Chapel Hill, ranked No. 10 among the state’s NCHSAA 3A schools, will host No. 8 Cardinal Gibbons at 6:45 p.m. Monday. The Crusaders (8-3-3 overall, 4-0-0 Carolina 3A) hold a half-game lead over Chapel Hill (12-4-0, 3-0-0) in the league standings.

Wednesday at 6:45 p.m., the Tigers host Orange, the only Carolina 3A team to score on CHHS so far this season.

Just to add some more spice to the week, Chapel Hill plays at Carrboro at 7 p.m. Thursday in a major cross-district battle.

“In terms of where we finish the season and post-season seedings, it (CHHS-Carrboro) doesn’t mean a lot,” Carrboro head coach Mark Kadlecik said last week. “But try telling that to the kids. It means a lot to the players.”

Chapel Hill head coach Ron Benson agrees, knowing that 2A Carrboro is a major rival for his players but also that the conference battles are more important to the team’s place in the post-season.

“In soccer, it usually comes down to Cardinal Gibbons and Chapel Hill every year,” Benson said. “That’s the big game for us.”

Cardinal Gibbons’s 8-3-3 record is deceiving. The 3A Crusaders have won five of their last six matches, with the latest loss coming at 3-2 against 13-0-0 Green Hope, the top-ranked 4A team in the state. The five other Cardinal Gibbons losses and ties have come against private schools, which like Gibbons can draw players from outside their home county.

Chapel Hill won its seventh straight Thursday evening with a 3-0 shutout of Jordan. Luke Ciocca scored in the ninth and 28th minute, the second goal off an assist from Ben Fisher, to lead 2-0 at halftime. Fisher added an insurance goal in the 68th minute.

CHHS had an 11-5 advantage in shots over Jordan (10-3-3), not counting two dead ball scores for the Tigers. Goalkeeper Justus Heizer needed to make only two saves to get the Tigers’ third straight shutout.

Heizer and Brandon Walker split time in goal and made one save apiece Wednesday in Chapel Hill’s 6-0 win over Northern Vance.

Nate Hebert tallied a goal and an assist to lead Chapel Hill scoring against the Vikings (5-7-2, 1-3-0). Matej Vidic, Alex Walker, Daniel Henao, Salomon Ariza and John Walden each had one goal, while Fisher and Connor Albrecht each assisted on one score.

Carrboro, DSA battling in Carolina 2A/1A Conference

Carrboro fought back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1 Wednesday against Durham School of the Arts before settling for a 4-4 tie with the Bulldogs.

Lucas Villaneuva scored all four of DSA’s goals, including one off a corner kick from Owen Ryan with 7:48 left in a second overtime period, which put the Bulldogs ahead 4-3.

Carrboro answered with just 1:33 left to play on a free kick by David Maffly-Kipp near the middle circle into a clump of players in front of the goal; Thar Thwai banged in his second score of the night to tie the game for the last time.

Thwai’s first goal came on a penalty kick in the game that featured five yellow cards, four on DSA in the second half as Carrboro fought to tie the score. Thwai also assisted on goals by Nico Kranchenfeis and Marc Rovner.

The tie left Carrboro (7-5-3 overall, 5-3-1) and DSA (6-2-1, 4-2-1) in a tight battle in the Carolina 1A/2A Conference.

W.E. Warnock