Volleyball continues its historic season, while football suffers a heartbreaking loss. Soccer hopes to find its offensive spark again.
Football
The Bucks lost their third straight game and second since opening Sandhills conference play. The Bucks scored on offense, defense and special teams and led in the fourth quarter, but a 21-yard touchdown pass from Aiden Poole to Jayden Hill broke Bucks hearts and led Lee County to a 24-20 win on Hoke’s home field. The Bucks are now 1-5, 0-2 in conference.
Hoke got its first touchdown on a 15-yard scoop-and-score fumble return by Dontrell Mims. Tycen Vick then gave the Bucks their first lead by returning the second-half kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown. Favor Anab ran in a touchdown early in the fourth to put the Bucks on top, 18-10. Poole threw for two of his three touchdowns on the day in the final minutes of the game, however, also adding a two-point conversion pass to lead the Lee County rally. It was the seventh straight year Hoke has lost to the Yellow Jackets.
Now, the Bucks will look to end two streaks—their current three-game skid in 2024, as well as a historical run of trouble against this week’s opponent, Richmond. Hoke hasn’t beaten the Raiders since 2011 and fell last year, 41-0. The game will be on the road. Richmond is 4-2 on the year, 2-0 in the Sandhills. They won at Pinecrest last week by a 36-7 margin and have outscored their two league opponents, 77-14.
Boys’ soccer
Hoke County only played one game last week as the team hit a break in the schedule, with only one scheduled contest in a nine-day span. As it turned out, the rainy weather would have made it tough to get any additional games in had they been on the slate. So it was a good time for a breather.
Hoke fell at home to Pinecrest, 1-0, stretching their winless streak to three games, over which they’re 0-2-1. The Bucks haven’t scored in their last two contests.
The Bucks are now 7-5-2, 1-3-1 in the Sandhills. They’ll try to rediscover their offense in a pair of league games this week. The Bucks host Scotland on Wednesday, then travel to Lee County early next week. The Scots are winless in the Sandhills at 0-6, while Lee County’s 3-2 mark puts the Yellow Jackets in third place in the league.
Volleyball
The volleyball team continued its most successful season in recent memory, winning all three games last week to stretch its winning streak to five. Hoke swept all three opponents, including two Sandhills conference rivals, winning at Lee County and home against Richmond and Douglas Byrd, all by 3-0 margins.
Kayeliana Bonner did a little bit of everything last week, recording 20 kills, 7 aces, 3 blocks, 26 digs and 16 receptions in the three games. Aubrey Carpenter had 40 digs and 31 receptions.
The Bucks are now 14-3 on the year and 6-3 in the Sandhills, good for a second-place tie with Scotland. They now have a stretch run of four more regular-season games. The first three are Sandhills foes—at Southern Lee and home against Union Pines this week, then at Pinecrest to start next week. They close out the schedule with a non-conference tilt at home against Red Springs.
