If there’s such thing as a magic soccer potion, it’s possible the De Soto school district is serving it for lunch.

Remarkably, De Soto and Mill Valley are in the hunt for a Kansas state high school boys soccer title this weekend. Mill Valley, a Class 5A school in the De Soto school district, takes a 17-2 record into today’s 5 p.m. state semifinal match with Liberal in Goddard.

De Soto, a 4A school, is 15-4 and will play Wichita Trinity Academy in the 4-3-2-1A semifinals at 7 tonight in Manhattan.

“It’s a little different this year,” Mill Valley coach Arlan Vomhof said. “We moved up to 5A, and they stayed in 4A. We’re not having to knock one another out now.”

Mill Valley has been to the state semifinals three times in its four years of existence. Certainly, this year’s road was the most dramatic. Tuesday’s 2-1 shootout victory over Salina Central clinched a final four spot for the Jaguars, when senior Josh Pingleton scored the game-tying goal with less than five minutes to play in regulation, then joined David Johnson, Aaron Rieke, Eric VanKuiken and Tommy Fitzgerald in a perfect 5-for-5 performance in the shootout.

It was fitting, since the Jaguars don’t have one stud that scores all the goals.

“Every one of my starters has scored except for one,” Vomhof said. “Anybody and everybody can put it in for us.”

De Soto’s run is nearly as dramatic, and every bit as rewarding. The Wildcats advanced to the semifinals with a 2-1 victory Tuesday over Kansas City Ward when Kyle Bray took a pinpoint cornerkick from Jesse Smith and headed it into the net with five minutes to play. It came just four days after the Wildcats beat Leavenworth Immaculata, 2-1, in double overtime on a clutch goal by Jordan Hevel.

“We have a talented team,” De Soto coach Mike Murphy said. “I had a feeling that this could be a real strong year for us if we stayed focused. And the kids are working hard.”

With both programs so successful, it’s hard to imagine the success if the two schools were still just one. But of course, two is better than one. And if things go right, the De Soto school district could be celebrating a pair of state soccer titles after this weekend.

“These kids are in good programs coming up,” Murphy said. “They like soccer and we’ve got some kids that are athletic. Even before the split, we always had real good athletes.”