On Tuesday night, Croatan outlasted Richlands 2-0 in the NCHSAA 2A Boys Soccer Eastern Championship. Croatan now plays Hibriten (18-0) in the state championship on Saturday.

This was the third time Croatan and Richlands have played through the year as they are both members of the Coastal 8 1A/2A Conference. Croatan won the first two matchups but RIchlands was looking to ride their playoff momentum into this game.

Great performances from Croatan’s defense and Richlands’ goalie Chris Ranck kept the first half scoreless. Croatan had plenty of missed opportunities early in the game as they were trying to find a goal to open up the game.

Richlands continued to hold off the Cougars with 10 minutes left to go in the game. Finally Croatan was able to get their star player Travis Garner-McGraw in space as he scored the first goal of the game with 8:49 with an assist from Aidan Kamaris. That goal opened up the game and put a lot of pressure on RIchlands to answer back. Croatan took advantage of the discomfort and knocked in another goal by Garner-McGraw with 4 minutes left in the game to seal the deal.

Both teams have had a great season. Richlands finished the season at 13-3-1 as they made one of the deepest playoff runs in program history. Croatan sits at 17-0 and is headed to the first state championship in program history on Saturday.