Remember when Friday nights from August to November meant high school football? Then came basketball. Fall also meant other sports including volleyball. 2020, the year of the pandemic, changed all that.

High school football won't start until later this school year. Volleyball got underway, but then came multiple schedule changes because of COVID-19 at several schools. High school basketball is set to begin an abbreviated schedule starting this Tuesday (Jan. 5th), but as the pandemic continues, schedule changes are likely. The Lincolnton varsity & JV girls teams are under COVID protocol until the 12th of January. The first two games for East Lincoln and Newton-Conover will be played as boys only (JV & varsity) beginning at 6 PM. There is no rescheduled date for girls yet.

Volleyball is still being affected. The Maiden @ East Lincoln volleyball match that had been scheduled for Friday (Jan. 8th) has been rescheduled for Thursday (Jan. 7th) at 4 PM.

East Lincoln beat North Lincoln in straight sets Monday (25-10, 25-17, 25-16) to maintain their first place lead with only one loss in the South Fork 2A Conference. Maiden is in 2nd place with two losses. Also Monday, Bandys downed Lake Norman Charter 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 31-29, 21-25, 15-9). The Trojans are now a half-game behind the Blue Devils with a 10-3 record.

Wednesday (Jan. 6th), East Lincoln will host Lake Norman Charter. North Lincoln will be at Maiden.

This is the final week of the revised regular season volleyball schedule.

The South Fork Conference basketball schedule has West Lincoln at North Lincoln, Lake Norman Charter at East Lincoln, Lincolnton at Newton-Conover, and Bandys at Maiden Tuesday evening.

Friday (Jan. 8th) games will include East Lincoln at Lincolnton, Maiden at West Lincoln, North Lincoln at Lake Norman Charter, Newton-Conover at Bandys.

Attendance at all sports events is limited. Restrictions because of the COVID-19 pandemic mean that fans can't attend, but games are being live-streamed and you can purchase access for $10 at https://www.sfcnetwork.tv/. The price is per device, which means that several people can watch. Click on the link here for more information. Both volleyball and basketball are included in the live-stream offerings.

Lincoln Charter's volleyball team continues to do well in the Southern Piedmont 1A Conference. The Eagles only two losses were to league-leading Highland Tech. They are scheduled to play at Piedmont Community Charter in Gastonia Tuesday (Jan. 5th), host Cherryville in Denver Wednesday (Jan. 6th) and play at home Thursday (Jan. 7th) against Bessemer City.

The Eagles basketball teams are scheduled to begin their season hosting Thomas Jefferson Academy on Wednesday (Jan. 6th) and play at South Iredell on Friday (Jan. 8th).