The Bowling Green boys’ soccer team kept its season alive with a 5-0 win Monday over Warren East in the opening round of the District 14 Tournament at Drakes Creek Middle School.

Bowling Green (4-15-3), which scored four goals in the first half and beat Warren East for the third time this season, will face top-seeded Warren Central in Tuesday’s semifinal round.

“It’s nice to win in the regular season, but it’s not nearly as important and significant as winning in the postseason,” Bowling Green coach Scott Gural said. “We know we’ve got our hands full. Warren Central beat us two times and it wasn’t a fluke. They outplayed us. We have to see how much we’ve improved from then to now. They’ve certainly improved, so we’ve got to get better.”

The Purples were aggressive all night against Warren East with 35 shots, 21 on goal. They broke through in the ninth minute when Anderson Escobar came down the right side and fired a pass to Alex Yusk, who fired a shot into the net for the opening goal.

Bowling Green made it 2-0 in the 14th minute after Adiel Valle’s pass was headed in by Byamungu Amisi. The Purples added two more goals in the 25th minute from Brandon McCoy and Naid Gagulic to extend the margin to 4-0.

“We didn’t want to come out and underestimate our opponent so we came out quick and tried to get as many goals as we could,” Yusk said. “It felt good to get out on the pitch and test it out and see what we could do.”

Bowling Green added one more goal in the second half, when Marco Munoz scored in the 52nd minute, with Gural going to his bench for most of the half to help rest for Tuesday’s game.

“If we didn’t get up several goals we were still going to sub because we are not going to sacrifice tomorrow for the sake of tonight,” Gural said. “If we had ended up losing tonight, then we would have lost. We can’t barely scrape through today and then show up and get blown out of the park by Warren Central. We know they are a quality team, quality coach. They sub deep into their bench, so we have to match their intensity and be able to go.”

Warren East finished with six shots, two on goal and saw its season end with a 5-11-1 record. The Raiders were 0-9 against district opponents.

“We have a bunch of kids with a lot of heart,” Warren East coach Zachary Young said. “Going through this season, it’s been a battle of ups and downs and it is all about the process of growing. I can definitely say that every one of my kids has grown in at least some way.”

Bowling Green will face Warren Central at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Drakes Creek Middle School. The Dragons beat Bowling Green twice in a week’s span in early September by identical 4-0 scores.

“We have a lot of respect for Warren Central,” Yusk said. “There are some great guys on that team, a lot of friends. They have some great talent too, so it will be a big one.”