The No. 13-ranked Columbia High Bruins came into the WIAA Class 1A District 4 boys soccer playoffs after winning their final three regular season Trico league games to finish in second place in the eight-team standings. Having that momentum in the postseason was a benefit for the Bruins, who won a May 6 playoff game at home, 6-1, over the Elma High Eagles (10-8).
The Bruins (10-2 league, 12-4 overall), guided by Coach Daniel Mangum, scored five goals in the first 20 minutes to take control of the contest.
“They came out hungry and they were firing a lot of shots on goal, so it was a good game for us,” said Mangum. “We worked hard all season to get the No. 2 seed and get home-field advantage. We know what it’s like to be on a bus for over three hours and it can definitely drain you. We jumped on them early and quickly to basically kill their team morale by getting some early goals.”
Junior midfielder Luke Miller scored two goals to help lead the Bruins’ offense. Angel Flores (two assists), Osvaldo Orozco, Uli Huerta and Isaac Reynoso (assist) each scored one goal. Matt Miller and Diego Guzman each had one assist. Bruin junior goalkeeper Alfonso Serrato had three saves.
The Bruins recorded a, 2-1, overtime road win over the King’s Way Christian High Knights (9-3 league, 13-3 overall) on May 2 in Vancouver. The Bruins trailed 1-0 for most of the game until a King’s Way own goal with two minutes left knotted it 1-1 and the game went into overtime. Sophomore Damian Sanchez scored the game-winning goal off an assist by junior Angel Cortez.
The Bruins concluded the regular season with 2-0 home win over the Winlock High Cardinals (5-6 league, 6-8 overall) on May 4. Juniors Flores and Ben Salinas each scored goals, and Flores and Huerta had assists.
The win clinched second place in the Trico for Columbia and gave them home-field advantage in the matchup versus Elma, the third place team from the Evergreen League.
The Bruins played the No. 2-ranked Evergreen League Champion Montesano High Bulldogs (14-0 league, 16-1 overall) in a district playoff road game Tuesday at Montesano High School with the winner qualifying for the state playoffs (result was after the printed edition deadline).
“Hopefully we can take our momentum into Montesano and get a win there,” said Mangum. “I think their conference is a little weaker than ours. Their only loss was to King’s Way (6-1 loss March 13) and we know what King’s Way is like. Since they (Bulldogs) lost to King’s Way by five goals and we beat them, then we should be able to handle ourselves against Montesano, but it doesn’t always work out that way.”
A Bruin loss to Montesano would’ve sent them to a second-round district playoff game Thursday against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. A win would propel them into the district title game Saturday at a neutral field location in Vancouver.
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