Thursday, October 1, 2026
®
The World's Local News Source®
Cherryville, NC (WNN) - There was no shortage of sports events to choose from this week ending on October 3rd, 2025, involving the Cherryville Ironmen. There were some outstanding performances, huge victories, and some heartbreaks. A possible career record was set, and we are awaiting verification from the Gaston County records keeper. Also, several players are nearing some career milestones. The fall sports season has been extremely exciting for fans of Ironmen athletics, and the student-athletes are far from done. A few teams will enter the post-season this week, others will wrap up their regular season, while others will conclude later in the month. Read below to see how the week went for your favorite team.
The team traveled to Lincolnton on September 29th to face the Wolves in a conference match. It was senior night for Lincolnton, and they used the extra motivation to win 8-1. The Ironmen returned home on October 1st to host the Warriors of East Gaston. Coach Matthew Strother had his team ready for the challenge. This was a hard-fought, very close match, and at the end of regulation, both teams were tied at 2 goals each. High school soccer does not play sudden-death overtime where the first score wins; instead, it incorporates two 10-minute overtime periods. The score at the end of the second overtime period becomes the final. After such a hard-fought match in regulation, Cherryville was heartbroken to see East Gaston pull out a 5-2 victory. Multi-sport athlete Cole Kelly scored the three goals during these two matches.
On October 2nd, Cherryville was again at home the following night, this time facing Anson County. Senior night saw both Kamran Brown and Neythan Volcan recognized at halftime. On this night, the Ironmen refused to be denied; they went on a scoring spree that was so contagious that even Anson County scored a goal for Cherryville about midway through the second half. Cole Kelly again led the way in scoring with 4 goals, and Melvin Dominguez, Ethan Johnson, Geovanny Martinez, Alex Alvarez, and Cristian Dela Cruz Cordova each provided one goal each. Many emotions were flowing during this night. Anson County had a few teammates who were not happy after one Cherryville score, and their disagreement with each other resulted in a delay of several minutes and an ejection. No Cherryville players were involved; it was just two Anson County players blaming each other for allowing the score. The emotions from the home team were all joy and excitement. Each score brought renewed energy and celebration. The boys were enjoying themselves on this night. After coming close in some recent matches, only to have it end in heartbreak, this night was well deserved. As the final seconds ticked away, Cherryville had earned a 10-2 victory. Everyone on the home team smiled.
The Lady Ironmen split their matches this week. They traveled to Burns on September 30th. The Lady Bulldogs proved a little too strong as Cherryville fell 8-1 in the conference match. They regrouped for their next match two evenings later at home against Stuart W. Cramer. Grace Wells was recognized as the lone senior on the team as they celebrated senior night.
Cherryville easily won this match by a score of 7 sets to 2. Winners in the singles matches were Laney Spangler 9-7, Maddie Avery 8-1, Bailey Bryant 8-2, Ava Freeman 8-5, and Grace Wells, closing out her regular season career, won 8-5.
In doubles, the team of Maddie Avery and Ava Freeman was the winners 8-1, and the other victorious doubles team consisted of Bailey Bryant and Laney Jones. Their score was 8-6. Coach Brandon Shull did a great job bringing out the best in his players this season.
The cross country meet scheduled for September 30th at Hunter Huss High School was cancelled. The men’s and women’s teams will be in action again this coming week as they participate in the Gaston County Championship Tuesday, October 7th at Forestview.
Previous articles covered this week’s volleyball and football results. Please refer to those articles for more in-depth coverage of these two teams. The Lady Ironmen had three very competitive, close matches: they dropped a heartbreaker to Highland Tech 3-1, defeated Stuart W. Cramer 3-1, and fell a little short to Burns 3-2. This week, Coach Leigh Kiser will continue her quest for career victory #200. She currently sits at 198.
On the football gridiron, Cherryville returned to action after having a bye week. The team regained almost full strength after several players returned from injury. Unfortunately, the Rebels of West Lincoln left with a 51-20 victory.
Upcoming Events
Another week filled with sports is in store for the Lady Ironmen and Ironmen teams. There will be competitions each day of the week. Monday, October 6th, will feature men’s soccer at home hosting Highland Tech at 6 pm in Rudisill Stadium. Next door in Nixon Gym, also at 6 pm, the Lady Ironmen will be matched against Piedmont Community Charter. Tuesday, October 7th, will feature the men’s and women’s cross-country teams competing in the Gaston County Championship Meet at 4 pm at Forestview in Gastonia, NC. On Wednesday, October 8th, the men’s soccer team will be on the road at Burns with a 6 pm start time. The women’s volleyball team will host North Gaston at 6 pm in Nixon Gym that same night. Thursday, October 9th, the women’s volleyball regular season schedule will conclude at 5:30 pm when they invade rival Bessemer City. Closing out the week at 7:30 pm on Friday, October 10th, the Ironmen will celebrate homecoming as the football team takes on East Gaston.
For further WNN articles and news stories, visit https://wisenewsnetwork.com
For more WNN video news stories, visit YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@wisenewsnetwork
Got a News Story? Contact WNN at newsdesk@wisenewsnetwork.com
North Carolina Press Association Member
©️Copyright 2025 Wise News Network. All rights reserved.
