South Park has opened play in the WPIAL Class AA boys' soccer playoffs as a section champion for the first time in three years, which, coincidentally, was the last time the Eagles won a state championship.

It is South Park's sixth section crown since Jon Cantwell took over as head coach of the program eight years ago.

"Winning a section championship is nice, but our aspirations are always a little bit higher," said Cantwell, whose team has outscored its past nine regular-season opponents by a whopping 59-1 margin. "I would gladly trade a section championship for a state championship or WPIAL title. I'll make that deal with anyone."

South Park gave up only six goals the entire regular season and has posted eight consecutive shutouts heading into the postseason.

"The playoffs are a whole other season that has a life of its own," Cantwell said.

No. 2 seed South Park (17-2) routed No. 15 Ambridge, 8-0, Tuesday at Baldwin to open the playoffs in its quest to reach the district semifinals for the eighth consecutive season. The Eagles will play Hampton Saturday at a time and site to be determined.

The only time South Park has not qualified for the PIAA playoffs during that run was two years ago when it was eliminated during a district consolation game to see who advances to states.

Although Ambridge (11-8) entered the tournament as a much lower seed than South Park, Cantwell said his team does not take any opponent for granted.

"You have to be prepared for every team and you can't get caught looking ahead," Cantwell said. "Every team that makes the playoffs has done something correctly over the span of 18 regular-season games, so no opponent should be taken lightly.

"That's one thing that has impressed me about our team. They pay pretty close attention to detail and I think our record shows that since we've given up just six goals all season. So that might be a positive indicator because I've learned over the past seven years that games are won in the postseason because of defense, more often than offense.

"It's a challenge to seed teams who typically don't play one another. I'm going to guess that Ambridge is better than a 15th seed and there is probably someone out there saying that South Park really isn't a two-seed. The bottom line is there are 16 teams who on their own merit made the playoffs and every team should be taken seriously."

South Park has not lost a game since Oct. 1 to Section 3-AA runner-up Southmoreland, 1-0.

Cantwell expected his team to be a strong one this season after nine starters returned from the 2008 season when South Park reached the state quarterfinals.

There are four returning senior starters: forward Josh Tolentino, defenders Zack Zatezalo and Kurt Koeppl and goalkeeper Alec Valenta. The fifth senior starter, forward Ryan Palashak, is a returning letterman.

"Our seniors have been great leaders on and off the field and it helps them that they've had some postseason success," Cantwell said. "That's another one of those things that it helps to win in the postseason. And we'll see if they can put their experience to work over the next couple of weeks.

"The seniors have certainly brought the right attitude with them to our training sessions and have said the right things in group settings, so it's been helpful that they've been around previous successful teams.

"They may not have been contributors to our last state championship team, but some of these guys were part of the team that made the title run in 2006, so they have that experience to build off."

Tolentino led South Park with 20 goals during the regular season and Palashak has tallied seven goals heading into the playoffs.

Five juniors are also returnees who started as sophomores last year, center midfielders Matt Walbert (14 goals) and Ryan Luffey, defender Nick Vecchio and outside midfielders Aaron Crain and Matt Papinchak.

Other key players include first-year starters Mark Sullivan, a sophomore midfielder, and junior defender Pat Morgret.

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