He shoots, he scores

Editor’s note: This is the third installment in a series covering the last decade of all Sampson County sports.

Football and volleyball have had their time to shine, but I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up one of the fastest growing sports in the county — and country — soccer.

The surge in popularity can be attributed to multiple factors, but nonetheless, the sport is growing. Within the county, two local teams seemed to have dominated over the last decade, but that shouldn’t discourage anyone or any team from playing. Instead, I believe, it should encourage them to build their programs up so that Sampson County has the best overall program in the entire state.

Some would argue we are already close to that goal, with the recent success of the high school soccer programs — Clinton with two state titles in three appearances since the 2018 season and Hobbton with back-to-back showings in the state championship. Lakewood had one of their best seasons to date this year as well. Midway has been a solid contender year-after-year. Union has seen success on the pitch compared to past seasons. Soccer is here to make its presence known in the Sampson County.

The period covered marks a time in which soccer truly rose to prominence, with area teams showing they are serious when it comes to the sport.

Clinton

Dominance is the name of the game for Dark Horse soccer, especially over the last 10 years. The program is absolutely buzzing with excitement, showcasing a program that has been built from the ground up. Their total record over the period was 192-41-14 and 28-0-1 versus the rest of the county, with that lone tie coming to Midway last season.

Clinton was a menace throughout the regular season and the playoffs during this period, too. No season from 2014 to 2023 (and now beyond) saw them fail to make the playoffs. All but one of those appearances saw them at least make the second round, with the lone outlier being the shortened 2020 season, when they lost to First Flight in the first round. Just one season — 2014 — saw them fail to advance past the second, but the rest saw them make the third, fourth, and state championship rounds.

The 2018 and 2022 seasons saw their two state championship runs, with the first being a 2-1 win over Newton-Conover and the second being a heartbreaking loss, which coincidentally is their biggest loss in my opinion.

In the latter of those two runs, the Dark Horses fell on penalty kicks to Owen, 4-3, after finishing regulation time tied at 2-2.

Clinton had amassed a 22-2-3 record leading up to the state title bout, going a perfect 10-0 in their conference and being ranked the 50th best team in the state before their heartbreaking loss to end the season.

Harrells

A huge turnaround has come the Crusaders’ way in the world of soccer, but their 41-124-4 overall record in the last decade wouldn’t lead you to believe that.

From 2014 through 2020, they won just nine total games, while dropping 103 contests and tying another four. Their first winning season in this period didn’t come until 2021. In fact, in the seven year subset that was just listed, two of those seasons were winless and two seasons saw them win just one game, leaving just three seasons where they won more than once. Their highest win total across these was three games.

But, something happened, and the ‘Saders righted the ship and are on a winning track now. In the last three seasons of the given period, they went a combined 32-21, boasting three straight double-digit win seasons and three playoff births. While they never made it past the second round, they still made some noise and made a huge turnaround for their program, going from 1-9 in 2020 to 10-9 in ‘21.

The most heartbreaking loss for Harrells, in my opinion, came in the final game of last year, a loss to Berean Baptist. After starting the season at 0-3, the Crusaders went 11-1 to end the season, giving them their 11-4 record and a seven-game win streak, until the Bulldogs ended their season in a crushing 3-1 loss in the first round of the playoffs.

Hobbton

Another Sampson County soccer giant, Hobbton has seen a lot of success on the pitch as of late, and are sitting pretty with their program now. A 143-68-12 record that includes a 32-15-2 record against the county, means the Wildcats played some very good soccer in the last ten years.

If the Dark Horses were menaces in 2A, then the Wildcats were bullies in 1A. In 2023, they boasted 125 goals scored while only allowing 26 goals against them, meaning they outscored their opponents nearly at a 5:1 pace. Many games over this time period ended with the mercy rule at the hands of Hobbton, as they went up by nine goals to seal their victories often.

While the Wildcats saw success, they also saw early exits from the playoffs, yet over this time, they never failed to make it past the first round. A string of bad luck, I would say, led to them getting matchups against very tough opponents early in the playoffs. In 2014 and 2015, they lost to the eventual state champions in those years. They also lost to the eventual state champions in 2018, and in 2017 and 2021, they lost to the state runners-up, showing that few in the division were better than them, but they just happened to run into them when it mattered the most.

In one of the most obvious picks across all the sports I’ve covered so far, last year’s state championship game is my pick for most heartbreaking loss for the Wildcats.

Going into the second half, Hobbton and Gray Stone Day were tied 1-1 in the state championship. Unfortunately, the Knights were able to get two more goals in the latter half and secured the 3-1 win over the Wildcats for the 2A title.

Lakewood

With a 74-110-7 overall record for the last 10 years, many people would write off the Leopards and say they’re not good at soccer. However, I’m here to tell you a different story.

Only one season for Lakewood saw a winning record. The Leopards only saw double-digit wins once. They held a 13-38-1 record against county foes. While all of that is true, they still put up some solid numbers on the pitch and made some noise when it counted.

The first round of the playoffs has been the Achilles heel for the Leopards — five losses came in the first playoff matchup, including three straight from 2021-23. But, they have also made it to the second round in 2014, 2016, and 2017, so they shouldn’t be written off as a team that can’t do anything in the postseason.

In their 2024 campaign, they had yet another great season, continuing to mark a new era of soccer in the Roseboro-Salemburg area.

I’m up in the air on which game I think serves as their most devastating loss. On one hand, their 3-1 crushing loss to East Carteret in the second round in 2016 after their 13-6 season serves as a big defeat. But, I think their season-ending loss to Whiteville in 2014 was arguably worse, when they fell 2-1 in a two-overtime loss to Whiteville in the second round.

Midway

With the record closest to .500 over the time period, the Raiders are a prime example of ‘middle of the road’, but can definitely hang with the big dogs.

Their overall record was 98-94-8 throughout the decade, going 28-24-4 against the county as well. While they might have been outshined by the Dark Horses both in the conference and in local play, they still held their own on the pitch when they needed to.

By far their best season was in 2023, when they went 19-3-1 before falling to Wallace-Rose Hill in the second round of the playoffs. They started off the season with 11 straight wins before tying with Clinton, which would mark the first time the Dark Horses didn’t beat an opponent in Sampson County in the decade.

This wasn’t the Raiders’ only successful season, though, as they started off the time period going 15-6 before losing to Dixon in the opening round of the playoffs and the decade ended with three straight winning seasons. Just four times in the decade did they fail to have a winning season, but just three years saw them not make the playoffs.

It would be the 2023 loss to Wallace-Rose Hill that would top my list for most heartbreaking loss after a historic season from the Raiders. A 3-0 defeat came at the hands of the Bulldogs to end the Cinderella story out of Spivey’s Corner.

Mintz

The Lions are a bit of a head scratcher for me, mostly because of the incomplete data for their seasons. I have them at 53-28-3 for the time period, with just one game played against another county opponent, but with many scores — especially in their early seasons — not reported.

Nonetheless, I can still give a recap of what is there. With a winning percentage of .631, they certainly were one of the best soccer programs in the county, albeit many of the wins didn’t come until the latter years. From 2015 to 2017, the Lions didn’t record any wins.

The best season Mintz had was in 2023, when the Lions went 17-5. No playoff information could be found, so I don’t know how they fared in that aspect, but they still took down their regular season opponents with ease, and going 13-0 in their conference along the way.

Union

The Spartans have another program whose record tells a different story than what they have accomplished. Sitting at just 54-87-2 overall and 13-33-1 against the county, they aren’t a formidable program on paper.

However, if you break things down, they deserve much more credit than they are given. They have shaken things up and played spoiler a time or two.

In 2015, for example, they had their best season, going 18-4 and making it to the third round of the playoffs before losing to Wallace-Rose Hill. That same season, they went 6-2 versus the county, with their only losses being to Clinton — they had a clean sweep of Hobbton, Lakewood, and Midway, beating them two times each.

No other season saw a glimpse of the same success against Sampson County as 2015 did for Union, but they still pulled out wins along the way.

The third-round playoff loss to the Bulldogs tops the charts for me as far as heartbreaking Spartan losses across the decade.