The scoreboard doesn't always tell the story, but it most certainly did Thursday.

In the opener of a Division 2 girls soccer district semifinal at Chelsea High School, the scoreboard read "Chelsea 5, Tecumseh 0" with the scoreboard's shots on goal tally at a decisive 15-2 advantage for the Bulldogs.

But that game felt more like a triple-overtime Stanley Cup hockey thriller compared to what the scoreboard showed in the second game, Skyline's 8-0 mercy-rule victory over Ypsilanti.

The Eagles scored five times in the first half, scored three more times in the opening 11 minutes, 41 seconds of the second half to end it and held the Phoenix without a shot, while putting 16 shots on net themselves.

It sets up a district title showdown at 11 a.m. Saturday at Chelsea between the state-ranked Bulldogs (13-2, honorable mention in the state coaches poll) and the freshmen-sophomore Eagles. The two teams played to a 1-1 tie on April 29.

More coverage on MLive.com: Chelsea-Tecumseh Boxscore | Skyline-Ypsilanti Boxscore

"It was nice. It was good. We just wanted to have a good liftoff for hopefully Saturday's game," Skyline coach Chris Morgan said. "We weren't happy with Tuesday's match (a 3-0 victory over Milan) at all. We didn't feel like we played very well, up to our capabilities. So we needed a better match to give us some confidence."

Morgan most certainly got that. Maren Turner and Carmen Flesher scored 55 seconds apart about 15 minutes into the game and Flesher added another goal less than three minutes later. Rachel Mettler, Kayla Steinberg, Justine Jahnke, Emily Anderson and Tori Norris also figured into the scoring.

The Eagles' ball possession kept play in Ypsilanti's end of the field for nearly the entire game. It wasn't until there was a little less than four minutes to play in the first half that Ypsilanti made its first rush toward the Eagles' goal. And that only resulted in a corner kick and no shot.

"We were a little bit in a rush at the beginning," Morgan said. "We just needed to settle things down. Obviously we're all freshmen and sophomores so we tend to be a little bit nervous. But once we get into a groove things start to go better for us."

It took Skyline a little while to find its groove after Alisha Dawes, one of its captains, broke her ankle in warmups, Morgan said. Overcoming the sudden loss of one of its top players (three goals in 11 varsity contests) was not easy, Morgan said.

"I thought we did pretty well because it's not an easy thing to do, put that on the backburner," Morgan said. "Once we got past that we started to play better."

Chelsea had no such issues to start its game. The Bulldogs' margin of victory could have been greater, but they missed on several scoring opportunities, hitting the goal post or crossbar several times and missing on a penalty kick.

Anna Rode paced the scoring with two goals and two assists. Kelly Fournier added a goal and an assist and controlled play throughout the game.

"Our midfielders stopped the ball from getting to their forwards and when their forwards got it our defense stayed strong out there, too," Fournier said. "And it helps when our offense is finishing well."

The Bulldogs came into the game tired, co-captain Sarah Bingel said, after playing a double-overtime victory over Dexter on Tuesday.

"I think we did pretty well and we did what we needed to do," the senior defenseman said, "and after (Tuesday's) game we were really tired and it was nice to have a break from that so we could be ready for Saturday."

Ah yes, Saturday. The district championship game between two teams that played to a 1-1 tie a little more than a month ago.

"We have a lot of respect for their team," Morgan said. "They're good all the way around as we saw against Tecumseh.

"(In the previous game) they had their opportunities as did we. We're not afraid, per se, but we have a lot of respect for them."

Dave Holzman can be reached at daveholz@comcast.net.