It isn’t hard to get pumped up to play for the South Puget Sound League soccer championship. It’s even easier when your opponent hails from the same school district.

That’s just what happened Wednesday night at Sparks Stadium in Puyallup when rivals Jefferson and Decatur played for the SPSL title.

The Raiders (12-4-1) got the better of the Gators, 2-1, to snag the league’s top seed into Saturday’s West Central District Tournament. Jefferson (12-4-1) will play the Wilson Rams, the fifth seed from the Narrows League, in a winner-to-state, loser-out district game at 3 p.m. Saturday at Bethel’s Art Crate Field.

The Raiders used a dominant first half to roll by the Gators, who advance to the West Central District as the SPSL’s second seed.

Jefferson junior midfielder Jim Oganga gave the Raiders a quick 1-0 lead when he broke through in the 10th minute to beat Decatur freshman goalkeeper Conner Adkisson.

Senior Chase Hanson added a second first-half goal for TJ when he blasted a shot from outside the box in the 25th minute to give the Raiders a commanding 2-0 lead.

The Gators (12-4-1) attempted to comeback in the second half. Sophomore Michael Klavuhn tallied Decatur’s lone goal of the game 12 minutes into the second half to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Gators continued to pressure the TJ defense during the second half, but couldn’t get another ball by Raider goalkeeper Adam Duke.

Decatur will see a familiar opponent Saturday at the West Central District Tournament when they take on the Puyallup Vikings in a loser-out game at 1 p.m. at Art Crate Stadium. Puyallup earned the SPSL’s fifth seed by beating Auburn Wednesday, 3-0.

The teams split their two meetings during the SPSL South’s regular season. The Vikings beat Decatur 1-0 in the first game of the year and the Gators bounced back to beat Puyallup, 4-2, on April 17.

In other action:

• The Todd Beamer Titans (12-2-3) got the best of the Auburn Riverside Ravens Wednesday, 1-0, at the SPSL Tournament. The Titans’ Keaton House took a pass from Ike Crook in the 13th minute for the only score of the game, which matched the second-place teams from the North and South divisions at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. Senior Ben Draeger picked up the shutout in net.

The victory gave Beamer the SPSL’s third seed into Saturday’s West Central District Tournament. The Titans will take on the defending state-champion South Kitsap Wolves at 11 a.m. at Art Crate Field in Graham. South Kitsap finished fourth in the Narrows League.

The Titans and Wolves are very used to meeting up at the West Central District Tournament. This will be the third-straight year the two teams have played a loser-out, winner-to-state game. And if the last two years were any indication, the winner will have some success at state.

In 2008, Beamer downed South Kitsap, 2-1, and advanced into the state semifinals before eventually finishing fourth. Last year, the Wolves beat the Titans, 2-1 in a shootout, and went on to win the state title.

• Kelyn Rowe wanted his high school soccer career to continue a little longer. The senior, who hasn’t played prep soccer for the past two seasons because of his commitment to his club team, tallied a pair of goals to lead Federal Way (9-5-3) to a 2-0 win over Curtis Wednesday.

The game at Federal Way Memorial Stadium pitted the two fourth-place finishers in the two SPSL divisions in a loser-out, winner-to-district contest.

Rowe, who has already inked a letter of intent to play in the fall at UCLA, got the scoring going late in the first half with his 24th goal of the season in the 35th minute.

The forward added his 25th goal in the 71st minute on a pass from Alex Lewis. Federal Way goalkeeper Eddie Gomez pitched the shutout in net, which was his third of the season.

Things don’t get any easier for the Eagles. Federal Way will face the Narrows League champion Gig Harbor Tides in a loser-out West Central District game at 3 p.m. at Mount Tahoma Stadium on Saturday, May 15.

Gig Harbor (13-2-2) won the Narrows title Tuesday with an exciting 3-2 victory over Stadium in a penalty-kick shootout. The Tides also knocked off Bellarmine Prep in the semifinals in a shootout.

West Central District Tournament

All games Saturday, May 15

Mount Tahoma Stadium

Game 1: Auburn Riverside (SPSL 4) vs. Bellarmine (Narrows 3), 11 a.m.

Game 2: Auburn (SPSL 6) vs. Stadium (Narrows 2), 1 p.m.

Game 3: Federal Way (SPSL 7) vs. Gig Harbor (Narrows 1), 3 p.m.

Art Crate Stadium (Bethel)

Game 4: South Kitsap (Narrows 4) vs. Beamer (SPSL 3), 11 a.m.

Game 5: Puyallup (SPSL 5) vs. Decatur (SPSL 2), 1 p.m.

Game 7: Wilson (Narrows 5) vs. Jefferson (SPSL 1), 3 p.m.