PHOTOS: Sunny Hills advances with CIF playoff overtime victory over Oak Park

Sunny Hills’ Matthias Brown scrambles to recover the ball after his overtime penalty kick was blocked by Oak Park goalie Ryan Chu. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone).

When you go through a soccer regular season unbeaten (19-0-4) the breaks need to go your way and, at some point, the good fortune will end.

For 80 minutes of regulation and eight minutes of overtime it looked like that day might be Thursday for the Sunny Hills’ boys soccer team.

Then, a perfect crossing pass by Issac Morales, from the right sideline, was redirected with a flick of the head by David Rezko and Sunny Hills’ had a 1-0 victory over a worthy Oak Park team in the first round of the CIF Division 1 soccer playoffs at Buena Park High School.

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Sunny Hills Coach Mike Schade described Morales’ free kick, from the 20-yard line on the right sideline, as “beautiful.”

Sunny Hills’ had two players in the box, Rezko and Henry Garcia and as the ball approached, Rezko told Garcia to “let it go,” when the ball passed Garcia, Rezko got enough of the ball with his head to push it past a startled Oak Park defense.

It was a remarkable turn of events for a Sunny Hills club that seemed out of sorts much of the match, stifled by a drop back Oak Park defense that had allowed only eight goals this season.

“We didn’t play very well,” Schade said. “It was partly us, and partly them. We just didn’t have any rhythm.”

Schade’s response was to challenge his team, at halftime and again at the end of regulation.

“Oak Park was excited at the end of regulation,” he said. “We seemed to want an easy way out, and that has not been us all year.”

The players got the message.

“I think they agreed with us,” Schade said, “and they took it to another level in overtime.”

The dividends were not immediate. Rezko Had a point-blank shot blocked by a non-goalie, Oak Park’s Zach Harris, and the Eagles’ golie, Ryan Chu stopped a penalty kick by Sunny Hills’ talented Matthias Brown.

“When we had the PK blocked, we played even harder to make it go our way in those critical minutes,” the coach added.

And, moments later, Morales’ free kick pass, leading to his team high 17th assist of the season, and Rezko’s header moved the Lancers into the second round of the playoffs.

Next up is a South Torrance team that has won 19 of its last 21 matches and has outscored its opponent 94-15 this season. The second-round match is at South Torrance Wednesday at 3 p.m.

—-Courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone