Football and Soccer: Campbell and Asheville Rack up Weekly Awards

If you thought last week was a busy one in the Big South for North Carolina schools, you have not heard about this week yet.

Starting off with football, Campbell, coming off their second consecutive winning season, saw their freshman quarterback, Hajj-Malik Williams, take home Big South Freshman of the Week. In Campbell’s 38-12 win over Shaw University, which also happened to be Williams’ home debut, the true freshman accounted for 321 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, including a team-high 86 yards. 22 of those rushing yards accounted for Williams’ first rushing touchdown of his career.

Continuing into soccer, Campbell nearly swept awards. Well, in women’s soccer, they did. Camels senior midfielder Katie Lockwood was named Big South Attacking Player of the Week for her performance in last week’s games, as she recorded four goals in back-to-back road victories over Mount St. Mary’s and Saint Peter’s last week.

Also on the attack, Camels forward Ashleigh Harris was named Big South Freshman of the Week. Harris notched one goal in each of the Camels’ victories last week.

Continuing on, Camels goalkeeper Reaghan Duval won Big South Defender of the Week. Last week, Duval did not allow a goal in 170 straight minutes, highlighted by back-to-back 3-0 shutouts of Mount St. Mary’s and Saint Peter’s.

On the men’s side of the ball, Campbell midfielder Gideon Betz was named Big South Defensive Player of the Week. Betz helped out his school in back-to-back victories against American University and George Mason University, the latter of whom is coming off a 9-8 season. In these two victories, the Camels only allowed eight shots total.

In addition to Campbell winning a majority of the Big South Weekly soccer awards for North Carolina schools, UNC-Asheville took home an award as well, as their goalkeeper Jarrett Payne won Big South Freshman of the Week. In a 3-2 win vs. VMI, Payne stopped four shots. In a double-overtime draw against George Mason, Payne stopped 17 shots, including two point-blank saves that kept George Mason from taking the lead.

North Carolina schools took home a lot of awards this past week. Will we see the same next week?