Hickory Ridge High's fourth soccer season produced its best result.

The Ragin' Bulls' 2-1 win against Berry Academy in the first round of the N.C. 3A playoffs Wednesday was the program's first postseason victory and earned them a second-round match against the Statesville-Northwest Cabarrus winner on Saturday.

"We're a young school and this is our first playoff win, which is a big first step," Hickory Ridge coach Scott Wolfe said. "We want to be the first team to win a playoff game and we want to get to a point where we expect that."

Hickory Ridge (11-9-1) struck for a couple of goals within a six-minute stretch of the second half to turn the momentum. The Bulls forged a 1-1 tie in the 51st minute when Eric Frederick converted a header off James Max Miller's throw-in from the near corner.

Brandon Castillo pushed them ahead by taking a pass from Adrian Ike and firing a rocket to the back of the net from 18 yards out.

"In the second half, we made a couple of short adjustments, thought we could get into the space in the middle of their back and push one player a little extra high," Wolfe said.

"The game really opened up length-wise in the second half and we knocked some longer balls and tried to create a little more attack that way."

Berry midfielder Jonathan DeLacruz broke a scoreless tie in the 39th minute of the first half when he took a pass from striker Diego DeLacruz off the left wing for a right-footed shot that slid inside the far post from 12 yards out. Before that, the goalkeepers - Berry's Christian Maradiaga and Hickory Ridge's Chris Pillsbury - took turns shutting down the opposition with a series of sterling saves.

"We got lucky in the first half," Berry coach Alex Bravo said. "In the second half, we tried to contain them, but they just played strong. I think they found some gaps and just went for it."

The Cardinals, whose 7-11 finish was three wins better than their previous two seasons combined, carried the attack for most of the first half, but missed a couple of prime scoring opportunities.

The Bulls had their chances as well, only to have a pair of point-blank chances go awry.

"The first half, we were playing not to lose," Wolfe said.