February 22, 2012 6:42 AM

VICTORVILLE - After knocking off Oaks Christian in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 playoffs, the Pioneer Valley boys soccer team earned a four-hour bus ride to take on Silverado, the top team from the Desert Sky League and the Panthers got to ride home happy after a tense 1-0 victory that was scoreless through 761/2 minutes.

Heading into the sun and uphill on the Hawks' temporary field as a new stadium is built, Pioneer Valley finally engineered the scoring attack both teams had lacked.

With the ball about 30-yards out a series of passes found Andrew Velasquez who found freshman Angel Felix further to his right.

Felix had the angle, with goalie Marino Martin protecting the left post, and once he received the ball, he fired away, crossing the face of the goal and slipping it just inside the right post in the 77th minute.

As Felix was mobbed by his teammates, Martin slouched and bent over before the goal.

"(Martin) was waiting for me to control the ball," Felix said. "but I just took it right away."

For Panthers coach Humberto Robles, he was pleased his team finally took a shot - they took only six on the day.

"We were expecting that play," Robles said through an interpreter, "we had a couple plays that we should have finished, but they wouldn't go in, and that was a big goal, to just take a shot."

Of the shots Pioneer Valley did take, four went wide of the goal, including two downhill breakaways early in the first half.

The Panthers will now host Colton on Thursday in a quarterfinal. Colton topped South Pasadena, 1-0.

Santa Barbara News Press 2-22-12