Topsail High School Athletics Is Having a Moment – and It’s Bigger Than One Team

Topsail High School athletics has been stacking up reasons for people to pay attention.

Not because every team is suddenly winning everything. That is not the point, and it would not be true.

The more interesting story is that Topsail looks deeper than it did a few years ago. More programs are showing real momentum. More athletes are moving on to compete in college. And in 2024-25, the Pirates earned statewide recognition through the NCHSAA Exemplary School Award.

That award gives the bigger picture some weight. It was not handed out for one big win, one standout athlete, or one strong season. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association describes the honor as recognition for a school’s total athletic program, including athletic success, opportunities offered, facilities, community interest, academics, sportsmanship, and other program-wide factors.

For a growing school in a fast-changing part of Pender County, that feels like a real milestone.

Topsail Athletics by the Numbers

Those numbers do not capture everything happening around Topsail athletics, but they do show why the conversation feels different. This is not just one team having one good year. It is a wider athletic department showing signs of strength in several places at once.

A State-Level Award Backs Up the Momentum

Local pride is easy. Every school has it, and every fan base should.

What makes this moment more meaningful is that Topsail’s recognition came from the state level and looked at the full athletic program, not just the scoreboard.

The NCHSAA announcement pointed to several pieces of Topsail’s program:

• A commitment to education-based athletics
• Coach education and continued development
• Student achievement
• Sportsmanship
• Participation in NCHSAA programs
• An overall student-athlete team GPA of 3.5 or higher

That is the part worth sitting with for a second. This was not simply an award for having good athletes. It points to coaching, academics, participation, and school culture all being part of the picture.

For families around Hampstead, Surf City, Topsail Beach, North Topsail Beach, Holly Ridge, and Sneads Ferry, high school sports can become one of the few things that ties a growing area together.

You see it in the familiar moments:

• Friday night football games
• Senior nights and rivalry matchups
• Playoff runs that get the school buzzing
• Signing days where younger athletes see what might be possible
• Parents, students, alumni, and neighbors all showing up for the same team

As the Topsail area keeps changing, those shared school moments may become even more important.

The Fastest-Rising Programs Tell the Story Best

The best way to understand Topsail’s athletic momentum is to look across several programs instead of focusing on only one.

A few examples stand out:

• Volleyball may be the sharpest example, with Topsail going 23-2 overall and 16-1 in conference play during the 2024 season.
• Girls basketball has become a more consistent winner, with the program’s MaxPreps history showing multiple 20-win seasons after a 5-20 season in 2019-20.
• Boys soccer climbed from a five-win season in 2019-20 to a 17-win season in 2024-25, according to the team’s MaxPreps history.
• Boys lacrosse has stayed competitive while also producing multiple college-bound athletes, with the team’s MaxPreps history showing double-digit wins in recent completed seasons.

Volleyball is probably the easiest jump for casual readers to see. Topsail’s 2024 team finished 23-2, and Coastal Preps reported that the Pirates claimed their first Mideastern Conference tournament title in 2024 after rallying from two sets down to beat Hoggard.

That kind of leap usually does not come from nowhere. It points to experienced players, stronger expectations, quality coaching, and younger athletes seeing a level they want to reach.

That is the bigger point. Topsail is not leaning on one headline team to make the whole athletic department look good. The Pirates are getting meaningful results across different sports, different seasons, and different groups of athletes.

Girls Lacrosse and Softball Were Already Strong

Not every strong Topsail program fits neatly into the “rising” bucket.

Some were already good. That matters too, because established programs help set the tone for the rest of the athletic department.

A few stand out:

• Girls lacrosse has been one of Topsail’s most consistent programs in the public record.
• Softball has built a strong recent track record and continues to show up in the college pipeline.
• Beach volleyball has become a particularly interesting pathway, with recent Topsail athletes connected to SEC programs.

Girls lacrosse is the clearest example. The program’s MaxPreps history shows a consistent run of strong records, and HighSchoolOT listed Topsail at the top of the 2025 Mideastern conference standings with a 17-3 overall record and 13-1 conference mark.

Softball also belongs in the conversation. Topsail has had several strong seasons in recent years, and one of the most visible current examples is Emmy Clark, a Topsail graduate now listed on the UNC Greensboro softball roster as a freshman outfielder from Hampstead.

That mix is important. Topsail’s story is not only about newer programs catching up. It is also about proven programs helping create a higher standard for what success can look like at the school.

The College Pipeline Is Getting Easier to See

The college pipeline may be the most shareable part of this story because it gives younger athletes and local families names to follow.

And this is where the breadth of the athletic department really starts to show. The recent pipeline is not limited to one sport or one standout athlete:

• Emmy Clark – softball at UNC Greensboro
• Nya Coury – beach volleyball at the University of South Carolina
• Ryan Lambert – beach volleyball at LSU
• Garrett Austin – football at Middle Tennessee State
• Audrey Sisto – women’s soccer at USC-Beaufort, according to a Topsail High signing announcement
• Luke Hobbs – boys lacrosse at Virginia Military Institute, according to a Topsail High lacrosse signing announcement
• Parker Booton – boys lacrosse at Lander University, according to the same Topsail High lacrosse signing announcement
• Christian Ramos – boys lacrosse at North Greenville University, according to the same Topsail High lacrosse signing announcement

That is a pretty strong list for one high school. It includes softball, beach volleyball, football, soccer, and lacrosse. It also gives younger athletes something more concrete than a vague dream of “playing at the next level.”

In November 2024, Topsail High announced a signing day that included Emmy Clark signing with UNC Greensboro softball, Nya Coury signing with South Carolina beach volleyball, and Ryan Lambert signing with LSU beach volleyball. A follow-up school announcement also celebrated four senior student-athletes signing to compete at the next level, including Clark, Lambert, Coury, and Audrey Sisto for women’s soccer at USC-Beaufort.

The beach volleyball thread is especially interesting:

• Ryan Lambert is listed by LSU as a freshman from Hampstead and Topsail High.
• Nya Coury’s South Carolina bio lists her as a Topsail High graduate and notes that she was part of Topsail’s 2024 conference championship team.

That gives Topsail a notable SEC beach volleyball connection, which is not something every local high school can point to.

Football has its own next-level example in Garrett Austin. Middle Tennessee lists Garrett Austin on its football roster, noting that he lettered in football and track at Topsail High School. His 247Sports profile also identifies him as an offensive tackle from Hampstead.

Lacrosse adds even more depth:

• Christian Ramos signed with North Greenville University.
• Parker Booton signed with Lander University.
• Luke Hobbs signed with Virginia Military Institute.

Those signings were celebrated in Topsail High’s men’s lacrosse signing announcement, and LaxNumbers also lists all three in its Topsail boys lacrosse recruits database.

What Growth Around Hampstead May Mean for Topsail Athletics

It is easy to look around Hampstead and see growth everywhere. New neighborhoods, more traffic, more students, more families, and more pressure on local infrastructure are all part of the same conversation.

It would be too simple to say that growth caused Topsail’s athletic momentum. That is not something the public record can prove.

But it is fair to say that growth can change the athletic picture over time. The National Center for Education Statistics lists Topsail High’s 2024-25 enrollment at 1,945 students. The U.S. Census estimates that Pender County grew 19.8% from April 2020 to July 2025. Pender County’s own snapshot describes the county as one of the fastest-growing counties in North Carolina.

That kind of growth can matter for athletics in practical ways:

• More students can create deeper participation pools.
• More youth athletes can strengthen feeder programs before high school.
• More internal competition can raise the level needed to earn varsity spots.
• More families invested in local sports can increase support around games, fundraising, and school pride.

That last part matters. High school teams are not built only in high school. They are shaped by the years before it: recreation leagues, club programs, middle school teams, summer workouts, private training, family support, and older athletes setting the example.

The high school may not have felt the full impact of that growth yet. The next few years could be especially interesting as younger athletes from a larger local population start moving through the system.

Why This Matters Locally

For current students, this kind of momentum changes what feels possible:

• A younger volleyball player can look at Lambert and Coury and see a path to SEC beach volleyball.
• A softball player can look at Clark and see a Division I example from her own school.
• A lacrosse player can see multiple Topsail athletes signing to continue their careers.
• A football player can see Austin making the jump to the college level.

That visibility matters because local athletes often need more than talent. They need proof that the path exists, and it hits differently when that proof comes from someone who wore the same school colors.

For parents and local residents, Topsail’s athletic momentum adds another layer to how the high school fits into the broader community:

• Younger athletes can see real examples of Topsail students moving on to college sports.
• Parents can see broader program strength, not just isolated team success.
• Students can take pride in a school earning statewide athletic recognition.
• The community gets another shared identity point as the Hampstead and Topsail area continues to grow.

In a fast-growing area, schools often become one of the few shared gathering points. Athletics can create a common thread between long-time locals, newer families, current students, alumni, and younger kids who are still years away from high school.

And now Topsail has a challenge that comes with success: sustaining it.

The NCHSAA award creates a milestone, but it also raises expectations. The next test is whether the Pirates can keep building across programs, keep developing younger athletes, keep supporting coaches, and keep turning community growth into healthy school pride.

A Rising Program Worth Watching

The most credible way to describe Topsail High athletics right now is not as a sudden powerhouse. It is more accurate, and more interesting, to call it a rising and increasingly broad athletic program.

Some teams are already strong. Some have made major jumps. Some are still building. But the overall picture is different than it was a few years ago.

Topsail High has a state-level athletic award, several programs with strong recent results, and a growing list of athletes moving on to college competition. For a community that continues to grow and change, that makes the Pirates’ next few years especially worth watching.

And yes, there is even a fun pop-culture footnote. Former Topsail football player Joseph Sculthorpe is now better known to wrestling fans as Hank Walker on WWE’s NXT brand. It is not the main story, but it is one more reminder that Topsail athletes are showing up in more places than people may realize.