First & 10: Is South Stokes a team on the rise?

Yadkin Valley Sports’ summer football tour visited Walnut Cove recently, where coach Jonathan Frasher will begin his second year in charge of South Stokes’ program. The Sauras have struggled on the gridiron in recent years, but the team could be poised to climb out of the Northwest Conference cellar over the next few seasons. Click inside to learn 10 things about South Stokes with the opening day of practice only a month away.

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Put the power of Yadkin Valley Sports to work for you this football season. For the price of a couple of black & white newspaper ads each month, you can create a detailed advertising campaign across both print and digital platforms. Click inside for more details.

First & 10: North Surry upbeat about 2011

North Surry’s football team created quite a buzz last fall, going 6-0 at home and winning eight games total after a 1-10 campaign the year before. Joston Phipps galloped for 2,000-plus yards en route to earning conference offensive MVP honors. While Phipps and other standouts from 2010 like Tanner Hiatt, Jonathan Brown, Dillon Hawks, Jacob Hauser and Will Hodges have graduated, there is still a lot of buzz in Greyhound Country.

Surry Knights holding volleyball camp in July

The Surry Community College Volleyball Camp will be held from July 18-21 at the Surry CC gym on the Dobson campus. The clinic will include two separate sessions. The first session, from 9 a.m. until noon, is for individuals with less than one year of experience. The second session, from 1-4 p.m. is for individuals with more than one year of experience.

Surry swim trio collects State Games medals

Three youth swimmers from Surry County, who each compete for the Piedmont Aquatic Club, earned medals in this weekend’s Powerade State Games of North Carolina competition in Winston-Salem. Mikki Nunn of Pilot Mountain collected five medals in the 10-and-under girls age group. Avery Tucker of Pilot Mountain medaled in three events in the 10-and-under girls age group. Palmer Duncan of Elkin picked up a pair of medals in the 12-and-under girls division.

Yadkin T-Ball all-stars sweep tourney foes

A Yadkin County All-Star T-Ball team went undefeated at a tournament in Jonesville over the weekend. The group of local standouts is preparing to play in the upcoming Cal Ripken State Tournament in Asheville in a couple of weeks.

Elkin swims past Reeves Rapids, Tiger Sharks

Despite missing several swimmers for various reasons, the Elkin Wet Lightning fended off the Reeves Rapids and Carroll Tiger Sharks in a Saturday tri-meet. Sarah Cesare and Cameron Burleson both won four individual events for Elkin. Mattie Wells, Tessa Cesare, Grace Cesare and Alex Duncan were triple winners. Maia Schweikert, Payton Nicholson and Ashton Gant touched first in two events each.

First & 10: Forbush eyes continued improvement

The Falcons won as many games (three) in the last half of the 2010 season as they won in all of 2008 and 2009. Coach Chris Johnson’s program aims to keep getting better in ’11.

Wilkes Central youth football camp on tap

Wilkes Central High School will host a youth football camp July 25-29 from 6-8 p.m. each evening. The camp is for grades 3-8. The cost will be $10 per player. Players not already registered to play Sertoma football will have an opportunity to register July 25 before the start of camp. Please email questions to sertomaeagles@aol.com.

Hill reflects on East Surry’s 4th-straight title

You might expect a team that had captured three straight state championships to downplay the prospect of winning a fourth in a row — especially considering that a three-time state finals MVP was among the key graduates from the program. But East Surry softball coaches took the opposite approach heading into the 2011 season. From day one, the idea of a “four-peat” was a regular topic of conversation.

Wilkes’ Northern Stars finish 3rd in the state

The Northern Stars 10 &under softball team placed third in the 2011 Summer State Championships, held June 11-12 in Concord. All players on the Northern Stars squad reside in Wilkes County. The Northern Stars would like to thank the parents and sponsors for their support.

Isaacs, Handy lead all-district softball voting

The softball MVPs from the Mountain Valley 1A/2A and Northwest 1A/2A conferences earned two of the district’s top honors. Danielle Handy of West Wilkes was voted the District 7 Pitcher of the Year for Class 1A. Beth Isaacs of East Surry was voted the District 7 Player of the Year for Class 1A.

Photo Gallery: Elkin swim meet opener

YadkinValleySports.com photographer Eric Lusk captured hundreds of images from Saturday’s Wytheville at Elkin swim meet. Click inside for a sample of some of his favorite pictures.

Wet Lightning dominates first swim meet

Elkin’s summer swim team used a familiar formula to dominate its first meet of the season. The Wet Lightning combined depth with quality swims to beat the Wytheville Waves 1,105 to 262 on Saturday at the Elkin pool. Elkin swimmers touched first in 77 events. Wytheville managed first place in five events.

Wilkes runner medals twice in State Games

A Wilkes County runner earned two medals in the youth track and field competition at the State Games of North Carolina last Saturday. Joshua Englebert, a rising freshman at West Wilkes High, earned gold in the youth boys 3,000-meter race walk and took the silver in the 1,500 meters.

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