YOUTH SCENE: Silver Spartans survive

AYSO Region 86, which covers Laguna Beach, crowned regional champions in the boys’ and girls’ Under-10 divisions after two teams emerged from exciting finals played Saturday at Thurston Middle School.

Pool play concluded in the Under-12 divisions for both boys and girls Saturday, setting up semifinal matches this weekend.

? Boys

Silver Spartans survive Tornadoes: The Tornadoes gave the Silver Spartans all they could handle in the boys’ final, but a goal by Sterling Silver in the final minute allowed the Silver Spartans to come away with a 3-2 victory.

Coach Scott Tenney’s Silver Spartans entered the tournament unbeaten and advanced out of pool play giving up only one goal. But in the final, they were held to a scoreless tie by the Tornadoes. The Silver Spartans got on the scoreboard in the second half behind a powerful outside shot by Cole Paxson for a 1-0 lead, but the Tornadoes, coached by Pascal DeMilly, responded with a goal by Rex Fallah to tie the score at 1.

The Silver Spartans took a 2-1 lead after the Tornadoes committed a foul just outside the penalty area, which resulted in a free kick that was put in the back of the net by Sterling Silver. With nearly two minutes left in the game, the Tornadoes tied tie game again on a breakaway goal from Nico DeMilly-Otteson. The Silver Spartans then took the ball out of the net, ran back to the center circle and sent a quick kick-off to Silver, who then ran the ball up the center and beat several defenders in the process to put the ball in the back of the net for the winning goal.

Both the Silver Spartans and Tornadoes will represent Laguna Beach at the AYSO Area 11L Tournament of Champions on Dec. 6-7 at San Juan Sports park.

? Girls

Jolly Ranchers reign: In a final between the Jolly Ranchers “” coached by Andrew Hockaday “” and the Ice Breakers, it was the Jolly Ranchers that emerged with the crown following a 2-0 victory.

The teams had played to a tie during pool play.

? Under-12 division

Both the boys’ and girls’ divisions completed pool play Saturday to set up semifinal round matches this weekend.

On the girls’ side, That Blue Team “” coached by Todd Thornton “” won all three of its games to finish atop the pool. The team, which also won the division’s shoot-out competition, will take on the Breakers on Saturday. The other semifinal will pit the Blue Breakers against the Purple Galaxy.

In boys’ competition, Men in Black, coached by Sam Hooper, won all of its games to advance as the top seed to Saturday’s semifinals with an impressive plus-15 goal differential over three games. But the squad ran into a tough Blue Socks team Saturday in a game that was tied, 4-4, in the middle of the final quarter before the Men in Black scored the final two goals to claim a 6-4 win. In Saturday’s semifinals, Men in Black will take on the Flaming Dragon Balls and the Blue Socks will battle Quick Silver.

? Under-14 division

In the girls’ division, Laguna Beach Fire “” coached by Tiffany Reinsch “” heads into Saturday’s final games with two wins and needing 20 points to take the championship. On the boys’ side, Tropic Smurf, coached by Rich Garrett, is on top with a 1-0-1 record and 13 points. Gang Green, however, is right on the heels of Tropic Smurf with Beach within striking distance. Cobalt, in last place with seven points, could play the role of spoiler.