You again? State semifinals feature rematches of district semifinals for 5A boys soccer
Ready for Round 2?
Treasure Valley teams dominated the first day of the 5A boys soccer tournament at Eagle High on Thursday, setting up an exact rematch of the district semifinals Friday to determine who plays for the state title.
Rocky Mountain, Eagle, Boise and Timberline all punched their tickets to the 5A semifinals. Bishop Kelly and McCall-Donnelly will also represent Southwest Idaho in the 4A and 3A semifinals, respectively.
The semifinal matchups are:
- 5A: No. 4 Rocky Mountain (14-2-1) vs. No. 8 Eagle (12-5-3), 1 p.m. at Eagle
- 5A: No. 2 Boise (15-3-2) vs. No. 3 Timberline (16-2-2), 3 p.m. at Eagle
- 4A: No. 4 Bishop Kelly (15-2-3) vs. No. 1 Wood River (16-2-2), 12 p.m. at Brothers Park, Caldwell
- 3A: No. 5 McCall-Donnelly (11-2-2) vs. No. 1 Sugar-Salem (17-1-1), 12:30 p.m. at Vallivue
[Related: Full state soccer tournament scores, updated brackets]
TIMBERLINE 1, BORAH 0 (2 OT)
The third meeting between the Boise School District rivals this season featured a lone goal. But what a goal it was.
Timberline junior forward Zach Taylor ripped a 25-yard shot into the top right corner of the net in the 94th minute, lifting the two-time defending state champs back into the semifinals with a golden goal.
“That’s just an unsaveable ball,” Timberline coach Adrian Kane said. “He’s been super dangerous all year. He’s been outstanding. I’m not surprised at all that he’s the one that got it.”
Taylor started the chance, slicing a 30-yard diagonal run through the Lions’ defense. He laid the ball off to Ryan Buehler on the left wing and went to work sealing his defender. Buehler fed it back to Taylor in the give-and-go, and Taylor spun to his left and sent a right-footed missile into the net to avoid a penalty-kick shootout.
“I knew I had to take some shots at the end,” Taylor said. “It was really back and forth. Not much was going off. I saw that window, and I knew I had to take it.”
The goal capped a defensive battle that saw Timberline create most of the chances. Borah goalkeeper Christian Griffith made a diving save to stop Taylor’s free kick in the 88th minute, and Timberline’s Cai Crafton had a goal in the 74th minute overturned on an offside call.
No. 6 Borah (10-5-4) drops into the consolation bracket, where it faces Centennial at 11 a.m. Friday.
BOISE 2, CENTENNIAL 1 (2 OT)
Baraka Dayi remains one of the most feared strikers in the state. He and Orion Werntz took advantage of that fear Thursday to send the Brave to the state semifinals.
Dayi pulled the Centennial defense to the right, then sent a cross through the box to Dayi, who one-timed it into the back of the net for a 92nd-minute golden goal.
“He is a complete workhorse,” Werntz said. “We name him the Black Stallion. He just puts in the work and gives us so many opportunities.”
No. 7 Centennial (12-7-1) struck first Thursday when Austin Carmack blasted a 40-yard shot into the top netting in the 45th minute. But Dayi continued to trouble the Patriots’ backline with his size, strength and nose for the net. He continually took on two and three defenders, and he finally hit pay dirt in the 65th minute when Daniel Hirai sprung him for a run down the right wing. He tucked the ball inside the far post for the equalizer.
“If he gets the ball on his foot, it’s tough to knock him off,” Boise coach Mike Darrow said. “He works so hard. He has a lot of goals for us, but I think he’s our leading assist guy, too.”
After burying the equalizer, he continued to draw more and more defenders into his orbit. That backfired for Centennial in the second overtime, when defenders tilted the field too far in his favor, leaving Werntz open on the back side for the winning goal.
EAGLE 1, THUNDER RIDGE 0
Ethan Juarez saw a golden opportunity, and he wasn’t about to waste it.
The senior noticed Thunder Ridge left a gap in its wall as he set up for a 25-yard free kick in the 65th minute. A teammate tried to talk his way into taking the kick. But Juarez would have none of it, and he coolly buried a goal into a wide-open right side of the net.
“The wall was too far to the left,” Juarez said. “I could literally see the net from where I was. So I just hit it straight there, right into the bottom corner of the net.”
No. 8 Eagle controlled every facet of the game to knock off No. 1 Thunder Ridge (13-2-3), the only top seed to fall Thursday. The Mustangs threatened all morning, including an Andreu Ferre shot that required a diving save in the 29th minute and a Trey Sather header off the crossbar in the 53rd minute.
But Eagle didn’t break through until the 65th minute, when Lucas Boockholdt spun past a Thunder Ridge defender, who grabbed him by the arm to prevent a breakaway.
That set up Juarez’s game-winning boot, which he slipped inside the post, no bend required.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN 2, LAKE CITY 0
The Timberwolves denied Rocky Mountain’s path up the middle of the field. But the Grizzlies struck twice from the edges in the final 10 minutes to spoil No. 5 Lake City’s previously perfect record (15-1-0).
Rylan McPherson struck first in the 74th minute, then he set up Adrian Jimenez’s goal in the 76th minute to send the Grizzlies back to the semifinals.
A bit of trickery sprung Rocky Mountain for the first goal. Defender Carter Woodbury took a throw-in 30 yards from goal and launched it across the box, where McPherson stood open for a one-timer on a bouncing ball.
“We don’t usually run that play,” Rocky Mountain coach Bill Taylor said. “Rylan and he just kind of eyeballed it to each other at the last second. He usually checks in, so that’s why the defense didn’t have anyone on the back post.”
McPherson returned the favor 2 minutes later, flicking a ball headed out of bounds over the heads of two Lake City defenders. The pass sprung Jimenez for a 1-on-1 with Lake City goalkeeper Benji Valvov-Deming, and Jimenez buried it for the insurance goal.
“He’s a unique individual. He’s a special player,” Taylor said about McPherson. “You don’t get many of those in your coaching career.”
4A STATE TOURNAMENT
BISHOP KELLY 3, CENTURY 0: Landan Schweiger broke a scoreless tie with a header to open the second half, and Diego Nava added two more goals on assists from Jack Ciovacco as the Knights cruised to a first-round victory at Caldwell’s Brothers Park.
Justin McGrew made five saves to post the shutout for Bishop Kelly, which made the semifinals for the third straight year.
CALDWELL FALLS IN PKS: Sandpoint’s Jeff Langanecker scored an equalizer with 30 seconds left for a 1-1 tie, then the No. 6 Bulldogs (10-4-0) converted all five of their penalty kicks to edge the defending state champs 5-4 in a shootout.
Cesar Martinez spotted No. 3 Caldwell (14-2-2) an early lead off an assist from David Galvan. But the Cougars fell into the consolation bracket, where they face No. 2 Canyon Ridge (15-3-0) at 10:30 a.m. Friday.
3A STATE TOURNAMENT
MCCALL-DONNELLY ADVANCES ON PKS: The No. 5 Vandals (11-2-2) edged No. 4 Wendell 3-2 in penalty kicks after a scoreless draw to advance to the 3A semifinals at Vallivue High.
SUGAR-SALEM 2, FRUITLAND 1: Gordon Peterson and Fisher Daniels both scored, lifting the top-seeded Diggers to a narrow win. Ezekiel Van Hofwegen scored the only goal and Raul Chavez made 11 saves for No. 8 Fruitland (7-10-3).
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 7:56 PM.
