It’s a big weekend – a championship weekend – for five Metro Conference boys basketball, girls basketball and girls soccer teams. All will be in action in the quest to nail down San Diego Section championship banners.
The Bonita Vista High School boys basketball team tips things off Friday at 3:07 p.m. at Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego as the fifth-seeded Barons meet third-seeded Madison to determine the Division III champion.
Both teams are 19-12 on the season.
Bonita Vista is returning to the championship platform for the first time since 1999 when the Barons defeated Southwest, 75-62, to win the Division I title.
The Barons reached this year’s division final after toppling top-seeded Ramona, 62-59, in Tuesday’s semifinals. The Warhawks ousted second-seeded Central Union, 55-50, in overtime on Wednesday.
The BVHS boys basketball team joins the school’s girls basketball team in this year’s section finals. The second-seeded Lady Barons (19-9) will tangle with top-seeded Imperial (27-3) in Saturday’s Division II championship game (1:07 p.m. tip-off).
The basketball teams follow the lead of the school’s girls tennis and football teams that each won division titles during the fall sports season.
“It’s insane … to have teams making the CIF championship, much less winning it, is phenomenal” BVHS athletic director Jason Murphy explained. “We still have spring sports to go.”
Indeed, it has been a highly successful interscholastic sports year so far at the east side Chula Vista school.
The Barons boys soccer team almost made it to this weekend’s championship game after falling in kicks from the mark, 3-2, to third-seeded San Diego in Wednesday’s Division III semifinals.
Bonita Vista finished runner-up in last year’s Division IV finals.
The Southwest Lady Raiders, however, will be getting their kicks in Saturday’s Division IV championship game when they meet second-seeded Sage Creek at Olympian High School. Kick-off is 11 a.m.
Southwest finished runner-up in the 2A Class section finals in both 1984 and 1985. It’s been a long wait since then for the Lady Raiders to make a return to the championship round.
The Lady Raiders tied the match at a goal apiece against the Lady Warriors (15-6-4) before Elena Perez struck for the game-winner with less than two minutes to play as she lofted a high ball that floated over the goalkeeper’s hands but under the crossbar.
The Lady Raiders (11-9-2) eliminated top-seeded Fallbrook, 2-1, in Tuesday’s semifinals while second-seeded Sage Creek (7-9-2) eliminated sixth-seeded Montgomery, 4-1, in the semifinals.
Southwest defeated fifth-seeded Preuss UCSD, 4-0, in the quarterfinals on Feb. 26.
The school’s boys soccer team, seeded third in the Division I bracket, advanced as far as the Division I quarterfinals before dropping a 3-2 match in kicks from the mark to sixth-seeded Rancho Buena Vista on Feb. 27.
Southwest tied the match in the final minute of regulation play on a goal by Gustavo Andrade before falling in the KFM tiebreaker following a scoreless overtime period.
“We had poor penalty shots,” Southwest head coach Giovanni Medina explained. “The coach from RBV said we were the best team they had played all year. But they were a good team also … We missed a lot of opportunities in the first half alone.”
The Raiders finished the season 12-6-4.
Southwest High School principal Lee Romero said the turnaround in the sports scene at the South San Diego school has been due to the infusion of coaches who have motivated students on campus to get involved in sports.
“I think our success has been due to bringing in coaches who have encouraged a lot of our students to get involved,” Romero noted. “Our coaches are a great bunch of guys.”
Almost famous
The second-seeded Barons kicked off post-season play by defeating seventh-seeded Montgomery, 2-0, in the Division III quarterfinals on Feb. 27. Moises Flores and Armando Garcia each scored goals while goalkeeper Alex Salgado recorded the shutout win.
But the third-seeded Cavers (16-7-1) had other designs after the teams finished regulation play and overtime tied 2-2.
San Diego’s Matthew Twyman, playing goalkeeper, stopped the final Baron shot in the KFM tiebreaker and then took his turn at the spot to score the Cavers’ game-winning shot.
Riley Thompson and Donald Casey each scored goals for San Diego. Twyman made 14 saves in 80 minutes of regulation play and 15 minutes of overtime.
The Barons finished the season 11-6-4; Montgomery, last season’s Division IV champion, finished the season 10-7-5.
San Diego Section Division championships
BOYS BASKETBALL
FRIDAY, MARCH 4/University of San Diego
Division III: (5) Bonita vista (19-12) vs. (3) Madison (19-12), 3:07 p.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Saturday, March 5/university of San Diego
Division III: (2) hilltop (22-5) vs. (1) mira mesa (18-13), 11:07 a.m.
Divisoin II: (2) bonita vista (19-9) vs. (1) imperial (27-3), 1:07 p.m.
Division I: (1) Eastlake (25-6) vs. (3) la costa canyon (23-8), 3:07 p.m.
GIRLS SOCCER
Saturday, March 5/Olympian High School
Division IV: (4) southwest (11-9-2) vs. (2) sage creek (7-9-2), 11 a.m.
