North Johnston wins in first round despite poor play

KENLY — A Scott Sellers strike in the second half helped the North Johnston soccer team hold off North Lenoir in the first round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association2-A playoffs at home on Wednesday.

The eight-seeded Panthers (17-5-2) won 2-1 after Sellers goal. Head coach Winston Pennington was happy to get the win, but said his team did not play well.

“When it comes to decision making and doing better with the ball, and we struggled at that tonight, when we shouldn’t have,” Pennington said. “Last time we played these guys, we controlled the game. Ultimately we made the game a lot harder than we should have.”

The Panthers defeated the Hawks for the third time this season. The Panthers first goal came on a beautiful shot from Andrew Stancil in the first half. North Johnston will welcome in East Braden on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Kai Jones

I grew up in Goldsboro, North Carolina, graduated from Wayne Country Day School and I love my hometown. I also love sports, and have turned that passion into a career. Through my time at the Kinston Free Press and Johnstonian News I got to cover Johnston and Greene Counties, and fell in love with both communities. I love the area I cover, and I hope I do the communities proud with this website.

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