Arguably the most improbable tale unfolding in the Central Coast Section playoffs took a huge leap forward in the Open Division of the boys soccer quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon, when Nick Orozco's first-half goal stood up to be the game-winner, carrying seven-seed Branham past two-time defending section champion St. Ignatius, 1-0.
Orozco's goal came in the first 15 minutes of the match, as the Bruins started fast and aggressively against the defending CIF NorCal Division 1 champions, who captured their third straight WCAL title this year.
"Right when I saw the opportunity come, all I thought about was hitting the ball with power, and the connection with the ball was just perfect," Orozco said. "Once I saw the goal-keeper dive and the ball go in the back of the net, my instant reaction was to run and get hyped with the crowd and my teammates."
The early goal was a stunner for St. Ignatius, which had won nine straight matches entering the post-season and has been the marquee program in Northern California over the past few years.
"SI is the gold standard for boys soccer in Northern California, and they showed it after that (goal)," said Branham coach Danny Kadah. "Part of the challenge in the second half was that they had a strong wind at their backs, so we were just basically defending."
Indeed, the Wildcats went on the attack after falling behind, but the Bruins continued to clear the ball and preserve the clean sheet. St. Ignatius had one great look in the second half, but senior Tanner Lanphear made a great save to maintain the tenuous lead. Branham nearly countered to put the game away with about 10 minutes to go, but otherwise the Wildcats maintained possession on the Branham end of the field for all 40 minutes of the second half.
"As a staff, it was just a matter of hoping our guys would execute, and they did," Kadah added.
With the win, Branham not only advances to the semifinals, where the Bruins will face three-seed Soledad, but they also clinch a berth in the CIF NorCal playoffs. All this comes after a shot at the Open Division looked bleak less than two weeks ago. Branham had lost to Pioneer back on Feb. 7, and needed to beat Prospect in the regular season finale to win the Mt. Hamilton Division, after losing 4-1 to the Panthers earlier in league play. Not only did the Bruins earn a 2-1 win over Prospect to win a league title and get into the Open Division, but now their story continues as they roll forward in the CCS playoffs.
St. Ignatius might not be able to defend its two recent CCS titles, but the Wildcats will certainly be considered for one of the at-large berths when the CIF decides its brackets for the NorCal playoffs.
"(SI) deserves to get an at-large bid," Kadah said. "They are that good."
Soledad marches past Burlingame
Soledad could not play on its home field due to poor field conditions, and the Aztecs had to face a Burlingame squad which earned a strong regional reputation last year after its great play in the NorCal playoffs. But that did not deter Soledad, which moved the game to King City and then got individual goals from Ruben Esqueda, Cristobal Tovar, Edson Arriola and Alex Ortiz to defeat the Panthers, 4-2.
Watsonville, Bellarmine roll into semifinals
The other half of the Open Division bracket did not have the same amount of drama, as top seed Watsonville and four-seed Bellarmine each posted wins by shutout to advance into the semifinals.
Watsonville blasted Los Gatos, 5-0, getting a brace from sophomore Jeal Leal in the process. Now, the Wildcatz advance to face a Bells squad which won an earlier meeting this year between the teams. Bellarmine blanked Palo Alto, 2-0, in the quarterfinals.
The Bells and Vikings were scoreless at halftime, but Mario Barocio's right-foot cross into the box was headed into the goal by Casey Jaeb to give Bellarmine the lead, and Blaze Strangio's penalty kick put the game out of reach.
Around the CCS
Jonathan Mosqueda scored twice for Division 4 top seed King City, which downed Harbor, 3-1, in the quarterfinals and advances to face Harker in the semifinals.
One of the other top surprises across the section came in Division 1 action, where PCAL-Mission Division co-champion Monterey ousted St. Francis-Mountain View, 1-0, on a lone goal by Javier Espinal. The Toreadores advance to face top seed Sacred Heart Prep in the semifinals. SHP beat South San Francisco in the quarterfinals, 1-0, on a first-half goal by Kevin Box.
Prospect and Menlo-Atherton will meet in the other Division 1 semifinal, after the Panthers blanked Homestead, 1-0, and Menlo-Atherton survived Alisal 7-6 on penalty kicks, after the two teams were knotted at one following regulation and overtime.
Christian Corcoran's second-half goal was the difference-maker for Menlo, which downed Santa Teresa, 2-1, in the Division 2 quarterfinals. Trevor Perez had a first-half goal for the Knights, who will face North Salinas in the semifinals, after the Vikings beat Cupertino, 2-0.
