The Laurinburg Exchange's top 10 sports stories of 2023

Jan. 1—With 2023 now a year of the past, it's worth looking back on all that happened with sports across Scotland County.

Plenty of sports stories were notable for various reasons — coaches staying and leaving, new records being set, teams claiming conference championships, and many more.

Below are 10 of the top ones from The Laurinburg Exchange in 2023.

No. 1 — Community helps Ricky Schattauer keep job

Hours before the 2022-23 Scotland baseball team's senior night game against Richmond on May 1, 2023, it was announced that Ricky Schattauer would be relieved of his position as the school's head baseball coach following the end of the season.

The response from the Scotland County community was overwhelmingly in support of Schattauer keeping his job. So much so that at the Scotland County Schools' Board of Education meeting on May 8, 2023, players from the team and those who didn't agree with the decision to let Schattauer go took over the A.B. Gibson Education Center to have their voices heard.

"From our understanding, all this happened because he gave us seniors old jerseys that were no longer being used as a senior gift," Turner Bounds, a senior on the team, said at the podium. "With that being said, we brought back those jerseys and are either willing to turn them in right now or as early as tomorrow morning at school because it's not worth losing one of the best coaches that Scotland baseball has ever had."

A petition supporting Schattauer on change.org received over 1,800 signatures and 39 comments explaining why he should keep his job.

In the days following the meeting, Schattauer was reinstated as Scotland baseball's head coach.

No. 2 — Zay Jones breaks Scotland's single-season rushing and TD records

Zay Jones made his name known by rushing for 1,001 yards and 11 touchdowns in the final four games of the 2022 season — and didn't miss a beat this past season, rushing for 2,680 yards and 42 TDs to break Scotland's single-season rushing and TD records, formerly held by Zamir White, who ran for 2,159 yards and 41 TDs in his high school sophomore season in 2015.

"This year during the summer, me and Megil (McLean talked), and I told him, like, hey, I'm breaking that (rushing) record this year," Jones said. "It didn't hit at first, but having a good coach like Megil coaching me (helps). From what I hear a lot, he was one of the greatest running backs to come through Scotland until he had an injury. So, I looked at him more like a student becoming a master but learning from one of the greatest."

Jones was also named the 2023 Sandhills Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year and played in the East-West All-Star game on Dec. 16, 2023, taking eight carries for 38 yards.

Jones hopes to play football in college but hasn't yet committed anywhere.

No. 3 — Scotland men's bowling wins 2nd straight state title

On Feb. 17, 2023, the Scotland men's bowling team won their second consecutive state championship in a four-game baker tournament.

Five seniors graduated from the previous year's championship team, making it seem the Scots would have to rebuild.

"The first day of tryouts, we didn't have enough boys to make a team," Scotland head coach Megan Jernigan said. "We lost several seniors last year and had four strong returning bowlers. After a state championship, I thought there would be more interest."

Instead, the seven-man team of returners Tommy Beckwith, Bradley Heider, Dylan Tilson, Landon Malloy, and newcomers Cole Hamilton, Josh Manning, and Evan Tetreault helped Scotland continue their dominance in 3A. In the individual portion of the state championship, Tilson finished tied for fifth place and made second-team all-state, rolling scores of 245, 181, and 183 for a 609 series.

No. 4 — Vinnie Granato resigns as St. Andrews head women's basketball coach midseason

After leading the St. Andrews Knights women's basketball team to a 3-1 start — its best in nine years — Vinnie Granato resigned as the team's head coach on Nov. 16, 2023.

"St. Andrews is a wonderful place with quality administration and wonderful coaches and people," Granato said in a written statement to The Laurinburg Exchange. "Due to personal reasons, I unfortunately had to step aside at this time and wish the program success going forward."

Granato was hired in July 2023 to take over for Shareka Maner, who had coached St. Andrews women's basketball for the prior two seasons but left to accept an assistant coaching position at NCAA Division I Southeast Missouri State. He came from NAIA Goshen College in Indiana with nine years of college coaching experience.

The Lady Knights went 0-6 to close out the 2023 calendar year after Granato left the program.

No. 5 — Gabrielle Holloway becomes NAIA All-American at National Championship

With a sixth-place finish in the 155-pound weight class at the NAIA Women's Wrestling National Championship held inside Harold Newman Arena in Jamestown, North Dakota, on March 10-11, 2023, Gabrielle Holloway walked away as an All-American.

Life's Latifah McBryde defeated Holloway by a technical fall in the championship quarterfinals before recording wins via 6-5 and 10-8 decisions in her first two consolation bouts.

Holloway suffered another loss by tech fall to Central Methodist's Caitlyn Davis in her next match, forcing her into a fifth-place consolation bout against Menlo's Shannon Workinger, who defeated Holloway by an 11-2 decision.

The top eight finishers in each of the 10 weight classes were named All-Americans.

Holloway is currently in her senior year with the St. Andrews women's wrestling team.

No. 6 — Dominic Blue stars for Scotland wrestling in freshman season

Dominic Blue is a sophomore wrestler for the Union Pines Vikings in Cameron. But as a freshman, he was a Scotland Fighting Scot who put his name on the map.

Blue capped off the 2022-23 season by coming in second place in the 3A 170-pound weight class at the North Carolina High School Athletic Association's Wrestling Championships inside the Greensboro Coliseum on Feb. 16-18, 2023.

In addition, he earned a freshman All-American bid by the National High School Coaches Association during the weekend of March 25-26, 2023.

"It means a lot to me to be recognized as one of the top up-and-coming wrestlers in the nation," Blue said.

At wrestling states, Blue lost in the finals to Foard's Zane Birtchet by an 11-3 major decision. But to get to the last bout was something Blue didn't believe would happen.

"I didn't expect to make it to states and get second when I first started this year," Blue said. "I guess I was working so hard, and I just kind of doubted myself a little bit."

Blue also wrestled with Team North Carolina at the 16U National Duals on June 6-10, 2023. He announced his transfer to Union Pines on social media on Nov. 9, 2023.

No. 7 — Michael Malpass reaches 300 career wins

Scotland's Michael Malpass got his 300th win as a head coach when the Fighting Scots knocked off Purnell Swett 63-56 in Pembroke on Jan. 5, 2023.

"I want to thank the folks who invested in me when I started this journey of coaching boys' varsity basketball," Malpass said. "I was an intern for the University of North Carolina at Charlotte while attending there under former head coach Bobby Lutz, who is the all-time wins leader at Charlotte, and his knowledge, approach, and belief in his players, coaches, and myself made a huge impact at an early age.

"I played basketball at Scotland High, and my most influential coach was Walter Steele, who is on my staff today. I want to thank the administration, coaches, and players from Harvest Christian Academy in Fort Worth, Texas, Evangel Family Christian Academy in Montgomery, Alabama, Crenshaw Christian Academy in Luverne, Ala., Rocky River High School in Mint Hill, Marlboro Academy in Bennettsville, S.C., and my current alma mater, Scotland High School."

The 2022-23 season was Malpass's 16th as a head varsity basketball coach. Malpass played for Scotland from 1992-95 and was coached by Steele.

Malpass is currently in his second stint with Scotland after coaching there from 2013-25 before resigning to become a pastor full-time at New Hope Baptist Church in Laurinburg, which he still does now part-time.

No. 8 — Richard Bailey named North Carolina head coach for 2024 Shrine Bowl

Scotland head football coach Richard Bailey thought time was becoming slim for him to have an opportunity at a "bucket list item" for his career — be the head coach for North Carolina in the Shrine Bowl.

But a couple weeks before the formal announcement on Dec. 16, 2023, at the 87th edition of the bowl game in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Bailey received the phone call that changed that.

Bailey is familiar with being involved with the Shrine Bowl, as he was an assistant coach in it in 2011.

"Usually, if you're going to get the head coaching job, it happens about 10 years after you've been an assistant," Bailey said. "So, I got to the point where I was like, well, I'm just not going to get that chance or whatever. And I was a little worried I was going to retire or whatever before I got the call. But when I got the call, I was extremely excited. It's a bucket list item. It's something as a head coach in North Carolina that you kind of dream about doing one day, and I'm definitely excited to take on the challenge."

Bailey's end goal is for the N.C. team, named the 'Tar Heels,' to defeat the South Carolina Sandlappers, something that hasn't happened in the last few Shrine Bowls played.

"Other than winning a state championship, which is something I desperately want to do, but in a sense, if North Carolina can win, I guess I can win the state championship that way," Bailey said. "And of course, here lately, we've (the Tar Heels) struggled a little bit in the Shrine Bowl, and I definitely think we need to get back on the right track and hopefully win the game."

No. 9 — Lamonte Cousar notches 1,000 career points at Scotland

After making an impact as a sophomore, averaging 14.9 points in 12 games, Scotland men's basketball's Lamonte Cousar reached 1,000 career points in his senior year in an 81-78 win over Pinecrest on Feb. 3, 2023.

Cousar hit the mark with 1:41 remaining in the fourth quarter.

"Yeah, I knew I had to go get it," Cousar said. "I was thinking I was going to hit it on senior night, but ... after the first half, I saw I was scoring, and I saw they couldn't stop me. So I just kept attacking."

Despite only needing 29 points going into the contest to hit 1,000, Cousar finished with 38 points on 12-for-19 shooting and went 13 of 18 from the free-throw line.

Cousar had signed to play college basketball at NCAA Division II Livingstone in Salisbury on June 7, 2023, but now has plans to attend East Carolina and join the football team as a walk-on tight end.

No. 10 — Lady Scots basketball, softball go undefeated to win conference championships

The Scotland women's basketball and softball teams didn't just claim the regular-season Sandhills Athletic Conference championships last year — they never lost doing so.

The Lady Scots basketball team finished 12-0 in the SAC, while softball had a conference record of 13-0 to earn automatic playoff bids. While neither program made it past the fourth round, they each return(ed) several key players from those runs for this year.

Lady Scots basketball lost to Pinecrest in overtime 58-53 in the SAC tournament championship game; Scotland softball won its SAC tournament title in a 10-0 result against Richmond.