By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
Cold, wet and windy conditions played a factor in the opening round of the Division 3 District Soccer tournament game between Dowagiac and Buchanan.
Dowagiac escaped with a 2-1 victory to advance to Thursday's semifinal contest against River Valley, a 5-4 winner on Monday against Berrien Springs.
In Wednesday's first semifinal it will be Brandywine taking on Bridgman.
The Bobcats rallied to beat Coloma, 4-1, while the Bees blanked Edwardsburg, 4-0.
Both semifinals will begin at 4:30 p.m.
The championship match is scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m.
Dowagiac grabbed a quick 1-0 lead as Alejandro Hernandez scored an unassisted goal in the eighth minute.
Buchanan rallied to tie the score three minutes later as Doug Summers tallied in the 11th minute.
The two teams battled back and fourth the remainder of the first half with both teams getting scoring opportunities which they did not convert on.
Dowagiac's best scoring chance came off the foot of Brian Edgerly, who hit the cross bar.
Dowagiac played without Kyle Kowalski in the middle as he had to sit out the match after receiving a red card last Thursday against Marshall.
The Chieftains also played part of the match without Sam Preston, who has been injuried.
Dowagiac struck quickly in the second half as well, again with Hernandez scoring an unassisted goal in the 50th minute.
This time Dowagiac was able to make that goal stand up and escaped with the victory.
Dowagiac outshot Buchanan 12-6.
Chieftain goalkeeper Aaron Wilson had five saves. Buchanan keeper Tim Mosier had seven saves.