GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids South Christian Sailors, ranked No. 4 in the final Division 3 poll, knocked the Dowagiac soccer team out of the state tournament Thursday night.

Dowagiac, which reached the Division 3 regional championship game for the first time in school history, was defeated by the Sailors 5-1 at Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School.

South Christian (16-6-3) used a flurry of goals at the beginning of both halves to send the Chieftains (13-7-2) to the sidelines.

Sam and Josh DeVries scored five minutes pair in the first half as South Christian led 2-0 at intermission.

Poe Reh, Austin Jager and Sam DeVries scored in a two-minute span to start the second half to take a 5-0 lead on Dowagiac, which reach the finals with a 2-1 victory over Hopkins in the regional semifinals.

Dowagiac was able to avert the shutout with less than seven minutes remaining when senior Gage Williams found the back of the net to make it 5-1.

“They are loaded with experienced players,” Dowagiac coach Mike Williams said. “They move the ball really well and are fast and strong. Our whole goal was to not chase the ball and we started chasing it right away. Once we settled down and starting keeping our shape and not chasing balls We did well. We just had no offensive pressure at all.”

The Sailors have been in the state finals five times since 2007, when they defeated Dowagiac in the regional semifinals, winning championships in 2010, 2012 and 2015.

South Christian lost to Grand Rapids Catholic Central 1-0 in the 2016 state finals. The Sailors returned 15 seniors from that squad.

Grand Rapids South Christian faces Ludington in the Division 3 semifinals Tuesday at Cedar Springs.

Despite the loss, Williams was pleased with the season that his team had.

“It was a great year,” he said. “The kids definitely outplayed their abilities several times. Losing those five seniors is going to be really tough because those are five really good seniors. So it is a challenge for the five (juniors) sitting on the bench to night to step up and fill those gaps next year.”

Besides Gage Williams, the Chieftains lose Mariano Brito, Alec Saylor, Chance Wernlund and A.J. Lara.

SOUTH CHRISTIAN 5, DOWAGIAC 1

At Grand Rapids

Halftime score

South Christian 2, Dowagiac 0

First half

SC – Sam DeVries 38:58.

SC – Josh DeVries 33:18.

Second half

SC – Poe Reh 35:48.

SC – Austin Jager 34:11.

SC – Sam DeVries 33:12.

D – Gage Williams 6:39.

Varsity records: Dowagiac 13-7-2,

South Christian 16-6-3.