State playoffs begin for area soccer teams

Southwestern Randolph’s boys’ soccer team carries the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A East Region into the state playoffs.

Trinity joined the Cougars with first-round byes, putting those teams in Thursday night’s second round.

Southwestern Randolph (22-1) will have a home game against No. 17 seed Burlington Cummings, which defeated No. 16 seed Reidsville 3-1 on Tuesday.

Randleman is also in the Class 4A East Region as the No. 9 seed. The Tigers knocked out No. 24 seed Uwharrie Charter Academy 7-1 on Tuesday, so that sends them to Thursday night’s clash at eighth-seeded Jordan-Matthews.

Four county teams are in the Class 3A field, with three in the East Region and Wheatmore in the West Region.

Seventh-seeded Trinity (10-8-3) had a bye and now is preparing for a second-round home game Thursday vs. No. 10 seed Spring Creek, which defeated No. 23 seed South Lenoir 4-0.

No. 12 seed Providence Grove opened at home by defeating No. 21 seed Goldsboro 3-0. Next for the Patriots is Thursday night’s game at fifth-seeded Wake Prep.

Eastern Randolph is the No. 18 seed, winning 4-0 at No. 15 seed Northeastern. That sends the Wildcats to second-seeded Wallace-Rose Hill on Thursday.

Wheatmore’s No. 20 seed in the West Region meant a game at No. 13 Hendersonville, which won 8-1. Hendersonville will be in Thursday’s second round at fourth-seeded Union Academy.

In Class 6A, Asheboro, as the No. 10 seed in the West Region, won at home 6-0 against No. 23 seed St. Stephens. The Blue Comet advance to face seventh-seeded Kernersville Glenn on Thursday.

Last week’s results

Chris Betancourt and Fernando Hernandez each scored two goals as Southwestern Randolph blew out North Moore 9-0 in a Four Rivers Conference game moved to Zoo City Sportsplex.

The Cougars finished the regular season with Saturday’s 2-0 victory at Northwood with Betancourt and Yael Rebollar-Ortiz providing the goals.

** Trinity clinched the Central Carolina 3-A Conference crown with an 8-1 triumph at Wheatmore.

** Asheboro fell 2-1 at Northern Guilford in a showdown in the Triad Area Athletic Conference last Thursday. Ozmar Martinez scored for the Blue Comets, who would have tied for the league title with a victory.

** Mitchell Carranza’s three goals helped Randleman top host High Point Central 5-3, but the Tigers lost 1-0 to visiting Ledford last Thursday. That result allowed Ledford to tie with Randleman for second place in the Piedmont Athletic Conference behind Montgomery Central.