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Hendersonville Times-News

MONROE — Brevard football had no answer when trying to contain Monroe quarterback Kaegan Chambers.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound senior beat the Blue Devils with his legs in the first half. He broke loose for a 79-yard touchdown run on the Redhawks' second drive. On the ensuing drive, Chambers had a 73-yard run to set up a 1-yard touchdown. Then Chambers ran 56 yards untouched for another touchdown early in the second quarter.

In the second half, he did it with his arm, throwing touchdown passes of 51 and 14 yards.

Chambers finished with 264 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries while completing seven of 12 passes for 131 yards and two touchdowns, leading No. 9 Monroe to a 41-15 victory over No. 3 Brevard on Friday in the NCHSAA 2A West Regional final.

The Redhawks (14-0) will face No. 1 Northeastern (15-0) in the state championship game next Friday while the Blue Devils season ends.

"At the end of the day, nobody likes to lose," Brevard coach Luke Coleman said. "It's like I told the kids, when you reflect on it when it stops hurting, you can't ask for much better. One of the top four teams in the state. Played their guts out all year long."

Brevard (11-3) didn't fare much better on offense than on defense against Monroe. It went three and out on its first four drives and turned it over on downs twice in the red zone.

The Blue Devils' first score came in the third after the defense brought Chambers down in the end zone for a safety. The lone touchdown came when quarterback Benjamin Kessinger passed to wide receiver Henry Ogle over the middle for a 14-yard score late in the third quarter.

Coleman is right, though. Brevard has nothing to hang its head about after losing to one of the top teams in North Carolina. The Blue Devils won the Mountain Foothills 7 Conference championship for a second straight season. They also advanced further in the playoffs after falling to Reidsville, the eventual state champion, last year.

However, Coleman and Brevard will have to say goodbye to some of their top players like tight end Dillon Galloway, wide receiver Eli Griffin, linebacker Coleman Smith, defensive linemen Judson Weaver and Zion Brown.

“To watch them grow and what they become and what this team was able to accomplish under their leadership is truly remarkable,” Coleman said about the senior class.

But he returns Kessinger, quarterback and safety Christian Conley and running backs Braylon Thompson and Nyrell Skinner.

REGIONAL FINAL SCORES:NC high school football playoff scores for 2024 NCHSAA football playoffs in North Carolina regional finals

“Coach Coleman is going to keep them working,” Galloway said. “I feel like this program is going to have a lot of success, following us.”

Zachary Huber is a high school sports reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times and Hendersonville Times-News. Email him at zhuber@gannett.com or follow him on X @zacharyahuber.

Kaegan Chambers put the game in his own hands early, and it worked well for state title game-bound Monroe.

On the second drive of the Redhawks’ 41-15 drubbing of Brevard in the North Carolina 2A regional final, the athletic dual-threat quarterback scrambled for an 81-yard touchdown. Chambers juked several defenders before hitting paydirt, giving Monroe an advantage from which it wouldn’t look back.

Chambers, who has five Division I offers including the Charlotte 49ers, impressed with both his arm and legs throughout the Redhawks’ dominant win Friday night in Union County.

“It felt like they were going to pack the box and try to stop our (running) backs, and that would just leave me open on the edges,” Chambers said. “And once I’m gone, they can’t catch me. Just trying to put my team in a position to win. This is my last time playing here, unfortunately, but we went out with a bang. That’s all we wanted.

“We’ve been talking about this since the summer and spring of last season. We didn’t want to feel the same hurting we felt last season, going to Bunker Hill and falling short (in a 29-28 loss before the state quarterfinals). We just wanted to get our seniors and underclassmen on board, and we wanted to go do this thing.”

Monroe is now set to play Northeastern — which earned a 24-14 win over Whiteville on Friday night in Elizabeth City — in next week’s 2A state championship game.

Chambers had already posted more than 200 rushing yards early in the second quarter.

Monroe didn’t stop following its quarterback’s initial long rushing touchdown that came on second down and long. Chambers exploded for a 73-yard burst, bolting down the sideline to set up a short touchdown carry from senior running back Zion Lindsey.

Possessions from Brevard, whose blue-clad fans were well-represented on the road in Union County, weren’t lasting long. But while Monroe had taken a commanding lead early, penalties continued to give the Blue Devils chances.

Even Chambers had several big runs called back, but the standout senior quarterback made more than enough highlights that mattered. A 56-yard touchdown rush — punctuated by a two-point conversion from nine yards out — gave Monroe a 21-0 lead.

“Kaegan was that guy where we knew we had a secret weapon,” Monroe head coach Johnny Sowell said. “We know he can throw the ball. We know he can run it. And that was a matchup that we knew was going to be tough for a lot of people.”

With the Redhawks already ahead by four touchdowns, a strong Brevard kick return set it up in plus territory late in the first half. Junior quarterback Christian Conley fired a pass to senior tight end Judson Weaver for a big fourth down conversion — but the Blue Devils ended up turning it over on downs after a great stop by the Monroe defense.

Chambers kept going throughout the second half, hustling for another touchdown rush early in the third quarter before tossing one to junior receiver Bryson Simpkins.

Brevard added a touchdown during the final seconds of regulation: Junior running back Karter Macfie punched it in and made it 41-15.

“People have doubted us every week. Second round when we played Burns, they say we haven’t played any physical teams. We came out there, hit them in the mouth. Third round, West Stokes, they say we couldn’t handle their big line. Came out there, hit them in the mouth as well. Fourth round, they had Shelby beating us. They said we couldn’t stop their athletes or just couldn’t compete with them.

“Went and took over their place. And then this week, they said we weren’t able to stop their run. They had us losing; ‘We’re gonna flop like we do every year.’ So we just keep proving everybody wrong. We’ve just got one more, and there’s nothing else that they can say.” — Monroe senior Jordan Young, the Michigan-bound wide receiver and cornerback

Monroe will play Northeastern next week for the NCHSAA 2A state championship, set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill.

This story was originally published December 13, 2024, 10:33 PM.

MONROE, N.C. — Charlotte’s premier head shop, Infinity’s End, is jumping over the county line to open its fifth location right here in the heart of downtown Monroe. Yep, the same hip spot Mecklenburg residents grew up loving, with its hippie merch and cool smoking accessories, is making its way onto 200 N. Main St.

It is hard to go down Highway 74 these days without seeing a smoke shop at every corner, but there was a time when Infinity’s End was the only one of its kind in the area.

In business since 1969, the Charlotte mom-and-pop smoke shop is still thriving. Owner Frank Pietras Jr. remembers when his father, Frank Pietras Sr., opened the first Infinity’s End when he was just 8 years old. Following in the footsteps of his father, is planning on opening the family’s fifth store in the most historical location yet.

“This is number five and the sixth one will be in Matthews another month after this one opens,” said Pietras, who wants the Monroe store to open by the end of October.

“We usually soft open and then do a grand opening later,” said Chris Edwards, who is part of the family business as well. “We haven’t picked a date yet.”

A quick look inside reveals a completely renovated space, from the floors to the walls and even the ceiling. Modern floorboards and wall panels mix with the historical charm of another era.

“We really like this space, it is one of our favorites from all the ones we have. When we first got this place, we were walking on dirt, there wasn’t even a floor here. We literally had to work from the ground up,” Pietras said.

Although the merchandise, with a plethora of incense and candles, disc golf equipment, T-shirts and tapestries, will be the same, some of the historical aspects of the Belk-Bundy building, which was built in 1911, have been kept intact during restoration efforts.

Every remodeling decision was carefully mulled over by Edwards and Pietras, who paid special attention to the features already present, while embedding the traditional layout in the other stores. The original tin slate ceiling tiles are still intact, but only in the center of the store. The wall is now covered with paneling, but there is a window into a different time, created by Edwards, which displays some discovered artwork.

“There was a plaster wall all throughout, but someone painted a mural on the wall. I left out a square and framed it. I’m going to try to find an artist to maybe come and touch it up a little bit,” Edwards said.

The old-school wood grain Infinity’s End sign, black canopy marked “est. 1969” and window markings are not its typical store design, but were fitting for this location.

“The normal Infinity’s End sign doesn’t look like that, but we tried to keep it attuned with the architecture,” Pietras said.

Even the lighting fixtures, including a chandelier up front, were installed to showcase the uniqueness of the space.

Pietras and Edwards have had their eye on Monroe for several years, but felt like now was finally the right time and the right location. Edwards has lived in Hemby Bridge for over 17 years and has closely monitored Monroe’s “cute” downtown area.

“Five years ago we looked at it, and we weren’t quite ready, but in the last two years things have been looking better, like Morgan Alley got finished. There are a lot of spaces around that are being renovated. There are more retail and restaurants coming and opening downtown,” Pietras said. “It’s like we are all getting the same feeling, like maybe it’s time for downtown Monroe.”

Pietras found the location entirely by accident. He was attending an event at the Visulite Theatre in Charlotte when he approached a guy wearing an Americana Brewery cap. Pietras complimented the hat, thinking the man was promoting Americana music, which is one of Pietras’ faves. But the man was none other than the owner of Americana Brewery.

When Pietras mentioned he owned Infinity’s End, the Americana Brewery owner gave him the name of the landlord and recommended they come on down. And so Infinity’s End became the newest tenant on the block.

Although the merch is just the same as the other Infinity’s End stores, the ambiance will be a little upgraded.

“There will be a sitting area — this will be a little different for us, and I don’t know if it will stay together forever,” Edwards said. “There will be either a drink cooler or a snack area. I just felt like that was appropriate down here. Customers can come sit down, relax and hang out a bit and get to know us and we will get to know them.”

The family decided now was the time to start expanding and plan to have a billboard directing traffic on Highway 74 to the new location.

“We decided to start expanding because now there is a lot of growing competition. We need to catch up on the game in a number of locations, because that seems to be what our competition is doing — just setting up stores everywhere. But we feel like we do it the best, we’ve been doing it the longest, also the other merchandise we carry helps,” Pietras said.

“I feel like a lot of these places are kind of like a convenience store, and we have never been that at all. We have always been like a hippie store. We hope to get out the message that we are here,” Edwards said.

Whether you are excited to get your smoke on, smell some different scented candles, or want to chill out in a chair with a relaxing Delta 8 gummy, it is exciting to have Infinity’s End and its bohemian counterculture as part of the new downtown vibe.