Heading into the final two games of regular season play, the Bonita Vista Barons, Hilltop Lancers, Otay Ranch Mustangs, Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders, Olympian Eagles, San Ysidro Cougars and Southwest Raiders each needed at least one win to solidify their seeding position for this week’s San Diego Section Division III playoffs.
It turned out to be a frenetic finish for all teams involved.
In Mesa League games on Wednesday, Nov. 4, Otay Ranch defeated Hilltop by a score of 6-5 while Bonita Vista edged Mater Dei Catholic, 9-8.
In a South Bay League game on Thursday, Nov. 5, San Ysidro defeated Olympian, 14-6, to deadlock the teams for the league co-championship.
In Mesa League games on Friday, Nov. 6, Hilltop edged Bonita Vista, 10-8, while Otay Ranch defeated Mar Vista, 9-5, and Mater Dei Catholic fell to league champion Eastlake by a 13-7 score to wrap up regular season play.
In South Bay League games on Friday, Nov. 6, Olympian returned to the win column with a 15-5 victory against Chula Vista while San Ysidro defeated Castle Park, 5-0.
Southwest defeated Castle Park, 5-0, on Nov. 4 to close out South Bay League play and notched a 15-1 non-league win over Montgomery on Nov. 6 to finish out its regular season slate. The key win for the Raiders, however, likely came on Oct. 30 when Southwest topped Chula Vista, 9-5, to climb up the division power rankings ladder.
The power rankings are used as a guide for post-season playoff seeding and the final order of finish in the division power rankings went as such: Point Loma (1), Hilltop (2), Bonita Vista (3), Otay Ranch (4), Mater Dei Catholic (5), Escondido (6), San Dieguito Academy (7), Olympian (8), San Ysidro (9), Mission Bay (10), Southwest (11) and Classical Academy (12).
Twelve teams advance to the division playoffs. Teams on the power rankings bubble included Mira Mesa (13), High Teach San Diego (14), Oceanside (15), Chula Vista (16), Mt. Miguel (17) and El Capitan (18).
Results of head-to-head match-ups can swtich teams’ positions for playoff seeding.
The top five were seeded according to their finishes in the power rankings, with San Dieguito Academy switching with Escondido as the sixth and seventh seeds, respectively. Olympian held down its No. 8 seed, as per the power rankings, while Mission Bay switch positions with San Ysidro as the ninth and 10th seeded teams, respectively.
The final two playoff berths were award to El Capitan (11th) and Southwest (12th). El Capitan jumped past seven teams at the bottom end of the power rankings to become playoff eligible, while Southwest moved down one slot.
The top four teams received byes to Thursday’s quarterfinals (Nov. 12), with the remaining eight teams opening first-round play on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
Point Loma (10-0 in league, 22-4 overall) remains the division favorite for the upcoming playoffs.
Hilltop is 14-9, followed by Bonita Vista (18-11) and Otay Ranch (14-12).
Mater Dei Catholic (13-13) hosted Southwest (11-8) on Tuesday while other first-round pairings included Olympian (10-10) hosting Mission Bay (8-15), San Ysidro (9-15) hosting Escondido (14-12) and San Dieguito Academy (12-5) drawing the higher seed over El Capitan (13-15).
The Olympian-Mission Bay and San Ysidro-Escondido match-ups were played as part of a double-header at Coronado High School.
Cougars sink Eagles to finish as South Bay League co-champions
The Olympian Eagles finished with three league losses last season to place arrears of the San Ysidro Cougars. The teams each finished with one league loss this season to share the league championship title.
Olympian edged San Ysidro, 10-9, in a first-round league match on Oct. 14. The Cougars returned the favor with a 14-6 win on Nov. 5. Both games were played at the Parkway pool in downtown Chula Vista.
The league co-championship is the first for Olympian while San Ysidro has won at least a share of the last xx league banners. Both teams finished 7-1 in league play in 2015.
For the Cougars, the second-round win over the Eagles underscored the improvement the team has made over the course of the season. San Ysidro (9-15) opened the season 0-11.
“A lot of those games (to start the season) were losses by one or two goals,” SYHS head coach Giancarlo Nencini explained. “It wasn’t like we were being dominated. It was the fact that we weren’t finishing.”
Finishing is exactly what the Cougars did in the league championship game. Nursing a 5-4 halftime lead, the Cougars exploded for 11 second-half goals, using a fourth quarter spurt to score five unanswered goals to seal the win – and the co-championship.
“Once we got that first win (to break the 0-11 start), it put everyone at ease,” Nencini said. “This win was a whole team effort – starting with the goalie and involving everybody. The scoring was spread out.”
Four players each scored four goals for the Cougars: Jose Guzman, Dany Mar, Alberto Guadana and Brian Coronado. Victor Carrasco and Jorge Herrera each scored one goal while Enrique Escalante made 18 goalie saves and three steals.
The Eagles rebounded from a 3-0 first quarter deficit with a strong second quarter. But San Ysidro enjoyed the stronger second half. The Cougars scored three unanswered goals to expand a 6-5 lead early in the third quarter to forge a 9-5 lead. San Ysidro led, 9-6, entering the final quarter before running away with the victory.
Austin Greenwell led the Eagles (10-10) with two goals while D.J. O’Brien, Dylan Salang, Brandon Sanchez and Aaron Valencia each scored one goal. Adreyan Hernandez was credited with eight goalie saves.
South Bay League Standings
Final Regular season
Olympian Eagles 7-1, 10-10
San Ysidro Cougars 7-1, 9-15
Southwest Raiders 4-4. 11-8
Chula Vista Spartans 2-6, 5-12
Castle Park Trojans 0-8, 0-8
Lancers sew up No. 2 CIF seed, second place in Mesa League standings
The Hilltop Lancers had held onto the No. 2 position in the San Diego Section Division III power rankings since absorbing an early season non-league loss to Point Loma. As the season wore on, teams below the Lancers began to catch up, thus creating a frenzied need for wins during the final two weeks of the season.
Hilltop went 2-3 at the San Diego Open tournament to jeopardize its delicate hold on second place in the power rankings. Included were three overtime losses.
Besides battling the fortunes of overtime, Lancer head coach Ernie Medina said his team also had to battle other factors.
Josh Fischer took over in the cage for Hilltop its final two tournament games due to starter Danny Godinez becoming ill. Fischer performed well, making 13 saves and a five-meter block in an 8-7 win over Rancho Buena Vista and 12 saves in a 12-11 loss to Ramona.
The Lancers lost 8-7 to La Costa Canyon in overtime and also 9-8 to Patrick Henry in sudden-victory OT.
In the loss to LCC, Medina noted that his team, playing in sudden-victory overtime with the man-advantage, hit the post on a shot, with the Mavericks then earning a man-up and scoring to end the game.
The power rankings for the final week of the season were thus compressed by all the teams’ performances at the preceding San Diego Open. Bonita Vista went 3-2 to tighten the pack of four Mesa League teams vying for seeds 2-4.
“Hilltop, Bonita Vista, Mater Dei Catholic and Otay Ranch were all within .60 away from each other,” Medina noted. “All teams were at must-win situations. Any of them could flip-flop depending on wins or losses.”
The Lancers won the sprint to the wire for the No. 2 playoff seed by holding off the Barons, 10-8, in a game celebrating Senior Night between the teams at the Southwestern College pool.
Hilltop had six seniors recognized; Bonita Vista had a whopping total of 13 seniors lauded.
Fischer, among the Lancers’ group of seniors, played a key role in helping his team emerge victorious against the Barons.
Hilltop moved out to a pair of two-goal leads – 2-0 and 3-1 – in the opening quarter. The Lancers led by three goals, 6-3, at halftime. But Bonita Vista scored four of the five goals between the teams in the third quarter to knot the game at 7-7.
The Barons then took an 8-7 lead on a goal by Emiliano Cruz. But Hilltop evened the score on a man-up goal by Emilio Maldonado, another senior and Ryan Sears made I 9-8 with another six-on-five goal. Austin Kober scored a late goal to increase the Lancer lead to 10-8. And Fischer took over from there by making two point-blank shots, including a fingertip save to the top corner, in the dying seconds to preserve the win.
“Josh was the hero,” Medina succinctly noted.
Maldonado, who is headed to play at the next level, led Hilltop with five goals while had three goals and Kober and Any Uribe each scored once.
Cruz led the Barons with five goals while Diego Gomez, Zach Courtney and Bruce Bello each scored once.
Mesa League Standings
Final Regular season
Eastlake Titans 10-0, 19-10
Hilltop Lancers 6-4, 14-9
Otay Ranch Mustangs 5-5, 14-12
Mater Dei Catholic 5-5, 13-13
Bonita Vista Barons 4-6, 18-11
Mar Vista Mariners 0-10, 5-20
San Diego Open Tournament
Metro Conference Scoreboard
Bonita Vista 13, Olympian 11
Pt. Loma 14, Bonita Vista 13
Mar Vista, 6 Helix 5
Mar Vista 12, Oceanside 2
Valhalla 17, Mar Vista 1
San Ysidro, 8 El Capitan 7
Ramona 11, Olympian 6
Mercer Island (Wash.) 6, Eastlake 4
Mission Viejo 12, Eastlake 9
Mercer Island (Wash.) 10, Bonita Vista 3
Bonita Vista 15, Mira Mesa 5
Bonita Vista 15, San Dieguito Academy 9
Olympian 21, Army-Navy Academy 8
Oceanside 10, Olympian 8
Bellevue (Wash.) 12, Eastlake 2
San Ysidro 12 Escondido 10
Southridge 16, San Ysidro 7
La Costa Canyon 8, Hilltop 7 (OT)
Hilltop 13, Monte Vista 8
Patrick Henry 9, Hilltop 8 (OT)
Ramona 12, Hilltop 11
Tournament place-finish
1. Bellevue (Wash.), 2. University City, 3. (tie) Grossmont, Torrey Pines, 5. (tie) Westview, Mercer Island (Wash.), 7. Fallbrook, 8. Valhalla, 9. Eastlake, 10. La Costa Canyon, 11. (tie) Santana, San Marcos
San Diego Section Playoffs
Division I
Wednesday, Nov. 11
(5) Granite Hills 14, (12) Mar Vista 4
Division II
Wednesday, Nov. 11
(5) Eastlake 10, (12) Patrick Henry 7
Division III
Tuesday, Nov. 10
(9) Mission Bay 16, (8) Olympian 8
(10) San Ysidro 10, (7) Escondido 7
(5) Mater Dei Catholic 17, (12) Southwest 5
