Alejandro Contreras had himself a night.
Thanks to him, the Branford Buccaneers are back-to-back district champions.
Contreras scored four goals to lead No. 2 seed Branford to a 5-0 shutout over 4-seed Hamilton County in the District 2-2A championship Tuesday night at Bell High School. Victor Hernandez added the other goal for the Bucs, who won the program’s first district title last year.
Contreras found the net twice in the first half, both times courtesy of a Hernandez pass. The first goal came 11 minutes into the match before the duo connected again in the 26th minute to send Branford (11-8) into halftime up 2-0 on Hamilton (8-6-1).
It was Hernandez’s turn to score less than 11 minutes into the second half, finishing a cross from Xander Wiggins. Contreras then recorded the hat trick in the 64th minute when he finished off a free kick by David Lopez before capping off the scoring with his fourth goal off a corner shot from Hernandez in the 70th minute.
The Bucs will now find out their first-round playoff foe when the Region 1-2A bracket is released later this week.
BOYS BASKETBALL
— Branford 91, Dixie County 72: Anthony Washington scored 42 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists to lead the Buccaneers (9-13) over the Bears (7-9) at home.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
— Palatka 42, Columbia 39: Jhane Fountain scored 30 points to help the Panthers (8-10) hold off the Tigers (6-13) at CHS. Kinley Cothran led CHS with 18 points, including five in the fourth quarter to nearly rally her team after PHS led 38-28 at the end of the third.
— Dixie County 45, Branford 42: Despite 18 points and eight rebounds from Myranda Watson, as well as 11 points from Kylee Fernandez, the Buccaneers (6-13) fell to the Bears (12-5) at home.