AHS, SWR battle opponents and weather to reach fourth round of soccer playoffs

It was a rare scene Tuesday night: Two No. 1 seeds from the same city playing a soccer doubleheader in the same location on the same night. 

Here's what happened:

Asheboro 4, Pisgah 0

By Dennis Garcia
Randolph Hub
ASHEBORO — A change in venue meant a little bit of an adjustment, but once that adjustment was made, the Asheboro High School soccer team found its scoring touch.
The Blue Comets broke away from a tight halftime advantage by scoring three second-half goals for a 4-0 victory over Pisgah in the third round of the state tournament held Thursday at the Cone Health Zoo City Sportsplex.
The win was the 21st straight for the top-seeded Blue Comets and pushed their overall record to 25-2 entering Saturday’s regional semifinal battle against fifth-seeded East Lincoln with a berth to the regional finals on the line.
“Playing on a field smaller than what we typically play on changed the way we played for a little bit of the first half, but in the second half we understood the level of play we needed to be at and the size of the field difference,” Arroyo said. 
Arroyo said the Sportsplex field was perhaps 10 yards less in width and 5-10 yards shorter than the field at AHS.
Although the Blue Comets dominated possession time in the first 40 minutes, they led just 1-0 on a goal from Cam Letterlough at the 27:15 mark. AHS had a number of chances, but couldn’t capitalize.
“We knew we had the ball the whole time,” Letterlough said of the first half. “In the second half, we knew if we wanted it, we had to go get it. One goal helped us get the lead, but we needed a couple more.”
Letterlough gave AHS a 2-0 lead scoring from right in front at 18:04 of the second half. His two goals brings his nation-leading total to 73, two ahead of Jake Van Lierop, who attends Northwestern Lehigh in Pennsylvania.
“It’s huge getting that cushion, so even if the other team gets one on us, we’re still ahead,” Arroyo said. “It settles everyone’s nerves. It also takes a little bit out of the other team.”
AHS’ Diego Bustamante scored on a penalty kick and Ozmar Martinez scored the final goal for the Blue Comets.

SW Randolph 3, Bandys 0

By Ray Criscoe
Randolph Hub
ASHEBORO — As with Asheboro, top 2-A seed Southwestern Randolph’s third-round game had to be moved from its home turf to the Zoo City Sportsplex because of a steady soaking rain during the day.

And like Asheboro, SWR also grabbed a 1-0 first-half lead and nursed it through some nail-biting moments until some late magic from one of its star players finally provided some breathing room on the way to a 3-0 victory over No. 25 seed Bandys.

SWR’s night took seemingly forever to get going, with the gametime start pushed from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., then a breakdown of Bandys’ team bus caused another delay to an 8 p.m. start time. Warming up for a lengthy amount of time in cold, rainy conditions could have had a negative mental effect.

But while Asheboro played mostly in rain and drizzle, the extra time gave the rain time to leave the area, and the Cougars jumped on Bandys less than four minutes into the game. A shot from Aaron Avina was turned away by the Trojans’ keeper, but Jonathan Lopez was there for the rebound and used it as a pass to set up a laser shot into the goal from 15 yards out for a 1-0 Cougars lead at the 36:28 mark.

The Cougars dominated play in the half but couldn’t turn numerous chances into a 2-0 lead, and when the second half began, Bandys took a turn as the relentless aggresser, pushing for the equalizer and coming close to getting it.

As the time ticked off and the tension built on and off the field, Avina took control. He got loose with the ball attacking from the left side, drove it to the end line and with a blue of quick footwork moves, twisted in and out to beat two defenders one on one, one after the other, and draw the goalie in sight. Then he passed to teammate Fernando Hernandez in a crowd in front of the goal and Fernandez put the ball past the goalie for the sought-after 2-0 lead and a sigh of relief with just 6:42 to go.
But Avina wasn’t finished. Minutes later, a lofting ball sent toward the Bandys goal bounced near the box. Avina beat the goalie in a race to it, headed it up and behind the oncoming goalie, then raced around him to head it forward before it hit the ground and set himself up for a scoring shot and a 3-0 lead with 3:25 left.
The win pushes the Cougars (23-2) into the fourth round on Saturday night at home against No. 12 seed Newton Conover (20-5-2), which upset No. 4 seed West Caldwell 1-0 on Thursday. A round earlier, Newton Conover upset No. 5 Owen 4-3.
The winner will advance to the regional semifinals on Tuesday.