Education: Season: Sport: County: , ,

South Lenoir Rolls 8-0, Sets Up Rivalry Showdown With East Duplin

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DEEP RUN - South Lenoir coach Jody Turner has waited all season to see his team put together a complete performance.

Against Southwest Onslow, the Blue Devils delivered one.

South Lenoir rolled to an 8-0 East Central 3A/4A Conference victory over Southwest Onslow, improving to 8-5-1 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

It was South Lenoir’s fifth shutout of the season and its second straight shutout in conference play, another sign of a defense that has started to settle in at an important point in the season.

“We put every phase together tonight,” Turner said. “We have been working on all year — defending, building up from the back, creating in the middle, keeping the ball and attacking in the third. It all came together tonight for the first time this season. It felt like we played a complete game. It feels good to do that in a conference game.”

The Blue Devils had goals coming from throughout the lineup.

Daniel Salinas scored twice, with his second goal pushing South Lenoir’s advantage to 3-0.

Bryan Mendoza found the net on a header off a corner kick to make it 2-0 before Salinas added his second.

Victor Vail extended the lead to 4-0 with a finish off a kick-in, and Jethro Gonzalez made it 5-0 before striking again directly from a corner kick for South Lenoir’s sixth goal.

Yeshua Gonzalez converted a penalty kick to push the margin to 7-0.

Arael Resendiz finished the scoring with a tap-in for the eighth and final goal.

The result continued an important stretch for a South Lenoir team trying to improve its position both in the conference and in the state playoff picture.

South Lenoir entered the match ranked No. 22 statewide in RPI. If the Blue Devils can continue stacking wins down the stretch, they could improve their postseason position significantly, with a top-eight seed carrying the possibility of a first-round bye.

South Lenoir currently sits third in the East Central 3A/4A standings at 2-2 in conference play. Clinton leads the conference at 4-0, followed by Heide Trask at 2-1-1. Pender is also 2-2, while East Duplin is 1-2-1 and Southwest Onslow is 0-4.

Now comes a much different test.

South Lenoir turns its attention to East Duplin on Wednesday in a matchup carrying plenty of history for the Blue Devils.

South Lenoir has not defeated East Duplin in boys soccer since 2011. Over that stretch, the Blue Devils have gone 0-11-1 against the Panthers, with East Duplin winning both meetings last season, 5-0 and 2-0.

Turner considers North Lenoir and East Duplin the two rivalry games his players should have little trouble getting motivated for.

“If these guys ain’t ready to play Wednesday, I don’t know what to tell them,” Turner said.

For South Lenoir, Wednesday represents more than another conference game.

It is an opportunity to end a drought of more than a decade against one of its biggest rivals, strengthen its position in the East Central race and continue climbing toward a more favorable postseason seed.

And after an 8-0 performance Turner called his team’s most complete game of the season — along with a fifth shutout and back-to-back conference clean sheets — the Blue Devils will enter it with momentum.