The second round of league play is starting this week for Mesa League boys lacrosse teams. That means teams that came up short in the first round have had time to correct their mistakes and present a challenge in the rematch.
The Otay Ranch Mustangs and Bonita Vista Barons had quite a first-round encounter on Monday, with the Mustangs topping the host Barons, 8-7, in overtime.
The teams rematch May 3 at Otay Ranch High School in the final league game of regular season play. Will it have an impact on the league championship?
It will be interesting to find out.
Otay Ranch improved to 3-1 in league play following Monday’s win, hiking its overall record to 7-3 in the process.
The Mustangs’ lone league loss was 15-12 at Eastlake on April 5. Eastlake entered Thursday’s scheduled match against visiting Bonita Vista leading the league with a 4-0 record.
Otay Ranch hosts Eastlake on Monday, April 23, at 6 p.m. The game could go a long way to determinie which team captures this year’s league title outright or if a co-championship might be on order.
None of the other teams are ready to chuck in their seasons, however. The Barons are 2-2 in league play, 6-8 overall.
Monday’s matchup at BVHS proved that any team, it seems, can beat the other on any given day, regardless of records.
First-year Otay Ranch coach Tom Pineda likes the direction his team is going.
“The team has really come up,” Pineda said. “They dig deep in the third and fourth quarters in each game.
“If these boys keep it up over the rest of the season, we’ll be one very improved team.”
The Mustangs had tied the game, 6-6, on a goal by Jacob Ramirez with 11:53 to play in the fourth quarter. It came just over a minute later after the hosts had taken the lead at 6-5.
Diego Posada gave the Barons a 7-6 lead with 7:14 to play until Ramirez tied the game, 7-7, on a goal with 6:52 remaining.
Bonita Vista held possession for the majority of the final three minutes in regulation play, but a maze of passes did not result in the game-winning goal.
The overtime period started in much the same fashion with the Barons maintaining ball possession.
Ramirez seized control of a loose ball, however, and raced down field to score the game-wining goal for the visitors.
“I told them if they got possession, I wanted two passes and a goal,” Pineda said.
The Mustangs didn’t need to pass the ball on the breakaway.
Ramirez finished the game with four goals and two assists. Ray Taylor chalked up two goals while Sean Devaney and Chico Flores each contributed one goal and one assist.
J.T. Santiago, who played roller hockey along with Devaney during the winter sports season, received the goalkeeper win for Otay Ranch.
Billy Esparza and Michael Lopez led the Barons with two goals each. Esparza paced Bonita Vista with five goals in a 13-7 league win at Hilltop on April 12 while Lopez scored three times.
