SOUTHERN SECTION 1-A SOCCER PLAYOFFS : Corona Centennial Beats Saddleback in Sudden Death Overtime

SANTA ANA —  The Saddleback High School soccer team has been snake-bitten the past five years in the Southern Section 1-A playoffs, and the wound didn’t get any better Tuesday.

Peter Medel scored with one minute remaining in sudden-death overtime as Corona Centennial defeated the Roadrunners, 4-3, in a semifinal game at Saddleback.

“This is the farthest we ever seem to get in the playoffs,” Saddleback Coach Mel Silva said. “We keep stretching it and stretching it, but we never get into the finals.”

Centennial (17-4-3) will meet Newport Harbor, a 3-1 winner over Corona del Mar, in Saturday’s championship game at 4 p.m. at Gahr High School.

Saddleback (17-3-6) rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the final 15 minutes of regulation.

Jorge Guerrero scored one of his two goals 25 minutes into the second half to make it 3-2. Angel Zarate knocked in a 10-yard shot off his head to tie it at 3-3 with 1 minute 46 seconds left in regulation.

The Roadrunners had several chances to win it in the two 10-minute overtimes, but Centennial goalie Rusty Haller had four diving saves to preserve the tie.

Not to be outdone, Saddleback goalie Victor Solis turned in a great save of his own, stopping a shot by Centennial’s Rudy Tavares with four seconds remaining in the second overtime.

But Solis will remember the shot he didn’t stop--the one by Medel. Saddleback had dominated most of the sudden-death overtime, but Medel broke free from the Roadrunners’ defense and beat Solis with a shot to the left corner.

Saddleback played without its leading scorer, Jose Escudero, who was penalized with a red card in the Roadrunners’ 2-1 quarterfinal victory over Walnut on Friday. Southern Section rules require players who receive red cards to sit out the next game.

“There’s no way I can’t feel proud of this team,” Silva said. “We dug ourselves in a deep hole early in the second half and then we came back. We just didn’t get the bounce in overtime. We’ve played tougher teams than Centennial, but you just can’t fight luck.”