The Central Valley Mercury and the Willow Glen NJB 76ers wrapped up their respective seasons by winning a couple of prestigious youth championships.

The Mercury, a team of under 13 girls, won the State Cup soccer championship and will now advance to the regional championships coming up in June in Spokane, Wash.

The 76ers, meanwhile, won the Division 3 basketball crown for boys in the third and fourth grades in the Hot Shot bracket of the Silicon Valley Chapter of NJB.

Central Valley Mercury

The Mercury rolled through the 60-team field to win the State Cup in its age group. The girls edged the Bay Oaks Bombers 2-1 in the championship game to clinch the title.

The Central Valley crew opened play with three shutout wins in pool play, outscoring its opponents 11-0. The Mercury beat the Central Marin Magic 3-0, the Visalia Freedom 5-0 and the Manteca Rangers United 3-0.

The three victories pushed the Mercury into the State Cup round of 16, and the local girls pulled out a 2-1 win over the Burlingame CyberRays. A 5-1 win over Central Valley Breakaway helped the Mercury advance to the tournament's final four, then a 3-1 triumph over the Walnut Creek Rush pushed Central Valley into the championship game against the Bombers.

In the finals, Sara Chehrehsa headed a Mandy Martin pass in for a first-half goal, and Kayla Villalpando scored in the second half to put the game away. Goalkeeper Madeline Fox made a diving save on a shot that Emily Chen then cleared out of the zone to preserve the win.

Maricela Padilla, Morgan Celaya, Brittney Wright, Arielle Crews, Claudia Luna, Emily Chen, Jenice Dequinto, Kiefer Reischl, Nicole Yankey, Lauren Batjos, Casey Dunn, Lauren Rodriguez and Shannon East are other members of the team coached by Ed Villalpando, Owen Flannery and Dave Gold.

Willow Glen 76ers

The 76ers whipped Redwood City 34-26 on March 14 to take the NJB title, the first in the short two-year history of the local youth basketball organization.

The 76ers, who had posted a 5-5 record in the regular season, won five straight games in the single-elimination tournament to top the 22-team field. They defeated teams from Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Evergreen and West San Jose before taking Redwood City in the finals.

Two of the tournament games were cliffhangers. Willow Glen beat Evergreen 42-40 on a last-second shot in overtime, then took just a one-point lead into the final period against Redwood City in the title game before pulling away for the win.

The 76ers lost their first three games to open the season, but fought back to win 10 of their last 12 on the road to the championship.

"The kids never stopped trying their hardest," said Mike Morgan, who coached the team along with Jim Stapleton. "They practiced their individual and team skills and came together as a team."

Members of the championship team include Emerson Hofer, Jason DeLaRocha, Scotty Jarvis, Chris Stapleton, Darren Hollak, Andrew McCarty, Joseph Gigantino, Ryan Morgan, Tucker Bacon and Sean Christensen.