RIO RANCHO — It all started out so perfectly for the Santa Fe Preparatory boys soccer team.

The Blue Griffins came out with intensity. They were physical. Their defense weathered an early Bosque School offensive flurry.

In the 14th minute, the Prep defense cleared the ball downfield to Graham Sides down the left side of the pitch.

The freshman forward sent a pass to his brother, junior McCall Sides, streaking down the middle. With one touch, McCall chipped the ball over the Bosque goalkeeper for a surprising 1-0 lead.

The elation, and any thoughts of an upset, would be short lived. The Bobcats' supreme athleticism took over, helping the No. 2 seed cruise to an easy 8-1 win over No. 7 Santa Fe Prep in a quarterfinal of the Class A-AAA Boys State Soccer Tournament at Rio Rancho High School.

"Our game plan was what you saw that first 20 minutes," said Prep head coach Hersch Wilson. "We wanted to mark out their wide-mids and make sure we could send long balls to the brothers (forwards Graham and McCall Sides). We just couldn't do it for
80 minutes."

Bosque, which beat Prep 7-0 on Sept. 12, answered quickly. Ben Barkoff's corner kick set up the first of three goals for freshman Felipe Galvis — this one a header to the right side of the net in the 20th minute to tie the match 1-1.

Eight minutes later, another corner kick set up a Griffin Ferrante goal and a 2-1 lead and Bosque took a 3-1 lead into the halftime break before running the overmatched Blue Griffins off the field in the final 40 minutes.

Still, it was an experience Santa Fe Prep senior Brennan Gibbs wouldn't have missed for the world.

"I had a little bit of a fever, sort of like the flu I guess, (Wednesday night)," Gibbs said. "But I had to play. I had to be out here for this one. My last high school match, I don't think anybody was going to say no I couldn't play."

The midfielder said the final outcome didn't put a damper on the team's 12-8 season.

"We started out kind of on a slump and then ended up winning nine of our last 11 matches," Gibbs said. "I'd say that was a pretty good way to finish and today, even with that score, I had a lot of fun out there. I always have playing with this team."

Bosque head coach Klaus Weber noted the match was closer than the final score would indicate, a score aided by five Bosque goals in a 16-minute stretch from the 60th to 76th minutes when both teams began emptying the bench.

"That's our strength," Weber said. "If we can hold a team in the first half, we're usually a good second half team in terms of scoring, spreading ourselves, combination plays — it all comes much easier to us in the second half."

Bosque advances to play in today's semifinals against No. 6 Rehoboth, a 2-1 winner over No. 3 St. Michael's on Thursday.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3060 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com.