East Bladen will host Dixon Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the second round of the NCHSAA Class 2A men’s soccer play-offs. Admission is $7.
Coach Jay Raynor’s Eagles, the No. 7 seed in the East and the Three Rivers Conference champions, bring an 18-1-2 record into Tuesday’s game.
Senior Greyson Heustess became East Bladen’s all-time leading scorer with his 80th career goal in Saturday’s 5-0 first round play-off victory over Trinity. Heustess also dished out 2 assists to raise his career assist total to 78 – that ties Brooks McGill for the Eagle career assist record.
This season Heustess leads the Eagles with 33 goals and has dished out 18 assists. Senior Pierce Melvin leads East Bladen with 27 assists and has 104 steals.
Senior Ezequiel Arteaga leads the Eagle defense with 108 steals. Senior Dan Tatum and junior Gabe Barber have been credited with 90 steals each. Barber has tallied 10 goals and 7 assists.
Junior Jake Evans has scored 10 goals and has 8 assists despite missing 9 games due to an injury. Heustess has 87 steals, and junior Jay McGill follows with 86 steals.
Senior goalie Spencer Scott has recorded 5 shutouts in goal since returning from an injury suffered in the season opener. Sophmore Jacob Priest posted 8 shutouts in goal in the 15 games that Scott missed.
Dixon is the No. 10 seed in the East and finished in a 3-way tie for the Coastal 1A/2A Conference championship with Southwest Onslow and Croatan. The Bulldogs improved to 14-3 with a 2-1 victory over Wallace-Rose Hill in their play-off opener.
The Dixon play-off victory avenged a 1-0 regular-season loss to Wallace-Rose Hill. East Bladen tied Wallace-Rose Hill early in the season.
Junior Samuel Ames leads the Dixon attack with 23 goals and 10 assists, and senior Kyle Stewart follows with 11 goals. Junior Benjamin Ames and senior Collin Hinnant also share the Bulldog assist lead with 10 goals each.
The winner of Tuesday night’s game will battle the winner of No. 2 seed Clinton and No. 18 seed Wilson Beddingfield in the third round.
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