East Wake boys soccer streak continues with playoff win over Jack Britt

East Wake stunned Jack Britt in a 4-1 victory in the first round of the NCHSAA 4A boys soccer playoffs Wednesday night.

The win upped the Warriors’ win streak to eight games, a major turnaround for a team that was winless in the first half of Greater Neuse River Conference play.

The last time East Wake advanced past the opening round was 2011. The win earned the Warriors (10-9-2) a meeting with Cap-8 Enloe (11-6-3) in the second round of the state tournament on Saturday.

The No. 27 Eagles also produced an upset in the first round, dismissing No. 6 Pine Forest, 6-1, on Wednesday.

Led by senior captain Layne Gairrett, who scored a hat trick, and senior captain Johnny Odette, who added the other goal, the 22nd seeded Warriors were able to upend the 11th seeded Buccaneers (14-7-1).

“I just came out and played the best I could,” Gairrett said of his performance. “It’s more of a credit to our team who put us in the position to score.”

Gairrett opened scoring for the Warriors in the 24th minute on a penalty kick granted when Jack Britt goalkeeper Lucas Bellatae wiped out East Wake junior Garrett Johnson in the box. Less than three minutes later, Odette took a feed from senior captain Eric Loredo and banked it off the far post for a 2-0 Warriors lead.

The second half proved to be a defensive battle at the start as neither team was able to generate any offense until Gairrett bounced another ball off the post with an assist from Miguel Valdivia for the 3-0 lead in the 64th minute.

Despite sloppy conditions, the East Wake defense proved to be a force in the field containing Kyle Hebl, the Buc’s leading scorer with 16 goals on the season.

Senior defenders Cameron Waller and Steven Juarez-Reyes sandwiched Hebl on the left side and allowed only one shot on goal. Freshman keeper Danny Ibarra made a diving save, but the Warriors were unable to clear the ball and Jerry Awesome cleaned up for Jack Britt’s goal with 7:44 left to play.

East Wake rounded out the scoring for the night when Gairrett picked up his third goal with a header off a free kick from Loredo. Jack Britt was unable to move the ball into scoring position from there onward.

“I feel like the boys are playing with a lot of confidence now,” said East Wake coach Michael Howes. “I am very pleased with the cohesiveness on the field. We have great team chemistry.”

According to Gairrett, the key to the Warriors’ success has been changes made at the midpoint of the season. The Warriors rearranged personnel in order to generate more of an attack and to possess the ball in the middle of the field.

“We are still giving the ball away too much, but we just need to come out and keep doing what we’re doing,” Gairrett said.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 1:21 PM with the headline "East Wake boys soccer streak continues with playoff win over Jack Britt."