Cougars overcome adversity, Newton-Conover to reach Regional Finals

ASHEBORO — For a while, it looked like Newton-Conover had found the formula to solving the riddle of how to beat No. 1 seed Southwestern Randolph — a blazingly fast striker with a serious skillset and a bevy of solid midfielders alternating between feeding him for long runs or peppering the Cougar goalkeeper with shots from anywhere at any time.

But some halftime adjustments helped settle a team facing a 3-2 halftime disadvantage and the tide eventually turned, aided by a game-winning goal from an unexpected source with 15 minutes left, and the Cougars won 5-4 to move into Tuesday’s regional finals.

The Cougars (24-2) played at home for the final time Tuesday night against No. 14 Lincolnton (20-5-1). The winner plays this weekend in Matthews for the 2-A state title.

The Cougars jumped on top quickly with a rebound header by Fernando Hernandez less than three minutes into the game.

But any delusions of a runaway were quickly wiped out by the aggression of Newton-Conover, including the eye-opening play of junior Zach Schweighardt. His straightaway speed on through balls past the back line kept Cougars players and fans on edge. He scored one first half goal and set up another by drawing a foul in the box for a penalty kick.

“Man, that guy’s so fast.,” SWR Coach Jimmy Walker said after the game. “I saw it on film but I didn’t believe it till I saw it like that.”

With attention focused on Schweighardt, the Red Devils’ midfielders were finding enough open spaces to launch 20- and 30-yard shots constantly, one of those by Josue Macias-Sevilla finding the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Hernandez, celebrating his birthday, gave as good as he saw, scoring four goals, including two of his own from distance. 

After N-C’s penalty kick put SWR in a 2-1 hole at 20:23, the junior curled in a shot outside of the box to tie it at 2-2 at 15:41. That lead lasted little more than a minute when Schweighardt race in to score for a 3-2 edge. Even then, a shot by Hernandez that would have tied it again rang off the crossbar three minutes before halftime.

In the second half, Hernandez did knot the game, at 3-3, off an assist from Aaron Avila during a 2-on-5 break.

After Schweighardt got loose again, drew the goalie out then shot over and past him for a 4-3 lead with 27:43 left to play, Hernandez answered yet again with a 25-yard laser at the 24:27 mark to tie it at 4-4.
From there, the game turned as some SWR halftime adjustments took effect.

“We dropped into a sweeper instead of a flat back four,” Walker said, in an attempt to keep a defender between Schweighardt and the keeper. “In our offensive third, we were a 10-yard sweeper, then when they came forward with the ball in our defensive third, we flattened out. Also, we had one of our two forwards drop down and try to take away the delivery pass into him. 

“It was a tactical maneuver. I don’t know that it would benefit the outcome, but it seemed to give our boys belief when we stopped him a couple of times in transition. We owned that last 20 minutes of the game.”

From there, it was the Cougars being the aggressor, choking off Red Devil rallies and pressuring with stars of their own.

Hernandez nearly made the game-winner at the 15 minute mark, but that honor fell to Kevin Garcia. A Hernandez shot in close from the left side ricocheted off the goalie to the right and Garcia pounced on the rebound and fired it in for the 5-4 game-winner.

The Red Devils did get a few chances before game’s end, the last with 40 seconds left when a long throw-in sailed over SWR’s leaping goalkeeper Jonathan Perez toward the goal, but Jonathan Lopez was there to head it 20 yards away to safety.

“I’m super excited for the boys,” Walker said. “I wanted to see what we would do in the face of adversity, and being down a goal at the half is as dire as it gets, and to come out on top, I’m just so proud of them. And you can see the community came out. All kinds of alumni from the ’90s are here tonight. It’s pretty special.

“Four games in one week and we really hadn’t had anything emotional to get excited about, any adversity, but I’m glad to see the boys get that adversity because we’re going to need it in the next game and hopefully in the state championship. That just proves to us no matter what the wall we’re facing, we can overcome it, working together as coaches and the team believing in what we’re trying to sell.”