CRESCENT CITY — Lower Lake didn’t waste its long trip north to Crescent City on Wednesday afternoon as the No. 10-seeded Trojans defeated Del Norte 4-2 in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division 1 boys soccer playoffs.
Justin Santana scored three times and assisted on teammate Jose Solorio Corona’s goal as the Trojans (7-4) punched their ticket into Saturday’s quarterfinal round. They’ll head north again — just not as far — to play undefeated No. 2 seed Arcata (15-0-3) at noon. The winner of that game advances to Wednesday’s semifinal round.
Lower Lake scored the only two goals of the second half to break a 2-2 tie with Del Norte.
Saturday’s quarterfinal game matches the Tigers, champions of the Humboldt-Del Norte League, against the Trojans, the North Central League I runner-up.
In other boys soccer action Wednesday:
Middletown 3, Fort Bragg 2 (OT)
At Middletown, Wyatt Moore headed in a goal during the 10-minute, sudden-death overtime period to lift the Middletown Mustangs to a dramatic first-round playoff win over the Fort Bragg Timberwolves.
The sixth-seeded Mustangs (12-3) advance to the Division 1 quarterfinals Saturday against No. 3 seed Making Waves Academy (14-2-2) at Salesian High School in Richmond. Action begins at 2 p.m.
Nadav Dicovski scored Middletown’s two goals in regulation.
Middletown beat Fort Bragg 3-0 and 4-1 en route to capturing the NCL I championship this season. The Mustangs takes a nine-game winning streak into Saturday’s quarterfinals.
International 9, Upper Lake 0
At San Francisco, 12th-seeded Upper Lake’s season ended with a shutout loss to the International Jaguars in Division 2 first-round action at Kezar Stadium.
Upper Lake (7-14-1) trailed 5-0 at halftime against the fifth-seeded International team, which advances to the quarterfinals Friday at Calistoga.
“They are pretty evenly matched,” Upper Lake head coach Thomas Santana said of the International and Calistoga squads. “They both know how to control the ball really well, they both have fast players.”
International used its speed to great effect on both ends of the field, according to Santana.
“We had a couple of (scoring) opportunities,” Santana said. “Sammy (Avalos) had a couple and Manny (Villalobos) had a couple.”
The final score would have been much worse if not for the play of keeper Johnny Gozony, who recorded nine saves.
“It would have been 18-0 or 19-0 without him,” Santana said.
It was Upper Lake’s final game before joining the North Central League I next year. The Cougars will be playing with Middletown, Lower Lake, Clear Lake, Willits and Fort Bragg starting in the 2023 fall season.
“We’ll see how that goes,” Santana said. “I think most of those teams will be pretty young.”
