Welcome to the weekly sports roundup in the greater Charlotte area presented by The Sports Chief. Every Sunday, let The Chief be the one to catch you up on all the latest sports happenings in and around the Charlotte, NC area. We take a look at professional sports, as well as semi-professional, college, and high school. If you like what we’re doing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @thesportschief where you’ll be notified of all our latest postings, and visit our website at www.thesportschief.com.

Professional

Carolina Panthers

As the NFL playoffs are underway, the Panthers’ season concluded last week with a 33-7 drubbing to the New Orleans Saints. “Thank goodness the season is over,” Panthers fans are saying. Now it’s time to talk personnel. The big one is who is going to be the new general manager. Several candidates have been interviewed so far including Brad Tilis (Chiefs’ Director of Football Administration), Champ Kelly (Bears’ Assistant Director of Player Personnel), Ed Dodds (Colts’ Assistant GM), and Adam Peters ( 49ers’ President of Player Personnel).

In addition to a new GM, the Panthers will be looking for a new quarterbacks coach and assistant offensive line coach. Jake Peetz, who served as the quarterbacks coach this season is leaving to become LSU’s new offensive coordinator and Marcus Satterfield, who was an assistant offensive line coach is leaving to be the new University of South Carolina offensive coordinator.

Assistant coach Jake PeetzMark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports — Assistant coach Jake Peetz
Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports

It was also reported yesterday that the Panthers will be bringing in Dwayne Haskins, recently cut from Washington, for a visit on Monday. IF the Panthers believe in him and sign him, it would go to show just how dumb they can be.

Charlotte Hornets

Who is currently on a three-game win streak? Yep, the Charlotte Hornets. And Hornets fans know that winning three in a row feels more like winning six in a row. It’s quite the feat here in Charlotte. Those three wins came at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks twice and the New Orleans Pelicans. In Wednesday’s game against Atlanta, it was Gordon Hayward who stole the show, pouring in 44 points as the Hornets took down the Hawks 102-94.

Hayward also led the team in scoring two nights later in New Orleans, this time with 26 points. With rookie Lamelo Ball leading the team in rebounds (10) and assists (9), Charlotte would come from behind to knock off the Pelicans in an impressive 118-110 road victory.

With a rematch scheduled against the Hawks last night, this time at home, the Hawks came up empty once again. It was the Hornets’ 5th game in a row scoring over 100 points, as they defeated the Hawks 113-105. While Terry Rozier led the team in scoring with 23 points, it was Lamelo Ball that has fans around the league talking. He became the youngest player in the history of the league to record a triple-double. His final stat line for the night was 22 points-12 rebounds-11 assists. In the young season he has shown that the stage is definitely not too big for him.

The Hornets will have a super busy week this upcoming week with a total of four games on the schedule. The slate starts Monday night against the Knicks and continues through Saturday with games against the Mavericks and Raptors (twice).

Semi-Professional

Charlotte Checkers

We finally have updated news to bring you about the Charlotte Checkers, but unfortunately it is not good news at all. The organization announced this week that it will opt out of the 2021 AHL season, one of three teams to do so. The Milwaukee Admirals and Springfield Thunderbirds are the other two.

The decision was made with its new parent club, the Florida Panthers. It makes me wonder if the Checkers would be playing this season if they were still part of the much geographically closer Carolina Hurricanes. As a Checkers fan it is very disappointing to not only miss out on hockey this season, but for the team also not to be able to defend the Calder Cup they won in 2019 (remember 2020 season never concluded due to Covid). With 28 other teams playing, I just do not understand this decision. As for the Checkers players, they will now practice and play with the Syracuse Crunch, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s affiliate.

College Basketball

Charlotte

After getting a couple of games cancelled at the beginning of the season, the 49ers had two games postponed this week. They were both against Marshall, scheduled to be played Friday and Saturday. But another game was scheduled in place of Saturday’s contest, however, against local team Belmont Abbey. With a 13-point lead at halftime, things looked bright for Charlotte. But the 2nd half was a different story. The 49ers were outscored by 13 in the latter half, forcing overtime. Belmont Abbey picked up where they left off in the 2nd half and downed Charlotte in overtime with the final score being 75-72. This was a bad loss for Charlotte against a much lesser opponent, and they drop to 5-5 on the season. They are scheduled to play UAB twice this week, who are 9-1 overall and will present a tough challenge for the 49ers.

Davidson

The Wildcats played two games this week and went 1-1. On Wednesday they traveled to Pittsburgh and took on Duquesne and didn’t have too much of a problem. No one player stole the show, but instead points were spread around pretty evenly, with two players leading the way with 13 apiece. Even though Davidson only scored 61 in the game, their defense was strong, holding the Dukes to just 48 points.

Friday’s game was back home in North Carolina and against the always-touch Dayton Flyers. It was a great game, back and forth all game long, but unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was the Flyers who took over the game in overtime. After both teams scored 72 in regulation, the Flyers exploded for 17 in OT to the Wilcats’ six points. Kellan Grady led the way for Davidson with 27 points. Next up on Davidson’s schedule is a game on Tuesday night against Saint Joseph’s.

App State

It was a good week to be a Mountaineer fan. Appalachian State hates Georgia Southern and Georgia Southern hates Appalachian State, whether they’re on the football field or not. Well, this week the Mountaineer basketball team swept the two game series against the Eagles, both of which were held in Boone. Friday’s game was the lower scoring one, with a 66-63 outcome. Point production was pretty spread out for App, with five players scoring at least nine points.

Saturday’s game was a little higher scoring, with the Mountaineers scoring 77 to the Eagles’ 71. Appalachian State outscored Georgia Southern by 11 in the 2nd half, completing the sweep. It was Donovan Gregory who led the way scoring with 19, while Adrian Delph added 17. App State is now 3-1 in conference play and 9-4 overall. Their next two games will be against South Alabama, who is 7-6 overall.

High School

Catch up on this week’s boys varsity basketball scores:

Tuesday, January 5

Freedom Patriots 63

St. Stephens Indians 48

South Point Red Raiders 79

Burns Bulldogs 75

Salisbury Hornets 58

Forest Hills Yellow Jackets 61

Cox Mill Chargers 84

Robinson Bulldogs 61

Wednesday, January 6

Parkwood Rebels 40

Weddington Warriors 79

North Mecklenburg Vikings 82

Mooresville Blue Devils 44

Vance Cougars 81

Mallard Creek Mavericks 52

West Iredell Warriors 42

Patton Panthers 64

Lake Norman Wildcats 43

West Charlotte Lions 44

Thursday, January 7

Jesse Carson Cougars 51

South Rowan Raiders 46

Carmel Christian Cougars 66

Charlotte Christian Knights 65

South Iredell Vikings 39

Davie War Eagles 59

Friday, January 8

Cox Mill Chargers 91

Robinson Bulldogs 48

Weddington Warriors 52

Monroe Redhawks 43

Vance Cougars 81

Hopewell Titans 58

West Charlotte Lions 61

North Mecklenburg Vikings 67

Saturday, January 9

Burns Bulldogs 75

Chase Trojans 40

Charlotte Christian Knights 45

Greensboro Day Bengals 48

Jesse Carson Cougars 29

Davie War Eagles 69

Garett

704 Weekly Sports Report