SOUTHERN SECTION BOYS’ SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Cypress Starts Quickly, Overwhelms Santiago

Any doubt that third-seeded Cypress High School could handle Santiago left the mind of Cypress Coach Fred Leininger one minute 20 seconds into the Centurions’ second-round 2-A boys’ soccer match Wednesday.

That’s when Mike Rapski headed in a corner kick from Cory Senko to give Cypress a 1-0 lead. Senko’s pass sailed over the Santiago defenders and met Rapski in front of the far goal post. Rapski didn’t have to move his feet to head the ball in.

The play was executed so perfectly that Leininger said he had a feeling Cypress would have an easy time advancing to the quarterfinals. As it was, the Centurions thoroughly dominated Santiago and won, 5-1.

“Everything we ran seemed to work,” Leininger said. “When we got that first goal, I kind of figured the game was over.”

Senko’s assist gave him 20 for the season and broke the school single-season record of 19 set by Chad Benson last year. Senko added to his record late in the second half when he assisted Cypress’ fifth goal, a header by Ray Klug. He also scored a goal on a penalty kick.

In between, the bigger, faster Centurions (18-2-5) showed why they are ranked among the top three soccer teams in the 2-A division.

Santiago (17-4-4) finally broke through on a penalty kick by Eric Paniagua.

In another 2-A match:

Laguna Hills 3, Brea-Olinda 1--Chris Cannenberg, Brian Beaman and Doug Barnes scored for the Hawks (21-5-0). Jaysn Ochs scored for Brea-Olinda (14-8-2).

In the 1-A:

Orange Lutheran 2, Aquinas 0--Host Orange Lutheran (15-2-2) was led by Greg Pargee, who scored 15 minutes into the match, and Todd Dudley, who scored with time running out.