The Salina South boys soccer team is back in familiar territory, playing for a regional championship.

The No. 7-seeded Cougars scored two quick goals early in the second half to break a 1-1 tie and knock off Andover, 3-1, in their Class 5A West Regional 2 opener Tuesday night at Salina Stadium.

With the victory, South improved to 12-5 and will travel to Newton on Thursday for the 6 p.m. regional final at Fischer Field Stadium. Newton, the West No. 2 seed, pounded No. 15 Wichita West, 8-0, in its opener.

After conceding a tying goal late in the first half, South quickly took control five minutes into the second when Yaden Montanez’s shot from distance was saved off the crossbar by Andover goalkeeper James Mahoney. The rebound fell to senior Garrison Fairchild who blasted it into an open goal.

It took only three minutes for the Cougars to double their lead in the 48th minute on an Adrian Lara-Castro throw in from the left side, finding Montanez in front near the right side for a tap-in.

“We really talked about the goal we gave up (before halftime) when we got to the locker room and about how that’s not us,” South coach Trey Crow said. “And my charge to them was to get two goals in the first 10 minutes.

“I think it was seven and a half minutes in we had two goals. Now, I wish we would have added a few more to it, but we did what we needed to do to get to a point where we could play comfortably.”

South also started the game fast, scoring less than six minutes in when Montanez made a center run down and found Lara-Castro to his left. Lara-Castro took two touches around a defender and pounded the ball in from about 10 yards.

“That goal never would have happened without Yaden,” Lara-Castro said. “He passed me the ball, and after that I just took (the defender) one-on-one and shot and scored.”

Andover equalized in the 34th minute on a set piece when Carter Anderson pounced on a loose ball in front of goal off Bryce Hawk’s corner kick.

By winning its opener, South advanced to the regional final for a fifth straight year. A victory at Newton would put the Cougars in a fourth consecutive quarterfinal.