HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER The Hickory Red Tornadoes will host West Henderson on Saturday in the opening round of 3A West Region soccer playoffs. For the first time since 2020, Hickory (18-4-1, 12-1-1) will go into the playoffs without the conference's top seed. The Red Tornadoes split a pair of games with East Lincoln at the end of the season.
Hickory needed at least a win and a tie to grab a share of the conference title. The Red Tornadoes won the second game in dramatic fashion to finish the regular season on Tuesday. Trailing by one in the second half, Braeden McCourt scored a goal off an assist from Derek Grady and then assisted another goal by Josh Herring to give Hickory the win.
Coach David Nieland said that kind of finish gives his team a lot of momentum going into the playoffs. "Regardless of where we get seeded, I really like our chances of going far," he said. The Red Tornadoes lost three all-state seniors from last year's team and had to work out the kinks of a new coach and a new system.
Nieland said there were also a few injuries and a lot of illness to work through this season. "This has been somewhat of a rebuilding year for us," Nieland said. "So to accomplish what we did this season has just been phenomenal.
" A lot of the load in the postseason will fall on junior forward/ midfielder Braeden McCourt. McCourt is third in the 3A West Region with 33 goals. He also has 16 assists, good for second place in the Western Foothills Athletic Conference.
"He is just a fantast.