Cleveland girls fall in final second

Triton’s girls avoided a home Eastern Carolina 3A Conference loss, nipping Cleveland 33-32 Friday night. The Hawks scored the game-winning points on a free throw with 0.1 seconds left on the clock after a technical foul was called on Cleveland.

Triton led 19-7 at the half. Courtney Ireland paced the Rams with 15 points in the loss.

Hawks rally by Cleveland boys

Triton’s boys basketball team rallied from a 11-point halftime deficit to down Cleveland 67-56 Friday night. The Hawks scored 28 third-quarter points in the win. Dedrick Stacker of Triton led all scorers with 23 points. Jesse Olmstead paced the Rams with 17 points in the loss.

Area churches to offer youth soccer league

Four area churches are registering boys and girls in grades K- 6 this month for spring soccer leagues, part of Upward Sports, the world’s largest Christian sports league for children.

Faith Alliance Church in Garner, Kennebec Baptist Church in Angier, Piney Grove Baptist Church in Fuquay-Varina, and Mount Zion United Methodist Church in the 40/42 community of Johnston County, begin soccer registrations and evaluations this month.

This is the first year of hosting a soccer league for Mount Zion United Methodist Church.

“Upward soccer has been called to Mount Zion in order to provide children of the community and their families with a connection to Jesus Christ through a healthy program using their love of sports,” says Mike Stewart, one of the church’s league organizers.

Mount Zion UMC will hold two evaluations on Thursday, Jan. 24 and Saturday, Jan. 26, which is also the last day to register. Practices will begin the week of March 4 with the first games to be played on March 16.

An awards celebration is planned for May 19.

For more information about Mount Zion UMC’s soccer league, contact Mike Stewart at 919-427-6875 or mike@easterncouriercorp.com.

Garner Baseball Inc. registration now open

Registration for the spring season with Garner Baseball, Inc. (GBI) is open until Feb. 3.

Sign-ups are online only at garnerbaseball.com.