By Ray Hamill — The McKinleyville Panthers made some school history on Saturday night, and now they’re hoping to make some more this week.

A pair of goals by Rylee Collart and another by Andy Garcia lifted the Panthers to a 3-0 win over the No. 2 seeded Fortuna Huskies in the North Coast Section Division-1 boys soccer playoffs and the victory sets up a semifinal showdown against No. 3 Making Waves in Richmond on Wednesday evening.

According to longtime McKinleyville head coach Ryne Deppe, he believes this is the first time a McKinleyville boys team has ever reached the section semifinals.

The good news for the No. 7 seeded Panthers is that they appear to be playing their best soccer of the season at the right time, and after knocking off the No. 2 seeds in the quarterfinals there’s every reason to believe they can win again on the road on Wednesday.

“I think we have a good shot against these guys,” Deppe said. “We can take down Making Waves.”

The key for the Panthers will be to stay organized and play a disciplined game against a Making Waves team that likes to move the ball around a lot and looks for openings it can exploit.

And if the Panthers can do that, the most lethal strike force in the H-DNL right now could give them the edge, along with a defense that has not allowed a goal in its two playoff games.

“I think our strikers can score on anybody and as long as we stay organized — we can’t be chasing, we have to be organized — we’ve got a shot,” the head coach added.

Goalkeeper Nick Maher also has played a key role in his team’s late-season surge since returning to the lineup a few weeks ago after suffering an emergency appendectomy early in the season.

“He had just a phenomenal game (on Saturday),” Deppe said of the senior shot stopper who has given up just one goal in his last four starts. “Really, he’s had two straight phenomenal games. He’s a big reason we’ve been able to have two clean sheets (in the NCS). He’s the best goalkeeper in the league.”

Maher’s return from injury has been doubly beneficial for the team, also allowing the influential Jake Gardner move from goalkeeper to the outfield, where he has played a key role in the Panthers’ impressive late-season run.

Gardner assisted on Collart’s second goal against Fortuna.

Check out highlights of all three of Saturday’s goals above …

Submitted photo – The McKinleyville players and coaches celebrate their big win at Fortuna on Saturday night.

Overall, it was another big team performance for a group of players that have lifted their game in recent weeks and are the last remaining H-DNL boys team in the postseason.

“It was a great team win,” Deppe said of Saturday’s performance. “Everyone performed really well. 

“We limited our mistakes. Fortuna really brought it in the first half. There was a lot of heart shown by both teams.

“But we stayed organized and took our chances.”

On Tuesday, the McKinleyville players traveled to Healdsburg, where they will spend the night before making the short trek to Richmond on Wednesday.

The Panthers are the lowest seed to reach the semifinal round in the Division-1 boys bracket since No. 7 Gateway in 2017.

Interestingly the Gateway boys won the section title that year.

The Panthers are looking to become just the second H-DNL school ever to win a section championship in boys soccer, following Fortuna’s NCS titles in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

If they win on Wednesday, they will play the winner of the other semifinal between No. 1 Head-Royce and No. 4 International in the weekend championship game, which will take place either on Friday or Saturday.

Wednesday’s semifinal is set for 3:30 p.m.

The Panthers’ league rivals Arcata and Eureka each lost their quarterfinals on Saturday.