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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

North Davie’s soccer team took care of business and nailed down the regular-season championship with two wins last week.

Hector Rodriguez put up a hat trick in a 5-1 win at Wesleyan Christian Academy on Oct. 11. It was tied 1-1 at halftime, but North exploded in the second half.

“We controlled most of the (first) half, but we couldn’t get it to go in the net for some reason,” coach Daniel Gamble said. “We made a couple of adjustments and they started going in then.”

Ethan Christie and Max Rappaport also scored for North. Dylan Cassetta, Hunter Stephens, Christie and Ronald Perez had the assists.

Wesleyan 5, SD 2

Things were looking good when Anderson Branham and Andy Dejesus Longares scored in the first five minutes for South Davie when the Tigers hosted Wesleyan on Oct. 10.

The momentum, though, vanished. The Trojans fought back to 2-2 before halftime, and they pulled away in the second half.

Canterbury 5, SD 0

The Cougars shut out visiting South on Oct. 12.

ND 4, SD 0

Christie knocked in two goals as North pounded visiting South on Oct. 13. Rodriguez and Rappaport added goals, and Stephens had an assist as North (12-1 overall) scored twice in each half.

Led by 14 eighth graders, the Wildcats went 11-1 in conference play to edge North Carolina Leadership Academy, which had one loss and one tie in the conference. Canterbury finished third, followed by Wesleyan, Phoenix Academy, Summit, South Davie and Ellis.

“We thought we had a good chance at (winning the regular-season title),” Gamble said. “I didn’t necessarily think we would have this good of a record, but I definitely thought we had a good chance of winning this year. Ten or 11 of (the eighth graders) have played for us for three years.”

South fell to 2-10.

Forbush 3, Ellis 0

Ellis hung tough for most of the game. It was 0-0 at halftime. But once Forbush scored, the floodgates opened as Ellis sank to 2-9.

“The game actually looked great for the entire first half and going into the second – the best we have played in awhile,” coach Susan Jones said. “Communication was great. They were passing well and defending well. We had possession more and more shots on goal.

“And then our defense was out of position, and this allowed them two simple goals. After that, my team lost their drive and were mentally done.”