Seven Lakes always seems to raise its level come playoff time.

The Spartans have been dominant this year, but there have been times they have been pushed to their limits. 

But every year when it gets to the regional tournament, Seven Lakes comes ready and ups its game. That is exactly what they did on Friday, beating Humble 4-1 and advancing to the regional final. 

“It’s just the experience we have here,” said Seven Lakes head coach Jimmy Krueger. “I joked with the guys when we got here and said ‘is this your first time here?’ And Most of them said no, they’ve played a number of games at this stadium in this atmosphere over the past three years. These guys understand the trip here, the stadium, the environment and what’s at stake. These guys want to show up on the big stage and they did that today.”

Seven Lakes came out and dominated from the start of the game and it only took four minutes for them to find their first goal when Noa Stasic got on the end of a low cross and put it across goal and past the keeper. Humble battled to get back in the game, but Seven Lakes doubled its lead in the 23rd minute on another Noa Stasic goal, as Stasic hustled and blocked a clearance from the Humble goalkeeper, redirecting it into the back of the net for a second goal. 

“I’ve been working for that kind of goal the whole season,” Stasic said. “To be here and get that type of goal and have a brace today is special. It was a cool moment.”

Seven Lakes then added goals on either side of the half. Kortay Koc scored in the 38th minute when he got past a defender on the right side and lasered a shot into the opposite far post and 30 seconds into the second half, Sean Carlos Rivera scored when he split the center backs and placed a shot past the keeper. Lyon Hernandez pulled one back for Humble in the second half but that was all that Humble could manage as Seven Lakes was able to hold them off and seal the win.

“We have the talent to match any team and when we we match work rate like we did today it’s very hard to stop us,” Krueger said. “We’re at 105 goals for the season now, we have the talent to go out and compete against any of these teams, we just have to match that work rate to our talent.”

The win clinched a third straight appearance in the regional final for the Spartans, who will take on the winner of Cinco Ranch and Kingwood on Saturday. 

“We want this badly,” Stasic said. “This is what we have worked all year for and its no secret that we want to go back to back. We just can’t wait for tomorrow no matter who we play.”