Give it a shot: Titans are Pam Wiser Classic champs again

The fifth annual Bonita Optimist Pam Wiser Classic wrapped up on Monday with a full day of roller hockey at the Castle Park High School roller hockey rink. Eight of the 10 Sweetwater Union High School District teams participated in this year’s event.

Eastlake defeated east side rival Otay Ranch, 12-3, to win its second consecutive tournament championship while Hilltop bested Bonita Vista, 8-4, to capture third place.

Both games were close in the early going. Otay Ranch was up 3-2, at halftime while Hilltop and Bonita Vista were tied 2-2 at the midpoint.

The remaining games were equally competitive.

Mar Vista edged Chula Vista, 1-0, in the fifth place game while Southwest nudged past San Ysidro, 1-0, in the seventh place game.

Besides friendly competition between the local teams, sportsmanship also was celebrated on the playing court.

“There was a lot of good competition — from first place to eighth place,” said Southwest coach Jerry Nestlerode, who served as tournament director. “It was a lot of fun.”

Wiser, the tournament’s namesake, served as the head coach at Chula Vista High School and later as an assistant coach at Southwest High School prior to her death in 2011. She championed fair play between teams and also helped serve as a role model for females during her decade-plus involvement in the coed sport.

Many regard her affectionately as the ultimate team mom.

The growth of female participation in roller hockey locally can be attributed to her pioneering efforts and for that she is fondly remembered. The tie-in to the Martin Luther King holiday weekend is a natural, according to Nestlerode.

“Her philosophy toward hockey was that anyone at any skill level could come out and play on the same rink,” Nestlerode said. “Congratulations to Eastlake for winning back-to-back championships and congratulations go to San Ysidro for experiencing their first tournament.

“The equality that Dr. King heralded was demonstrated throughout the tournament and supported Pam’s philosophy.”

An all-girls demonstration game held during a midday break helped foster friendship — as well as to further grow the sport — on the playing court.

Fourteen girls participated — 12 skaters and two goaltenders.

Southwest’s Kayleigh Andrew and Hilltop’s Kristen Lambertson both scored goals in a 1-1 tie.

“It was fun,” CVHS coach Caroline Talavera said. “It was nice to have a different environment (with the all-girls game). It was laid-back and we just have a good time with it. The girls did really well for never having played with each other; they just were learning each other’s names. They all did well for their first time together.”

Lambertson scored four goals in a 6-5 pool-round victory over Mar Vista to demonstrate just how deep the coed nature of the sport runs. She finished the tournament as Hilltop’s second-best scorer with seven goals.

Southwest’s Andrew, however, tops girls scorers this season after notching 11 goals in an 11-2 win over first year San Ysidro on Dec. 13.

While Andrew is a three-sport athlete (girls field hockey, coed roller hockey and softball), Lambertson said her sport of choice is hockey.

“I was born into a hockey family,” she said. “My dad coached. I’ve been playing my whole life.”
This is Lambertson’s third year on the Hilltop team.

“I like the coed nature,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s fast. I like to play something different, something else not everyone else is doing.”

Game on
The tournament featured two days of competition. Pool play took place the prior Saturday with each group of four teams competing in round-robin competition.

The top two teams in each group advanced to Monday’s Gold Division playoffs while the bottom two teams in each group advanced to Monday’s Silver Division playoffs.

Two semifinal games took place in both the Gold and Silver divisions to determine final placement games.

In the Silver Division semifinals, Chula Vista defeated Southwest, 3-0, on the strength of two goals from Adrian Hernandez and shutout goaltending by Gio Cimmino, while Mar Vista blanked San Ysidro, 8-0, behind four goals from Bryan Suarez and two goals and two assists from Isaac Suarez.

In the Gold Division semifinals, Otay Ranch defeated Hilltop, 6-3, as Paul Chavez chalked up five points on two goals and three assists while Eastlake topped Bonita Vista, 10-3, behind seven points (five goals, two assists) from sophomore Braden Mayer.

In the resulting fifth place game, Bryan Suarez, assisted by Isaac Suarez, scored the lone goal of the contest to put Mar Vista on top.

In the seventh place game, Katelynn George scored the game-winning goal for Southwest while goaltender Johanna Sartor stopped all the shots she faced in the game to post the shutout victory.

Bonita Vista held early leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the third place game before Hilltop rallied with four unanswered goals to lead 5-2. The Barons narrowed the score to 5-3 in the second half but the Lancers responded with a run of three unanswered goals to secure the victory.

Trevor Fune paced Hilltop with six goals and one assist while Lambertson and Isaiah Macias each were credited with single goals. Lambertson tied the game, 2-2, before Fune ripped off a string of four unanswered goals, including one while shorthanded, to put the Lancers ahead by three goals on the scoreboard.

Nick Stark keyed Bonita Vista with two goals and one assist while Robert Aviles and Bo Santos each tallied one goal in the loss. Stark scored the opening goal of the game on a power play.

Fune had two goals in the semifinal loss to the Mustangs while Stark scored all three Baron goals in the semifinal setback to the Titans.

The championship game proved one of two halves. Otay Ranch’s Sean Devaney put his team up early, 1-0, assisted by Chavez, before Mayer countered for Eastlake with a pair of goals to put the Titans up by a score of 2-1.

Devaney scored an unassisted goal to tie the game, 2-2, then scored off a pass from Chavez to give the Mustangs a 3-2 halftime lead.

But Eastlake did all the scoring in the second half, racking up a 10-0 advantage. Mayer had eight points to finish the game with seven goals and one assist.

Mayer swung the momentum back in the Titans’ favor in short order with goals 20 seconds apart in the early going of the second half to first tie the game, 3-3, and then place Eastlake in the lead at 4-3.

Will Hamilton collected one goal and four assists while Luke Killeen scored three goals, including one shorthanded goal. Jacob Powell had one goal in support of winning goaltender Elian Ramirez.

Otay Ranch goaltender J.T. Santiago kept his team in the contest with several eye-popping saves until the dam began to burst in the latter stages of the second half.

“We have a lot of great individual talent; we wear teams down,” said EHS head coach Rich Haislip, whose team improved to 12-0 on the season.

Mayer finished the two games on Monday with 15 points on 12 goals and three assists. He collected 18 points in three tournament games with 14 goals and four assists.

Eastlake posted three shutouts in pool play while outscoring teams 19-0. Otay Ranch won its three pool games by a combined score of 18-3.

Devaney collected seven points on six goals and one assist in Otay Ranch’s two games on Monday. He had three goals and an assist in the semifinal win over Hilltop.

Chavez keyed all players in tournament scoring with 21 points in five games — 11 goals and 10 assists. He collected two goals and four assists in Monday’s pair of playoff games.

Skills winners
Along with the all-girls demonstration game, a skills competition included awards for fastest skater, top goaltender and best shooter.

Bonita Vista’s Santos (17.83 seconds) edged Hilltop’s Lambertson (18.16 seconds) to win the fastest skater contest.

Mar Vista’s Isaac Suarez won the best shooter award while Chula Vista’s Cimmino earned the top goaltender award.

Originally, all 10 district teams were scheduled to play in the tournament but Castle Park and Sweetwater both withdrew the week prior to the event.

Bonita Optimist Pam Wiser Classic
Pool Play
Saturday, Jan. 13
Group A
Otay Ranch 4, Chula Vista 0
Bonita Vista 8, San Ysidro 1
Otay Ranch 7, Bonita Vista 3
Chula Vista 3, San Ysidro 0
Otay Ranch 7, San Ysidro 0
Bonita Vista 2, Chula Vista 0
Records: Otay Ranch 3-0, Bonita Vista 2-1, Chula Vista 1-2, San Ysidro 0-3

Group B
Eastlake 7, Mar Vista 0
Hilltop 4, Southwest 0
Eastlake 4, Southwest 0
Hilltop 6, Mar Vista 5
Mar Vista 3, Southwest 0
Eastlake 8, Hilltop 0
Records: Eastlake 3-0, Hilltop 2-1, Mar Vista 1-2, Southwest 0-3

Playoff Brackets
Monday, Jan. 15
Silver Division
Semifinal: Chula Vista 3, Southwest 0
Semifinal: Mar Vista 8, San Ysidro 0
Fifth place: Mar Vista 1, Chula Vista 0
Seventh place: Southwest 1, San Ysidro 0

Gold Division
Semifinal: Otay Ranch 6, Hilltop 3
Semifinal: Eastlake 10, Bonita Vista 3
Third place: Hilltop 8, Bonita Vista 4
Championship: Eastlake 12, Otay Ranch 3

Tournament Scoring Leaders
Paul Chavez (Otay Ranch) 11 goals, 10 assists – 21 points
Braden Mayer (Eastlake) 14 goals, 4 assists – 18 points
Luke Killeen (Eastlake) 9 goals, 4 assists – 13 points
Will Hamilton (Eastlake) 6 goals, 7 assists – 13 points
Nick Stark (Bonita Vista) 10 goals, 2 assists – 12 points
Trevor Fune (Hilltop) 8 goals, 0 assists – 8 points
Bo Santos (Bonita Vista) 6 goals, 2 assists – 8 points
Kristen Lambertson (Hilltop) 7 goals, 0 assists – 7 points
Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch) 6 goals, 1 assist – 7 points
Jacob Powell (Eastlake) 5 goals, 2 assists – 7 points
Ryan Strodman (Otay Ranch) 6 goals, 0 assists – 6 points
Bryan Suarez (Mar Vista) 6 goals, 0 assists – 6 points
Kevin Eagles (Eastlake) 4 goals, 2 assists – 6 points
Isaac Suarez (Mar Vista) 3 goals, 3 assists – 6 points
Van Brown (Mar Vista) 4 goals, 1 assist – 5 points
Lucio Gutierrez (Chula Vista) 3 goals, 1 assist – 4 points
Anna Custodio (Bonita Vista) 2 goals, 2 assists – 4 points
Isaiah Pelayo (Chula Vista) 1 goal, 3 assists – 4 points

Metro Conference Standings
Sweetwater district schools
(Through Jan. 15)

Mesa League
League/Overall
Eastlake Titans 5-0, 12-0
Castle Park Trojans 3-2, 4-2
Otay Ranch Mustangs 2-2, 7-4
Hilltop Lancers 2-3, 7-5
Bonita Vista Barons 0-5, 2-8

South Bay League
League/Overall
Chula Vista 4-1, 6-5
Mar Vista 3-1, 6-5
Southwest 3-1, 4-6
Sweetwater 1-3, 1-5
San Ysidro 0-5, 0-10

CIF-Metro Conference Scoring Leaders
Sweetwater district teams
(Through Jan. 15)
Braden Mayer (Eastlake) 35 goals, 13 assists – 48 points
Will Hamilton (Eastlake) 27 goals, 15 assists – 42 points
Luke Killeen (Eastlake) 31 goals, 10 assists – 41 points
Paul Chavez (Otay Ranch) 21 goals, 13 assists – 34 points
Trevor Fune (Hilltop) 26 goals, 1 assist – 27 points
Sean Devaney (Otay Ranch) 23 goals, 3 assists – 26 points
Martin Mari (Castle Park) 21 goals, 4 assists – 25 points
Nick Stark (Bonita Vista) 16 goals, 3 assist – 19 points
Eleazar Cruz (Castle Park) 14 goals, 4 assists – 18 points
Jake Powell (Eastlake) 10 goals, 7 assists – 17 points
Lucio Gutierrez (Chula Vista) 11 goals, 5 assists – 16 points
Kevin Eagles (Eastlake) 12 goals, 3 assist – 15 points
Kayleigh Andrew (Southwest) 13 goals, 1 assists – 14 points
Adrian Hernandez (Chula Vista) 10 goals, 4 assists – 14 points
Jacinto Montalvan (Hilltop) 10 goals, 3 assists – 13 points
Isaac Suarez (Mar Vista) 8 goals, 3 assists – 11 points
Bryan Suarez (Mar Vista) 10 goals, 0 assists – 10 points
Van Brown (Mar Vista) 9 goals, 1 assists – 10 points
Bo Santos (Bonita Vista) 6 goals, 3 assists – 9 points
Ryan Strodtman (Otay Ranch) 8 goals, 0 assists – 8 points
Kristen Lambertson (Hilltop) 7 goals, 1 assist – 8 points
Jonathan McCormick (Eastlake) 5 goals, 2 assists – 7 points
Casey Prenatt (Otay Ranch) 4 goals, 3 assists – 7 points
Marco Macias (Eastlake) 5 goals, 1 assist – 6 points
Adam Yoshinaga (Mar Vista) 3 goals, 2 assists – 5 points
Anna Custodio (Bonita Vista) 2 goals, 3 assists – 5 points
Isaiah Pelayo (Chula Vista) 2 goals, 2 assists – 4 points
Jesus Gonzalez (Castle Park) 3 goals, 1 assist – 4 points
Jonathan McCormick (Eastlake) 3 goals, 1 assist – 4 points
Percilla Mayer (Eastlake) 2 goal, 2 assists – 4 points
Michael Munoz (Mar Vista) 2 goals, 2 assists – 4 points

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