Anthony Aldape played the best game of his life. As a result, he and his teammates have a shot to go down as the best soccer team in Bloom history.

Aldape, a junior forward, poured in four goals and added an assist Tuesday as the Blazing Trojans rolled to a 6-0 win over Lincoln-Way East in a Class 3A Lincoln-Way Central Sectional semifinal.

“This is the first time I've ever scored four goals against a good, competitive team like this,” Aldape said. “I was just trying to do it for my teammates. We all played great and we're excited for Saturday's game.”

Third-seeded Bloom (21-4-1) will meet top-seeded Bradley-Bourbonnais, a 5-0 winner over Reavis, in the sectional championship at 3 p.m. Saturday. Neither team has ever won a sectional.

Lincoln-Way East (9-9-1), the 15th seed, was coming off upsets of Oak Lawn and Stagg, but the Blazing Trojans wasted little time seizing control against the underdogs.

Aldape and Jovanny Ruiz worked a nice give-and-go in the 11th minute, with Ruiz getting open down the middle of the field and finishing.

Aldape added a brilliant goal in the 33rd minute. Alexander Bernal sent a pass toward Aldape, who with a defender charging at him got a quick touch on the ball. It was enough to send it inside the far post from 30 yards out to make it 2-0.

“(Bernal) made a really tough pass and all I could do was get a quick toe-tap on it,” Aldape said. “Luckily, it went in.”

Aldape was unstoppable in the second half, adding three more goals. Alex Segoviano closed the scoring for Bloom and Vicente Herrera (2 saves) recorded the shutout.

Victor Porada made three saves for the Griffins.

“I'm proud of our kids,” East coach Ryan Decker said. “They faced a lot of adversity, and they found a way to get better. They changed the tone for next season. I think Lincoln-Way East soccer is back now.”

Top-seeded Bradley-Bourbonnais (23-0) led fifth-seeded Reavis (17-8-2) just 1-0 at halftime.

Junior forward Nick Markanich, though, exploded for three goals in the first 17 minutes of the second half as the Boilermakers pulled away for a 5-0 win.

Markanich scored off a beautiful give-and-go with Jacob Rodriguez with 37:09 left in the game. Less than two minutes later, he got behind the Rams defense and chipped a shot over goalkeeper Derik Judka (3 saves) to make it 3-0.

“The third goal is the one that really hurt us,” Reavis coach Bob Morack said. “We were still pressing them down 2-0, but that third goal was tough. Bradley is good. Their speed gave us a lot of problems.”

Markanich completed the hat trick with 23:40 to go. Rodriguez and Efrain Davila also scored for the Boilermakers.

Reavis' best chance to score came in the 29th minute when Omar Barragan took a pass from his cousin, Fernando, and sent a shot that goalkeeper Jacob Meents (3 saves) dove to stop.

“We've got eight starters set to come back next year, and we've got to take the next step and get past the sectional semifinal,” Morack said.

Steve Millar is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.