The Bonita Vista High School boys lacrosse team has qualified for the San Diego Section playoffs the last three years, and last year picked up its first postseason win.
Baron head coach Sam Cardenas said the goal set for his team this year is to make another return to the playoffs.
“The way we’ve played the last couple games, I don’t see why we can’t make it,” the BVHS coach explained. “I think we can.”
The Barons certainly put in a solid all-around performance in Monday’s 12-3 Mesa League win over the visiting Olympian Eagles. The hosts built a 1-0 lead in the first quarter, expanded it to 4-0 at halftime and led 8-0 at the end of three quarters.
After the Eagles scored 16 seconds in the fourth quarter on a man-up opportunity, Bonita Vista promptly reeled off three more goals to lead 11-1 before the visitors scored again, followed by another Bonita Vista goal. The Eagles scored their final goal of the game with just four seconds remaining.
Billy Esparza led the Barons with three goals and two assists while Frank Rodriguez picked up two goals and two assists, Michael Lopez had a goal and two assists, Simon Tang and Kyle Tucker each scored two goals and Henry Wong and Xavier Jones each scored once. Malachi Farah also was credited with an assist.
The Barons improved to 5-6 on the season but the team’s record is somewhat misleading in that two losses came against out-of-section powers Marina (15-2 on March 28) and El Dorado (11-6 on March 30). Bonita Vista might more accurately be gauged by its 7-4 loss to three-time defending Mesa League champion Eastlake in the teams’ league opener on April 4.
The Barons defeated San Diego, 9-6, on April 6 and topped Mar Vista, 13-2, last Saturday before running their current winning streak to three games via Monday’s league victory.
“We started off very strong, we beat Helix 17-1 in our first game and, I don’t know if it was attitude or what, but we went through a skid – we lost to a good Del Norte team (11-4), which I wouldn’t call an upset, but we lost to a couple teams — San Dieguito Academy (5-3 on March 22) and Point Loma (8-5 on March 26) — that I thought we should have beaten,” Cardenas explained.
Bonita Vista’s other win on the season has come against the Preuss School (8-2 on March 24).
Cardenas said his team has 17 returners this season, though a good deal are still underclassmen. “We’re still young,” the BVHS coach noted. “I think we’re only going to graduate six seniors this year. We don’t have a pipeline yet to a junior varsity team.”
Cardenas said goalie Colin Aguilar has made a positive impact on the team so far. He had seven saves in Monday’s win.
“Our defense has played very solid and, on offense, Billy Esparza and Frrank Rodriguez have been very effective in scoring goals and sharing the ball,” Cardenas said. “Also, Simon Tang has been good on face-offs, I think he’s won 80 percent of them, which I think, makes a difference.”
Kennedy Furst, George Swarez-Solis and Asa Smith each were credited with goals for the Eagles, who were coming off last Saturday’s 2-2-1 showing at the inaugural Quetzalcoatl Cup at Montgomery High School.
Olympian saw its season record drop to 7-6-1 overall after Monday’s setback.
Titanic wins propel Eastlake to 3-0 Mesa League start
Three-time defending Mesa League champion Eastlake ran its league record to 3-0 (and overall winning streak to four games) after defeating visiting Otay Ranch, 8-2, on Tuesday.
Asanti Baltazar led the Titans to their latest victory with three goals while Evan Farrage scored two goals and Ethan Nacif, Matthew Stuber and Samuel Reyes each scored one goal. Nathan McPeak was active in the Titan net with 13 saves.
Eastlake, which improved to 6-4 on the season, led 3-0 at the end of the first quarter and 6-1 at halftime.
Otay Ranch dropped to 5-4 on the season.
Eastlake improved to 2-0 in league play after stopping host Olympian, 13-4, on April 6. The Titans led 8-2 at halftime and outscored the Eagles 5-2 in the second half.
Scoring leaders for Eastlake included Farrage with six points on four goals and two assists and Michaelangelo Aguirre and Jaxen Trinidad with two goals each. The Titan offense was spread around with eight players scoring goals and 14 players picking up either goals or assists.
Tyler Santini led Olympian with three goals while Shivon Gater scored once.
Eastlake extended its winning streak to three games after defeating visiting Serra, 10-4, last Friday amid gray skies and light drizzle. The hosts led 4-2 at halftime before putting the game away with five fourth quarter goals after the Conquistadors (2-8) had narrowed the score to 5-4 at the end of three quarters.
Farrage paced the Titans in the scoring column again with one goal and two assists while Aguirre, Baltazar and Reyes each scored two goals.
Aztec Warriors
Montgomery may be off to its best start in school history after going 5-0 in last Saturday’s Quetzalcoatl Cup to extend its record to 14-1. The Aztecs open South Bay League play April 18 at Montgomery.
Airik Ranjo paced the Aztecs with 37 goals and nine points through 10 games, followed on the score sheet by teammates Ivan Ruano with 14 goals and 24 assists, Jacky Wang with 27 goals and five assists and Alex Jaffe with 17 goals and six assists.
Jaffe led the team with 67 ground balls in nine games.
Sebastian Salcedo had played the bulk of minutes in the net, recording a 6-0 record with a 3.5 goals-against average.
Eastlake tops Hilltop to improve to 4-0 in Mesa League play
The visiting Eastlake Titans built a 7-0 lead en route to claiming a 12-2 win at Hilltop on Thursday to improve to 4-0 in Mesa League play. Evan Farrage (five goals, one assist) and Matthew Stuber (four goals, two assists) each picked up six points in the contest to pace the victors.
Jaxen Trinidad had five points in the game with three goals and two assists. Asanti Baltazar had two assists while Ethan Nacif and Cesar Chavoya each had one assist. Tristan Corpus won 12 of 17 face-offs while Nathan McPeak was credited with five saves on seven Hilltop shots.
Eastlake, which improved to 7-4 on the season, collected 32 shots and 32 ground balls. The Lancers, in suffering their third consecutive setback, dropped to 8-4 on the season.
METRO CONFERENCE
BOYS LACROSSE STANDINGS
Mesa League Standings
(Through April 16)
Eastlake Titans 4-0, 8-4
Otay Ranch Mustangs 2-1, 6-5
Bonita Vista 1-2, 5-7
Olympian 1-2, 7-7-1
Hilltop 0-3, 9-4
South Bay League Standings
(Through April 16)
Montgomery 0-0, 15-1
Soutthwest 0-0, 4-5
Mar Vista 0-0, 1-4
Chula Vista 0-0, 1-7
Saturday, April 16
Non-League
Hilltop 5, Southwest 4
Friday, April 15
Non-League
Eastlake 8, Preuss UCSD 2
Helix 13, Olympian 9
Serra 7, Otay Ranch 5
Montgomery 9, MIssion Bay 2
Thursday, April 14
Mesa League
Eastlake 12, Hilltop 2
Otay Ranch 6, Bonita Vista 2
Southwest 10, Gompers Prep 7
Non-League
Chula Vista 4, Army-Navy Academy 3
Tuesday, April 12
Mesa League
Eastlake 8, Otay Ranch 2
Non-League
Hilltop 10, Del Lago Academy 0
Southwest 6, Preuss UCSD 5
Monday, April 11
Mesa League
Bonita Vista 12, Olympian 2
Saturday, April 9
Non-League
Bonita Vista 13, Mar Vista 2
Friday, April 8
Non-League
Eastlake 10, Serra 4
Valhalla 9, Chula Vista 2
Non-League
Southwest 7, Del Lago Academy 5
Thursday, April 7
Mesa League
Eastlake 13, Olympian 4
Otay Ranch 9, Hilltop 2
Non-League
Montgomery 15, Monte Vista 5
Wednesday, April 6
Non-League
Point Loma 11, Southwest 4
Tuesday, April 5
Non-League
Montgomery 15, Santana 8
Monday, April 4
Mesa League
Olympian 7, Hilltop 6 (OT)
Friday, April 1
Non-League
Hilltop 12, Chula Vista 2
Quetzalcoatl Cup
Saturday, April 9
at Montgomery High School
Olympian 9, Mater Dei Catholic 0
Montgomery 7, Foothills Christian 0
Montgomery 6, Olympian 3
Fallbrook 4, Olympian 2
Montgomery 4, Mater Dei Catholic 1
Olympian 2, Helix 2
Montgomery 4, Fallbrook 1
Olympian 4, Foothills Christian 0
Montgomery 5, Helix 3
Metro Conference
Statistical Leaders
Eastlake High School
Boys Lacrosse Leaders
(Through April 16)
Goals/Assists/Points
Evan Farrage 20-7-27
Matthew Stuber 14-8-22
Jaxen Trinidad 11-10=21
Asanti Baltazar 13-4-17
Ethan Nacif 12-5-17
Samuel Reyes 9-2-11
Ground balls: Joseph Carino 30, Asanti Baltazar 27, Michaelangelo Aguirre 26, Jaxen Trinidad 21, Christian Pitpit 20
Goaltending: Nathan McPeak 5.6 goals-against average, 0.6 save percentage, 1 shutout
Team record: 8-4 (overall), 4-0 (league)
