FRESNO COUNTY – With the regular season now in the rear view mirror, the Central Section playoffs started this past weekend in Fresno County and the Mid Valley Times regions. And while there were some expected first round victories, a couple of surprise defeats have a few teams taking down the goals a little prematurely.
Boys soccer started this past Friday, Feb. 14 with the Division I bracket being one of the most anticipated and competitive rounds. The No. 7 seed Reedley pulled off a tight 2-1 victory against No. 10 seed Sanger. Reedley will hit the road to take on No. 2 seed Ridgeview (Bakersfield) on Feb. 18.
As for the Division IV bracket, No. 2 seed Selma made quick work of No. 15 seed Lompoc with a decisive 5-0 shutout victory. In the Division VI bracket, No. 11 seed Immanuel flew away with a 4-1 upset road victory against the No. 6 seed Liberty Hawks in the battle of the birds.
Unfortunately, some of the other boys teams didn’t fare so well in their first round matchups on Feb. 14. In the Division II bracket, Dinuba got knocked off their throne in an upset loss to No. 10 seed San Luis Obispo 3-2. The Division V bracket saw No. 12 seed Kingsburg suffer a 3-1 loss to Tranquility.
The Central Section Girls playoffs kicked off after the boys on Feb. 15 with a couple of tight victories in their brackets. In the Division I bracket, No. 4 seed Sanger stood their ground at home to defeat No. 13 seed Highland 1-0. Jumping to the Division V bracket, No. 8 seed Selma slipped past No. 9 seed Hoover by a score of 3-1.
Just like the boys, the girls teams also saw some surprising first round departures. In the Division II bracket, No. 12 seed Kingsburg struggled against No. 5 seed Justin Garza in a 5-0 shutout loss. And the No. 10 seed Reedley stumbled to a 2-1 loss to No. 7 seed Righetti (Santa Maria).
In the Division III bracket, No. 10 seed Dinuba got upended by No. 7 seed Monache 3-1. And in Division IV, No. 6 seed Fowler was dealt a 2-1 upset loss at the hands of No. 11 seed McLane. In Division V, No. 13 seed Sanger West lost their sting against No. 4 seed Lindsay 2-0.
