Soccer pairings announced; top seeds AHS, SWR start at home Saturday

By MIKE DUPREZ

Asheboro and Southwestern Randolph secured top seeds in the NCHSAA state playoffs, which begin on Saturday.

Both schools will be at home through the state semifinals as long as they keep winning.

A total of seven Randolph County teams qualified for the state playoffs.

Asheboro is the No. 1 seed in the 3-A West after compiling a 22-2 regular season record, including a clean sweep of the Mid-Piedmont Conference. The Blue Comets will face West Charlotte (2-21-2) Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Lee J. Stone Stadium.

The Blue Comets are led by senior striker Cam Letterlough, who has 64 goals and 21 assists. Letterlough’s goal total is currently the No. 7 on the all-time single season list in North Carolina. Three goals would put him in fourth place. Michael Richardson of Surry Central (92 goals in 2002, 87 goals in 2001) and Maynor Espinoza of Wallace-Rose Hill (84 goals in 2016) hold the top three spots.

Southwestern Randolph is the No. 1 seed in the 2-A West. The Cougars were 20-2 and shared the Piedmont Athletic Conference championship with Randleman. Fernando Hernandez leads the Cougars with 37 goals and Aaron Avina has 32. The Cougars will play No. 32 East Rutherford at home on Saturday.

The Cougars could face conference rival Trinity in the second round. Trinity (14-5-3), the No. 16 seed, hosts No. 17 Surry Central (13-7) in the first round. Southwestern Randolph gets the winner.

Randleman (15-7-2) is the No. 13 seed in the 2-A West. The Tigers will host No. 20 Community School of Davidson (8-8-2). 

Providence Grove (11-12-1) got in as the No. 31 seed and will travel 221 miles to play at No. 2 Brevard (17-3-2). 

Uwharrie Charter (7-10) is the No. 24 seed in the 1-A West and visits No. 9 Highlands (11-6-2), which is a 550-mile round trip.

Eastern Randolph (6-15) is the No. 31 seed in the 1-A West and travels to No. 2 Bradford Prep (16-3), which is in Charlotte.

Also in the area, Montgomery Central (9-9) is scheduled to open postseason play at fellow MPC school Ledford (12-7-4). Ledford swept the season series, 4-1 and 3-1.

Second round games are scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 12, third round games for Thursday, Nov. 14, and fourth round games for Saturday, Nov. 16.

Boys soccer regionals will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 19, and state championships will be played on Friday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Nov. 23.

The first five rounds are played at the higher seed. State championships will be played at the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex at Matthews.