NILES — Visiting Dowagiac scored four goals in each half to blank Brandywine 8-0 in the opening round of the Division 3 District Soccer Tournament Monday.

The Chieftains (11-6-2) also got to work on some things it will need moving forward in the tournament according to veteran Dowagiac coach Mike Williams.

“In the first half we were trying to get something out of this match,” Williams said. “We were working on some things we have been struggling at, like pulling out and feeding through on angles from those outside mids to break that flat line. That is what we want to do and that is why we were practicing it.

“That was also why I was not happy at the beginning when we went in and scored a goal when we were not supposed to be scoring. That was not what we were working on. That is pretty much what we wanted to work on and then get some people some time that we made truly need on Wednesday and Saturday if we get to Saturday.”

Dowagiac will host Coloma at 5 p.m. in the semifinals. The winner advances to Saturday’s championship match scheduled for 11 p.m. at Buchanan Middle School.

Alec Saylor scored three goals and Chance Wernlund a pair of goals for the Chieftains against the Bobcats.

Saylor’s goals came in the fourth, 21st and 41st minutes, while Wernlund’s goals came in the 21st and 51st minutes.

Also scoring in the opening half was Matt Mosier in the 31st minute.

Saylor added an assist on the first Wernlund goal while Gage Williams and Cristian Wilson had assists on the third and fourth goals of the first half.

In the second half, Johnny Ruiz scored a goal and had a pair of assists, while AJ Lara capped the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 73rd minute.

Dowagiac outshot Brandywine 28-6.

Victor Zavala had five saves for the Chieftains, while Nicholas Needham stopped 10 shots for the Bobcats.

Dowagiac will be facing Coloma for the second time this season.

The Chieftains shut out the Comets 4-0 back in September.

Williams said that his team will need to possess the ball and try to avoid the urge to just run to the goal and try to score.

“We need to control the ball and try not to try and score every time you touch the ball,” he said. “We need to move the ball around. That was what we were trying to do tonight, which was to move the ball from side to side and find the gaps to feed the ball through and work in. That is the next level we need to get to. We can already feed the ball to the outside and put it across and we moved the ball pretty well. It is breaking flat lines and spreading out defenses. That is what we have to do Wednesday and definitely what we have to do Saturday if we make it that far.”

Dowagiac will face the winner of the Berrien Springs-South Haven match.

The Shamrocks advanced to the semifinals with a 5-2 victory over Buchanan, while South Haven defeated Benton Harbor Countryside 8-0.

The Chieftains and Rams faced each other in a Wolverine Conference match Oct. 7 with the two teams playing to a 1-1 draw.