DODGE CITY -- The Wichita North soccer team captured its first Wichita City League championship this season, checking off one of the major goals Curt Wullschleger set when he returned to coach his alma mater nine years ago.  

The dream season continued on Tuesday with North's biggest win in three decades.  

North handed Class 6A defending state champion Dodge City its first loss since 2019, notching a 2-1 quarterfinal win over the Red Demons at Memorial Stadium.  

North (17-1-1), which avenged an early-season loss to Dodge, will advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 1991.  

"I'm at a loss for words right now," Wullschleger said. "These boys were absolute warriors here tonight. They rose to the challenge. Big moments, big games, call for big players. These boys certainly rose to the challenge and I couldn't be prouder of a group." 

After the teams traded goals off penalty kicks in the first half, North junior Emiliano Gallo delivered the game-winning goal with just under 26 minutes left in the match.  

Gallo got the ball from Arturo Veliz and took a deep shot from the right side. The shot was deflected into the top shelf.  

"Coming into halftime, everybody was telling me, 'Start shooting, start shooting,'" Gallo said. "It was getting hard to pass their defense, they're very fast. So, I took the shot. You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take." 

"As he's been doing all season long, scoring big goals in big games for us, he let it fly," Wullschleger said. 

Dodge (17-1-1) had the bulk of the opportunities, especially in the second half, but senior goalkeeper Jesse Ortiz and the North defense held firm. 

"When you miss so much like we did tonight, you keep the other team in the game," Dodge City coach Saul Hernandez said. "They took advantage of their very few chances. I felt like we controlled the game with the chances, but in soccer that's how it is sometimes." 

Steady rain fell throughout the game, a stark contrast from the first matchup between North and Dodge in September. The Red Demons won that game 3-0.  

"It was mid-90s and humid back on September 11th and obviously it is was it is tonight, which makes it even sweeter," Wullschleger said. "We watched the film (from the first matchup), we analyzed it. We had a good part of possession in that game, they just capitalized on three chances and scored three goals. 

"We learned from it, and here we are with a 2-1 victory." 

Taking advantage after Dodge was called for a handball in the box, Wichita North struck first on a penalty kick from Francisco Lopez with 14:38 left in the half. 

The Red Demons answered back a couple minutes later after North was whistled for a foul in the box. Bryan Tonche converted the penalty kick to tie it.

"We told the guys, games aren't won and lost over the course of 80 minutes, they're won and lost in very small little moments," Wullschleger said. "(Gallo) reached up and grabbed his moment." 

Dodge came out on the offensive out of halftime, creating several quality looks in the first few minutes of the second half. The Red Demons also had decent chances down the stretch after Gallo's goal. 

"I was hoping we'd get a quick one but it didn't happen," Hernandez said. "We kept believing all the way up until the end that we were going to get the tying goal." 

Wullschleger called Ortiz the "man of the match." 

"He hasn't been called upon to do an awful lot because he has such a good defense in front of him all season," Wullschleger said. "For him to then finally show his prowess in the net, show his athleticism and be called upon, and then rise to that challenge … he came up huge for us tonight. We're just thankful to have him." 

Wullschleger said several players stepped up with strong performances, including his centerbacks.  

"Our centerback, Jehovah Djimtotinine, he's come up huge for us all season," Wullschleger said. "Him, Ilian Martinez, along with Zahid Hernandez, those three guys have locked down the two centerback spots, being able to rotate those guys in." 

North has 12 seniors on its postseason roster – Lopez, Ortiz, Veliz, Martinez, Roberto Segura, Zahid Hernandez, Anthony Araiza, Uriel Aguliera, Ivan Gallegos, Gerardo Marrufo-Najera, Carlos Hernandez and Martin Ruiz. 

Dodge City entered the game 19-0 in postseason matches at home under Hernandez, who has guided the Red Demons to two state championships.  

It was the final game for eight Red Demon seniors – Tonche, Daniel Ruiz, Sebas Marquez, Daniel Buendia, Luis Brown, Jose Holguin, Gonzalo Arroyo and Mike Sandoval.  

"All the credit to Dodge," Wullschleger said. "I mean this has been the standard program. You can see it in their facilities and their coaches and their players. They played their hearts out, and we were fortunate to come out with a win tonight.  

The Red Demons reloaded this year after losing nine starters off last year's undefeated team.  

"It was pretty much a new team," Hernandez said. "To keep the high standard, hats off to the boys for working so hard during the summer, going undefeated in the regular season and making it to the quarterfinals. It was an inexperienced bunch, and hopefully the underclassmen learn from this and we can be back here next year again." 

Wichita North will meet Olathe West (11-7-1) in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal at College Boulevard Activity Center in Olathe.  

North is looking for its second state soccer championship. Its only title came in 1989.  

"We're not done," Wullschleger said. "We're not satisfied with getting to state. Once you get to the final four, anybody can win it."
 

Washburn Rural 6, Derby 1  

With 14 trips to the Class 6A boys' state soccer semifinals, there isn't much Washburn Rural hasn't accomplished on the pitch in program history. 

Which makes this year's edition of the Junior Blues somewhat special. With Tuesday's 6-1 quarterfinal rout of Derby, Rural has already done something that no previous team had ever accomplished. 

For the first time in program history, the Junior Blues will take an unblemished record into the state semifinals. Rural is 18-0-0 after Tuesday's convincing win over the visiting Panthers. 

"If you told me three months ago this would happen, I knew we had the talent, but I didn't know we could put together this kind of season," Rural coach Brian Hensyel said. "This has been a phenomenal season, obviously." 

Rural was at its best against Derby, needing just 22 seconds to strike the opening blow of the game. Senior Joe Morse blasted home a quick goal off a throw in and immediately put the Junior Blues in a comfort zone that Derby never really could challenge. 

The Panthers tried, scoring late in the first half to cut a 2-0 Rural lead in half by the intermission. And then the game went scoreless for more than 20 minutes in the second half. 

But after Bennett Hallauer snuck a goal home just inside the far post with 15:59 left in the game, the floodgates opened. Rural scored four second-half goals in a span of 12:24 to overwhelm a Derby team that was short-handed for much of that stretch after a red card was handed out to Andy Denesongkham. 

Derby finished the season 15-2-2, its only other loss coming to a Wichita East team that Rural nipped 1-0 in the regional finals last week. 

Rural will take on Blue Valley Northwest in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal in Olathe. 

Olathe West 1, Shawnee Mission West 0

Olathe West's Elyes Ellouz scored on a set piece three minutes into the match, his third game-winning goal in the past three games. Ellouz has 24 goals for the season.

"The game went both ways and SMW was a very good team," Olathe West coach Matt Trumpp said. "...Tre Mckee did a fantastic job of controlling the midfield and breaking up play from SMW. Gage Daniels and Sam Delong played a great game at centerback."

The Owls (11-7-1) have surrendered just one goal in the last three games. 

Blue Valley Northwest 4, Olathe Northwest 3, OT

Blue Valley Northwest pulled out the thriller thanks to Parker Million's overtime goal.

Million scored the game-winner with about two minutes left in OT off an assist from Sam McIntosh. He placed the shot in the back corner of the net. 

The Huskies scored three minutes into the game. Holden Jayaram took the corner kick, which was headed into the box by Andrew Mitchell and finished by Ricki Li.  

McIntosh scored seven minutes later to make it 2-0. 

After Olathe Northwest scored the game's next three goals, Andrew Mitchell hit a highlight-reel shot from distance into the far corner of the net to tie the game 3-3 to help force overtime before Million scored the game-winner.  

KSHSAA Covered's Brent Maycock contributed to this report.