Serra coach Mike Keller was on the bus ride home to San Mateo as he recounted all that unfolded on the soccer field against Aptos on Saturday.

The twists and turns were gut-wrenching, thrilling and perhaps even maddening, to say the least, but Serra ultimately survived after 80 minutes of regulation, 20 minutes of overtime and five rounds of penalty kicks.

The Padres will move on to the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals on Wednesday after winning the penalty-kick shootout 4-3. The teams played to a 2-2 tie in regulation and were even 4-4 after two 10-minute overtime sessions.

“Man, that was a barnburner,” Keller said. “What a game. The fans got more than their money’s worth today, I’ll tell you that.”

Let’s pick up the action at the start of the second half.

Trailing 1-0, Serra pulled even 1-1 on a goal by Will Hirsch.

 
After Aptos reclaimed the advantage, Nate Coughlin scored on an assist by Edward Velazquez to tie it at 2-2 with about 15 minutes left.

The score didn’t change for the remainder of regulation, sending the match to overtime.

 
Aptos scored in the first OT period to take a 3-2 lead. But Serra answered again, this time on a goal by Velazquez in the second OT session.

The visitors took the lead, 4-3, with four minutes left in OT on another by Coughlin.

But just when it looked as if the final chapter was done in this thriller, Aptos scored on the final play of OT to force penalty kicks.

“Both teams played excellent,” Keller said. “I’ve been in a couple of OT games like that. I don’t I’ve been in one where they scored in the last second to send the game to PKs. I don’t think I’ve been involved in one of those.”

How did Serra regroup for PKs?

“You know, we practiced penalties a lot this week,” Keller said, adding that the team prepared senior goalkeeper Jacob Kohlmeister specifically for PKs. Rafael Steinberger handled the goal keeping duties during the game.

“He was ready,” Keller said about Kohlmeister. “He saved the first two and that gave us a lot of confidence. The guys knew they had to do their best to make one. Due credit to our guys for being really mentally strong and to Jacob for jumping into the penalties and making saves.”

Justin Hollister’s PK ended the match, sending Serra into the semifinals on Wednesday against top-seeded Westmont or eighth-seeded Hollister.

Serra will think about the next round later. The Padres wanted to celebrate the win Saturday first.

“This time of the year, these guys have fought so hard through our league, we want to let them enjoy the moment,” Keller said. “They fought so hard today against a good opponent. Got to enjoy these moments.”