The Bulldogs won the title in the Bladen County Recreation Department’s 7-9-year-old girls’ basketball league. The Mercury in 10-12-year-old girls and Bears in 7-9-year-old boys have clinched first place. The Celtics have a one-game lead in 10-12-year-old boys through last week’s games.

There’s a lot of Prophetic Talk these days about the “Signs of the Times”. For this week’s Motivational Message, I’m going to be sharing some Political Thoughts on another sort of “Signs of the Times”… Everywhere you look today, you can see the Prophetic Signs of the Perilous Times telling us we are nearing the End of Days (II Timothy 3). Everywhere you look, you can see the Political Signs around the Polling Places telling us we are nearing Election Day. We are currently in the Preparatory Days Biblically (Matt. 24) and we are in the Primary Days Politically. Enough comparisons, let’s get down to the Prophetic and Political Point of this Devotional Sermonette.

KINSTON — West Bladen senior Tylik McCall blistered the nets with a career-high 37 points Saturday night, but it wasn’t enough as Kinston poured in 59 second-half points en route to an 88-59 victory in the third round of the NCHSAA 3A boys basketball playoffs.

GATESVILLE — The East Bladen girls’ basketball season came to an end Saturday afternoon, but the Eagles went down battling and almost pulled off an amazing rally.

SHALLOTTE — Pressley Wilson pitched a no-hitter and struck out 14 Saturday afternoon as West Brunswick shut out West Bladen 6-0 to complete a doubleheader sweep.

With North Carolina’s spring wildfire season arriving at a time when most of the state is experiencing moderate to severe drought, the N.C. Forest Service is urging the public to apply best practices and common sense with all outdoor fires, especially yard debris burns.

The West Bladen boys and East Bladen girls will travel Saturday for third-round games in the N.C. High School Athletic Association basketball playoffs. Admission is $12.

West Bladen’s Knights exploded with a 32-10 second half run that wiped out a 10-point deficit and produced a 73-61 victory over Greene Central on Thursday night in the second round of the NCHSAA 3A boys basketball playoffs.