Terry Sanford ended its final season in the Cape Fear Valley 3-A Conference in style by winning the league’s Wells Fargo Cup for overall athletic excellence.

The Bulldogs had to fend off a strong challenge in the spring from perennial cup rival Union Pines in order to take the award as the final margin of victory was only 110.5-109.0

Terry Sanford was the overall winner in the fall and winter sports seasons and led Union Pines 82-66 heading into spring. Union Pines took three team championships in spring: girls’ and boys’ track and boys’ golf.

Terry Sanford matched Union Pines in total spring titles with championships in baseball, girls’ soccer and boys’ tennis.

Other team titles Terry Sanford won this year were a share of girls’ tennis with Union Pines, girls’ golf and girls’ swimming.

Other final scores were Lee County 87, Gray’s Creek 82.5, Southern Lee 81.5, Westover 46 and Douglas Byrd 35.5.

This fall, the battle for the Wells Fargo Cup should get interesting as Terry Sanford joins the bulk of the Cumberland County Schools in the new 4-A/3-A Patriot Conference which will include Overhills and all the county schools except Seventy-First and Jack Britt. Britt and Seventy-First are moving to the Sandhills Conference.

• You’ll read elsewhere in this issue of Up & Coming Weekly about the start of the season for the Hope Mills Boosters American Legion baseball team. I’ve always had a special place in my heart for American Legion baseball, getting my first taste of it when I went to high school at West Rowan and was exposed to the perennially strong Legion program in Rowan County.

I followed the Hope Mills Legion team often in my early years as a sports writer at the Fayetteville Observer, and have fond memories of a storybook season in the 1980s when a scrappy Hope Mills team made it to the championship series with that same Rowan County bunch I grew up with.

I mention Legion baseball because in recent years it’s been on the wane in our area, and only through the commitment of State Legion Hall of Fame coach
Doug Watts has the sport survived locally.

There is much more competition for the Legion team these days with minor league baseball returning to the area and the college summer league team that plays here.

I’d suggest if you have the time, drop by South View High School some night this summer and catch a Legion game. These are local kids, some of whom just might be playing college or pro baseball themselves one day. It’s worth your time to give them some support.