Campeones!

On a sunny but cool Wednesday afternoon, the AV High Schodol boys’ soccer team hosted the semi-final of the play-offs in which they faced the Warriors of Fremont Christian in front of a raucous crowd of high school students and a few relatively calm faculty members. As the highest remaining seed, the #2 Panthers knew that a victory would give them a home game in the Championship Game and began the match as if that would be the only acceptable result.

With the Warriors pushed back deep into their own half, AV once again managed to squander several decent chances before, from a pass by Fernando Ferreyra out on the left wing, senior Juan Lua took the ball past a defender on the edge of the Fremont area and blasted a right foot shot into the net from eighteen yards out. Lua celebrated in front of the deliriously happy hometown fans and things looked good for AV.

This season will go down as one of the most peculiar in terms of the ratio between AV’s time of possession and goals scored. The Panthers hardly gave the Warriors the ball and yet could not add to their lead. Over and over fine approach play was spoiled by careless finishing but finally, just before the half, substitute Edson Ferreyra did just what he was asked to do by the coach — beat his man on the left, cut inside, and put the ball into the corner of the goal. It is not rocket science, as they say, and it gave AV a very deserving 2-0 half-time lead.

The second half was a disappointment. Early in the half, many students in the crowd had to leave to catch the school buses home and this seemed to affect the home team’s efforts. They definitely lost some intensity as they basked in a comfortable two-goal lead. In fact, on a couple of the rare occasions when Fremont attacked, they almost pulled a goal back, which may have made things ‘interesting.’ As it was, despite AV’s mediocre efforts during the half, they were still the better team and thoroughly deserved their 2-0 win. The players knew they had not ‘finished the job’ in style and vowed to do so if such an opportunity arose again.

Following the semi-final victory, it was learned that in the Championship Game the Panthers would face #4 seed Leadership High from San Francisco at 2pm on Saturday, Nov 10, again at the school field in Boonville. These Griffins would be a different proposition and every one of the Panther squad knew that victory in this game was going to require their total commitment, a strong desire, constant intensity, and a smart application of their skills.

Championship Game

The match kicked off a little late following the pre-game ceremonies but the 150 in attendance, the vast majority of whom were obviously Panther fans, did not have to wait long for their hometown heroes to make an impact. After just four minutes AV had scored their earliest goal of the season. From the Panthers’ first attack, the Griffin defense failed to clear the ball further than Gualberto Gastelum on the right wing about 30 yards from goal. The much-improved sophomore full-back drove a fine cross into the heart of the Leadership penalty area where it was met twelve yeards from goal by an unmarked Erik Martinez who sent a looping header over the stranded Leadership ‘keeper and into the net. 1-0 to AV.

The following 35 or so minutes were very competitive and fairly even, and if anything it was the Griffins who had the slight edge in terms of possession. However, it was AV who had the ball in the net again, this time from the head of Jose Gaxiola. But his fine effort was ruled marginally offside, a correct decision so it appeared. The half ended with AV still ahead by the only goal.

A couple of slight adjustments were made to the AV line-up at the break and they certainly seemed to work as the first fifteen minutes of the second half were dominated by the home team but the crucial second goal did not arrive. Then in the 56th minute, it was the powerful Leadership midfielder who burst through the Panther defense and rounded Mendoza in the AV goal. The equalizer seemed inevitable but he took the ball a little wide and with the never-say-die effort of Gastelum enough to put him off he placed his shot just wide of the goal. This was a let-off for AV and perhaps it was the turning point in the match.

A few minutes later, Carlos Espinosa, the AV senior and co-Captain was introduced and told to ‘make something happen’ in his final twenty minutes of high school soccer. He had immediate impact when following a dazzling run down the right wing he cut inside the left back and squared the ball to the onrushing Erik Martinez, in the middle of the field on the edge of the Leadership penalty area, who took the ball in his stride past the retreating central defender and placed the ball wide of the approaching ‘keeper from ten yards out. 2-0 to AV as the crowd erupted with a collective roar.

AV then switched into a possession game and had the Leadership players ball-chasing for much of the final 20 minutes. With the clock ticking down and Leadership’s rare attacking efforts having little impact on the Panther defense, despite throwing many players forward, the ball was cleared out of the AV defense, way downfield. Espinoza gave chase. The ball did not go out of play as most players had assumed and Carlos got to it just ahead of the Leadership ‘keeper who, with the rest of his team in the Panther half, had ventured 40 yards from goal, virtually to the half-way line, out on the wing. It was a costly error of judgment as Espinosa took it past the stranded ‘keeper and pushed the ball a little further down the left wing before, with two defenders desperately trying to get back to the undefended goal, the unheralded striker shot from 30 yards out and the ball just crossed the line before the Griffins could get there. It was a great goal by a real “team player,” and it made the score 3-0 with just a few minutes remaining. The Panthers had secured their second post season Championship in three years!

At the final whistle the rapturous fans roared their approval and the joyous players hugged each other and gave the coach the inevitable Gatorade soaking. The trophy was presented and players received their medals, to the chants of “Campeones! Campeones!” with family, friends, some members of the faculty, and community soccer fans all sharing in the moment, as “the little school that does” had done so once again.

A final summing up of the season will appear next week but anyone interested in watching the game can do so by going to www.playonsports.com and checking the soccer page for the AV vs. Leadership, Championship Game.

Overall Season Record (won/lost/drawn): 16-4-3.