Cardinals, Falcons make postseason

A pair of first-round homes games and a program returning to the postseason after a multi-year hiatus headline Yadkin Valley-area teams for the North Carolina High School Athletic Association basketball playoffs.

Both East Wilkes squads and the Forbush girl’s basketball team qualified for the postseason.

First round playoff action will begin Tuesday night at the higher seed with the second round to take place on Friday. The third and fourth rounds are scheduled for March 5 and March 8, respectively.

The regional finals and state championships will take place March 11-16 inside the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Wake Forest University.

The East Wilkes boy’s team, which made the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-16 season with a 10-14, garnered the No. 26 seed for the 1A playoffs and will travel to No. 7 South Stanly at 6 p.m..

The Rowdy Rebel Bulls are currently 22-4 and won the Yadkin Valley 1A/2A Conference with a 9-1 mark; they are coming off a conference tournament championship and have won five straight.

The winner of the game will face either No. 10 Hiwassee Dam (21-4) or No. 23 Mountain Island Charter (8-14).

Thanks to their second-straight Northwest 1A Conference championship (and third-straight tournament title), the Lady Cardinals earned the No. 5 seed on the 1A girls side and will be at home for at least the first two rounds.

East Wilkes (21-4) opens up its postseason run against Bradford Prep on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.. The No. 28 Lady Bears have a 10-15 record and were fifth in the Catawba Shores 1A/2A Conference.

The winner will face either No. 12 Piedmont Community (15-8) or No. 21 Highland Tech (15-9) in the second round.

Forbush (19-7), which earned the No. 15 seed, will host No. 18 Providence Grove in the opening round of the 2A playoffs on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The Lady Patriots enter the postseason with a mark of 15-11 and 7-5 in the Piedmont 1A/2A Conference — good enough to finish third.

The winner will face either No. 2 East Rutherford (24-2) or No. 31 Forest Hills (11-11) in the second round.