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By Jay Spivey

For the Clemmons Courier

CLEMMONS — The Memorial Day holiday has passed, it’s almost time for graduation, and that means spring sports are over for the season at West Forsyth.  

And what a successful season it was.  

The baseball team under first-year Coach Kevin McIntosh 23-7 overall and 11-3 in the Central Piedmont 4-A.  

It also won the Central Piedmont 4-A tournament and as the No. 12 seed in the West reached the quarterfinals of the NCHSAA Class 4-A tournament before losing 8-5 at No. 1 Asheville Roberson.

Losing to Roberson came one day after defeating rival and No. 4 Reagan 5-0 in the third round at David F. Couch Ballpark, which is the home of Wake Forest.  

In that game, senior Jack Vest started for the Titans and pitched 62/3 innings and finished with a shutout with two hits 11 strikeouts and one walk. Vest was relieved because he had exceeded the mandated pitch-count limit with one out remaining, and Logan Hernandez recorded the final out after two pitches to preserve the win. 

Vest is one of six seniors, so the Titans will have to replace them, which won’t be easy.  

“…Our kids battled; our kids fought hard and didn’t give up and didn’t quit, and obviously as a coaching staff that’s something that we’re proud of and hopefully we can build and learn from that as we move forward with the younger guys on the team,” McIntosh said. “And they can learn from that group or seniors not to quit.” 

However, there is plenty of hope for next season after building off the success of this season. 

“Anytime you’re playing 30 baseball games in a high-school season that means you’ve done something well as a program,” McIntosh said. “Twenty-three wins, back-to-back-to-back conference-tournament champions – obviously we’d like to have been regular-season champions (Reagan did that). With that being said I think you build off of that. We got a ton of experience out of our sophomores and juniors that we had that’s coming back next year. The JV program had a good year that they can build off as well. 

“So, we’ll take a break here and back out come September and be building again for next year.” 

The Titans’ girls soccer team also had a dominant season under first-year Coach Jeffrey Williams, who was the long-time boys coach and replaced Scott Bilton last summer.  

West Forsyth finished 17-4-1 overall and 13-1 in the Central Piedmont 4-A, remaining perfect in conference until the final game of the regular season when it lost 2-1 at East Forsyth.  

It was also the No. 3 seed in the NCHSAA Class 4-A playoffs and defeated conference-rival Davie County 2-1 in the first round and defeated No. 14 Waxhaw Cuthbertson 2-1 in the second round. It played No. 6 Waxhaw Marvin Ridge four nights late in the third round and lost 4-2, ending its season.  

However, West Forsyth outscored its opponents 91-29. But they will lose seven players to graduation, including both goaltenders – Braeden Carter and Sydney Konkler. However, Aislynn Maguire, who has committed to play at Wake Forest, is slated to be back. 

“Personality-wise and such, I don’t know if we can get better than what we have now,” Williams said. “They’ve been a good group. They’ve been pretty accepting of me being a guy that hasn’t, they haven’t really known as much coming in. And that’s tough for them. If they’ve been under the same leadership the last three years. 

“Yeah, we only have two juniors on the team. We’re fairly sophomore heavy.” 

Not to be outdone, the Titans’ girls lacrosse team finished their season with a record of 19-2 and finished 12-0 in the Central Piedmont 4-A, outscoring their opponents 355-153. 

They also defeated perennial conference-power Reynolds three times this season, including a 14-9 win in the conference-tournament championship on April 25 at West Forsyth.  

After winning the Central Piedmont 4-A tournament, it was named the No. 2 seed in the West Region for the NCHSAA Clas 4-A playoffs. It received a first-round bye and defeated Southeast Guilford 18-3 in the second round. However, it lost 20-11 to No. 7 Waxhaw Marvin Ridge in the third round, ending its season.  

Senior Alivia Gurley was named first-team all-state by the North Carolina Lacrosse Coaches Association. Also, senior Bailey Fox made second-team all-state. Making third-team all-state for West Forsyth were sophomores Brigdhe Mullen and Gaby Vestal and freshman Tatum Snow. 

All told West Forsyth is losing six seniors to graduation. 

“When we get back next year, we’ve lost, we’re losing two more attacks, two of our starting midfielders, two of our starting defense players,” Coach Doug Brawley said. “So, we’re going to have to really, we’ve got a lot of holes to fill for next year. But I’m confident these girls will be able to do that.” 

The West Forsyth softball is always right there when it comes to competing for titles within the Central Piedmont 4-A and the NCHSAA Class 4-A tournament.  

That was no different this season. West Forsyth finished 24-4 overall and 12-2 in the conference. West Forsyth tied Reagan for the regular-season conference title, but Reagan swept the regular-season series, giving it the top seed in the conference tournament.  

West Forsyth was the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament and defeated 15-0 in the first round, defeated Davie County 6-3 in the semifinals, and upended Reagan 1-0 in the championship, avenging the two regular-season losses.  

West Forsyth was awarded the No. 13 seed in the West for the NCHSAA Class 4-A tournament and played No. 20-seed and rival East Forsyth in the first round. West Forsyth won that game 4-3, but it lost at No. 4 Northwest Guilford 2-1 in the second round to end its season.  

Things look bright for the Titans, who outscored their opponents 282-51, next season. They have no seniors on the current team, so everybody is slated to be back next season. 

“We need to fix some things and improve on some things and find a way to manufacture runs when we get runners in scoring position with less than two outs,” Coach Kevin Baity said. “And things like that.” 

The boys tennis team at West Forsyth had a stellar season with Coach Sara Cranford. 

The Titans finished with an undefeated record in the Central Piedmont 4-A 

The team was awarded No. 4 seed in the NCHSAA Class 4-A playoffs and played host to No. 13 Greensboro Page in the first round. Page edged West Forsyth 5-4, ending West Forsyth’s season.  

The West Forsyth boys lacrosse team struggled all season and finished 0-16 overall and 0-12 in the Central Piedmont 4-A under Coach Jacob Able. 

The season ended after West Forsyth, which was the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament, lost to No. 2 Reagan 18-1. 

The team was outscored 233-71 this past season, and according to MaxPreps.com, it loses eight players to graduation. 

The boys and girls track-and-field teams for the Titans finished their seasons with Coach Nathan Newsome on May 17 at the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship at N.C. A&T in Greensboro.  

Jordan Stephens of West Forsyth finished runner-up in the high jump at 6-feet, 4 inches, just behind West Cabarrus’ Gianni Vines, who jumped 6-10.  

The week before that, the Class 4-A Midwest Regional was held at Davie County. 

In the Central Piedmont 4-A championships, held at Davie County on April 30, Aydin Davis of West Forsyth finished second in the boys 400 meter at 50.71 seconds, just behind Rance Springs of Mount Tabor at 49.79. The boys 4×800-meter relay team finished second at 8:33.22, just behind Reagan’s 8:29.62. Stephens finished runner-up in the high jump at 6-1 after a tiebreaker with Jordan Wolverton of Mount Tabor. Stephens also won the long jump at 21-5. 

Sean Davis of West Forsyth finished second in the boys triple jump at 42-21/2, defeated by Reagan’s Djibril Fall at 43-3. 

Noelle Childs of West Forsyth finished third in the girls 300 hurdles in the conference championship at 49.28 and she finished runner-up in the pole vault at 10-1, behind winner Rachel Riley of Mount Tabor at 11-1. The girls 4×200 relay team finished third at 1:50.86, the girls 4×400 relay team finished third at 4:17.88, and the girls 4×800 relay team finished third at 10:54.45.  

In the girls long jump, Hope Newsome, Nathan Newsome’s daughter, finished runner-up at 16-91/2, and Krissa Coleman- Simon finished third at 16-9, just behind winner Londyn Green-Dubose of Parkland at 17-3. Coleman-Simon finished second in the triple jump at 35-3 and Hope Newsome was third at 33-10, also losing to Green-Dubose, who jumped 36-6. 

The boys golf team finished its final season with Coach Kevin King, who earlier announced his retirement. 

The Titans finished fifth in the NCHSAA Class 4-A Midwest Regional and Hershal Patel finished tied for fifth at 1 under. Logan Garrison was 20th, Andrew Koster finished tied for 41st, and Caden Koster finished tied for 51st.  

Patel finished the NCHSAA Class 4-A state championship at Pinehurst No. 8 with a two-day total of 151.