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Pisgah High School in western North Carolina reopened its football stadium last year after Tropical Storm Fred tore through in 2021.

Now it has to be rebuilt again after being demolished by Hurricane Helene.

Amid the lives lost and the catastrophic damage, high schools in dozens of communities in southern Appalachia are shut down and with that the prep sports that binds so many towns together. It’s the latest disruption for young athletes who’ve already endured a pandemic.

The Pigeon River rose to record levels after Helene plowed through, taking out parts of Interstate 40 along with bridges, homes and other infrastructure in the region. In Canton, North Carolina, the high school’s football, baseball and softball fields, covered in several feet of water, were “a total loss,” Pisgah athletic director Heidi Morgan said.

In an adjacent county, six dozen people have died. Morgan is keeping that in perspective as she ponders the monumental task ahead at her school.

“You cannot replace a life,” she said. “Material things, you can replace.”

First COVID, now this

The loss of Pisgah’s athletic facilities is personal for Morgan. She played softball there in high school and became its athletic director in 2019. She’s also the current softball coach.

“I’m sad for our kids. They’ve just been through so much,” Morgan said. “In high school, you have to have a sense of normalcy. Our seniors, they’ve played at Pisgah Memorial Stadium eight times in four years due to COVID and then the flood in ’21. It’s just heartbreaking.”

It’s also summoned a resiliency that Morgan processed during the first stadium overhaul that she hopes will help get her school through even tougher times.

“We’ll get our hands dirty again and we’ll rebuild and be back stronger than ever,” Morgan said. “We will come back.”

About a half hour to the east, the Swannanoa River swallowed up the outdoor athletic fields at Asheville Christian Academy. In Hampton, Tennessee, Hampton High School’s football stadium was destroyed by flooding from the Doe River.

Schools remain closed in many states as work continues on roads and other infrastructure. Some schools have become temporary Red Cross shelters. Others are accommodating utility crews. High school games have been called off for a second straight week, with many having no idea if or when practices or games might resume. Local police officers used for game security have other, more important things to do.

‘Push through it’

South Carolina was hit the hardest by power outages from the hurricane, posing one of the many challenges for young athletes.

“It does take a little bit of focus off the game and season because you have to worry about a lot of stuff that’s going on at home,” said Abraham Hoffman, a running back and wide receiver at American Leadership Academy, a charter school in Lexington, South Carolina. “It definitely causes a distraction.”

The school lost power for five days and the football team only recently returned to practice with its game postponed this week. But there isn’t time for self pity, considering what’s going on in every direction.

“We kind of just have to push through it,” Hoffman said. “You can’t sit back and let it affect you. Even though we went through it, it was tough, the hurricane and stuff, There are places that had it worse.”

American Leadership coach Robin Bacon spoke with two head coaches from other areas who said “‘this looks like an atomic bomb hit in some of these areas.’ It’s just so bad.

“We take for granted having a hot meal,” he said. “We take for granted having electricity. We take for granted that we can take a shower. And I’m talking to some of my football players and they’re like, ‘coach, we don’t have air conditioning.’”

Seeking a pause

The South Carolina Athletic Coaches Association is seeking a two-week postponement in football games on behalf of schools in the hard-hit western part of the state, where students “face extreme challenges that go beyond athletics,” association executive director Scott Earley wrote.

In the letter to the South Carolina High School League, the state’s governing body for high school sports that is scheduled to meet next week, Earley said many athletes “are unable to attend practice due to lack of transportation, closed schools and impassible roads. Others are prioritizing family responsibilities as they cope with significant losses.”

Gen Z giving back

In Boone, North Carolina, some of Brian Newmark’s cross country teammates at Watauga High School have damage to their homes or downed trees or destroyed bridges blocking roads. The team was still trying to figure out whether it can compete in a meet on Saturday in Charlotte, 100 miles away.

Until then, they’re prioritizing helping others. Newmark, a sophomore, handed out bottled water to needy residents for four hours at the school Thursday. The day before, the team cleared tree limbs, mud and other debris along a popular walking trail.

That sense of giving back makes Newmark proud about his generation, often seen as being too attached to electronics. Newmark said there is some truth to those complaints, but he and his classmates are doing their part to turn that reputation on its side.

“We’re working together to help each other,” Newmark said.

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AP Sports Writers Teresa M. Walker, Aaron Beard and Pete Iacobelli and Associated Press writer Kimberlee Kruesi contributed.

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AP’s coverage of the hurricane:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — N.C. State football player Davin Vann was on the move, tiptoeing his way between obstacles in the Wolfpack’s indoor practice facility midway through a game week.

And it had nothing to do with the upcoming visit from Wake Forest.

Instead, he stepped carefully through and over boxes of canned food, stacks of bottled water, shopping bags full of diapers, personal hygiene products and batteries. The defensive end known for chasing down ballcarriers was playing quarterback in a way, leading a donation drive to help victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina and aided by his family’s moving company.

The drive — so successful that it has extended to run the rest of the week — is just one example of multiple sports-related efforts seeking to help those affected by the storm that left a shocking trail of devastation through parts of the Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee.

“That was kind of my mindset going into it, kind of ‘I hope we get enough people to at least help a little bit,’” Vann told The Associated Press. “So yeah, it was way more than I expected.”

The death toll has topped 200 after the Category 4 storm rolled through the southeast last week, with flooding washing out roads to cut off entire communities that lack electricity, water and cellular service. Relief efforts are ongoing through multiple states, and that includes from college and professional sports.

In Charlotte, David Tepper — owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers — and his wife Nicole have committed $3 million to relief efforts through their foundation. The NBA’s Charlotte Hornets and the NASCAR racing team owned by retired NBA and North Carolina great Michael Jordan have each committed $1 million toward relief efforts.

Not far away in Concord, the Charlotte Motor Speedway track known for NASCAR races has spent multiple days holding a donation drive and extended that work into Thursday due to strong community response. Closer to the devastation, a parade of trucks carrying donations arrived at the North Wilkesboro Speedway on Thursday.

In eastern Tennessee, Bristol Motor Speedway was designated as a regional disaster relief center, accepting donations.

“Our communities, friends and loved ones are hurting, and we stand ready to assist in any way that we possibly can,” said Jerry Caldwell, the speedway’s president and general manager.

Elsewhere in that state, Eastern Tennessee State University has been collecting donations, sending four vans to a nearby high school being used as a shelter with four truckloads taken to a church in Erwin. The Buccaneers host Chattanooga in football on Saturday with fans asked to bring more supplies with them to donate.

North Carolina State’s indoor practice facility and Carter-Finley Stadium share the same parking area as the Lenovo Center, the arena home of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh. As Vann worked into Wednesday evening helping people unload donations, the Hurricanes held a fundraiser tied to their preseason game against the Nashville Predators and raised roughly $280,000 for Helene relief.

Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said Vann’s mother, Joy Hall, who owns the Cary-based Joyful Movers company that opened in 2006, reached out shortly after the storm. Their plan was to collect supplies to deliver to the Durham Rescue Mission’s larger relief efforts.

As Vann sifted through supplies Wednesday evening and greeted donors with a handshake, Hall was there with other family members, working her way through a line of flattened cardboard boxes to prepare them to be packed with donations. Meanwhile, cars kept trickling in, sometimes with supplies stacked high in the backseat.

“I was really thankful to them,” Doeren said Thursday of Vann’s family. “It’s an uplifting deal that they’re doing. And now it’s just multiplied into a lot of people being involved in it. And so a lot of our players have been helping, a lot of staff — our recruiting staff, our (operations) staff — a lot of hands on deck loading trucks, people in the community coming in and dropping off things for all the folks that need it.”

Vann’s donation drive has already filled six trucks with supplies as of Thursday, with more to come.

“It’s very heartwarming,” Vann said. “I’m very happy to see the community is more than willing to give their time and their money to help the people of western North Carolina, even if they’ve never met them before.”

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AP Sports Writers John Raby in West Virginia and Teresa M. Walker in Tennessee contributed to this report.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Alex Ovechkin has filled the net through 19 breathtaking NHL seasons.

From acrobatic, highlight-reel moments to his patented one-timer every opponent knows is coming — but often can’t stop — the colourful, bulldozing Washington Capitals winger with a unique style has done it his way.

And the 2024-25 campaign could see him eclipse a mark once thought untouchable.

Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, a longtime division rival. “Incredible what he’s doing.”

Ovechkin sits just 41 goals shy of the Great One’s tally of 894 heading into the new schedule.

The 39-year-old Russian has nine separate 50-goal seasons — including the 65 he scored in 2007-08 — and has hit at least 40 an eye-popping 13 times.

His career has also included the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and two pandemic-stunted seasons. If not for those stoppages, Ovechkin might have already surpassed Gretzky.

Washington defenceman John Carlson said even when his captain was filling the net at a lightning-quick pace, the record didn’t feel attainable.

“Never seemed like he would ever get that close,” Carlson said at the recent NHL/NHLPA player media tour in Las Vegas. “Just incredible that we’re even here. Certainly a monumental player.

“It’s been fun to watch.”

Carolina Hurricanes blueliner Jaccob Slavin has battled Ovechkin through the years as another division foe. It was the superstar with 853 regular-season goals to his name who provided Slavin with his welcome-to-the-NHL moment as a rookie.

“It was 19 seconds in,” Slavin recalled of a particular exhibition game etched in his memory. “I had a terrible gap, and he just absolutely turned me inside out. Then as he goes by me, I get my stick between his legs, and I try to reach back, and I kind of corkscrew him. He falls, shoots and scores.

“I’m just like, ‘Seriously?’ I witnessed it firsthand.”

Ovechkin appeared to possibly be slowing down when he scored just 33 times in 2016-17, but responded with 148 goals over the next three seasons.

He registered his ninth 50-goal showing in 2021-22 and 42 the following season — when he eclipsed Gordie Howe’s 801 to move into second place behind Gretzky — before finding the back of the net 31 times last season.

There’s of course a chance Ovechkin, who led Washington to its only Stanley Cup in 2018, doesn’t reach Gretzky’s mark in 2024-25.

But the league is ready if it happens.

“Some people have suggested that because Alex is Russian that somehow this should be marginalized,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in reference to the ongoing war in Ukraine and Ovechkin’s past links to Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We couldn’t disagree more with that. He’s been a terrific ambassador for our game for 20 years now. His enthusiasm for the game and passion for the game is infectious.

“He’s done a lot to lift the tide for the league and for all players during his tenure. It’s something, definitely, we want to celebrate.”

The league’s new generation grew up watching Ovechkin dominate. Now they’re getting an up-close look at his pursuit of history.

“It’s a lot of goals,” said 19-year-old Chicago Blackhawks centre Connor Bedard, born a few months before Ovechkin made his NHL debut in 2005. “Since I’ve been watching hockey, he’s been one of the more marquee guys. Every year it seems like he’s finding a way to put it in the net.

“I don’t think it’ll be that long until he breaks it.”

Dallas Stars centre Wyatt Johnston pointed out Ovechkin has been besting NHL goaltenders since the now-21-year-old was in preschool.

“Really fun player to watch, just how dynamic he is,” Johnston said. “A different level of me being star-struck … dominating the league for (basically) my whole life.

“Being able to play against him and seeing him get close to that record is really cool.”

Ovechkin, in short, is approaching a high-water mark few ever thought attainable.

“I feel pretty grateful to be part of that,” Crosby said. “As a player, you want to compete at the highest level, and to be in that conversation with him over the years, I hope that we’ve got the best out of each other.

“Hopefully we’ve got some strong years left here.”

And for Ovechkin, at least 42 more goals

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