Nick Stevens | HighSchoolOT
@NickStevensHSOT
Followers
17K
Following
4K
Media
2K
Statuses
54K
Managing Editor of @HighSchoolOT covering NC HS sports since 2006 | IG: @NickStevensHSOT | [email protected]
Raleigh, NC
Joined May 2013
Spoke to a high school principal today who said this about sports this fall: “I really worry what might happen to high schools if there are no sports next year. Athletics are the lifeblood of a high school.”. High school sports are about more than sports!.
28
508
2K
If you’re booing during a moment of silence held in the name of equality — you are part of the problem. End of story.
23
237
1K
BREAKING: Gov. Roy Cooper has announced he is closing all NC K-12 public schools across the state until at least Mar. 30, due to coronavirus pandemic. He is also issuing an executive order to stop mass gatherings of more than 100 people -- making it mandatory.
25
581
986
Isn’t it wild how every commentator nit-picked every little thing Cam Newton did but now they all make every excuse possible for Sam Darnold? 🤔.
48
138
869
This was in Raleigh. Not Durham. Raleigh-Durham is not a place. It’s an airport.
11
72
695
HS atheltic directors deserve so much praise and thanks this year. All the normal work, plus pandemic, insanely wet weather, spectator restrictions, financial concerns, teaching (remotely for many). And they’ve still executed when there were doubts sports could/would happen.
7
87
539
Here's the Cory Gensler buzzer-beater to send @ImpDomeHoops to the state championship! #NCHSAAMBB #HSOT
9
485
374
🚨 Gov. Roy Cooper announced an increase of sports arena capacity to 50% effective Mar. 26 at 5 PM. This WILL include high school sports.
3
94
362
Wake Forest is hosting Wallace-Rose Hill tomorrow night in football. The Cougars will present a check to WRH before the game for about $1,300 to help with recovery from Florence. Wake Forest also bought a sign in the WRH stadium, is paying for their transportation & feeding team.
17
63
345
0° on Monday morning. 71° on Friday night. If you're new to North Carolina, welcome.
0
171
334
A year ago we had no idea if/when/how sports would resume. Today we will begin the final sports season of the school year. ADs, coaches, administrators, athletic trainers, and the athletes deserve a ton of credit for making this work. Hasn’t always been smooth, but it worked.
5
40
326
BREAKING NEWS: Former UNC basketball player, NBA champion & two-time NBA All-Star Rasheed Wallace will be the next boys basketball coach at @JHSFalcons. QUICK STORY >>> #HSOT.
7
113
313
Ahh. The good ole #sticktosports argument. Here’s the thing, what’s going on right now is not about politics, red vs. blue, left vs. right. It’s about humanity & right vs. wrong. Standing against racism shouldn’t be controversial. And this issue impacts MANY HS athletes. So. ✌️
17
34
298
Pro tip: If you're upset about a sports reporter tweeting about the pandemic's impact on sports because you don't think they're important. might I suggest not following sports reporters?.
9
9
290
If Cam Newton said he was going to drink a lot of beer tonight the reaction would be: "That thug is encouraging people to be alcoholics!".
9
261
286
You have to feel awful for seniors right now. Just awful.
8
34
272
BREAKING: NCHSAA will allow sports to resume with restrictions on June 15, cancels dead period around coaches clinic, and sets phase one return to play guidelines. QUICK STORY >>> #HSOT.
11
122
253
Some incredibly sad news to report today. Kevin Todd, longtime soccer coach at Apex High School, died suddenly today. He was a teacher and a two-time state champion coach at the school. #HSOT.
13
70
245
PSA: High school football season is not about to be canceled in NC. It may be postponed to a later date. But it is not being canceled. If we ever get to the point it is being canceled, it’ll be sometime in 2021, and it’ll be apparent because everything will be canceled.
14
76
246
🚨 Gov. Roy Cooper says he anticipates NC will be able to lift all mandatory social distancing, capacity & mass gathering restrictions by June 1.
6
40
245
For all the noise on Twitter, you speak to most coaches and ADs — and even the players I’ve communicated with — the general reaction to all the protocols & restrictions is this: Whatever we have to do to play, that’s what we will do. That’s the approach we should all take!.
5
22
235
RANT: If you’re in high school sports media, let’s all do our audiences a favor and say what we know and what we don’t. Speculation and theorizing is confusing our audiences. We should be bringing clarity, which sometimes means we have to say we don’t know — and that’s OK!.
11
15
240
Remember when NC high school sports Twitter used to get frustrated over football being postponed because of rain and basketball playoffs being determined by MaxPreps rankings?. Ahhh. The good ole days.
6
16
235
When Covid ends, can we PLEASE retire the words "cohort" and "asynchronous" from our vocabulary? Why can't we use simpler words. like "group" and "offline learning" instead? Why use $10 words when a 10 cent word will do?.
15
11
234
We said goodbye to my grandmother tonight. She missed my grandfather more than anything since he died in August. It’s comforting knowing they’re together again. Photo is all the grandkids (and grandkid-in-law) last Christmas. Good memories. We love you both. #RIPGrandma
29
3
236
This is so awesome. And classy @GMHSBBALL. @GHHSSports senior Tyler Trexler has been battling cancer.
The best thing I saw today? Green Hope senior Tyler Trexler with the final bucket in @GHHoops playoff game tonight, his last game as a Falcon.
6
37
230
I hope when the pandemic ends and as life gets back to normal that people become kinder. Because too many people are just straight up jerks these days, always looking for a fight.
10
9
228
The upcoming week will be critical. We expect Gov. Roy Cooper to make announcement about reopening school. What he says will play a critical role in the path forward for high school sports this fall. We’ll be on top of it all week, download the free HighSchoolOT app for alerts!.
25
37
228
Reggie Lucas took over the Wake Forest program in 2009. He just finished his 10th season as the head coach at his alma mater, his first varsity head coaching job. In 10 seasons, Lucas is 131-15 with 3 state championships. He hasn’t lost a regular season game since 2013. #HSOT.
8
59
223
Dear Mother Nature,. Why must you hate high school football?. Sincerely,. North Carolina.
6
23
212
This ongoing debate about Wake Forest baffles me. Wake Forest is the 3-time champion, holders of 45-straight wins, allowed 7 points in 3 state championship games. What is the debate? Wake Forest is the most dominant team in NC the last 3 years. Period.
7
60
217
Here's some good data on HS sports coming out of Wisconsin. Of ~30k student-athletes, there were 271 cases & only 1 case was traced back to sports. In fact, HS athletes had a lower case rate than all teens ages 14-17 in the state. #HSOT.
5
87
220
Chris Clemons (Campbell), a @MillbrookMBB graduate, has declared for the NBA Draft. He has the option to return to Campbell. #HSOT.
0
191
217
🚨 BREAKING: The NCHSAA will consider a proposal this week that would allow NC high school athletes to profit off their name, image, and likeness beginning in July 2023.
17
87
216
The Covid sports year is officially over!. Here's to a normal 2021-2022 sports year. And some rest for everyone this summer.
4
20
216
I don't think this should get buried in the calendar/football playoff news today. $4 million being set aside for schools in need of help funding their athletic departments during the pandemic is a big deal. And a great move by the @NCHSAA.
3
30
213
For those who haven't heard, Raleigh-Durham is an airport (in Morrisville), not a city. Raleigh is a city. Durham is a city. Raleigh-Durham is not a city.
10
30
200
Gov. Roy Cooper is holding a press conference at 4:00 PM today. He is expected to announce whether NC will move to Phase 3 or remain in Phase 2. Current Phase 2 in place until at least Friday. This decision could have an impact on future of HS sports this fall. #HSOT.
29
72
194
Garner coach Eddie Gray was all smiles in the locker room. That was a fun locker room to be in after the game. http://t.co/ilotopbB5H.
2
100
195
We expect there will be an announcement this coming week from the NCHSAA regarding the specifics of the new seasons -- including details about playoffs. Meetings were held last week with various groups, including ad hoc committee & board of directors. #HSOT.
5
63
192
🚨 @Garner_HS grad Randolph Ross has qualified to represent the USA in the Tokyo Olympics in the 400m with a time of 44.74. 🇺🇸.
0
38
188
I went to @fvhsbengals this morning to get some drone shots of the stadium. Tonight, Fuquay-Varina will play in what is likely the last home football game in the stadium before the two-year renovation begins next summer. I'll be there tonight as the Bengals host Wakefield. #HSOT
8
54
178
How about some positive news today? North Carolina's statewide positivity rate for COVID-19 tests dropped to 5.7%, the lowest rate since Oct. 10.
1
18
186
🚨 Gov. Roy Cooper says he will issue a new executive order next week which *could* include loosening restrictions on spectator attendance at high school sporting events.
12
56
183
For a long time people have talked about “building a fence” around NC to keep in-state football talent in NC. @PackFootball & @StateCoachD have put together one of the best in-state classes in a long time IMO. Could this be the start of a trend?.
1
33
184
Waking up to tweets about how Wake Forest wouldn’t have won the state championship if they had come out of the West. 🙄 Some things will never change. Congrats to Wake Forest with no “ifs,” “ands” or “buts” necessary.
12
17
177
BREAKING: A source close to Gov. Roy Cooper tells @cullenbrowder that the governor may ease COVID-19 restrictions as soon as tomorrow, which could include allowing more people to attend high school sporting events.
10
61
178
BREAKING: Green Hope senior outfielder Jordyn Adams drafted in the 1st round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels with the 17th pick. Adams is signed with UNC to play football & baseball. It’s TBD whether or not he will end up in Chapel Hill this fall. #HSOT.
6
57
174
🚨 BREAKING: Some high school basketball officials are threatening to strike in January if the NCHSAA Board of Directors does not approve a pay raise at its meeting this week.
13
74
178
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake in NC is so 2020.
3
17
174
FINAL: Wake Forest 29, Page 0 in 4AA State Championship. The 29-year Wake County drought is OVER. #HSOTScores.
1
111
170
I think we learned how good Wake Forest is tonight. Wow.
6
47
164
All the folks saying the flag planting has to stop. Why? . Maybe the reaction to the flag planting is what needs to stop. Every single instance of this happening today was between rivals, and that’s what a rivalry is about. Hold your L. This isn’t Pop Warner. Have some fun.
22
12
171
The NCHSAA will hold a press conference at 4:00 PM today re: the coronavirus pandemic & a potential resumption of high school sports. I’ll be on the call and will have updates. #HSOT.
3
49
168
Assuming no changes: We are going to have 19 weeks of regular season football and 9 weeks of postseason football in 2021. That means 28 of 52 weeks will have football. More than half the year will be football season. I just found some silver lining in the pandemic.
4
35
165
I can't wait for the pandemic to end. Mostly because I'm tired of hearing everyone's political opinions about it in my mentions. #Muted.
9
9
163
Student-athletes worried about NCAA Eligibility Center & virtual core courses. the NCAA released this today. If you’re taking a virtual course that would have been an approved core course in person, it will still meet the requirements in a virtual setting.
3
125
167
The N.C. Football Coaches Association has passed a unanimous resolution affirming its support of the NCHSAA as the governing body of high school sports in North Carolina.
6
51
162
It's July 18th. The first Football Friday is August 18th. That is all. 🏈.
8
86
156
I talk to ADs daily. People who aren’t involved heavily haven’t a clue what has gone into making sports work this year. They’ve worked to find creative solutions to make things happen for the kids. If you’re a student or a parent, you should thank the AD at your school.
2
28
164
People, why are we hoarding food? This isn’t a hurricane. You will be able to get to the store. The only reason stores are out of things is because you’re buying way more than you need!.
10
25
160
Words I can’t wait to say one day. “Now that the pandemic is over. ”.
6
17
157
Really happy for @TheNyNy7. He’s doing Garner-like things at NC State. Those of us who saw him in HS are not surprised.
1
35
154
Heritage (11-1) @ Cardinal Gibbons (11-0) might be the top game in the state next week. Should not be a second round game!.
7
27
152
I think the government should start telling people that saving football season requires them to stay at home and be socially distant. That would probably get them to listen.
4
27
151
If the last 48 hours have taught us anything, it's consider the source of your information. Goodness, so much misleading and flat out false stuff floating around about high school sports right now.
4
15
149
And that's a wrap on the Covid season for high school football in NC. Here's to a much more normal fall season ahead of us. and it starts in. *checks calendar*. 85 DAYS!! EIGHTY. FIVE. DAYS.
3
19
152
Steve Wilks earned the position of head coach of the Carolina Panthers. That is all.
17
17
140
On a positive note, Wake County football teams began off season workouts today. So the largest school district in the state is back on the gridiron.
3
11
146
4AA East regional championship game next week. Wake Forest @ Rolesville . A trip to the state championship on the line. Wow.
5
24
147
A bill has been introduced in the NC Senate that would increase spectator capacity to 40% at outdoor high school sporting events. This is a long way from passage, multiple steps to go through. 🔗 #HSOT.
6
44
146
"They just don't want to play" is perhaps the craziest argument I hear about NCHSAA, board, ADs, etc. Do people honestly believe people whose careers are high school sports DON'T want to play high school sports?! I talk to people involved all the time, I can assure you they do.
11
18
143
The NCHSAA will hold a press conference with Commissioner Que Tucker on Wednesday morning at 11:00 AM.
15
95
146
New late-night story: Kevin Todd will leave a lasting legacy of family and kindness at @ApexHighSchool. He was a beloved teacher & coach, and respected throughout the state by his peers. His death is a loss for Apex, but also for high school soccer.
1
14
144
Let me tell you who doesn’t need another hurricane any time soon. the eastern half of NC.
7
17
140
People who leave shopping carts in the middle of a parking spot instead of the cart return deserve some sort of karma. It takes 30 seconds.
10
3
134
It’s amazing to me the number of people on Twitter who think I/we at HSOT have *any* say about what goes on with HS sports in any capacity — let alone with Covid. One time, loud for everyone to hear: We do not have any authority to make a decision, we just report on them!.
12
8
134
What a day for UNC football. The Heels land two 4-star in-state commitments in less than 7 hours. Southern Durham edge rusher @whynot_bron and Hickory Ridge WR @ChristianHam07.
2
15
124
The Carolina Panthers up 2 scores and I can’t watch it because it’s blacked out… in Raleigh, North Carolina. Make it make sense.
9
7
135
Here's some good news today. NC reported 1,988 new cases of COVID-19, the first time we've reported fewer than 2,000 new cases since Nov. 16. The trend is a good one.
0
21
132
Panthers fans deserve all of this — and I’m afraid it’s going to be prolonged — after wanting to run off a NFL MVP quarterback & best player in franchise history because you don’t like his clothes.
9
47
131
The thing I remember most about 9/11 and the days/weeks after isn’t the horrific images, but the palpable sense of pride & unity as everyone from all corners of the country came together in the face of adversity. I often wonder what has changed since then. And better yet, why. 🇺🇸.
3
8
131
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker just sent this statement to the membership re: Gov. Cooper's announcement. More work to be done behind the scenes. #HSOT
7
83
130
We shouldn’t need a coaching search anymore in Carolina. Steve Wilks has earned the job. Hire him.
6
3
126
CJ Toogood, former Holly Springs HS offensive lineman from Class of 2015, has signed a free agent agreement with the Baltimore Ravens, per Holly Springs coach Robert Furth. Toogood played college football at Elon. #HSOT.
2
16
127
People have begun leaving flowers and letters at the entrance to the Apex HS stadium in remembrance of soccer coach Kevin Todd. #HSOT
1
15
126
The N.C. Athletic Directors Association has released a lengthy statement in support of the @NCHSAA. The @NCADA1970 represents athletic directors across NC.
3
48
126
BREAKING: Green Hope outfielder Jordyn Adams will not enroll at UNC, will sign with LA Angels after being drafted last night. #HSOT
5
20
119
Spoke to a coach at a Title I school today. He has dozens of players at risk of being ineligible. One parent said they had to pick which bills to pay after losing job, Internet didn’t make it. We’re going to rule that kid ineligible during a pandemic?
10
39
122
What does it feel like to win a state championship? Watch. @garnertrojans @GarnerBlueCrew @WCPSS @WCPSS_Athletics
http://t.co/9bP3lypir9.
2
115
114
The Bishop Sycamore mess is a symptom of a wider problem where we devalue the role of education in interscholastic athletics in a sports society where people form teams and call them schools instead of fielding teams that are born out of a school.
3
20
122