SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION IV BOYS’ SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Sonora Surprises El Monte, 6-3

Cory Witt, a one-time basketball player and now a soccer standout, summed up the rush of emotions after Thursday’s game.

“This was a good one today,” he said.

Good? Sonora had just beaten El Monte, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division IV playoffs in La Habra. The Raiders had dispatched the previously undefeated and third-seeded Lions with ease. They turned the game into a rout and will now turn their attention to the semifinals, where they will play Santa Margarita.

Good?

“We’ve just been on a roll the last few weeks,” Witt said. “Everyone has done a good job.”

Especially Witt, who two years ago was the sixth man on the Raiders’ basketball team. But he decided his future was in soccer, a sport he had played for 12 years before high school.

The switch has been, well, good.

Witt scored two goals, one on a rebound and the other on a two-step shuffle. It brought his season total to 21.

It also made for a frustrating afternoon for El Monte, which came into the game with a 22-0-1 record and had outscored opponents, 11-2, in the playoffs.

But the Raiders (17-6-2) refused to be intimidated.

Of the Lions’ three goals, two came on penalty kicks. The other came with the game well out of reach.

Sonora goalkeeper Oscar Sepulveda made seven saves, one on a point-blank shot with the game scoreless.

It was as close as the Lions came to leading.

“This is unbelievable,” Coach Gary Hunt said. “Things have been coming together the last two or three weeks, but I couldn’t imagine us playing the way we did today.”

Witt and Paul Copeland, who also had two goals, did a lot to expand Hunt’s imagination.

Chris Fernandez threaded a pass to Copeland, who found enough room on the the right side of the goal to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the game. Copeland also scored on a header in the second half.

Witt gave the Raiders a 2-0 lead heading into halftime when he picked up a ricochet off the goal post and scored into an open net. In the second half, he went one-on-one with defender Raul Navarro, moving right, then dipping left, to score.

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In other Division IV games:

Hemet 1, Corona del Mar 0--Oscar Uribe scored the game’s only goal midway through the first half for Hemet, which upset the host Sea Kings (19-2-6).

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Santa Margarita 5, Corona 2--Senior Josh Keller, the Eagles’ top scorer with 16 goals this season, scored two goals for visiting Santa Margarita (24-1-3).