In the second round of the CIF-SS Division Two playoffs, Saugus defended its home turf, narrowly defeating Westlake in a back-and-forth affair.

Along with the 13-12 playoff win, the victory breaks a playoff drought for Saugus, marking its first postseason win since 2023.

“We’ve had a lot of success in our league, but we’ve lost our first-round playoff games the last two years,” said Saugus Head Coach Josh Ireland. “We were a young team and needed to mature. Our seniors set some ambitious program goals this preseason and we are getting pretty close to checking them all off.”

With that ambitious mindset, the Centurions opened with a goal in the game’s first minute, scored by Gavin Pantelidis, who would finish the night with four goals.

Gavin Pantelidis surveys the field. Gino Salas | KHTS.

As quickly as Saugus jumped ahead, Westlake responded with four unanswered goals of its own in the first quarter.

The start of the second quarter mirrored the first, with Saugus scoring in the opening minute once again, this time via Darin Valentino. Moments later, Landon Lattimore would add to the total, scoring a goal of his own to cut into Westlake’s 4-3 lead.

Darin Valentino on the field against Westlake. Gino Salas | KHTS

The two squads continued to trade blows, and both sides walked into halftime tied at 7 apiece.

While there were some adjustments made during the break for Saugus, Ireland said, “The focus was really about not making errors and getting longer possessions.”

The third quarter was another slugfest, with each side continuing to trade goals as Westlake held a narrow 10-9 edge over the Centurions.

“[Westlake] wanted to slow the pace of the game and take away our midfield scoring options. We struggled at first and played very hurried,” said Ireland. “The boys finally settled down midway through the third and started working through the offense.”

In the final quarter of play, Westlake scored once again, extending its lead to 11-9. But over the next five minutes, Saugus battled back and tied things up with four minutes left in regulation, thanks to a goal by Kaden Barcus.

“Late in the fourth, we were down a couple of goals. We finally started getting some longer possessions and good looks at the cage,” stated Ireland. “We called a specific play to get [Kaden]the ball. We knew it would be there for Kaden, I just didn’t think he would finish it behind the back.”

To take the lead for the first time since the opening minute of the game, Barcus scored in dramatic fashion, shooting from behind his back to put Saugus up 12-11 with 3:35 left to play and completing his hat trick.

A minute later, Maverick Kret added another goal for Saugus, extending the lead to 13-11 with 2:23 left in regulation.

Westlake was able to score once more before the final horn, but over the last minute and a half, Saugus maintained possession and ran out the clock to secure the 13-12 win.

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