CAMDEN — Daniel Tebar Gomez typically kicks with his left foot, but if necessary he has no problem scoring with his right.

That’s what the Caesar Rodney High senior had to do early in the second half Wednesday night.

Tebar Gomez netted a game-high two goals as the top-seeded Riders shut out division foe Cape Henlopen High 5-0 in the quarterfinal round of the DIAA Division I boys’ soccer state tournament.

“I see three guys at the 18, I’m a lefty and they’re not going to let me shoot with the left so I go to the right,” Tebar Gomez said. “I see the goalkeeper going out so I just shoot it with the right and luckily the ball goes in.”

The first of his two goals came in the 43rd minute and extended the Riders’ lead to 4-0.

He scored again not even two minutes later to put the finishing touches on CR’s five-goal performance. Gomez also assisted on a goal from his sophomore teammate Derek Hawkins in the 42nd minute to open the second-half scoring barrage.

The victory sets the Riders (16-0-1) up in next week’s semifinal round.

It also extends CR’s win streak to 16 games, which includes a 4-2 win over Indian River High in the Henlopen Conference title game Nov. 6.

The team has posted 12 shutouts and outscored opponents 80-13 this season.

“The second half we really were able to put our stamp on it early,” said CR coach Dwayne Lavender. “Which that’s kind of been our M.O., we usually come out hot and heavy in the second half. The boys are a good group, a selfless group … we just went out there and played our game and I think we’re going to try to continue to play our game.”

The two teams met just over two weeks ago, with the Riders pulling away with a 5-3 victory at Cape (9-6-1), so Lavender knew they were going to get the Vikings’ best and adjusted accordingly.

This time around, CR’s offense still put up five goals but were able to buckle down defensively.

“We have a good team, we play a good brand of soccer, and I think we kind of let off the gas a little bit early and then they scored on a couple of set pieces on us,” Lavender said of the Oct. 26 meeting with Cape. “I think we were just really dialed in on not letting that happen again. Knowing it’s the state tournament we knew they were going to bring their best and that they were going to come out pedal to the metal.”

The Riders outshot the No. 8 seeded Vikings 20-6 and senior goalkeeper Kaden Childs made three stops in front of the net.

Cape’s senior goalkeeper Dalson Case made nine saves.

Senior Tate Wisniewski scored a goal in the 10th minute to get things started, taking advantage of a misstep by a Cape defender and crossing the ball just inside the left upright.

Caesar Rodney’s offensive attack just missed on a couple more scoring opportunities over the next 15 minutes but finally cashed in on another goal when junior Sawyer Ott scored on a CR corner kick attempt in the 25th minute for a 2-0 halftime lead. Tebar Gomez assisted on Ott’s goal.

Tebar Gomez, the team’s leading scorer with 17 goals in 17 games, knew that if the Riders could get off to a quick start in the second half they could put them away early.

“We’re a second half team, so coach told us what he always says, that we have to score early,” he said. “And that’s what happened. We scored the first, the second and the third in the first five minutes.”