The Bellarmine Bells started off slow but found their rhythm midway through the second half to beat the Sequoia Cherokees, 2-1, in the CCS Division 1 quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Pioneer.
The third-seeded Bells (15-4-5) turned up the heat against No. 6 Sequoia (15-6-3) with a barrage of shots on goal that were much more accurate in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
Bell midfielder Matt Dequiroz launched the ball to forward Evan Helkowski, who sprinted to the left corner of the Sequoia box and scored the first goal of the game in the 56th minute.
“I came in right off the corner as a sub. We knew where I was going to go, down the middle, and I knew Matt was going to hit it to me,” said Helkowski. “I moved around, faked back post so the guy wouldn’t keep with me. He left and I sprinted forward. He was flat-footed so he was off-guard. There was open space so I just kept my head down, followed the ball and hit it.”
Just two minutes later, Dequiroz earned another assist when he passed to forward Elliot Jobson, who ran straight down the left side and launched the ball into the top right corner of the net. The Bells took a 2-0 lead in the 58th minute.
“We had a lot of opportunities and we just finally put it inside the post," Bellarmine coach Patrick Lowney said. "The shots just finally went in. Anytime you’re going into the wind, you always want to keep the ball low, and we did not do that. We had a couple blasts that we didn’t get back across or didn’t even put it inside the post.”
Sequoia continued to battle. In the 64th minute, forward Fiston Kizungu dribbled to the right corner of the Bell box and sent the ball in to the left side of the net, putting his team on the board and cutting the Bells' lead in half, 2-1. Defender Mario Mora got tangled up with the Bellarmine goalie immediately following the score and was issued a yellow card. The Cherokees lost momentum and a strong defensive effort by the Bells gave them the win.
Though the Bells had a great late-game rally, they appeared lethargic early on and the Cherokees controlled the ball at the start. Kizungu and forward Lorenzo Reyes had a few open looks and showed tremendous speed. Sequoia took a few shots and had some threatening headers but ultimately failed to find the net.
“We played the first half, maybe 20 minutes out of 40. You’ve got to play all the way from the beginning until the end, and that was our mistake," Sequoia coach Julio Calles said. "We laid back at the beginning when we thought we had them."
“I’m happy that we lost playing a great team. They work so hard from the beginning to the end. They never give up; they kicked back in the second half and took opportunities that we didn’t.”
Lowney also complimented the opposing team and acknowledged their speed.
“First five minutes, they were getting after us a little bit," he said. "They had the wind. But we withstood those first five or 10 minutes, and then we kind of settled in, started getting possession. This is probably the fastest and quickest team that we’ve seen all year.”
The Bells had a bye the first round of playoffs, while Sequoia defeated Watsonville 3-2. Now that first-game jitters are out of the way, Bellarmine looks forward to the semis against second-seeded Carlmont (15-3-3), which defeated Salinas, 2-1.
“I’ve been here as a coach plenty of times, but I’ve also been here as a player," Lowney said. "As a player, it usually elevates your game. You’re usually very excited. Sometimes, I guess that could affect focus or fundamentals, but for the most part I think it hyper-focuses guys and they do things better.”
