In a fourth-round matchup loaded with intensity, physicality, and championship implications, the Clinton Dark Horses delivered one of their sharpest performances of the season, shutting out the North Pitt Panthers 4 to 0 on Thursday night and punching their ticket to the 4A NCHSAA East Regional Final.
The second-seeded Dark Horses wasted no time establishing control, scoring three times in the opening half and adding another in the first twenty-two seconds of the second half. With the win, Clinton now advances to face a familiar opponent in the Southwestern Randolph Cougars, a team that defeated them earlier this season but fell to the Dark Horses in last year’s state championship.
Clinton immediately applied pressure, earning the first shot on goal just 1 minute and 42 seconds into the match when Chris Zelaya sent a clean strike toward the net. North Pitt tried to counter at the 3:30 mark, but the Dark Horses’ defense turned the early threat away and continued to dictate the tempo.
At 5:35, North Pitt bracketed and contained Holden Spell on the right wing to prevent a cross, but Clinton’s next opportunity turned into the breakthrough moment. Off a throw-in from Brandt Sumner on the right side, the ball bounced off the head of Zelaya, who flicked it toward James Sinclair. Sinclair tapped it home around the 6th minute to give Clinton a 1 to 0 advantage.
From there, the match settled into a physical midfield battle, with both teams colliding, engaging in tough tackles, and hearing the crowd erupt for potential calls. Officials allowed play to continue, setting a rugged tone that lasted the full 80 minutes.
North Pitt generated several looks, including free kicks into the box and shots from distance by David Valdez and Caleb Jeronimo, but all missed high or wide. Clinton responded with a series of attacks led by Zelaya, Holden Spell, and Brody Gunnells, who sent a dangerous curved cross to Jaiden Bell that the Panthers’ keeper narrowly handled.
Clinton doubled its lead around the 18-minute mark. Sumner launched another perfect ball from the left side, and this time Zelaya finished it himself, tucking the shot into the net for a 2 to 0 advantage.
North Pitt nearly answered on a long strike from Jeronimo, but it drifted right. Clinton kept attacking, and at the 29th minute, Sinclair nearly scored again on a header that the Panthers managed to clear off the line.
Late in the half, Clinton delivered a dagger. With just under a minute left before halftime, Zelaya flicked another header through, and Nelson Guerrero sprinted onto it and finished cleanly at the 39:14 mark. The final defensive stand of the half belonged to Guerrero as well, who broke up a North Pitt push seconds before the whistle.
Clinton led 3 to 0 at halftime after an opening forty minutes dominated by relentless pressure and pinpoint execution.
Any hope of a North Pitt comeback evaporated almost instantly when the second half began. Just twenty-two seconds in, Emilson Marcia scored off an assist from Holden Spell, pushing the lead to 4 to 0.
After the early goal, the match shifted into a bruising defensive struggle. Marcia later left briefly after a hard tackle, and both teams exchanged physical challenges in the midfield. Clinton still found chances, including rockets from Zelaya and Sumner at the 46:30 mark, but North Pitt defenders deflected both.
North Pitt increased its urgency after the 50-minute mark and generated more shots than it had in the entire first half combined. Still, Clinton goalkeeper Luis Bartolome turned in another elite performance, making critical saves at the 58, 67, and 68-minute marks. His 68th-minute stop was one of the most dramatic of the postseason, as he leapt to tip the ball off the crossbar before securing it on the bounce.
Clinton took only a handful of second-half shots, including a 69:30 attempt that missed wide left, but their early explosion had already built a cushion that held easily. North Pitt’s Jose Espinal received a yellow card at the 73rd minute, and the Dark Horses slammed the door the rest of the way.
The final whistle sealed a commanding 4 to 0 win and another clean sheet, pushing the Dark Horses into the regional final for the second straight year.
Clinton head coach Brad Spell was energized after the victory, especially given how quickly his team found rhythm.
“That’s what we wanted,” Spell said. “I’m really excited about the guys starting the game early. It’s been a couple of ball games in a row, about three ball games in a row, where it took 25, 30 minutes for something good to happen. So we got that early flick off goal. Chris Zelaya was just phenomenal tonight. I think he had the first three flicks that created goals. So he had the first three assists that created our goals, going up 3 nothing.”
Spell said the early surge allowed the entire roster to contribute in meaningful minutes, something particularly special with this being the final home match for the seniors.
“If you’re getting to play everybody in the fourth round for 10 minutes plus, that’s a blessing for me for these seniors because it’s the last time they play on this field,” Spell said. “It’s just a blessing. It’s been a great year. I’ve enjoyed it, and we want to keep it rolling.”
Clinton now prepares for Tuesday’s regional final at Southwestern Randolph, a team undefeated at home this season and one of the highest scoring programs in the state.
“We know they are the number one offensive team in the state. They’ve scored 155 goals, and they’ve given up the least amount of goals,” Spell said. “We know we got to go to work. We’ll enjoy tonight. Tomorrow you wake up, it’s time to go to work. We don’t want to settle. We want to keep moving forward.”
Spell added that he hopes Clinton supporters make the trip to Asheboro.
“I hope so, because we need them,” he said. “When you got people cheering for you and giving you that little bit of extra energy, it brings you to another level.”
For North Pitt head coach Lauren Wasilick, the loss was emotional, but she held nothing back in expressing her pride in her team.
“There are no words for how proud I am of them,” Wasilick said. “We’ve never made it this far, and that’s a legacy that this senior class has left with this group. I just told them they’re a resilient bunch. They usually find a way, and that’s what I’m most proud of. They didn’t stop until the end. That’s all I can ask of them.”
Wasilick believes this postseason run has permanently elevated the program’s expectations.
“The standard’s been set,” she said. “Now we’ve got a conference championship under our belt, and you got to the Elite Eight. What are we going to do next year? What’s the next step we take?”
With a strong junior class returning and several players competing together in travel ball, Wasilick expects the program to continue building momentum.
The stage is now set for a high-stakes rematch. Clinton will travel to Asheboro on Tuesday to face top-seeded Southwestern Randolph for a spot in the 4A state championship. The Cougars defeated Clinton 5 to 1 when they met on September 24, but Clinton defeated them last year in the state final.
With momentum, depth, and another clean sheet behind them, the Dark Horses enter the showdown with confidence and a full week to prepare. “Two more baby, two more.” Spell said with an optimistic smile.