Dakinah Palmquist and Josh Peters made it look easy.

Palmquist and Peters each scored twice on nifty moves in Tacoma Baptist’s 5-1 state semifinal soccer victory over Northwest Christian (Colbert) on Friday. The win pushes the Class 1B/2B defending state champs back into the title match today at 4 p.m. at Sunset Chev Stadium in Sumner.

“With eight returning starters, they wanted to get back here,” Tacoma Baptist coach Josh Narayan said. “They want the back-to-backs. We’ll see what happens.”

Tacoma Baptist (16-2-1) will face Bear Creek School (13-4-2) for the title.

The Crusaders and Grizzlies have met twice already this season. The teams tied in their first game, then Bear Creek handed Tacoma Baptist one of its two losses this season, 1-0, toward the end of the regular season.

“This is going to be the rivalry of the century,” Peters said. “A good, friendly rivalry. But we’ll see how it plays out. It’s pretty awesome.”

It didn’t take long for Tacoma Baptist to effectively put this one out of reach.

Peters got the Crusaders on the board when he punched home the game’s first goal on the backside of a deflected shot coming in from right to left in the 18th minute.

Two minutes later, it was Palmquist.

Racing in toward the goal off a throw-in, Palmquist caught a header on the second bounce and slipped it into the bottom right corner past Northwest Christian keeper Jake Winfrey. At the 20th minute, Tacoma Baptist already held a 2-0 advantage.

“It’s all a blur,” Palmquist said. “I’ve just been really excited this whole week. I don’t know what to say. I’m just glad we won.”

Tacoma Baptist kept the pressure on throughout the first half.

Outside of the game’s first shot by Jeffrey Gullikson during the second minute – smothered by keeper Daniel Thompson – Northwest Christian (9-11-2) produced little offense the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Tacoma Baptist kept producing scoring opportunities.

In the 40th minute, Palmquist made one happen on his own. Taking the ball just at the 18-yard box, Palmquist flipped the ball backward and spun to catch up to it. What he found was all green turf between himself and the keeper.

Palmquist sent a low liner across the goal that settled in the net in the bottom left corner for a 3-0 lead at the half.

Meanwhile, Bear Creek had to survive penalty kicks to earn its berth in the final. Though the Grizzlies scored early and led 1-0 for most of the contest, La Conner scored off a throw-in scrum in front of the net with just 22 second left in regulation.

Girls 1B/2B

Orcas Island to face Napavine: The Vikings, who beat La Conner 5-4 on the sixth penalty kick, will face the Tigers, 2-1 winners over Seattle Lutheran. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.