Mt. Pleasant was cruising along with a pretty good record—probably with thoughts of winning a league championship. Then in stepped Leland.

The Chargers beat the Cardinals 21-6 in the final league game to take the regular season league championship, then just a few days later whipped the Cards again 16-5 in the finals of the league tournament.

As if that wasn't enough, Mt. Pleasant was unlucky enough to draw Leland in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs. That's right ... Leland won again.

This time it was 14-6 on the strength of a six-goal performance by the high-scoring Zac Monsees.

The win helped the Chargers improved to 24-7 for the year and pushed them into the CCS Division II semifinals on Nov. 19 against Live Oak (21-10). The winner of that game advances to the section championship game on Nov. 22, 1:30 p.m., at Independence against the Bellarmine (31-2)-Aragon (19-11) winner.

Leland coach Mike Monsees wasn't quite sure what to expect in the semi's against Live Oak. The first time the two clubs played this year, Leland won in sudden death after going through a double overtime. The second time the teams met, the Chargers rolled 10-3 in the finals of the Live Oak Tournament in the Acorns' brand new pool.

Monsees was looking for his Chargers to get by Live Oak, though, in hopes of meeting up with powerful Bellarmine in the CCS finals this weekend.

The Bells, the No. 1 seed in the tournament and the top rated team in the section, won the West Catholic Athletic League championship this fall with a one-goal win over Sacred Heart.

Comparative scores give Monsees hope in the event that his Chargers face the Bells on Saturday for the CCS title. Leland lost by just a goal to St. Francis, the Lancers lost by just a goal to Sacred Heart, and the Irish lost by just a goal to the Bells.

"I don't think we're too far out of it," said Monsees. "It's just a matter of putting it together, and that's what we would like to do."

That's just what the Chargers did against Mt. Pleasant in the first round of the CCS playoffs.

Z. Monsees played just a half, but still managed to lead the Chargers with six goals. The half-dozen goals upped Monsees' school-record season total to 138.

Nick Beene and Trevor Foote pitched in three goals apiece to support Monsees' effort in the win. Mike Walter and Tim McLinden added a goal each.

Senior goalie Ryan Rodrigues also played just a half and was a wall in the goal for the Chargers. Junior Dustin Prosser finished up in the net for Leland.

Sophomore Jon Foote and freshman Raymond Larochelle were singled out for their second-half performances for Leland.