Jacksonville, Ashe County Athletes Earn Performance of Week Awards

CHAPEL HILL — CJay Sparks of Jacksonville and Connor Bowers of Ashe County have been named winners of the Performance of the Week awards, powered by Time Warner Cable Sports Channel with Subway® Restaurants.

Each week one male and one female athlete in North Carolina High School Athletic Association competition are selected for this award from nominations received from media and school administrators. With no women’s sports currently going on until the beginning of the winter seasons, including basketball, two male athletes are being recognized this week.

Sparks, a senior forward on the Jacksonville men’s soccer team, had a big week as he led the Cardinals into their 10th straight appearance in the NCHSAA 3-A East Regional finals. He had seven goals and two assists in three Jacksonville playoff victories. He scored two goals in a 3-2 win over Asheville, had a hat trick in a 7-1 romp past West Carteret and helped account for all four Jacksonville goals with two goals and two assists in a 4-2 win over Chapel Hill. He now has 47 goals on the year.

Bowers, a senior quarterback for the Ashe County football team, completed 22 of 33 passes for 343 yards and four touchdowns as the Huskies beat Elkin 34-20. That gave Ashe County its second straight conference championship and completed a 9-1 regular season. Bowers has thrown at least two touchdown passes in every game this season.

TWC Sports Channel typically announces the winners of the awards during their Tuesday night SportsNight show and will recognize the winners throughout the week. Weekly recipients will also be recognized via Twitter and Facebook.