SOUTHERN SECTION SOCCER PLAYOFFS : DIVISION II BOYS : Falcons Leave St. Francis High and Dry

Ever since the Southern Section soccer playoffs began, Santa Ana Valley boys’ Coach Adnan Bayati has been wishing for a dry field. The Falcons showed why Tuesday at Santa Ana Stadium.

Able to get firm footing and execute their trademark short-passing game, the Falcons blitzed La Canada St. Francis, 5-0, in a Division II semifinal. The Falcons advanced to their first boys’ soccer title game at 8 p.m. Saturday against Esperanza at Cerritos Gahr High School.

“With the weather nice and dry, this is our style,” said Bayati, whose team is 24-3-1. “We thought we could beat them by three, maybe, but not five.”

Bayati’s confidence was only partly because of the good field conditions. He also said he thought the Falcons were flying too high to lose after their overtime victory over Capistrano Valley last week in the quarterfinals.

“For sure that has helped,” Bayati said. “Capo is the best team we ever played.”

Santa Ana Valley’s Francisco Islas turned in one of his best games. He scored three times against St. Francis, including once on a penalty kick. If not for a miss on an open net late, Islas would have had a perfect game.

St. Francis Coach Glen Apples was impressed with the way the Falcons set each other up with short passes.

“We had a couple of guys who for whatever reason got mesmerized watching the ball,” said Apples, whose team finished 19-3-2. “They are the best team we’ve faced as far as so many guys that can handle the ball well.

“It was not our best game. We picked a bad time to play our worst game.”

It took awhile for the Falcons to get rolling, thanks in part to the goalkeeping of St. Francis’ Chris Ross. The Falcons finally got a shot past Ross with four minutes left in the first half when Islas booted in a pass off a corner kick by Paulo Gonzalez.

Islas put the Falcons up, 2-0, four minutes into the second half after he gave Ross a big fake. Gonzalez made it 3-0 with a goal five minutes later. Then Islas sealed the victory by scoring on a penalty kick at the 17-minute mark. Carlos Olivares scored the final goal on a two-on-one break.

In the other Division II semifinal:

Esperanza 2, La Puente Bishop Amat 0--Peter Schumerch scored on a penalty kick 5:00 into the game, and Matt Espindola had an unassisted goal from the right side later in the first half for Esperanza (18-2-5). George Allison had nine saves in Esperanza’s 12th shutout. Bishop Amat finished 14-12-2.