The 2024-25 high school sports season is finally here.
In the first week, Chatham County saw regular season action across various fall sports, including volleyball, boys’ soccer, girls’ tennis and cross country.
Some teams are off to a hot start while others are hoping for better days in the near future.
Here’s a recap of the key moments, developments and conference standings in the opening week of high school sports in the county:
Volleyball
Chatham Central couldn’t have had a better start to the volleyball season than it did last week. The Bears caught fire, finishing the week as the only undefeated team in the county (3-0) with two conference wins over Southeast Alamance and their rival Jordan-Matthews. The thrilling five-set win over the Jets ended the week on a high note as the Bears held off Jordan-Matthews’ comeback efforts after going up 2-0 in the game.
Northwood and Chatham Charter were the only other county teams to play three games during the week and both came away with 1-2 records.
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings (as of Sunday), (overall, conference): 1. Chatham Central (3-0, 2-0); 2. Seaforth (1-1, 1-0); 3. North Moore (2-0, 1-0); 4. Northwood (1-2, 1-1); 5. Jordan-Matthews (0-1, 0-1); 6. Graham (0-1, 0-1); 7. Southeast Alamance (0-2, 0-2); 8. Bartlett Yancey (0-0, 0-0)
Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Clover Garden School (2-0, 1-0); 2. Southern Wake Academy (0-1, 0-1); 3. Ascend Leadership (0-0, 0-0); 4. Chatham Charter (1-2, 0-0); 5. River Mill (0-1, 0-0); 6. Woods Charter (0-1, 0-0); 7. Triangle Math & Science (0-2, 0-0)
Boys’ Soccer
Jordan-Matthews and Seaforth were the only Chatham County teams that opened its boys’ soccer season last week. Yet, Seaforth, coming off a 13-10-1 overall campaign in 2023, didn’t have the 2024 season-opener it would’ve hoped for. The Hawks lost to 4A opponent Apex Friendship, 9-0, taking their worst loss since falling to Jordan-Matthews by the same score in 2021.
Jordan-Matthews went through a similar situation Thursday and Saturday after starting the year with losses to 4A opponents Northwest Guilford and Ragsdale in the Beyond Sports Fusion Showcase. After falling to Northwest Guilford, 8-0, Thursday, the Jets lost to Ragsdale, 2-0, losing back-to-back games for the first time since 2022.
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Southeast Alamance (1-1-0, 0-0); 2. Graham (0-1, 0-0); 3. Seaforth (0-1, 0-0); 4. Jordan-Matthews (0-2, 0-0); 5. Bartlett Yancey (0-0, 0-0); 6. Cummings (0-0, 0-0); 7. North Moore (0-0, 0-0); 8. Northwood (0-0, 0-0)
Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (as of Sunday): 1. Clover Garden School (0-1, 0-0); 2. Triangle Math & Science (0-2, 0-0); 3. Ascend Leadership (0-0, 0-0); 4. Chatham Charter (0-0, 0-0); 5. River Mill (0-0, 0-0); 6. Southern Wake Academy (0-0, 0-0); 7. Woods Charter (0-0, 0-0)
Girls’ Tennis
Four out of the five Chatham County schools fielding a girls’ tennis team played their first games of the season last week. Northwood and Chatham Charter both started 1-0 while Seaforth split its two games during the week and Jordan-Matthews fell to 0-1 after a loss to Carrboro.
The best win of the week was Chatham Charter’s dominant 9-0 victory over North Moore Thursday. In five of the six singles matches, the Knights defeated their North Moore opponent by a score of 8-0. The doubles matches were slightly more competitive, but Knight’s team of Abby Semrad and Zva Rodriguez added another 8-0 shutout to the box score.
Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference standings (from dual matches as of Sunday): 1. Northwood (1-0, 1-0); 2. Seaforth (1-1, 0-0); 3. Bartlett Yancey (0-0, 0-0); 4. Chatham Central (0-0, 0-0); 5. Cummings (0-0, 0-0); 6. Graham (0-0, 0-0); 7. Jordan-Matthews (0-1, 0-0); 8. North Moore (0-1, 0-0); 9. Southeast Alamance (0-1, 0-1)
Central Tar Heel 1A conference standings (from dual matches as of Sunday): 1. Chatham Charter (1-0, 0-0); 2. Clover Garden School (0-0, 0-0); 3. River Mill (0-0, 0-0); 4. Southern Wake Academy (0-0, 0-0); 5. Triangle Math & Science (0-1, 0-0)
Cross Country
Seaforth competed in the Pace Yourself Early Bird Challenge at Wake Med Soccer Complex Saturday. In the boys’ 5,000-meter run, Seaforth finished 12th out of 18 teams. Senior and defending 2A state champion was the first Hawk to cross the finish line, and he finished with the 69th-best time (18 minutes, 42.72 seconds) out of 306 runners. Sophomore London Crowling was right behind Anstrom, finishing in the 70th spot with a time of 18:42.82.
In the girls’ 5,000 meter run with 220 runners and 15 teams, Seaforth finished in fifth place, and junior Katie Leonard, the first Hawk to cross the finish line, recorded the 23rd-best time (21:28.89). Senior Claire Morgan was the next closest Hawk, finishing in 32nd place with a time of 21:42.38