RALEIGH - With a two-goal lead and 13 minutes left in the game, Broughton senior midfielder Watt Williams wasn't relaxed, but he was certainly comfortable.

Then, suddenly, Wilmington Hoggard's Matt Whitehead rocketed in a goal inches below the crossbar and the margin got perilously close at 2-1.

Broughton (25-0-1) held on to win by that score and advanced to meet the winner of tonight's game between Sanderson and Green Hope in the N.C. High School Athletic Association 4-A boys soccer semifinals. The game will probably be scheduled for Tuesday.

The Caps were glad to have the victory, but to a man, they left their field praising the Vikings.

"What a great team they have," Williams said. "So much speed and size. We may have had a little more touch on the ball, but either team could have won."

Hoggard coach John Teller said his team played as well as Broughton and deserved to win just as much, compounding his 19-2-1 team's disappointment.

"Hats off to Broughton, but I certainly think we played well enough to win," Teller said. "It was an uphill battle."

Caps coach Izzy Hernandez agreed that two great teams engaged in a great game that was decided by big plays by big-time players.

Williams may have been the difference.

He assisted on both of Broughton's goals and generally kept the Caps organized in the middle of the field.

The 5-foot-9, 140-pound senior was dwarfed by several of the Vikings, but he is used to that. He's a four-year starter who has rarely been the biggest or fastest.

With 17:40 left in the first half, he took a curving direct kick from 25 yards out that bounced off the post onto the foot of Kevin Stam for the game's first goal.

Williams was credited with another assist when Brandon Haynes ripped a goal from 30 yards out for the 2-0 lead with 27:47 left.

At that point, Broughton seemed to lose a little fire as it worked the clock.

Those idyllic feelings ended when Whitehead blistered a perfect shot that stunned everyone in the stadium.

"What a shot!" Williams said. "Everybody is playing, and suddenly the ball is in the net."

The ball was the only one to elude Broughton keeper Scott Goodwin, and his play turned out to be just as crucial as Williams'. Goodwin repeatedly had to leave the goal to scurry out to stop Vikings breakaways before shots could be taken.

"And he does a great job back there keeping us organized," Hernandez said.

Hoggard taxed the Broughton defense all night. Vikings forward Franklin Jones kept charging through the defense time after time to be barely stopped at the last second.

"Hoggard may have deserved to win as much as we did," Hernandez said. "But we were able to capitalize on our chances a little bit better."

Or as Williams put it, "We might not be the biggest or the fastest, but we found a way to win."