Highlanders travel to Orland for victory
Piedmont High School’s boys soccer team scored on a header by Bosco Lorin to claim a 1-0 win at Orland in the first round of the California Interscholastic Federation Division 5 Northern Regional tournament on March 4.
The fifth-seeded Highlanders advanced to the regional semifinal on March 6. They will host No. 8 Colusa, which advanced with a forfeit win over top-seeded Castlemont. Game time is 5 p.m.
In the 25th minute, Nick Markopoulos sent a corner kick into the box. Lorin headed the ball in for the game’s only goal. Piedmont coach Ben Russell said his team has been playing well on its set pieces.
“It’s definitely one of our strengths,” he said.
The round trip for the match was over 300 miles. But Russell said he didn’t see any affects on his players. More difficult was playing on a natural grass field that Russell said was half dead grass.
“A long journey up there,” he said. “I’m really happy with the boys. It was hard to get the ball down and play. When we did get the ball down and play we did manage a good bit of quality.”
The match was back and forth and both goalkeepers saw plenty of action.
This is the second time Piedmont has won a game in the CIF regional tournament. In 2023, the Highlanders defeated Kimball in the first round before losing to Marin Academy, which went on to win the regional championship.
With a seeding in the bottom half of the bracket, Piedmont wasn’t expecting a home game.
“Much happier to be at home,” Russell said. “I think were actually one of the higher seeds left.”
In fact, the lower seed won all of the first round matches (including the forfeit). A Highlander victory would likely lead to hosting the regional championship on March 8.