SUNSET SOCCER: Palo Verde boys fall behind for first time, rally to oust Legacy

Palo Verde’s boys soccer team hadn’t trailed in a match all season.

In 1,360 minutes of regular-season play, the Panthers always were ahead or, at worst, tied.

Yet, just 11 minutes into the Sunset Region Tournament, the Panthers found themselves down two goals to Legacy. Palo Verde, though didn’t panic.

Nolan Sherwood scored the tying goal with 90 seconds left, then netted the winner eight minutes deep in overtime to lift Palo Verde to a 3-2 win over the Longhorns at Heritage Park.

Palo Verde (18-0) will face Bishop Gorman (10-3-1) in a region semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We showed really good character after we got behind and took that initial shot from them,” Palo Verde coach Kevin Hagood said. “I was worried about this game from the very beginning because they have some speed. Their defense is very good.”

Goals by Jose Ramirez and Luka Skrinjaric spotted Legacy (6-9-5) a 2-0 lead 11 minutes into the match.

Palo Verde, which outscored its opponents 66-5 in the regular season, trimmed the lead to one on Eli Ruffer’s goal just past the midway point of the first half.

“Our boys played hungry, played angry,” Hagood said. “They don’t feel like they’ve gotten a lot of respect this year outside of the school. They wanted to prove something to themselves and to the community.”

The Panthers, though, appeared to be headed for an early exit until Sherwood saved the day with 90 seconds left, converting a pass from Austin Polster.

“My teammate had an opportunity to shoot it, but I was open, and he passed it to me,” Sherwood said. “I just buried it. It was a very unselfish play by him.”

Palo Verde dominated the overtime, and nearly won it in the opening minutes, but Ruffer’s shot from the right side was robbed by Legacy goalkeeper Luis Torres.

In the eighth minute of the extra period, Sherwood was on the left side of the goal to knock in a drop pass from Jose Ahumada in traffic.

“We always knew we could come back, but after that (second) goal, it really started a fire,” Sherwood said.

Bishop Gorman 5, Arbor View 1 — Tristan Blackmon and Slade Weber scored 32 seconds apart less than 11 minutes into the match, and the Gaels never looked back.

Blackmon finished with two goals, and Weber had a goal and an assist. Sean Keith had a goal and two assists for Gorman, which also benefited from an own goal.

James Drye converted a penalty kick for the Aggies (5-14-1).

Shadow Ridge 4, Centennial 0 — Blake Damato scored twice in a five-minute span in the second half to help the Mustangs (10-5-7) eliminate the Bulldogs (12-6-4).

Dominic Damato and Alex Pacheco each had a goal and an assist for Shadow Ridge, which did all of its scoring in the second half.

Nathan Kramer made four saves to record the shutout for Shadow Ridge, which will face Cimarron-Memorial (12-3-4) at 4 p.m. Thursday at Heritage Park.

Cimarron-Memorial 4, Durango 2 — Scotty Robles scored in the final minute of the first half and the 15th minute of the second half to help the Spartans overcome an early 1-0 deficit and eliminate the Trailblazers (5-10-3).

Gustavo Ortega added a goal and an assist, and Nico DeLaTorre also scored for Cimarron, which got a save from goalkeeper Richard Crews on a penalty kick.

Paris Estrada scored both of Durango’s goals.