The 2012 season started with a journey over to Lake County and a non-league match with the Kelseyville Knights, a team the Panthers had not played for three years. Baseball coach Ben Anderson volunteered as the driver of the second van-load of players and the team arrived in Kelseyville to be met by the 85-degree temperatures.
The game began well for AV and a number of half-chances came and went without breaking the 0-0 deadlock. Kelseyville had three or four good players but overall they were unable to keep up with the slick passing game that AV played and it came as no real surprise when AV took a deserved 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute, albeit via a penalty kick by Erik Martinez, who had been tripped by the Knights’ goalkeeper as he bore down on goal.
A second goal came a few minutes later when Omar Solano drove a shot low into the corner of the goal from 18 yards following a poor clearance by a Kelseyville defender. It looked as if a comfortable Panther victory was in the cards but in the 34th minute, following some lax defending from the AV defense at a throw-in deep in their half of the field, the Knights’ winger crossed into the Panther penalty area where an unmarked striker placed a shot behind the despairing dive of Christian Mendoza. 2-1 to AV at the half.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half, AV was unable to get anything going on offense and when the Knights were awarded a penalty of their own in the 52nd minute, successfully converted by the Kelseyville captain, it was 2-2 and the momentum had certainly switched to the home side. They could have gone ahead as the Panthers continued to struggle and for a time their difficulties were compounded with two starting defenders on the sidelines having received yellow cards. However, gradually AV re-asserted themselves, and their superior skill began to show. With ten minutes remaining, they re-took the lead when Jose Gaxiola’s powerful 20-yard shot slipped under the goalkeeper’s dive and a few minutes later the win was assured when Carlos Espinosa hit a thunderous shot from 23-yards that gave the ‘keeper no chance. It finished 4-2 to AV and as a result the post-game meal at Super Taco in Ukiah on the way home to the Valley was particularly enjoyable.
Two days later, a much shorter journey was undertaken when a second non-league game was played in Cloverdale for the unofficial Highway 128 Trophy. A similar pattern developed with the Panthers dominating but unable to turn this into goals. That was until the 27th minute when a long clearance out of defense by co-Captain Chuy Sanchez was poorly dealt with by the Eagles’ defender, allowing Edson Ferreyra to run on and blast the ball past the defenseless ‘keeper and thus score his first ever high school goal, adding one more to the total of goals scored for the Panthers by members of the Ferrerya family over the years. 1-0 to A.V at the half.
Inexplicably, AV began the second half in the same lackadaisical manner as in the previous game and poor defending saw an equalizer by Cloverdale in the 48th minute. Fortunately, following a series of substitutions, the Panthers once again re-established their dominance and regained the lead in the 64th minute when for the second game in succession Erik Martinez was brought crashing to the ground by the opposition ‘keeper and a penalty awarded. Martinez was unable to resume at that point so Chuy Sanchez stepped up and drove the ball into the roof of the Eagles’ net. 2-1 to AV.
Ten minutes followed in which both teams had opportunities to score but it was the Panthers who added to their lead from a corner that was converted by Juan Lua — just as the team had rehearsed it the day before at practice. It was now 3-1 and two more goals, from fine finishes by Danny Espinoza and Carlos Espinoza, put the game beyond doubt in the final five minutes. It had finished 5-1, a flattering score line perhaps but the win was certainly deserved.
The Panthers had won two road games out of two but neither opponent in those games matched the caliber of the team they were to face in the third road game of the week. This was the Wildcats of Ukiah High, a school literally ten times the size of AV in terms of the number of students (1600 to 160). The game was a 7pm kick-off on Saturday night and the crowd in attendance included maybe 60 from the Panther’s families and friends who had made the trip ‘over the hill’ from the Valley, including High School Principal Jim Tomlin who kindly drove the players in the second school van on this occasion.
Following the Panthers’ brief but poignant minute of silence in remembrance of the recently deceased Efren Mendoza (1958 – 2012) who had donated many years of dedicated service to the Valley’s Mexican community, the game got underway.
In just the 7th minute, as a result of their first attack of the game, the Wildcats were ahead 1-0 when some weak tackling by the Panther defense allowed a striker to send a 20-yard looping shot over Mendoza’s head and into the Panther net. However, as discussed in the pre-game talk, when the possibility of conceding a goal was mentioned, this setback was met with an increase in the level of the Panther’s determination and focus. Sure enough, in less than two minutes the teams were level when Edson Ferreyra drove a low, left-footed shot past the Ukiah ‘keeper following a splendid chip pass over the Wildcat defense by Chuy Sanchez.
The game was evenly balanced for most of the first half although AV had the better chances, one of which saw Pancho Lievanos’ thunderbolt shot crash against the Ukiah crossbar. Then in the 38th minute, some great skills on the left wing from Fernando Ferreyra saw him dribble past his marker and produce a pinpoint cross which was met by Erik Martinez who planted a firm header past the helpless Wildcat goalie from ten yards out. 2-1 to AV at the half.
The second half saw a charged-up Wildcat team and AV had to endure some strong pressure at times. When the Wildcats did breach the Panther defense, however, Christian Mendoza in the Panther goal was up to the task, pulling off a couple of excellent saves to preserve AV’s narrow lead. Meanwhile, the Panthers were dangerous on the counter-attack and might have put the game beyond the Wildcats’ reach way before the 66th minute when it was left to Pancho Lievanos to run on to a precise pass from Erik Martinez and hammer the ball into the corner of the Ukiah goal, a well-deserved goal for his tireless efforts in leading the Panther attack. That goal made it 3-1, which is how the game finished as AV ultimately finished up relatively comfortable winners against a good Wildcat team.
Following this tough three-game road trip, the team will play its first home game today (Wednesday, September 5) against Geyserville. This is also the opener in league play and the kick-off is at 4:30pm at Tom Smith Field alongside the high school. This match will be followed by another home league game against Sonoma Academy on Friday, September 7, also at 4:30pm. As always your support is much appreciated and as I’ve often said: a good home crowd is probably worth a goal a game! Hope to see you there. Come on you Panthers!
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