After opening division play with a loss and a tie in the first week, the Chargers put together a five-game winning streak to close out the first round of league action last week with a 5-1-1 mark. That was good enough to keep them right in the middle of the hunt for the division title.

The two latest wins came last week at the expense of Santa Teresa and rival Pioneer. The Chargers banged out a 2-0 win over the Saints and followed that with a convincing 4-0 victory over the Mustangs.

Leland got off to a slow start against Santa Teresa, and the teams battled to a 0-0 deadlock at the half. The Chargers came out strong in the second half with Ryan Villalpando leading the way. Early in the half, freshman Adonis Levine played the ball through to Grant Robson who sent an excellent cross to the waiting Villalpando. He quickly booted a shot to the back of the net for a Leland 1-0 lead.

The Chargers' second goal came midway through the half and was again compliments of Villalpando. Steven Beitashour picked up the assist when he played the ball to Villalpando who dribbled past two defenders and blasted a rocket shot past the goalkeeper.

Leland's defense, led by sweeper Peter Rodriguez, shut down the Saints in the second half, allowing only two shots in the half.

That same strong defense was back in action when the Chargers invaded Pioneer country last Thursday. The result was a 4-0 win over the Mustangs, which was goalkeeper Damonn Ronsville's seventh shutout in the season.

Leland took a 1-0 lead midway through the first half off the foot of Villalpando with an assist from Beitashour. It was Villalpando's 10th goal of the year.

Leland broke loose for three goals in the second half and Villalpando got things going when he reversed roles with Beitashour as he set up Beitashour's ninth goal of the season with an assist. Just a few minutes later Robson crossed a ball to the far post where Roheet Sen went high to poke a header to the back of the net and put the Chargers up 3-0.

Leland's final goal came when Josh Dollahite crossed the ball to Eduardo Cruz, who kicked the ball through the legs of Pioneer's goalkeeper, Ryan Gall, but the ball was deflected and did not go into the goal. Stevie Munoz was right there to tap the deflected ball into the net for the score.

The Mustangs had a tough afternoon and could never find the right rhythm to get their offense moving. The result was that they were outshot 14-7.

It was not a good week for the Mustangs as they dropped a 3-1 decision to Mt. Pleasant earlier in the week. The two losses caused Pioneer to slip to 2-4-1 at the end of round one of league competition. The Mustangs will need to find some momentum and some wins in the second round if they hope to make it to post season play.

Second round action began earlier this week when Pioneer traveled to Santa Teresa and Leland hosted Oak Grove. On Jan. 20, Pioneer hosts Leigh and Leland hosts Independence. Game times are 3:15 p.m.

Branham was red hot in the early going in BVAL West Valley Division play, racing to a 4-0 mark, but cooled off with a loss and a tie in the final two games of the first round of action. The tie was the Bruins' only game last week as they played Del Mar to a 0-0 draw on their home field.

The Bruins defense was led by sweeper David Hernandez, replacing the injured Anthony Russell who is out for the season with a dislocated ankle. Goalkeeper Jason Ducote recorded his fifth shutout of the season. The Bruins were disappointed in not getting the ball into the net since they had seven corner kicks in the second half and a total of nine for the game.

The Bruins sit in second place in the division with Piedmont Hills leading the pack with a 4-0-2 mark. Branham opened round two play earlier this week against San Jose and hosts Evergreen on Thursday at 3:15 p.m.