SUNSET BOYS SOCCER: Fearless goalkeeper pushes Durango to semis

Durango goalkeeper Paolo Sarnataro dribbled 30 yards away from his area late in the second half Tuesday in a daring, and entirely unnecessary, effort to usher the ball to safety.

When he lost possession, Trailblazers boys soccer coach Richard Cuellar’s heart began to race.

“He does make me nervous,” Cuellar said, “but I love the way he plays.”

Sarnataro’s risky move didn’t cost Durango, and the senior’s aggressiveness throughout the 80 minutes was pivotal during a 2-0 victory over Centennial in the Class 4A Sunset Region quarterfinals at Bettye Wilson Park.

Christopher Bramasco and Jamie Munguia scored for the Trailblazers (18-3-2), who meet defending region champion Cimarron-Memorial (16-3-3) at 4 p.m. Thursday in a rematch of last year’s semifinal.

Durango beat Cimarron 2-1 when the teams played Sept. 9.

Sarnataro benefited from the return of defender Marcos Delangel-Parra from injury and finished with four saves, his best coming in the 31st minute when he tipped Manny Lopez’s free kick over the crossbar.

He also ventured to the top of the 18-yard box on several occasions in the second half to break up scoring chances by the Bulldogs (12-5-3).

“I don’t mind him making those plays because my defenders, as soon as he’s out of the box, somebody’s already covering the back of defense,” Cuellar said. “Paolo is an amazing keeper. I can’t say enough about him.”

Durango controlled possession for most of the first half and led 1-0 after Bramsco’s 25-yard free kick cleared the wall and sent Centennial goalkeeper Jacob Mays the wrong way in the 17th minute.

Delangel-Parra nearly scored a spectacular goal late in the first half as his shot from near midfield caught Mays well off his line but crashed off the crossbar.

The Trailblazers went up 2-0 in the 66th minute, converting on the counterattack. Bramasco and Marcos Delgado linked up in the midfield before the ball went to Munguia on the right wing, and he slotted it past Mays from a steep angle.

“I’m happy with the way they played,” Cuellar said. “We’ve been preparing for this, especially with those losses we had. They’re working hard for it, and they want it.”

Shadow Ridge 3, Bishop Gorman 2 — Miguel Trujillo scored five minutes into overtime, and the Mustangs rallied to defeat the Gaels in the quarterfinals.

Shadow Ridge (7-6-2), the No. 4 seed from the Northwest League, faces Spring Valley (8-7-4) in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Thursday at Bettye Wilson Park.

Trujillo blasted a shot from 25 yards out after a pass from Jordan Tschogl for the winner.

Tschogl scored in the 50th minute off an assist from Jack Guynn to cut Gorman’s lead to 2-1, and the Mustangs tied the game five minutes later when Kody Kildea sent the ball into the box and it deflected off a Gorman defender into the net.

Corrigan Neville led the Gaels (16-5-1) with a goal and an assist. Neville opened the scoring in the 32nd minute when he poked the ball past Shadow Ridge goalkeeper Jake Anderson after Brandon Malek’s bicycle kick assist.

Hayden Madsen put Gorman on top 2-0 in the 48th minute when he collected a pass from Neville near the top of the 18-yard box and drove a low shot past Anderson.

Spring Valley 5, Palo Verde 2 — Bum Cho and Jose Lopez each finished with two goals and an assist to power the Grizzlies past the Panthers in the quarterfinals.

Blake Pride-Zorn added two assists for Spring Valley, which scored five unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0 in the eighth minute.

Spring Valley led 2-1 at halftime but took control with three goals in a six-minute span. Lopez put the Grizzlies up 3-1 in the 56th minute, and Cesar Estrada’s close-range shot crashed off the crossbar and over the goal line a minute later.

Cho then converted on a penalty kick in the 62nd minute to give Spring Valley a 5-1 advantage.

Ethan Harper was credited with nine saves for the Grizzlies.

Presten Manthey opened the scoring for Palo Verde (16-5), and Bryan Estrada added a second-half goal.

Cimarron-Memorial 3, Clark 0 — Arturo Bahena scored on either side of halftime to lead the Spartans over the Chargers (5-8-1) in the quarterfinals.

Bahena headed home Dresdan Quackenbush’s cross in the 20th minute to put Cimarron, the Northwest League’s top seed, up 1-0. He notched his school-record 27th goal of the season in the 59th minute after Kevin Andrade dribbled along the goal line and found Bahena alone in the penalty area.

Miguel Rubio made it 3-0 in the 79th minute after hitting the crossbar less than 10 minutes earlier.

Spartans goalkeeper Leeor Brounchtine had five saves to record the shutout.

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.