<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3znR0v_1GpJUM6i00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3znR0v_1GpJUM6i00" width="640" height="586" ><figcaption>Hobbton’s Alberto Rendon fights off a Piedmont Classical defender as he takes a shot on goal in the Wildcats 6-1 playoff victory this past Monday to advance to the 2A east bracket second round. David Johnson | for the Sampson Independent</figcaption></figure>The first round of the NCHSAA state soccer playoffs kicked off across North Carolina on Monday evening, and in action for Sampson County were Midway, Lakewood and Hobbton, all three of which walked in and out of their matchups victorious.Midway mercy-rulesAyden-GriftonThe Raiders (14-8) gave their home crowd one last show in a 9-0 victory over Ayden-Grifton.Within the first six minutes of the contest, Midway put a goal past the Chargers to go up early. Raiders senior striker Max Florido doubled the lead with 25 minutes left in the first half after the home team was awarded a penalty kick.The Raiders held serve with a few opportunities in the first half, with Ayden-Grifton’s goalkeeper forced to make back-to-back saves near the halfway mark of the period.Midway senior Carson Cain refused to be denied on his next shot on target, scoring to push the lead to 3-0. Two more goals followed for the Raiders before Florido grabbed his second of the day off an assist from sophomore Asher McCray.In the second half, the Chargers didn’t have any answers to the problems the Midway attack was providing.Cain scored his second goal to start the second half, shortly followed by Florido completing his hat trick (three goals) to make it 8-0. With more than 20 minutes left in the game, Cain scored his third to grab a hat trick of his own and end the game.“This is just the start,” Florido said after the game. “We’re going to go to the second round and show what we can do.”Over the course of Midway’s last four games, the offense has been clicking with an average of eight goals per game, helping propel the Raiders to a four-game winning streak.“We’ve had some tough losses to James Kenan, where we were only able to get two goals,” Midway coach Austin Kriger said. “Same thing with Spring Creek. It was a tough loss where we lost the lead because we couldn’t quite score in the second half, and then not being able to score at all against Wallace-Rose Hill (6-0 loss). All three of them are good teams. So we took a look at our film, and the biggest thing is that we didn’t fully understand where the open lanes were and how to move the ball up the most effectively. We brought up some stuff on the whiteboard and told the guys how to move around and find those passing lanes.”There were also a few things Kriger had the team work on in terms of situational drills.“We had lots and lots of shooting practice,” he continued. “Crossing practice, free kicks, anything to help us work on getting the ball around and getting the feel for what it’s like to make a run for the net and we’ve shown massive improvement since then. We went 5-0 against Rosewood, 9-0 against Wilson’s Mills, 9-2 against Goldsboro, who we played a very exciting thriller against in our first game (7-6 victory for Midway), and now 9-0 against Ayden-Grifton. A lot of our players are visual people, so I like to think that us talking, drawing and looking at things helped build into that soccer IQ and gave us a better understanding and helped us tremendously.”The victory advanced Midway into the second round, where the Raiders will take on eighth-seeded Northwood on the road Thursday.Lakewood clipsEagles wingsThe Leopards (18-7) defended their home-field advantage, dispatching Rosewood 6-1 to advance to the second round of the 2A East bracket.Lakewood’s Brandon Martinez led the way with a hat trick, while Kevin Molina, Daniel Fernandez and Jordy Cruz chipped in with the other three goals.Cruz and Molina also assisted on three of the Leopards’ goals. Lakewood senior goalkeeper Gerson Navas was tested in goal, making six saves while conceding only one goal.The victory also saw Lakewood bounce back from a 2-0 defeat in the Carolina 1A/2A Conference tournament championship game against Hobbton.The Leopards will face Research Triangle on the road Thursday.The playoff matchup presents a clash between offense and defense. The Raptors have conceded only 23 goals this year, allowing more than one goal in just six games. However, as of late, Research Triangle has conceded six goals in its last two games.Lakewood brings firepower into its games, averaging 4.1 goals in 25 contests played this year. The Leopards are 17-2 in games where they’ve scored two or more goals.The 6-1 victory over Rosewood also helped Lakewood surpass the 100-goal mark for the season.HobbtonthrashesBobcatsIn a showdown between jungle cats, it was Hobbton (15-9) that prevailed in a 6-1 victory over Piedmont Classical at home, advancing to the second round of the 2A East bracket.The Wildcats scored first off a free kick after the Piedmont Classical goalkeeper fumbled the catch. Moments later, Hobbton doubled the lead on a long-range shot that sailed over the Bobcats goalkeeper’s head.With 22 minutes left in the first half, the lead was tripled. Both sides scored before halftime to make it 4-1.In the second half, the Wildcats were able to hold off the Bobcats while adding two more goals to their tally to seal the victory.The win over Piedmont Classical gave Hobbton its fourth straight victory since the 3-2 defeat against North Duplin on Oct. 26. Over that span, Hobbton averaged 3.25 goals per game.The Carolina 1A/2A Conference tournament champions have carried that momentum from their title win into the playoffs.After defeating top-seeded Union (13-9) in a 2-1 upset, the Wildcats also took out second-seeded Lakewood 2-0 in the tournament finale.Hobbton travels to Lejeune to face the Devil Pups Thursday at 6 p.m.The playoff matchup presents a challenge for the Wildcats on paper, as Hobbton holds a 6-6 record in road games, compared to its 9-3 home record, while Lejeune holds a 5-1 record on its home field.Similar to Lakewood’s matchup against Research Triangle, a high-scoring Hobbton squad is tasked with figuring out the defensive wall of the Devil Pups’ back line.Lejeune has conceded only 14 goals this year, including just two in its last eight games. The Wildcats have scored two or more goals in their last seven games.</div></body>

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The first round of the NCHSAA state soccer playoffs kicked off across North Carolina on Monday evening, and in action for Sampson County were Midway, Lakewood and Hobbton, all three of which walked in and out of their matchups victorious. Midway mercy-rules. Ayden-Grifton. The Raiders (14-8) gave their home crowd...

County teams sweep in first round

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The first round of the NCHSAA state soccer playoffs kicked off across North Carolina on Monday evening, and in action for Sampson County were Midway, Lakew

County teams sweep in first round

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