ROCKINGHAM – A lot of times, high school referees are not given the benefit of the doubt. According to fans, their calls are generally wrong, they miss too many blatant fouls and they could always do better. But for one local referee, everything seems to be going right.
Brandon Ingram, who currently is a senior finance major at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a 2014 graduate of Richmond Senior High School, was selected to be on the referee crew assigned to the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s high school 4A soccer state championship game.
The championship match, which was played on the campus of North Carolina State University on Saturday, November 18, featured two No. 1 seed teams in Cardinal Gibbons and Hough high schools Cardinal Gibbons won the championship game 2-1.
While enrolled at Richmond, Ingram played soccer for all four years and played tennis for his last three years.
“It was a great honor, but a lot of pressure at the same time,” Ingram noted when asked about what the experience was like. “At such a young age, I didn’t think I would get this opportunity for a few more years. But I have worked hard to prepare myself and prove that I deserved to be there.”
Ingram currently referees high school and college soccer, as well as high school and college basketball. He is the son of Christy Byrd and Jeff Ingram.
