For the first time in school history, both East Sac County soccer teams swept home playoff games; with the girls winning their play-in game in 1A-6 with a 4-0 win over Greene County and the boys winning their first-ever playoff game with a 2-1 2OT thriller in 1A-1
The boy’s match started the evening, as the boy’s team played host to Kuemper Catholic. For the boys the first time they had ever hosted a playoff match. The game would be a defensive battle throughout, as both teams played to a scoreless draw in the first 32 minutes of the opening half. That would change when the Knights struck first as Carson Kanne struck with just over eight minutes to go in the half. The Knights would carry the 1-0 lead to the halftime break. The second half saw the Raiders find the equalizer when Isaiah Aragon had a corner kick and found Luke Wright who netted the goal to tie the match at 1. The game would need more than 80 minutes as the teams would go to overtime. In the first overtime, the Raiders and Knights would go back and forth. The Raiders would maintain a lot of pressure however neither side would score so a second overtime would be needed. The second overtime saw more of the same as the team battled it out. With 3:05 to go in the second overtime a bouncing ball got played off the head of Isaiah Aragon who netted the game-winning goal as the Raiders got the 2-1 win in double-overtime. The Raiders now advance to the 1A-1 semi-final next Monday taking on 1A #4 Western Christian a game that will be played at Bishop Heelan at 5:30 pm
The girls game saw another dominant performance from the East Sac County girls soccer team as they took care of the Greene County Rams 4-0 in 1A-6 play-in action. The Raiders got the scoring started just ten minutes in when Sarah Bontrager collected her second goal of the season to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead. The Raiders and Rams would go quiet for 15 minutes after that before Davanee Boger found the back of the net with 15:19 to go in the first half to give the Raiders a 2-0 lead. For Boger her second goal of the season. Finally, right before the end of the half Kenna Meyer would collect her 19th goal of the season with 1:48 to go in the first half and the Raiders went to the break up 3-0. In the second half, the Rams would put more pressure on the Raiders. However, the defensive back line and Keeper Danae Thayer were up for the task. The Raiders would get one more tally from Kenna Meyer with 15:42 to go on a PK, Meyer’s 20th goal of the season to make it 4-0. That score would stand and be the final as the Raiders advance with a 4-0 win over the Rams. With the win the Raiders advance to play Wednesday evening at Gilbert in the 1A-6 quarterfinal, that game will be broadcast on KKIA
