High School Football

WSOC –TV Channel 9 announces 2017 ‘Big 22' Finalists

Thousands of votes were received in the first round of voting in WSOC-TV Channel 9 and High School Football Extra’s Big 22 brought to you by Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ’n Biscuits contest and the top five finalists have been named.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Big 22]

The finalists were determined by a percentage of public votes and a percentage of votes from the WSOC-TV sports team.

All five finalists are top pre-season standouts from area high school football teams for the 2017 season, and will now be eligible to be named as the “Big 22 Player of the Year.”

Prior to the football season, coaches in the WSOC-TV viewing area were asked to nominate five high-school football players to be considered for the “Big 22” players to watch in the fall of 2017.

After reviewing the coach’s nominations, the “Big 22” were selected by a committee of judges consisting of the WSOC-TV’s sports team.

A second round of public voting to determine the “Player of the Year” starts on wsoctv.com Friday, Oct. 13 at 3 p.m. and will continue through 10 a.m. Oct. 30.

The Big 22 finalist who receives the most public votes will be named “Player of the Year” and will receive a $10,000 donation for his school (use of prize money to be allocated and determined by the school principal) along with a personalized trophy, all provided by WSOC-TV and Bojangles’ Famous Chicken’n Biscuits.

The 2017 "Big 22" finalists are (in alphabetical order by last name):

  • Deangelo Blair-Young, South Mecklenburg High School, Charlotte, NC
  • Jarett Garner, Hickory Ridge High School, Harrisburg
  • Derion Kendrick, South Pointe High School, Rock Hill
  • Rick Sandidge, Jr., Concord High School, Concord
  • Shamari Wingard, Ardrey Kell High School, Charlotte

About Cox Media Group:
Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company. The company's operations currently include 14 broadcast television stations and one local cable channel, more than 60 radio stations, seven daily newspapers and 11 non-daily publications; and more than 100 digital sites and services, like Rare.us, Clark.com, Dawg Nation, SEC Country, Hookem.com, Mundo Hispanico, Southern Kitchen and All22. Additionally, CMG operates the National Advertising Platform businesses of CoxReps - the country's biggest television rep firm - Gamut, and Videa. CMG currently operates in more than 20 media markets and reaches approximately 52 million Americans weekly, including more than 31 million TV viewers, more than 3.5 million newspaper readers, and nearly 15 million radio listeners.  For more information about Cox Media Group, please check us out online at www.coxmediagroup.com.