FUQUAY-VARINA –The Bladen County All-Stars dropped a 6-1 decision to the host Fuquay-Varina team Saturday morning, but rebounded in the afternoon to take a hard-fought 3-2 win over SGAA in the State-Wide Activities Committee (SWAC) 10-and-Under Boys Soccer state tournament.
Fuquay-Varina scored quickly in the morning game, but Diego Sandoval blistered a laser into the right corner of the net from 12 feet out to knot the score 1-1. The host team went back up 2-1, but Bladen County had a tying goal nullified by a questionable offside call.
Bladen County didn’t recover quickly enough from the letdown on the call as Fuquay-Varina banged in 3 more goals before halftime then added another midway the final half.
Chatham Rigsbee fired in a goal to put Bladen up early in the afternoon game. SGAA tied the score 1-1, but Sandoval sent an assist to Andrew Martinez who drilled in the goal for a 2-1 Bladen lead.
Tyler Thurman launched a long lead pass to the front of the goal in the 2nd half, and Martinez ran onto the ball and knocked in his 2nd goal for a 3-1 Bladen County lead. A penalty kick on a handball in the box late in the game resulted in an SGAA goal that whittled the final margin to 3-2.
Bladen County advances to a semifinal game Sunday with a 2-1 record. The semifinal games start at 9:30 a.m. with the championship game scheduled for 2 p.m.
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