Coastal Christian soccer downs Cape Fear Academy in NCISAA semifinal
This story will be updated with video.
As Coastal Christian coach Brian Kurtz watched his team control the ball in the final moments of Tuesday’s Oct. 21 NCISAA 3A semifinal, the words he’d echoed all week came to life.
“Scared money don’t make none,” Kurtz said after the Centurions outlasted Wilmington rival Cape Fear Academy 3-2 to reach their first championship game since 2019.
Twice beaten by Cape Fear Academy this season, the No. 6-seeded Centurions walked into the semifinal with a different edge. Kurtz called it survival instinct — that rare, desperate freedom only found when a season hangs by a thread.
“I told them that we have nothing to lose, that we have the freedom to play with freedom,” Kurtz said. “We certainly didn’t play with scared money. We played without fear or reservation, and that’s what won us the game.”
Coastal senior Brody Wilson scored twice, including the dagger, a close-range strike in the 75th minute to make it 3-1.
“This meant everything to us,” Wilson said. “We lost twice to them in the regular season, lost every year of our high school, so for 13 seniors, this meant everything.”
The Centurions entered having dropped five straight to Cape Fear and won just once in their last eight meetings. But history didn’t matter. Down 1-0 early, Coastal drew even before senior Connor Mason ripped a half volley into the top right corner to take a 2-1 lead in the 54th minute.
“It was just natural,” Mason said. “The ball came to me, I saw it in front. You don’t mess around with it in those positions. You just hit it, get lucky, and it might go in.
Now, Coastal advances to the NCISAA 3A state title game on Saturday, Oct. 25. The Centurions last lifted the trophy in 2019, a season marked by dominance and belief.
“We haven’t seen a game like that in so long, and it really helped,” Mason said of the energy his team captured from the large Coastal fanbase in attendance. “I really think that’s what helped us the most.”