SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION IV BOYS’ SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Corona del Mar Dominates Sunny Hills

The mud made the going a bit slippery, but Corona del Mar sped along rather smoothly Friday in its quest of a Southern Section boys’ soccer title.

Led by speedy Jason Boyce, the Sea Kings dominated Freeway League champion Sunny Hills in a 3-0 victory in a Division IV opening-round playoff game.

“This is a step,” said Corona del Mar Coach Ray Hales, whose team is 20-1-6. “This is the best we could play considering the conditions.”

The conditions were a field so messy that at times it looked like the two teams were engaged in mud wrestling.

“In a sense, it was fun out there,” said Boyce, who scored the Sea Kings’ first goal. “I did a lot of sliding. But when it’s sloppy, you can’t really play your real game.”

Sunny Hills Coach Mike Schade was hoping the sloppy conditions would serve as an equalizer and help offset the Sea Kings’ superior speed.

“Our first thought was it might help,” said Schade. “But it was so slippery that no one could move. It came down to toughness. They were tougher. That was the difference.”

Boyce gave the Sea Kings the only offense they needed when he scored 15 minutes into the game. About 10 minutes later, Jeff Bellitti put Corona del Mar up, 2-0. Tanner Rupp added a second-half goal.

“We got our work done early,” Hales said. “We just wanted to put the ball in the net today. Now we move on.

“We’re getting better and better every week. I like how we’re playing.”

The big question is whether the Sea Kings are playing well enough to win the title.

Boyce likes his team’s chances.

“We need to get ourselves prepared for the game we’re going to play. We can’t look too much forward,” Boyce said. “We have a lot of great individuals. We have to play well as a team.

“I feel we can do it if we put everything into it.”

Schade said the Sea Kings have a tough road ahead.

“They’re a good team,” Schade said. “But there are some great teams in our division. But hey, any team with Boyce up front will do well.

“They could do it.”

In other Division IV games:

Santa Margarita 4, Troy 1--Junior John Bamford had two goals for Santa Margarita (22-1-3). The Eagles’ top scorer Josh Keller, who has 14 goals this season, had one goal and Kevin Cimini also scored one. Matt Reis, who is leading the county in shutouts, almost had his 19th but Troy (13-8-2) scored late in the second half.

Saddleback 10, Colton 1--Ramon Alvarado and John Maldonado each scored two goals for Saddleback (18-4-2).

Colton finished 13-8-2.

Sonora 3, Artesia 1--Aaron Dacuycuy scored two goals about two minutes apart late in the first half for host Sonora (15-5-3). His first goal came at the 30-minute mark on a penalty kick after he was taken down in front of the net. His second goal came on a break-away.

Sonora’s first goal came 13 minutes into the game when Walter Jenkins scored off an assist from Paul Copeland.