2 weeks Ago By JASON [email protected]
When Hickory High School's Braeden McCourt walked onto the field at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill with his Red Tornadoes football teammates last December, it was the second time he had appeared in a state championship game in less than a month. Just three weeks earlier, McCourt helped lead the Hickory soccer team to a 3A West Region title and a berth in the state title game. He was a 15-year-old sophomore at the time.
This year, the school's football team is aiming at a repeat trip to the state championship game and the perennially powerful soccer team is heating up after a slow start. Could McCourt play in two state title games again in 2024? Something new McCourt moved to Hickory from Texas in 2021 after his father retired from the military. He was an eighth-grader at Northview Middle School during his first year in Hickory.
That fall, the Hickory soccer team went to the state championship game. McCourt said that's when he knew he wanted to go to Hickory High. McCourt made an immediate impact on Hickory soccer.
He was named MVP of the 2022 state title game as a freshman. It was the first of the three title games for McCourt. That spring he decided to try something new.
During the spring semester of his ninth-grade year, McCourt was in a weightlifting class with head football coach Joe Glass. "He just told me, 'Bring your cleats one day. We're going to go out and kick a little bit,'" McCourt said.
"That's kind of the end of the story, I guess. That is how it started." McCourt had been playing soccer for almost as long as he can remember.
"It's one of those sports everybody plays when they're young," McCourt said. "Your parents put you in when you're 4 or 5. I just happened to be one of the few people that stick with it.
" He said his mother encouraged soccer, in part, to keep him away from football. But in Hickory, that soccer background was exactly what attracted Coach Glass and landed McCourt a position as the football team's placekicker. In 2023, he pulled double duty, leading the soccer team in goals and kicking for the football team.
The soccer team went back to the state finals and lost. But the football team kept winning, taking the 3A state championship over Fayetteville's Seventy-First High School. "I realize how lucky I am," McCourt said.
"Most people don't get to have one opportunity in the state championship, let alone three." He is quick to call attention to his teammates, saying he has only been able to play in so many state title games because he has been surrounded by great athletes over the past two years. He also said his mother is proud of his accomplishments on the football field and he thinks she is beginning to enjoy his games.
Balancing act McCourt had to miss the football team's third round playoff game against A.C. Reynolds so he could compete in the soccer championship match in Greensboro.
The football team did fine without him, winning the game 61-38. Two weeks later, though, McCourt was the difference maker. In the regional finals, the Red Tornadoes narrowly avoided elimination to Greensboro's Dudley High School.
McCourt kicked a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter of that game. Those three points early in the game kept Hickory within one touchdown when the Red Tornadoes fell behind in the fourth quarter. McCourt said it wasn't always easy balancing the dual role on the soccer and football teams during their runs through the playoffs.
"It was stressful," he said. "There were times where I couldn't show up for practice for football or showed up late to soccer because of kicking for football." He said Glass and soccer coach Brian Jillings left it up to him to figure out how to balance his time.
"Coach Glass and Coach Jillings made it so easy," McCourt said. "I appreciate that they put a lot of the responsibility to mediate between them ..
. they wanted me to facilitate the plan with both of them and I appreciate that, giving me more responsibility but also more freedom ..
. They both respected each other and the other sport really well." McCourt also plays basketball.
He was on the JV team last season when Hickory's varsity made a run to the regional finals. He can't add a regional finals appearance in that sport to his resume yet. But he still has two more years.
Jason Koon is the Sports Editor for the Hickory record and can be reached at [email protected] .
High School Soccer Results alexander Central's Ethan Holdren and Cam Stocking combined for 10 saves to keep Hickory off the scoreboard and give the Cougars a 2-0 win on Wednesday. the loss ends a four-game winning streak for the red tornadoes. On offense alexander Central's Jaylen Bennett and Cooper deal each scored while Carson Davis was credited with an assist.
On Monday the red tornadoes picked up a 3-2 win over T.C. Roberson.
Harper Hendrix and Ford Jarrett split the game in goal. Derek Grady and Braeden McCourt each had one goal and one assist in that game. Alexander Central posted its first loss of the season on Monday falling 2-0 to Lincoln Charter.
Thursday Aug. 29 Bandys 2 Burns 1; Maiden 3 Statesville 2. Wednesday Aug.
28 alexander Central 2 Hickory 0; Newton-Conover 4 Shelby 2; South Caldwell 5 Bandys 2; Fred t. Foard 6 North Gaston 1. Tuesday Aug.
27 St. Stephens 6 Stuart Cramer 0. Monday Aug.
26 Hickory 3 T.C. Roberson @ 2; Asheville 7 St.
Stephens 0; Pine Lake Prep 3 Newton-Conover 1; South Caldwell 7 Maiden 2; West Iredell 1 Bunker Hill 0; Lincoln Charter 2 alexander Central 0; Hibriten 3 Fred t. Foard 2. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
