From staff and wire reports
Qualifying for the Labor Day 4-Ball Tournament concluded at the Country Club of Salisbury on Sunday. The 65 that John and Johnny Kyger fired earlier held up for medalist honors.
The team of Eric Mulkey-Thad Sprinkle made the strongest challenge on Sunday, shooting 66 to tie Roy Dixon-Glenn Dixon for second place.
The teams of Charlie Graeber-Bill Haynes and Keith Dorsett-Michael Dorsett shot 67s. The Dorsetts’ score was upgraded from the 68 reported earlier.
Four teams checked in at 68: Troy Beaver-Alex Nianouris, Mallory McDaniel-Jim Christy, Kevin Lentz-Shane Benfield and Chris Sifford-Derrick Corpening.
The team of Chris Owen-Ken Clarke shot 71 and qualified for the final berth in the Championship Flight by winning a playoff on the second hole. That pairing has qualified for the Championship Flight via a playoff each of the last three years.
Andy Frick-Jimmy Denton and Brandon Cranfield-Andrew Belk claimed the final berths in the tournament field. They advanced after a playoff with the other four 84s.
See Scoreboard.
The McCanless Couples played a four-man Captain’s Choice format on Sunday.
Winning first place was the team of Tim Earnhardt, Don Goodnight and David Huneycutt. Gene and Mary Seaford and Allen and Tammie Drew finished second. Goodnight won closest to the pin and longest putt.
Minor leagues
There was plenty of offense as the Kannapolis Intimidators and Rome Braves split a Sunday doubleheader in the South Atlantic League.
Rome won the opener 8-5 despite two RBI doubles by Trayce Thompson and a three-run double by Dan Black.
Marcus Semien and Carlos Sanchez had three hits for Kannapolis in a 14-6 win in the nightcap. Sanchez had four RBIs. Keenyn Walker, Thompson, Rangel Ravelo and Drew Lee added two hits each.
For the Braves, catcher Evan Gattis went 4-for-5 in the twin bill.
Jerry Sands (Catawba) slugged his 28th homer of the season on Sunday for Albuquerque. It was grand slam to left-center.
Sands spent a month in the majors with the L.A. Dodgers, but he has still put up big numbers with the Isotopes. He has 85 RBIs for Albuquerque, while batting .282.
Whit Merrifield (Davie) led Wilmington to a 5-4 win against Salem in Carolina League action on Sunday. Merrifield had two hits, two walks and two runs. He had his third triple, stole his 22nd base and scored the winning run in the ninth inning.
Daniel Wagner (South Rowan) went 2-for-3 for Winston-Salem in Sunday’s 8-2 win against Myrtle Beach in the Carolina League.
By hitting .353 in his last 10 games, Wagner has pushed his batting average to a respectable .251. He stole his 23rd base on Sunday.
Hagerstown’s Wade Moore (West Rowan, Catawba) was 1-for-3 in Sunday’s 15-5 loss to Asheville in the South Atlantic League. Moore stole his 16th base.
Rudy Brown (South) had a rough start for Burlington on Sunday. Brown was knocked out in the second inning of an 8-6 loss to Johnson City and saw his ERA jump to 4.31.
Prep tennis
West Rowan beat South Rowan 9-0 for an NPC victory last week.
Mary Tyler March, Adrien Rusher, Allison Cranford, Tori Adams, Jessica Gibbons and Danielle Henson won singles matches. Rusher had a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Henson and Adams won tiebreakers.
March-Cranford, Rusher-Gibbons and Adams-Henson swept doubles for the Falcons.
Prep cross country
The Pre-Rowan County Meet will be held today at Dan Nicholas Park, starting at 4:30 p.m.
College football
Running back Travis Riley (A.L. Brown) may have a chance to contribute early at UNC.
The departure of Hunter Furr (now at East Carolina) from the tailback picture leaves sixth-year man Ryan Houston and freshmen Giovani Bernard and Riley as the top candidates.
Riley, who graduated from high school last December to enroll early at UNC, rushed for 26 yards on three carries in the Blue-White Spring Game.
Preseason NFL football
Aundrae Allison (A.L. Brown) had one catch for 19 yards for Tampa Bay in Saturday’s 17-13 win against Miami.
Drew Brees threw for 189 yards and led New Orleans to scores on all three drives he played in the Saints’ 40-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Sunday night.
Brees completed 15 of 23 passes.
Jason Campbell completed 12 of 17 passes for 150 yards for the Raiders, including a 35-yard scoring strike to Derek Hagan.
Hagan, signed during training camp, has become one of Oakland’s most reliable receivers this summer, catching six passes for 121 yards this game. Rookie Taiwan Jones also shined in his exhibition debut, running for 81 yards and a touchdown and catching two passes for 18 yards.
Campbell also drove the Raiders to a 57-yard field goal by Sebastian Janikowski and had Oakland in position for another score before Jonathon Amaya’s interception in the end zone on a deflected pass on the second-to-last play of the first half.
Brees’ night was already over at that point, doing more than enough in his three drives to allow coach Sean Payton to turn it over to Chase Daniel and the backups.
Brees was clicking right from the start, finding Devery Henderson on a 37-yard pass over rookie DeMarcus Van Dyke on the first play from scrimmage. Brees targeted Van Dyke three more times in that drive with rookie Mark Ingram capping it with a 1-yard TD run. Ingram fired the ball at the Black Hole sign in the back of the end zone after scoring his third touchdown of the preseason.
After Hagan’s touchdown tied it, Brees went 4 for 6 for 60 yards on his second drive with Pierre Thomas finishing it with a 1-yard leap into the end zone. Brees had good chemistry going with tight end Jimmy Graham, who caught five passes for 73 yards.
The Raiders finally got Brees in check on the third drive after New Orleans moved it to the Oakland 15. Three straight incompletions led to a 33-yard field goal by Garrett Hartley and ended Brees’ night with the Saints on top 17-7.
Oakland took the lead with Janikowski’s second 57-yard field goal of the preseason late in the first half, rookie Taiwan Jones’ 22-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the third quarter and then another field goal by Janikowski later in the third quarter.
Chase Daniel threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tory Humphrey midway through the third to put the Saints back on top 24-20. The drive was helped by a 32-yard pass to Joique Bell and roughing the passer penalty on Bruce Davis on the same play.
Bell also had a 60-yard reception that set up a 1-yard TD run and Adrian Arrington caught a 39-yard TD pass from Daniel to make it 40-20.
Notes: DT Richard Seymour, RB Darren McFadden and WR Jacoby Ford sat out for the Raiders with injuries. QB Terrelle Pryor also did not dress for the game, three days after signing his rookie contract. … The Saints were without WR Lance Moore, S Roman Harper and NT Aubrayo Franklin. … NFL security chief Jeff Miller was on hand a week after violence marred Oakland’s game at San Francisco last week and praised changes in security in recent years by the Raiders and the police. “If it works here, it will work anywhere,” he said.
The Associated Press