The bracket has been released for the upcoming Don Cerone Memorial/Kiwanis Cup playoffs and it’s difficult to determine exactly which team is favored.
The once-beaten Rancho Bernardo Broncos received the No. 1 seed based on their North County League championship season. The Broncos finished 16-1 in league play, 17-1 overall.
However, RB lost in its final league matchup to defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview, proving that any team can be beaten at any time.
The Wolverines (13-5) received the No. 3 seed behind the second-seeded Scripps Ranch Falcons (16-2), the second place finisher in the North County League standings.
The Falcons absorbed two narrow setbacks to Rancho Bernardo this season and defeated Westview three times in league play.
Mesa League champion Eastlake received the No. 4 seed after posting a 23-0 record, with 22 of those wins against fellow Sweetwater district teams. The Titans, the conference’s lone undefeated team during the 2017-18 season, defeated Cathedral Catholic, the fourth-place finisher in the North County League standings, by a 3-2 score in mid-January in a non-league encounter.
The Dons (7-11) received the No. 5 seed, setting up a possible rematch in the quarterfinal round of the playoffs between Eastlake and Cathedral Catholic. The Titans would own the home court advantage.
Patrick Henry (7-13) received the No. 6 seed, followed by the Escondido Charter White Tigers (7-13) as the No. 7 seed, Poway (3-16) as the No. 8 seed, the Hilltop Lancers (15-8) as the No. 9 seed, Castle Park (8-7) as the No. 10 seed, Otay Ranch (13-10) as the No. 11 seed and South Bay League champion Chula Vista (12-9) as the No. 12 seed.
The top four-seeded teams receive byes to the quarterfinal round.
The playoffs will open with eight teams playing in an elimination-round on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
Two games will be played at the Escondido Sports Center: Poway will host Hilltop at 6 p.m., followed by the Escondido Charter-Otay Ranch game at 7 p.m.
Two games will be played at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink: Patrick Henry will take the playing court at 5:30 p.m. against Castle Park while Cathedral Catholic will play Chula Vista in the nightcap at 6:30 p.m.
First-round winners advance to quarterfinal-round play on Monday, Feb. 26.
Three games will take place at the Escondido Sports Center. Rancho Bernardo will play the Poway-Hilltop winner at 6 p.m. Scripps Ranch will play the Patrick Henry-Castle Park winner at 7 p.m. Westview will play the Escondido Charter-Otay Ranch winner at 8 p.m.
Eastlake will host the Cathedral Catholic-Chula Vista winner at 6:30 p.m. at the CPHS outdoor rink.
Semifinal games are scheduled Wednesday, Feb. 28, at either the Escondido Sports Center or the CPHS outdoor rink.
The championship game and third-place game will take place Monday, March 5, on the home court of the higher-seeded team.
Teams not making the playoff cut included five teams: Bonita Vista (7-16) from the Mesa League and Mar Vista (9-13), Southwest (7-12), Sweetwater (5-12) and San Ysidro (0-21) from the South Bay League.
Rancho Bernardo (North County League), Eastlake (Mesa League) and Chula Vista (South Bay League) qualified as league champions. The remainder of the 12-team playoff field was filled in on an at-large basis.
All eight teams in the North County League were selected for postseason play. The top four placers in the Mesa League advanced.
Playoff preview
(7) Patrick Henry vs. (10) Castle Park
The higher-seeded Patriots (7-13) tied for fifth place in the North County League standings with Escondido Charter while the lower-seeded Trojans (8-7) finished third in the Mesa League standings.
The teams have not met on the season though both squads have recorded at least one victory against Otay Ranch, a common opponent.
Matt Voegel paces Patrick Henry in its record-breaking second season with 39 goals and 12 assists. Matt Russell, who has collected 29 goals and 14 assists this season, ranks second in team scoring.
Ruben Allen (14 goals, 7 assists), Clint Allen (7 goals, 6 assists) and Tyler Daniel (5 goals, 6 assists) round out the team’s top five scoring leaders.
Two players drive Castle Park: forward Martin Mari with 40 goals and 44 points and defender Eleazar Cruz with 32 goals and 39 points.
Jared Fuentes has chipped in with eight goals and 11 points this season for the Trojans, who dropped a 7-4 contest to Hilltop in the match for outright possession of second place in the Mesa League standings on Feb. 13.
Patrick Henry ended regular season play with a 6-1 non-league victory against San Ysidro, also on Feb. 13.
Patriots down Trojans, pick up first playoff win in club history
The Patrick Henry High School roller hockey team continues to make history in its second year of existence. The Patriots earned their first playoff victory in club history by defeating the Castle Park Trojans, 9-5, in a first-round matchup Wednesday (Feb. 21) at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink.
Patrick Henry (8-13) advances to meet second-seeded Scripps Ranch (16-2) in Monday’s quarterfinal round (Feb. 26) at the Escondido Sports Center.
The eight wins are a school record for the Patriots.
“Last year it was a loss in the playoffs but we’ve improved this year,” PHHS coach Chuck Russell said. “We’re happy to be facing Scripps Ranch in the next round, and hoping we can pick up many more playoff wins in the future of our program.”
Wednesday’s playoff game started out with a cautious pace for both teams.
Castle Park took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jared Fuentes with eight minutes left in the opening period. The Patriots tied the game, 1-1, on a goal by team captain Matt Russell, assisted by Matt Voegel, with 5:30 to play in the period.
Patrick Henry then took a 2-1 lead on a high shot over the shoulder of CP goaltender Ariel Briones with 4:20 remaining in the first period. However, the opening period ended in a 2-2 tie when Cristian Hireles scored for the Trojans, assisted by Martin Mari.
The Patriots put some space between themselves and their opponent by exploding for a pair of goals to open the second period. Matt Russell made it a 3-2 game with a goal 1:10 into the period. Voegel, who had assisted on Russell’s go-ahead marker, made it 4-2 with a goal just under two minutes later. Russell supplied the assist on Voegel’s tally.
Patrick Henry had a chance to add to its lead but Castle Park managed to kill off a two-minute minor.
The Trojans then crept to within one goal of the Patriots on the scoreboard when Eleazar Cruz scored an unassisted goal with 3:30 left in the second period to reduce Patrick Henry’s lead to 4-3.
But the Pats responded with the final goal of the period as Voegel converted a pass from teammate Eric Tran into a 5-3 lead with just 10 seconds left in the period.
The teams traded goals to open the third period. Matt Russell scored his fourth goal of the game 1:30 into the frame, assisted by Clint Allen, to push Patrick Henry in front 6-3. But Cruz, assisted by Mari, trimmed the Pats’ lead to 6-4 with 12:00 to play in the game.
The Trojans looked to get more when Patrick Henry’s Brett Miller was called for a roughing penalty with 10:38 left on the clock.
But the momentum quickly turned back to the Patriots’ side Ruben Allen scored a shorthanded goal just 38 seconds into the penalty. Matt Russell drew the assist.
7-4 Patrick Henry.
The Patriots doubled their lead to 8-4 on a goal by Voegel with 6:45 to play.
But the Trojans made it interesting with a goal by Mari, assisted by Breana Mireles, with 5:40 remaining in regulation. Mari’s goal cut the Castle Park deficit to 8-5.
The Trojans then had a chance to draw even closer on the scoreboard when they were handed a two-minute power play on a hooking call. But Castle Park could not capitalize on the power play and instead coughed up another shorthanded goal.
Voegel scored Patrick Henry’s second shorthanded tally of the game with 2:50 to play to make the score 9-5.
Matt Russell and Voegel paced all scorers in the game with four goals and two assists apiece.
Mari paced the Trojans with three points (one goal, two assists) while Cruz scored two goals.
Castle Park ended its season at 8-8.
Patrick Henry used both its goaltenders in posting the win: Josh Mitchell and Aidan Rion.
Cathedral Catholic Dons putting it together at right time of season, top Spartans 12-0 in playoff opener
Despite it being very late in the season, the Cathedral Catholic Dons could be putting it all together at the right time of the season.
The Dons, seeded fifth in this year’s Kiwanis Cup championship playoff bracket, defeated the 12th-seeded Chula Vista Spartans, 12-0, in Wednesday’s opening round to turn around a season that saw the Dons pick up more losses than wins.
Cathedral Catholic entered the Feb. 21 playoff opener against the Spartans with a 7-1 overall record after finishing fourth deep in the North County League standings.
Chula Vista finished as this season’s South Bay League champion.
“We’re playing very well, it shows in our passing,” Cathedral Catholic assistant coach Andrew Valeriano explained. “This is the first time in the last two months that we’ve had everyone together. We have two full lines now. The team is pretty happy to be in the quarterfinals.”
The Dons rematch with the Mesa League Eastlake Titans, who drew the fourth seeded in the 12-team playoff bracket after edging the Dons, 3-2, in a midseason non-league encounter.
However, Sam Lathus was one of the players not in the Cathedral Catholic lineup for that pivotal clash.
He made his presence felt on the playing court in Wednesday’s playoff opener with four goals.
Matt Dammeyer, another player who has been out of the lineup until lately, recorded a hat trick. Gunner Michelsen scored two goals for the Dons while Jake Belland, Ben Rodenbeck, Jonathan Montgomery each scored single goals.
Belland, Rodenbeck and Montgomery each collected one goal and one assist.
Cathedral Catholic goaltender Patrick Henson faced just one shot through the first half of the game.
The Dons led, 3-0, at the end of the opening period on a pair of Lathus tallies and pushed their lead to 7-0 by the end of the second period.
Cathedral Catholic tacked on five more goals in the third period.
Chula Vista ended its season 10-1 in league play, 12-10 overall.
“We had a great group of kids who showed up at practice,” coach Caroline Talavera said. “We didn’t have that many kids on the team at the beginning, but added some more later in the season.
“The playoff game was fun. They (the Dons) are a great team. They earned the win.”
Spartan goaltender Gio Cimmino was CV’s shining star in the playoff game with 45 saves.
“We couldn’t have come this far without being a team,” explained Cimmino, who completed his second season at the goaltender position, his third season with the team. “As a player, I put a lot of credit on the defense that blocked a lot of shots I couldn’t save.”
Cathedral Catholic (8-11) will be out to hand Eastlake (23-0), the conference’s lone unbeaten team during the regular season, its first loss when the teams rematch Monday (Feb. 26) at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink.
Neither team was at full strength for their regular season meeting, thus placing a spotlight on Monday’s playoff contest.
Poway captures 10-3 playoff win over Hilltop, advances to face No. 1 Broncos
The Hilltop Lancers finished regular season play on a rush to capture second place in the Mesa League standings. The Lancers had to be feeling pretty good about their chances in Wednesday’s first-round playoff matchup against the Poway Titans after scoring the first goal of the game.
But what the ninth-seeded Lancers started, the eighth-seeded Titans finished — with six unanswered goals — to skate to a 10-3 elimination game victory.
Justin Sanchez scored the opening goal of the game at the 31-second mark to give Hilltop a quick 1-0 lead. The Titans countered with a goal by Michael Little to tie the game 1-1.
The Lancers then took a 2-1 lead on a goal by team scoring leader Trevor Fune at the 3:37 mark.
But Poway closed out the opening period with three unanswered goals to lead 4-2. Little scored his second of the game while Carter Schrader and Ben Louie also chipped in with goals to aid the Titan cause.
Hilltop scored the opening goal of the second period to trim the Poway lead to 4-3. Fune picked up his second goal of the game.
But the Titans scored two goals late in the middle frame to change the complexion of the game. Tanner Franklin scored a goal with 4:19 left in the second period, assisted by Ben Dickey, to make the score 5-3; Little notched his hat trick goal with 2:18 to play in the period to extend the Poway lead to 6-3.
The Titans scored the only four goals of the third period, including two goals in the final five minutes to speed to the playoff win.
Little led Poway in game scoring with five goals and two assists. Louie had one goal and two assists. Keegan Fiske and Trevor Curtin also scored single goals for the Titans, who defeated the Lancers for the second time this season.
Fune, who scored 58 goals during the regular season, led Hilltop (15-9) with two goals in the game.
Poway (4-16) advances to meet top-seeded Rancho Bernardo (17-1) in Monday’s quarterfinals. Game time is 6 p.m. at the Escondido Sports Center.
White Tigers zip past Mustangs, 11-2, win playoff opener
The Escondido White Tigers scored the first goal of Wednesday’s playoff game against the Otay Ranch Mustangs and then added three more goals before the opening period was over to take a 4-1 lead.
The White Tigers out-scored the Mustangs 4-1 in the second period to take a commanding 8-2 lead into the final period.
Escondido Charter wrapped up with playoff win with seven unanswered goals.
The White Tigers (8-13) advance to meet the third-seeded Westview Wolverines (13-5) in Monday’s quarterfinal-round game. Face-off is 7 p.m. at the Escondido Sports Center.
Simon Gott recorded a hat trick for Escondido Charter while adding two assists. Matt Lopez, Zac Miszkiewicz, and Ashton Domi each scored two goals for the White Tigers while Bryce Mendoza and Jacob Petrungaro each scored one goal.
Josh Aldridge and Charlotte Gott each were credited with one assist.
Escondido Charter finished the 2017-18 season with a 3-0 record against teams from the Sweetwater district.
Sean Devaney scored both goals for Otay Ranch, which finished the season 13-11 with two losses to teams from the North County League (Patrick Henry and Escondido Charter).
Mustang head coach John King reflected on the 2017-18 season. “Competitive league play, great sportsmanship among players and coaches,” he said. “I would like to see (the conference) have two divisions for the county not just one — Division 1 and Division 2.”
Devaney finishes the season with 52 goals.
Kiwanis Cup Playoff Scoreboard
First Round — Wednesday, Feb. 21
At Castle Park High School:
(7) Patrick Henry 9, (10) Castle Park 5
(5) Cathedral Catholic 12, (12) Chula Vista 0
At Escondido Sports Center
(6) Escondido Charter 11, (11) Otay Ranch 2
(8) Poway 10, (9) Hilltop 3
Quarterfinals — Monday, Feb. 26
Ar Castle Park High School:
(4) Eastlake (23-0) vs. (5) Cathedral Catholic (8-11), 6:30 p.m.
At Escondido Sports Center:
(1) Rancho Bernardo (17-1) vs. (8) Poway (4-16), 6 p.m.
(2) Scripps Ranch (16-2) vs. (7) Patrick Henry (8-13), 7 p.m.
(3) Westview (13-5) vs. (6) Escondido Charter (8-13), 8 p.m.
Semifinals — Wednesday, Feb. 28
Teams TBA, at Escondido Sports Center or Castle Park High School
Finals — Monday, March 5
Third place game: 5:30 (Castle Park High School) or 6:30 p.m. (Escondido Sports Center)
Championship game: 6 p.m. (Castle Park High School) or 7 p.m. (Escondido Sports Center)
