Records are not necessarily kept on such a topic but with 12 Metro Conference teams advancing to last weekend’s San Diego Section soccer and basketball championship games — with six coming out victorious — it has to either be a record for most teams advancing to CIF finals in one sports season, or darn near close to it.
“Just impressive, that’s what it is,” Metro Conference athletics director Alex Estrada said.
The conference’s CIF honor roll included the following finalists:
•Girls soccer (four teams): No. 2 Eastlake (Open Division), No. 3 Mater Dei Catholic (Division I), No. 5 Bonita Vista (Division I) and No. 2 Mar Vista (Division V).
•Boys basketball (three teams: No. 3 Montgomery (Open Division), No. 1 Olympian (Division III) and No. 1 Southwest (Division IV).
•Boys soccer (three teams): No. 6 Olympian (Division III). No. 3 Mater Dei Catholic (Division IV) and No. 2 Castle Park (Division V).
•Girls basketball (two teams): No. 2 Victory Christian Academy (Division II) and No. 1 Montgomery (Division III).
When the final whistle, buzzer or horn sounded, five teams were left parading around the playing court with coveted section titles. They included:
•Bonita Vista (girls soccer)
•Castle Park (boys soccer)
•Olympian (boys basketball)
•Mar Vista (girls soccer)
•Montgomery (girls basketball)
Runner-up teams included:
•Eastlake (girls soccer)
•Mater Dei Catholic (boys soccer, girls soccer)
•Montgomery (boys basketball)
•Olympian (boys soccer)
•Southwest (boys basketball)
•Victory Christian Academy (girls basketball)
Add to all that success, the Olympian girls wrestling team which captured the Division I team title three weekends earlier.
The Metro Conference also qualified six individuals (four boys, two girls) for last weekend’s state championship tournament in Bakersfield.
Making waves
Mar Vista was the the new kids on the block with its first appearance in a section final and the Lady Mariners did not let that feat go by the wayside after defeating top-seeded O’Farrell Charter, 2-1, in the Division V girls soccer finals on Feb. 22.
The Lady Mariners took a 1-0 lead with 17:00 left in the first half on a booming shot by Liz Verduzco from outside the penalty arc.
Mar Vista continued to stick to its solid game plan despite the lady Falcons netting the equalizing goal with 26:00 to play in regulation.
The Imperial Beach team continued to play tactical defense by clearing any seemingly dangerous ball over the touch line. This took time off the clock and necessitated O’Farrell to restart on offense.
The game-winner came with two minutes to play in regulation from Danika Amaya.
The Lady Falcons did not give up while facing imminent defeat and Mar Vista goalkeeper Amanda Arehart was forced to make a diving save as time expired to finally secure the history-making place-finish.
“We had to stay to our game plan to be successful,” MVHS coach Gisela Wolfe said. “I’ve coached this team for 20 years and that was our one item (winning the CIF title) what we hadn’t been able to accomplish before.”
Sportsmanship award winners included Mar Vista’s Sidne Pacheco and O’Farrell’s Angie Mata.
Mar Vista (17-7-2) qualified for the Division V Southern California regionals but failed to advance past the first round following a 3-2 loss at second-seeded Bell Gardens (17-12-2) on Feb. 27.
Mar Vista finished 3-2-2 in third place in the Metro-Pacific League standings before receiving the No. 2 seed in the Division V section playoffs. The Lady Mariners kicked offxxx the division playoffs with a 6-1 quarterfinal win over seventh-seeded Lincoln and followed with a 1-0 win over third-seeded Southwest El Centro in the semifinals.
O’Farrell Charter (15-4-2) defeated eighth-seeded Castle Park, 4-1, in the quarterfinals and fifth-seeded Holtville, 3-1, in the semifinals to draw Mar Vista in the championship game.
The Lady Falcons finished second to the Chula Vista League Community Charter Cobras (8-0) in the Frontier-Summit League standings with a 6-2 record.
CVLCC (15-3-2) received the No. 12 seed in the Division III playoffs after defeating Montgomery, 2-1, in a play-in game but could not get past fifth-seeded Pacific Ridge (4-1 loss) in the opening round.
Top-seeded Rancho Buena Vista (16-3-4) defeated third-seeded Central Union (19-5-2) by a 1-0 score to capture the Division III section title.
Top-seeded Diamond Ranch (23-4) blanked Bell Gardens, 4-0, to win the regional championship.
Next level
Of that heavy load of 12 section finalists, eight teams qualified for this week’s Southern California regional playoffs,
Regional qualifiers included:
•Bonita Vista (girls soccer and girls basketball)
•Castle Park (boys soccer)
•Eastlake (girls soccer)
•Mar Vista (girls soccer)
•Montgomery (girls basketball, boys basketball)
•Olympian (boys basketball)
After Tuesday’s quarterfinals, three remained in the hunt for state titles: Bonita Vista (girls soccer), Castle Park (boys soccer), Montgomery (girls basketball).
Southern California regional championship games in soccer are scheduled Saturday, March 2.
The regional basketball semifinals are scheduled Saturday, followed by regionalchampionship games on Tuesday, March 5.
Almost famous
There could have been even more local teams in the section finals.
•Hilltop came up short, 3-0, to San Marcos in the Division II boys soccer semifinals.
•Victory Christian Academy came up short, 66-63, to University City in the Division II boys basketball semifinals.
Ocean View Christian Academy came up short, 41-15, to Escondido Adventist in the Division V-AA girls basketball semifinals.
For updates, visit the websites at www.cifsds.org and www.cifstate.org.
