Sports briefs: Branson boys advance to section title game

Jaya Breene and Cooper Little scored second-half goals to lead the Branson School boys soccer team to a 2-0 victory in the North Coast Section Division IV semifinals on Wednesday.

The No. 2 Bulls (9-6-3) move into their first section title game since 2011 when Branson defeated Marin Academy in the final. Branson is set to face No. 1 Petaluma — 3-0 winners against No. 5 Tennyson — on the road at 5 p.m. on Saturday.

Branson survived a difficult first half against No. 3 Piner (9-6-5) and made some tactical switches in the second half, bringing more players into the midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.

“It was a tale of different halves,” Branson coach Tom Ryan said. “Piner was legit as a 3 seed. These boys could knock it around. They reminded me a lot of a San Rafael in terms of ball skills, competence, and confidence on the ball.”

Branson broke through in the 62nd minute following a long throw-in taken by Jonah Sher. Breene flicked a header inside the far post to give the Bulls a 1-0 lead.

Sebastian La Duc and Little combined for the second goal in the 72nd minute. La Duc made a run with the ball, pulling one of Piner’s center backs out of position, then played the ball to Little.

“Cooper did a little change-of-direction move to get (the ball) into his right foot and slipped it under the keeper for 2-0,” Ryan said.

Branson was somewhat under siege in the first half — Ryan estimated that Piner had 70-75% of the ball — but the Bulls defense stayed strong. Goalie Niccolo Machotka-Farley had the clean sheet playing in front of the back line of Emmett Grossman, Breene, Mateo Trammel, and Will Swift.

Prep wrestling

San Marin High sophomore Catania DeKeyrel is in Bakersfield on Thursday for the CIF State Girls Wrestling Championships. Dekeyrel, 155 pounds, opens her tournament slate against Gwenna Mitchell of Temescal Canyon. The tournament continues through Saturday.

DeKeyrel, the MCAL and NCS Redwood Empire champion, secured her State bid with a second-place finish at the North Coast Section championships on Saturday.

Boys golf

Tanner Kosiak shot a career-low round with a 6-over 41 at StoneTree on Tuesday to lead Terra Linda to a season-opening 226-241 win over San Rafael. Logan Dean led the Bulldogs with a 43.

• Sam Ojeda’s low 41 paced Novato High to a 217-232 victory over rival San Marin on a gusty Tuesday. Kyle Farbstein led San Marin with a 44.

Girls basketball

No. 6 seed San Domenico is pushing through to the NCS D-VI finals with Tuesday’s 38-29 victory over No. 10 Sonoma Academy. The Panthers are scheduled to play No. 4 Healdsburg in Saturday’s 7 p.m. championship game at Cardinal Newman High.

Sanne Kostecki led San Domenico with nine points, to go with seven rebounds and a block. Maddison Marlin had five points, 10 rebounds and four steals, while Asia Melodynska had two points, seven rebounds, four assists and five steals. The win clinches a NorCal Regional playoff berth for San Domenico for the fourth time in five years.

College baseball

Andrew Gamble scored the winning run on an error in the seventh inning as College of Marin (7-7) hung on to beat San Mateo, 3-2, on Wednesday. COM starter Micah Marquez gave up two runs on five hits in four innings, with three strikeouts.

The Mariners bullpen then locked down the Bulldogs, as relievers Weston Phillips, Eli Fogelman and Sam Schnitzer held San Mateo to one hit and three walks in five scoreless innings. Dante Caiati and Ben Sebastiani had two hits each for Marin.

Boys lacrosse

Terra Linda High senior Kaden Martin netted five goals and had three assists in the Trojans’ 23-11 victory over host Sonoma Valley on Tuesday. Sophomore Reilly Nolan led the Trojans (1-0) with seven goals, while Cooper Burke and Tucker Kurth each had two goals and two assists.

• San Rafael High won its season opener, 13-4, over Napa on Tuesday.

Girls lacrosse

Redwood High opened its season Tuesday with a 12-3 road win over Amador Valley.

• Tam kicked off its season Tuesday with a 20-6 victory over Berkeley.

Reporting scores

Coaches are encouraged to report scores, stats and game details via email to sports@marinij.com or to @marinij_sports on Twitter following games. Anything that comes in after the deadline for print – around 8 p.m. typically – will be included the following day.