ROARING TO REGIONALS: Karamavruc hat trick sends Dragons soccer to 1A West final; Patton falls at No. 1 seed
Members of the NCSSM-Morganton boys soccer team huddle just prior to Thursday evening’s NCHSAA 1A fourth-round playoff game at Clover Garden School in Burlington. The Dragons were victorious, 3-2, to extend their best season in the sport and advance to next week’s West Regional final contest.
Patton’s Abraham Miguel pushes the ball upfield in a soccer game earlier this fall. Miguel scored two goals in the Panthers’ third-round home win on Monday.
Another chapter was written in a fairytale 2025 fall sports season for NCSSM-Morganton as the Dragons boys soccer team returned from the Piedmont Triad with a pair of playoff road wins last week to reach the NCHSAA 1A West Regional final.
Junior Bertan Karamavruc scored a first-half hat trick as No. 6 seed NCSSM-Morganton (13-6-2) led 3-1 by halftime on Thursday night over No. 2 Clover Garden (19-4) en route to a 3-2 fourth-round win in Burlington.
“The team played like a unit tonight,” Dragons first-year head coach Drew Hester said. “From their pressing to their possession, it was another step forward in excellent soccer. Even when on the back foot, they dug deep and showed their character with composure and leading each other until the final whistle.”
Junior Jack Macnamara supplied an assist on one of Karamavruc’s three goals, three nights after Macnamara’s second-half goal helped NCSSM-M to a 1-0 third-round victory over No. 3 seed N.C. Leadership Academy (11-5-5) in Kernersville.
Though NCSSM-M has never had a losing record in three total years of boys soccer while reaching the playoffs each season, all three of the program’s postseason wins have now come in the last nine days following a first-round bye as the team continues to extend its winningest season yet with a streak of six consecutive matches without a loss.
Next up, the Dragons look to complete a sweep of the top three teams in their bracket when they travel to new conference rival Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy in Rutherford County next Tuesday (Nov. 18) at 6 p.m. for the right to reach the state championship.
NCSSM-M looks to reverse recent history against the top-seeded Gryphons (24-1), who won both of the teams’ regular-season meetings by 4-0 margins.
“It’s a reward for the effort and diligence these young men have shown since the beginning,” Hester said of reaching the regional final. “It means they get a chance to see what they are capable of together.”
All eight of this year’s boys soccer state title games will be held next Thursday through Saturday (Nov. 20-22) at first-time host Appenzeller Field at the Armfield Athletic Center at Guilford College in Greensboro.
Also Thursday, the second-winningest class ever of Patton seniors’ careers ended in a 2-1 road loss at No. 1 seed Polk County in the fourth round of the 3A playoffs.
“This wasn’t what we were expecting. Just couldn’t get it in the back of the net, that’s what it boils down to,” Patton 19th-year coach Keith Scott said. “I told them afterward that I was proud of them, you know, not to forget that they were conference champions, and that they’ve had a really phenomenal season, and keep their heads up.”
The previous two matches between No. 5 seed Patton and Polk (17-0-3) ended in ties, including a 2-2 contest in Morganton on Aug. 20, though the Panthers (20-3-2) had won six of the previous seven head-to-head meetings when the programs shared a conference from 2021 to 2024.
And Thursday’s game appeared headed for overtime after Patton overcame a sluggish first half after which it trailed 1-0 to dominate possession for much of the latter 40 minutes, evening things at 1-1 on a Jacob Batz 44th-minute penalty-kick goal after Andres Garcia was taken down in the box.
But the Wolverines connected for the winning goal in the 68th minute on a header off a cross following a throw-in deep on Patton’s end.
The loss ends the Panthers’ fourth 20-win season all-time and second in three years. Patton moved past the third round for just the third time in program history but second time in as many seasons, finishing within one goal of the program’s longest run ever, when it went to the NCHSAA 2A West Regional final in 2017, losing to that year’s eventual state champion Newton-Conover by one goal on the road.
“It is (headed the right direction),” Scott said. “I hate it for our seniors this year, but we’ve got a great group that’s going to be returning. I see us being right back here. Our challenge every year is the same, be the best in the county, win the conference. and go as far as we can in the playoffs, and it won’t change next year.
“It’s just tough for the seniors. I feel bad for them because it’s been a really super group. It’s been a group that came together and did some really good things.”
Patton advanced to Thursday’s game thanks to a 4-1 third-round home win over No. 13 Hendersonville on Monday.
In that first of two playoff contests against former conference foes and second straight 4-1 win to open the postseason, Patton outshot the Bearcats (10-10-1) by a dominant 19-3 margin and managed 14 corner kicks to the guests’ two.
Aldair Pinto assisted on an Abraham Miguel 33rd-minute goal to get Patton on the scoreboard, then scored Patton’s final first-half goal on a Trevin Lavoie assist in the 41st minute to cap a quick three-goal flurry.
In between, Noah Krogel found the back of the net on a Sammy Quinonez assist. Miguel then finished off his brace shortly after halftime, in the 51st minute, in unassisted fashion.
Goalkeeper Colsyn Queen finished with two saves in the victory.
WINTER SPORTS
NCSSM-Morganton basketball teams win
Both NCSSM-Morganton basketball teams started the season at 1-0 with lopsided home wins over the Avery County-based Williams Academy on Wednesday evening at the North Carolina School for the Deaf’s Underhill Gym.
Playing minus last year’s leading scorer, senior Nate Gutschall, the Dragon boys were still victorious, 81-2, as Bransen Pittman scored 19 points to pace five players in double figures.
NCSSM-M’s Colin Henry added 15 points, Ben Ahn scored 13, and both Nash Taylor and Brecken O’Leary finished with 12 points.
Max Stassenko (six) and Xander Tzendzalian (four) also found their way into the scoring column for the hosts, who led 28-1 after one period and 49-1 by halftime, posting at least 16 points in each period and not allowing a made field goal in the contest.
The Lady Dragons were almost equally dominant, securing just the program’s third win all-time as they allowed only a fourth-quarter basket in a 52-2 season-opening triumph in which they led 40-0 by the half and 50-0 after three periods.
Sequoia Wilson poured in a team-high 18 points for NCSSM-M, while Amalia Bordoloi added 14, Lola Wilson had 10, Amuktha Sudathi had six, and Vivian Lin rounded out the victors’ scoring with four points.
The local wrestling season also started Wednesday, with Draughn hosting Bunker Hill, South Caldwell, and Southwest Guilford in a quad match in Valdese.
The Draughn girls team started 1-1 with a 30-6 victory over Bunker Hill but a 24-18 loss to Southwest Guilford. The Wildcats’ Cristal Tallent (107 pounds), Alisa Shuping (126), and Teaghann Hensley (235) all finished 2-0 on the evening after claiming two forfeits, while Azalynn Rutherford (114) and Genesis Figueroa (185) secured one win apiece via forfeit.
Draughn boys’ results were not available.
Paul Schenkel can be reached at 828-445-8595 or paul@thepaper.media.
