ENGLEWOOD — Rock Canyon earned the top seed in the Class 4A boys soccer playoffs by going unbeaten in a Class 5A league.

The Jaguars have pretty much seen it all, but they still needed a wake-up call before coming alive to beat Lewis-Palmer 4-1 at Englewood Stadium in the semifinals on Saturday.

When Lewis-Palmer midfielder Colton Briscoe scored the first goal on a header to put the Rangers up 1-0 in the 12th minute, the Jaguars realized that reaching the championship game was not a given.

If their game-faces were not for real before Briscoe’s goal, they quickly turned up their intensity.

“It forced us to play a little bit,” said DU-bound Rock Canyon striker Alex Tarnoczi. “We kind of came out nonchalant, just going through the motions, but then they put that goal in and we were like ‘Oh my gosh, we could lose this game.’ ”

The Jags went to work, scoring the next four goals to reach the title game for the first time. Cole Christensen scored on a header on a pass from Scott Branson in the 22nd minute to help the Jags reach halftime tied 1-1, and they went ahead on a penalty kick from Nick Croley in the 60th minute.

Croley had just re-entered the game minutes before when he was tripped in the penalty box by defender Matthew Helwege to draw the penalty. He calmly kicked the ball to the high left corner against Rangers goalkeeper Zach Ripple to give the Jaguars their first lead.

“The whole game I kept getting the ball right there off the throws right on the corner,” Croley said. “I finally was able to turn him and I got in the box and I knew he was going to take me down.”

Tarnoczi took over from there. The 4A leader in scoring put away the Rangers (13-5-1) with his 32nd and 33rd goals this season. In the 64th minute, he scored on a give and go with Nick Graybeal to put Rock Canyon up 3-1. With Lewis-Palmer taking chances to pick up their offense, Tarnoczi thrilled the Rock Canyon fans with a breakaway goal in the 74th, slipping by two Lewis-Palmer defenders and slipping the ball low past Ripple for the final goal.

Tarnoczi credited the penalty kick with loosening up the Jaguars offensive attack.

“It shifted momentum because they were coming down on our goal,” he said. “It gave us opportunities to put it in the back of the net, and that’s what we did.”

NIWOT 3, WHEAT RIDGE 1

Santiago Velez scored three goals to lead Niwot past Wheat Ridge 3-1 in the second Class 4A semifinal at Englewood Stadium Saturday.

Velez, a sophomore midfielder, scored his first goal just before halftime, volleying in a free kick from Cameron Tolooee, to break a scoreless tie. In a game between physical defenses, the first goal gave the No. 6 seed Cougars critical momentum coming out for the second half.

“It was a great free kick from Cameron and I just followed it in after I knocked it down,” Velez said. “Scoring the first goal, right before halftime, had a big impact on the game.”

Velez put Niwot up 2-0 in the 44th minute with his own free kick from just outside the Farmers’ penalty box.

Wheat Ridge (15-3-1) cut the deficit in half when Elijah Neymark scored in the 48th, a goal that briefly energized the No. 10 seed Farmers. But Reid Hukari, the Farmers 6-foot-6 forward who led the team with 22 goals this season, wasn’t a factor against a Niwot defense that notched 13 shutouts this season.

“Everything we had heard about them was that (Hukari) was their man, their playmaker,” Niwot coach Steve Lepper said. “So on all free kicks and set plays we put someone in front of him, and someone behind him. We didn’t let him get the ball and turn towards the goal. We really focused on stopping him and we felt that if we could neutralize him we could win and we did.”

Trailing by a goal in the final minutes, the Farmers pushed everyone forward in an effort to score the tying goal. In the final minute, goalkeeper Alex Merrill took a free kick from midfield, but when the ball was quickly cleared by Niwot, Velez scored easily into an open net to notch his second hat trick of the season.

“It’s awesome, especially for a midfielder, to be able to do that,” Lepper said. “He was the difference tonight.”

The Cougars (16-2-1) will face Rock Canyon (16-0-3) in the 4A championship game at Englewood Stadium on Wednesday night.