By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
The Western Alamance boys’ soccer team enters the final week of the season with its big objective still in sight.
The Warriors need two more victories in the Class 5-A state playoffs to secure back-to-back championships.
“That has been the goal all season,” forward Grant Bacchus said. “Anything short of that would be a disappointment.”
The Warriors played their final home game of the season Thursday night, dispatching Wilson Fike 6-1 in the East Region’s fourth round.
Second-seeded Western Alamance is 27-0 going into Tuesday night’s East Region final at top-seeded Pikeville Aycock (23-0), which overcame a two-goal deficit and outlasted fourth-seeded Montgomery Central 4-3 by winning in the sudden-victory portion of overtime in the fourth round.
Bacchus, Franky Maya, Brian Villanueva Herrera, Elio Anguiano, Abraham Cano, and Edwin Anguiano scored Western goals, while Elio Anguiano provided three assists in the Wilson Fike game.
“I think we’re in our prime form right now,” Western defender Camden Oliveira said. “We’re in the fourth round of the playoffs and winning by five goals, so we’re doing something right. I think this is the most locked in we have been all season.”
After the Warriors couldn’t convert at the Wilson Fike end numerous times in the first half, they struck first on Bacchus’ header off Elio Anguiano’s delivery with 6:11 to play before halftime.
Wilson Fike (13-8-3) pulled even off a direct kick 2:18 into the second half.
“We flipped the switch after that,” Bacchus said. “We picked our heads up and kind of told ourselves ‘We got to go. This is serious now.’ ”
The response from Western was immediate. Maya’s header two minutes later made it 2-1. Villanueva Herrera and Elio Anguiano scored seven minutes apart as the advantage stretched to 4-1.
“The guys are confident,” coach Camden Brooks said. “They step up and play in big games.”
In the West Region, fourth-seeded Enka and second-seeded East Lincoln meet Tuesday for the right to face the Western/Pikeville Aycock winner in the state championship game at 11:00 a.m. Saturday at Guilford College’s Appenzeller Field in Greensboro.
The Warriors have won 51 consecutive games. Many of the players have been to this stage of the season previously.
Brooks has preached that it’s a process for the Warriors, who’ve checked off several boxes.
“Getting to this point is awesome and they’ve done so much throughout the season, but (winning it all) is the goal,” Brooks said.
