Cape Fear finds extra motivation vs. Bears
Coach calls play named after sworn enemy
Cape Fear girls' soccer coach Bryan Pagan called in a play during Tuesday's game that might have had the Colts' opponents scratching their heads.
“Gray's Creek!” he hollered, and his players echoed.
“Gray's Creek!”
“Gray's Creek!”
It was as though they were reading the school name on the front of their rivals' jerseys.
Really though, it's no wonder Pagan has a play named Gray's Creek. He coached there for 14 years.
Such is the way with one of Cumberland County's hottest rivalries.
Colts and Bears are sworn enemies, but their territory overlaps.
Cape Fear and Gray's Creek split the United 8 Conference regular-season and tournament titles last year, respectively, in a seesaw season.
In their first meeting this year, the Colts prevailed 2-1 to gain the upper hand in U8 competition.
Less than three minutes into the match, senior striker Jayda Angel broke free to score her 19th goal of the season.
The Bears (3-2-1, 4-3-1) answered with a penalty kick from Joedith “Jojo” Plaza with 47 seconds left in the first half. A physical defense, with Jade Feimster working especially hard to pressure Angel, kept it tied until Brooke Bombatepe scored on a volley with 10:38 remaining for Cape Fear (8-3-1, 6-1-0).
A well-placed cross from sophomore Lizzy Kirkland found the senior charging toward the goal.
“To be honest, I just ran up and timed it right,” Bombatepe, the Colts' secondleading scorer, said. “I hit it on my knee, I mean, I just got lucky. It was a great cross into the middle.”
The goal was extra sweet since Bombatepe had called it the prior weekend in a friendly wager among rivals.
“I told Kayla I was going to score on her,” Bombatepe said of Bears goalkeeper Kayla Schlautman.
The friends play in volleyball tournaments together on weekends, and their competitive nature spiced up Tuesday's match.
“Four shots, you haven't made any,” Bombatepe heard Schlautman snipe early on as the matchup motivated both players, pushing them to excellent performances in a battle between the league's most recent champions.
“Our rivalry with them is insane,” Bombatepe said. “We want to beat them in every sport.”
Tuesday's win leaves Cape Fear a half-game behind undefeated Purnell Swett (9-0-0, 6-0-0) at the top of the U8 standings. The Colts host the Rams next Tuesday.
Gray's Creek sits behind Jack Britt (64-2, 4-2-0) in fourth place, with two games against the Bucs left on the schedule.
The Colts will host the Bears in the regular-season finale on May 3.
Whether that game impacts the conference championship or if it's just for bragging rights, expect a hard-fought battle.
“A lot of respect to them,” Pagan said of his former squad. “It's nice to have that competition in our conference.”