While the East Wilkes Cardinals and the Surry Central Golden Eagles battled into overtime on Friday night, a small convenience store only minutes away from the action taking place at East Wilkes High School was robbed by a man brandishing a handgun.

Foster's Grocery and Hardware Store, located on N.C. 268 in Ronda, was robbed at 9:47 p.m. Friday when a single suspect reportedly ran into the store with a handgun and forced the cashier to open the register before taking an undisclosed amount of money, said Wilkes County Sheriff's Department Sheriff's Deputy Tim Pardue immediately after the incident.

According to Pardue, a customer was also in the store at the time of the robbery and neither the cashier nor the customer were physically harmed, The suspect was identified by the cashier as a black male, said Pardue

Pardue said the suspect was wearing a black shirt and a black hat during the robbery.

At the time of publication, Wilkes County deputies are continuing their investigation of the case.