Hickory routs Ashbrook in soccer playoffs

GASTONIA — This sure didn’t look like a matchup of two conference champions.

Drake Fisher and Adam Betzwieser scored two goals each and Hickory routed Ashbrook 6-0 in the second round of the 3A state soccer playoffs Saturday.

“Speed kills,” Ashbrook coach Joel Webb said. “You can’t teach speed, and we weren’t prepared for that speed tonight. I haven’t seen that speed all year.”

Fisher, a senior forward, also assisted two goals for the Red Tornadoes (25-1), who advanced to a third-round home matchup against South Point, a 3-2 winner over East Henderson.

Betzweiser scored in the 11th and 31st minutes to give Hickory a 2-0 lead. Fisher’s first goal just before the break gave the Red Tornadoes a 3-0 halftime lead.

“After the second goal, it just kind of hit, like, ‘Wow, what’s going on?’” junior Casey Frey said.

Ashbrook (17-3-1), which went undefeated in the Big South 3A Conference, hadn’t lost worse than 2-0 all season. The game ended the high school careers of eight seniors: Billy Baucom, Matt Conner, Justin Brooks, Nahim Perez, George Lopez, Sebastian Zuluaga, Saul Albarran and Daniel Carvajal.

Michael Auten and Jordi Uribe also scored for Hickory, the Northwestern Conference champion ranked No. 6 in this week’s N.C. Soccer Coaches Association Poll. Ashbrook was the ninth in the poll. Ben Underwood, Tyler Smith, Michael Delong and Drew Hilton each assisted a goal for Hickory.

“We had a ton of respect coming in here tonight, just heard a lot of great things about No. 8 (Juan Villa) and No. 22 (Carvajal),” Hickory coach Brian Jillings said. “We challenged our midfielders to win the battle in the middle and I thought they did a great job against a great player.”

Ashbrook hadn’t lost since a 2-0 setback to Forestview in the Gazette Cup title game Aug. 29. Since then, the Green Wave had reeled off 16 straight wins and won its first conference title since 2004.

“We’re proud of what we’ve done,” Frey said. “It’s been awesome.”

You can reach Phillip Gardner at 704-869-1843.