The Decatur Gator boys soccer team was kind of an afterthought entering the South Puget Sound League South Division regular season.

The Todd Beamer Titans came in with the most fanfare. The Titans entered the season as the eighth-ranked team in the nation by ESPN RISE. And Rogers and Puyallup had claimed the last two SPSL South Division championships and had plenty of returning talent.

But it was the Decatur Gators who proved to be the best in the SPSL South this season. The Gators secured the South Division championship Wednesday night with a 9-0 thrashing of Spanaway Lake at Federal Way Memorial Stadium.

“It was definitely one of our goals,” said head coach Sean Smith. “I felt that our boys had the ability to win the league and they just needed to come together to get it done. Most people looked past us this year, but we had some players they did not know about.”

Most notably, was the addition of Josh Smith, the coach’s son. The center midfielder didn’t play high school soccer the last two seasons because he was competing on the prestigious Crossfire USSDA academy team out of Bellevue. The senior will play at Oregon State University next fall and currently has 11 goals and seven assists.

Another huge reason for the Gators’ success this year has been the play of sophomore forward Dominique Dismuke. He currently leads Decatur in goals with 14 and plays his club soccer for the Sounders FC U-18 academy team.

“When you add Josh and Dom together, they become a force to be reckoned with,” Sean Smith said.

Wednesday’s victory improved Decatur to 12-2-1 in league play with one game remaining in the regular season. The Gators take on second-place Beamer at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The win over Spanaway Lake left Decatur four points up on Beamer and Puyallup in the standings. In soccer, a win is worth three points and a tie gets a team one point.

The outright SPSL South title is the Gators’ first since 2002, which was the final year of back-to-back state championships by Decatur. The Gators did share the division title in 2004 and ’05.

The Gators didn’t leave much doubt during the title-clinching win over the Sentinels. Decatur scored early and often. Alex Marihgang struck first with a pair of goals in the first 20 minutes of the match.

Then it was Elliot Klavuhn’s turn, who has been on a goal-scoring tear lately. Klavuhn, who has five goals in his last three games, tallied the Gators’ next two scores to put Decatur up 4-0. Dismuke added another goal in the 36th minute to put the Gators up 5-0 at halftime.

The second half was more of the same. Alex Bykovskiy scored in the 48th minute on a pass from Spencer Smith and Jacob Jones followed four minutes later with an unassisted goal to put Decatur up 7-0.

Nick Karis added two more goals to finalize the score. Freshman goalkeeper Conner Adkisson and the rest of the Gator defense picked up their ninth shutout of the season.

“He is amazing,” Sean Smith said about Adkisson. “He will continue to be the rock of our defense for the next three years.”

The SPSL South title also secures the Gators a berth into the SPSL Championship game, which will be played at 8 p.m. at Puyallup’s Sparks Stadium on Wednesday. Decatur will take on the first-place team from the SPSL North Division in a seeding game into next weekend’s West Central District Tournament.

“It is definitely our goal to go all the way, but there are several issues we need to overcome,” Sean Smith said. “But I fully believe that our boys have what it takes to go deep.”

In other soccer action:

• The Todd Beamer Titans improved to 9-2-3 with a 4-0 win over Graham-Kapowsin Tuesday night in Federal Way.

The Titans got a pair of late goals from Ugo Okoli after leading only 1-0 until midway through the second half against the last-place Eagles.

Scott Ferrin tallied the only goal of the first half in the second minute of the game on a pass from Austin Sweeney.

Ben Draeger, who played the first half in goal for Beamer, converted the Titans’ second goal in the 58th minute and Okoli followed with scores in the 65th and 70th minutes.

• The Federal Way Eagles took a step closer to securing a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over Auburn Tuesday.

The Eagles (7-5-3) can guarantee a postseason appearance with a win or tie against the Tahoma Bears (7-6-2) Friday night in Maple Valley. The two teams are separated by one point for the fourth and final berth from the SPSL North. Jefferson, Auburn Riverside and Auburn have already secured spots at the SPSL Tournament.

Against Auburn, the Eagles picked up a hat trick from senior Kelyn Rowe. The UCLA-bound forward scored an unassisted goal in the third minute, banged in a penalty kick and converted a pass from Kodey Eley in the 70th minute.

Rowe has scored 22 of Federal Way’s 36 goals on the season, including 15 goals in the Eagles’ last five games.

• Jefferson (10-4-1) can secure the SPSL North title and a meeting with Decatur in the SPSL Championship with a win over Kentridge (4-7-4) Friday night or a loss or tie by Auburn Riverside (8-2-5).