After taking down two higher seeds in the opening rounds of Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoff action, the varsity soccer Bruins will face off for the Section title on Thursday.
The Bruins, who went into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed in Division VI, have been successful road warriors through the first two rounds.
They traveled to No. 2 Encina (Sacramento) for opening round play on Tuesday, Feb. 21 and defeated the host team, 5-4.
Edgar Garcia and Luis de los Santos each scored a pair of goals, while Victor Rosas provided the winning tally, according to coach Juan Harvey.
In Tuesday’s other game, No. 3 Delhi topped No. 6 Delta by a 4-0 score, with the Bruins then traveling to Delhi for a Thursday, Feb. 23 contest. There, the Bruins prevailed in a 3-2 final.
In that game, Rosas had the hat trick, netting all three goals for his squad, said the coach.
On the other side of the D-VI bracket, top rated Orestimba crushed No. 8 Millennium in the opening round, 10-0, while No. 5 Amador shut out Riverbank’s fellow Trans-Valley League team, No. 4 Hilmar, 1-0. Orestimba then got past Amador in second round action, 2-0.
That sets up the Thursday night showdown for the Section crown, with No. 1 Orestimba and No. 7 Riverbank meeting for the title. The Orestimba Warriors come in with an 18-1-1 overall record, 13-0-1 in their league play; the Riverbank Bruins have compiled a 16-9-1 mark overall and went 8-4 in Trans-Valley League action.
According to the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section website, the game will be played at Turlock High School at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 2.
News Correspondent Ric McGinnis contributed to this report.