival Marvin Ridge next week.

No. 2 Rock Hill Northwestern 67, Nation Ford 13: The Trojans scored 57 points in the first half and outgained Nation Ford 608-187. Nation Ford was playing its first game since head coach Michael Allen stepped down on Monday. Former Myers Park coach Jason McManus is serving as interim coach for the remainder of the season. On Friday, Northwestern (5-0) QB Finley Polk was 18 of 20 passing for 335 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 7 Hough 56, Harding 0: Trey Blakeney only threw four passes, but he completed all of them, two for touchdowns, as the Huskies (3-1, 1-0) rolled in their Queen City 3A-4A opener. Jycem Anciso scored on a pair of runs for Hough.

No. 10 South Point 44, Stuart Cramer 7: Patrick Blee ran for three touchdowns and passed for another score, as the Raiders rolled to a Big South 3A victory. South Point led 44-0 at halftime.

No. 13 Charlotte Catholic 21, Providence 6: The Panthers took a 6-0 halftime lead in this Southwestern 4A game, on a 26-yard pass from Jackson Debe to Keland Shelton. But Jon Fijalkowski picked off a Debe pass midway in the third quarter and returned it 11 yards for a touchdown. The conversion kick gave the Cougars a 7-6 lead, and they added touchdown runs of 2 and 36 yards by Jake Anderson.

No. 14 Mooresville 55, Cox Mill 0: Mooreville scored 42 points in the first half of an easy run. Quarterback Brody Norman was 12 of 20 for 210 yards and three total touchdowns. He threw for two and ran for one. Eric Heal also scored twice for Mooresville (3-1), which has two two straight. The Blue Devils are averaging nearly 54 points per game.

A.L. Brown 31, Hickory Ridge 14: This Greater Metro 4 4A game was tied 7-7 at the half, but the Wonders scored two rushing touchdowns and added a field goal in the third quarter to pull away.

Community School of Davidson 42, Bishop McGuinness 7: The Spartans rolled to a Catawba Shores 1A-2A victory, as Brandon Albert ran for three touchdowns and Jake Johnson passed for two more. The Spartan defense did its job, too, as Wyatt Baker returned an interception 95 yards for a second-quarter score.

Concord 45, East Rowan 0: The Spiders held East Rowan to 69 yards total offense and cruised to a South Piedmont 3A victory.

Crest 29, Ashbrook 12: The Chargers won this Big South 3A battle of unbeatens, as Mike Edwards caught two touchdown passes. One of the scoring catches as a 55-yarder on the final play of the first half. That put Crest ahead to stay 15-12.

Cuthbertson 56, South Caldwell 6: Mason Iovino rushed 11 times for 136 yards and two touchdowns, and Maalik Lamar scored three touchdowns, rushing seven times for 123 yards.

Hopewell 48, Harding 0: Hopewell improved to 3-1 on the season, beating Harding easily Friday. This is one of the best starts in school history and was the Titans second straight win. Hopewell beat Berry 21-15 last week.

North Lincoln 39, Statesville 14: The Knights (4-0, 1-0 Western Foothills 3A) opened conference play with a big victory in a battle of unbeatens. Shannon Wingate, who is among the area’s scoring leaders, ran for three North Lincoln touchdowns. Julius Stephenson had an 80-yard touchdown run for Statesville (3-1, 0-1).

Palisades 38, Berry Academy 0: The Pumas cruised to a SoMeck 4A triumph, as Addison Rowland threw three touchdown passes and ran for another. Two of the scoring tosses went to Tristin Frazier.

Pine Lake Prep 30, Mountain Island Charter 28: Dre Norris opened the second half with a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, giving the Pride a 23-21 lead, and they hung on. Johntay Gaither scored for Pine Lake Prep later in the third quarter. Andre Ramseur’s 18-yard run for Mountain Island Charter narrowed the gap to 30-28 in the fourth quarter, but the Raptors missed a potential game-winning field goal with three minutes left.

South Iredell 24, West Cabarrus 17: Tyler Johnson passed for a touchdown and ran for another, lifting the Vikings to a Greater Metro 4 4A victory.

Sun Valley 42, Alexander Central 10: Sun Valley jumped out to a 28-7 halftime lead and cruised to an easy win on the road Friday. The Spartans held Alexander Central to 32 yards passing. Sun Valley’s Zach Cullen ran six times for 93 yards and two touchdowns and he caught four passes for 53 yards and another score. On defense, Cole Eversole had seven tackles and Jaylen Flowe and Cayden Brown each had a sack.