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The No. 21 seed Western Alamance boys' soccer team plays No. 3 seed Hickory (22-3-1) tonight in the NCHSAA Class 3-A state championship game at WakeMed Soccer Park's Koka Booth Stadium in Cary.
Here are three things to know about the Warriors (18-5-1) ahead of tonight's championship game:
Western Alamance senior Ian Bacchus takes a corner kick against Lee County during the semifinals of the state playoffs on Nov. 16 in Sanford.
Times-News
Luke Johnson for The Times-News
Friends through soccer
Second-year Western Alamance coach Camden Brooks and his assistant Will Thomas have long been friends through the game of soccer.
Both played soccer at Western Alamance as students. In fact, they played the game together since they were 9 years old for the Burlington Soccer Club.
Brooks went on to play college soccer at Greensboro College, while Thomas played at rival Guilford College.
Thomas also coaches the Warriors junior varsity team.
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No backing down
At this point, it's become obvious the Warriors are much better than that No. 21 seed beside their name.
Through conversations with Western Alamance players, that seeding appears to be a source of motivation.
What's clear is this group of Warriors knows just how good they are.
“We’re Warriors. We dig deep,” said senior Robbie Simpson following a penalty kick victory against Lee County in the East regional final. “We get results. We do what needs to be done. We don’t care what’s in front of us. We’ll keep going. We’re a 21 seed and we’re in the final. We will dig deep and we will fight and we will get what we want.”
Western Alamance junior Gael Villegas-Duran fights for the ball against Lee County during the semifinals of the state playoffs on Nov. 16 in Sanford.
Times-News
Luke Johnson for The Times-News
A look at Hickory
Hickory, the Western Foothills Conference champion, enters the state title game after defeating Concord 1-0 in the West regional final.
Goalkeeper Will Braun has allowed 21 goals in 25 games played this year. He averages 5.6 saves a game.
The Red Tornadoes average 3.1 goals a game and do so with a balanced attack.
Hickory's only three losses came to East Lincoln, Lenoir Hibriten and Newton Foard.
David Kehrli is a sports reporter at the Burlington Times-News and USA Today Network. You can reach him at david.kehrli@thetimesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidKehrliTN. Subscribe to the Burlington Times-News here.
