On Monday, the two leagues kicked things off with individual 4A play-in games between their four and five seeds while on the 3A side the bottom seeds from each league squared off against one another.
The 4A meetings were both tight contests. For the second time in a week, the Gonzaga Prep Bullpups were unable to find the back of the net against University, falling 1-0 on a second half tally by Adam Drassen. It was Hunter Atwood's fourth shutout in official play this season for the Titans, who will visit Pasco. Details from Tri-Cities are largely unavailable, but according to a Richland Twitter post, a rebound of a penalty kick late in the match was the deciding moment in a 1-0 victory at Chiawana, which had won four of its last five, to put the Bombers through to a match-up with Central Valley.
It was a one-sided affair, though, down in Tri-Cities as Southridge dominated Shadle Park for a 5-0 win. Azuka Osokogu opened the scoring five minutes in and the Suns took control by the 21st with goals from Jorge Mendez and Emilio Sanchez to make it three. In the second half Mendez added two more back-to-back in the 66th and 70th minutes to complete a hat-trick on the night. Cole Varker registered the shutout as Southridge cruised to a second round match in Spokane against Rogers, which finished second among the 3A GSL schools thanks to a shootout win over Mt Spokane in the final week of the season.
The NEA contests Tuesday were both thrillers.
After a scoreless first half, top seed Colville looked to be in control of things early after the intermission with a pair of goals from Alberto Cisneros in the 45th and 51st, but the second half proved to be a doozy. Nicholas Rosenbeck answered with a goal in the 59th to quickly cut into the deficit and then tied it up in the 67th. Just three minutes later, though, Chase Kanamu put Colville back in front with what held as the winner.
In Newport, the Grizzlies were able to come out on top in a back-and-forth affair with Lakeside. Kai Thomas scored the opener in the 14th, but things were leveled four minutes before the break by Lucas Ousley. Martin Roca put Newport back in front in the 53rd, but Jeffrey Friedman fired back three minutes later to even it up for the Eagles and ultimately send the match to overtime. Johnny Quandt delivered the golden goal five minutes into extra session to give Newport the win.
On Thursday, Colville will host Newport at Spokane Falls CC for the NEA District title and the Great Northern League will open its district tournament with Cheney hosting Clarkston and Pullman playing West Valley. As the GNL regular season champion, East Valley has a bye.
Wednesday Playoff Games
4A :: Lewis & Clark @ Walla Walla 4:00
4A :: Hanford @ Ferris 5:00
3A :: Mt Spokane @ Kamiakin 5:00
4A :: University @ Pasco 5:30
4A :: Richland @ Central Valley 5:30, SFCC
3A :: Southridge @ Rogers 7:30, SFCC
Thursday Playoff Games
2A :: Clarkston @ Cheney 4:00
2A :: West Valley @ Pullman 4:00
1A :: Newport @ Colville 7:00
BTW: Unfortunately, INWsn fell behind on stats and it has been a chore trying to get caught up. Nearly there though and should have an update later this week... for most leagues (more about that later).
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