MATTHEWS – Asheboro’s boys’ soccer team had done so much work throughout the season and during the last game of the year that the biggest reward seemed so close.
But Blue Comets couldn’t play the assignment in the Class 3A state championship game, falling to Western Alamance 4-3 in overtime Saturday night at Mecklenburg County Sportsplex.
Asheboro held a 3-0 halftime lead, courtesy of goals from Cam Letterlough, Ozmar Martinez and Diego Bustamante in a 20-minute span. Juan Macias provided two assists.
“We went into halftime with a three-goal lead,” Asheboro coach Nick Arroyo said. “We came out of halftime overconfident.”
It didn’t take long for the momentum to shift. Western Alamance’s Noah Barrett scored the first of his three goals 40 seconds into the second half.
Grant Bacchus scored to close the margin to 3-2. Barrett’s second goal of the game tied the score at 3-3 in the 77th minute.
Barrett scored the winning goal early in the first of the two overtime periods.
Western Alamance outshot the Blue Comets 22-14.
Letterlough, who’s one of the country’s top goal scorers this season, was limited in the second half because of an ailing hamstring.
The Blue Comets finished with a 27-3 record, making their first appearance in the state final.
The Warriors (25-1) avenged their lone loss of the season. That came in August, also by a 4-3 result, at Asheboro. It marked second state championship in four years for Western Alamance.
