As Coastal Christian coach Brian Kurtz watched his team control the ball in the final moments of the NCISAA 3A playoff semifinal on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 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

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