Monte Vista High School finished on top of the Grossmont Hills League table with a 7-2-1 league record ahead of runner-up Steele Canyon (6-2-2). It proved to be a very competitive league as both the Monarchs and Cougars went on to capture section titles in their respective divisions.
“We’ve had a competitive season,” Monte Vista head coach Antonio Levenant said. “We’ve beaten some Division I teams, teams that have gone Open through Division II. I don’t think we’ve lost to a Division I team this year. We still have a young team — about 70 percent underclassmen. The core of our team is our junior class. We have two freshmen who start.”
Monte Vista entered the division championship game playing like a champion with 94 goals scored against 38 allowed.
Top scorers included senior Jesua Castillo with 34 goals, junior Anthony Lillo-Granger with 20 goals and junior Abdiel Castillo with 15 goals.
“We’re a very fast-paced team,” Levenant said. “We like to attack.”
The Monarchs dispatched their opening two opponents with nine goals – 5-0 over ninth-seeded Santana in the quarterfinals and 4-1 over fourth-seeded Pacific Ridge in the semifinals.
It didn’t take long for sixth-seeded Olympian — 6-1 winners over 11th-seeded Valley Center in the opening round, 2-0 upset winners over third-seeded La Jolla Country Day in the quarterfinals and 2-1 upset winners in overtime over second-seeded Vista in the semifinals — to discover just how fast the Spring Valley team likes to attack.
Jesua Castillo opened scoring just five minutes into the game and Olympian senior goalkeeper David Medina was kept very active smothering and blocking shots for most of the first half to keep the Monarchs from running away with the score.
The Eagles managed to tie the game, 1-1, on a goal against the run of play by senior Caleb Castro in the 20th minute.
But Abdiel Castillo put the Grossmont Hills League champions back in front, 2-1, on a blast that slipped just under the crossbar and out of Medina’s reach with five minutes remaining in the first half.
The Eagles started to slow down the game to their advantage as the half wore on. Senior Nick Jester scored on a free kick to tie the game, 2-2, with 28 minutes to play in regulation time.
Playing under a rising full moon, the Monarchs returned to attacking and recorded two near-misses before time ran out to usher in overtime. Medina smothered a shot in front of the net just seconds before the overtime ended.
Monte Vista nearly won it in the 15-minute sudden victory overtime period when Medina was forced to tip a screaming shot over the crossbar.
The deadlock through 105 minutes necessitated the kicks-from-the-mark tiebreaker. It’s not the ideal way to settle a game but at least each team gets an equal chance to scurry off with a mandated victory.
Jesua Castillo and Olympian’s first shooter each scored in the first round. Medina stopped Monte Vista’s Jason Flores to start the second round but Olympian captain Alex Shepard followed with a shot that glanced down off the crossbar, landing in front of the goal line to keep the shootout tied at a goal apiece.
Monte Vista’s Benjamin Salazar scored, and Monarch goalkeeper Gerardo Alfaro Paez followed with a save to put the Spring Valley team in the lead at 2-1. But Monte Vista’s Luis Robledo hit the post and that allowed Olympian to level the shootout at 2-2.
Monte Vista’s Issac Gonzalez opened the deciding fifth round with a goal and Alfaro Paez promptly flew to his left to nudge the Eagles’ final shot wide for the game-saving block and a 3-2 shootout victory.
The win was heaven-sent, according to Monarch players.
“Honestly, it was God’s will,” Alfaro Paez said. “I asked Him for help, and He answered my prayer. When I blocked it, there were a lot of emotions. I didn’t know if I had tipped it wide until I saw everyone celebrating.”
Alfaro Paez knelt in front of the vacant net in gratitude following the save. Teammates then rushed onto the field to swamp him in celebration.
“God led us here,” Jesua Castillo said. “I’ve been praying every practice, every match. He never fails. God kept his promise like He always does.”
“It feels great,” Levenant said in regard to the school’s first CIF title in the sport. “We put a lot of hard work into this thing. It came down to the wire. It’s the first CIF championship for the school. There were a lot of emotions going through me at the start of the game, but I tried to stay calm as an example to the team. The first goal gave us a spark, but I expected it to be a good competitive game.”
It was.
“We fell behind, but we battled back each time,” Olympian coach Joey Gonzalez said. “We had a good run in the playoffs. We almost got it. Once it goes to PKs, it’s a coin-toss. It’s hard not to be upset about how it ended. It was a great year.”
But indeed, a tough way to end it.
“When you get to this point in the game, the net shrinks,” Gonzalez said. “The pressure on these young men is huge. It’s tough.”
“We always step up when it counts,” Shepard said. “But it just didn’t work this time. I’m just happy I got to play with these boys out there.”
Sportsmanship awards went to Monte Vista’s Luciano Hermosillo and Olympian’s Medina.
While the Monarchs will return the bulk of their speedy and talented lineup, the Eagles graduate 13 seniors.
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Levenant is coaching his fourth season with the Monarchs. In that span, he’s won three league titles — the Grossmont Valley League championship his first season and back-to-back league titles the last two years, one each in the Grossmont Valley League and now the Grossmont Hills League.
“Three or four years ago, I picked up a lot of freshmen,” Levenant said. “Some of these guys will graduate with three league titles and some with two league titles.”
This was the teams’ third meeting on the season, with the Eagles failing to beat the Monarchs in each encounter. The teams played to a 2-2 draw in pool play in the Grossmont Conference Holiday Tournament before Monte Vista topped Olympian, 6-3, in the tournament semifinals.
The third try was obviously the closest, and the Eagles certainly had their chances to record that first win in both overtime and the KFM tiebreaker.
Olympian won a San Diego County Cup division title on Dec. 30 (4-1 over Southwest El Centro) and then proceeded to capture the Metro-South Bay League title with a 5-0-1 league record.
“We only lost one game after winning the County Cup,” Gonzalez said. “That pointed us in the right direction.”
Gonzalez said he believes the team’s 18 wins might be a high mark for the team in a single season.
Junior Diego Valles had two goals in the opening-round win over Valley Center while seniors Nick Jester, Shepard and Flavio Mora Gil and sophomore Jesus Ortiz each scored one goal.
Mora Gil and sophomore Dylan Loe each scored goals in the shutout win over LJCD.
