The Otay Ranch Mustangs and Bonita Vista Barons played to a thrilling overtime finish in last year’s San Diego Section Division III quarterfinals, with the Mustangs pulling out an 8-7 win to make a history-making trek to the CIF semifinals.
Bonita Vista edged Otay Ranch, 13-9, in their first meeting this season but it was the Mustangs’ turn to glow in the victory circle again after posting a hard-fought 8-7 overtime win Wednesday night at the Southwestern College pool.
Both teams are now 2-2 in Mesa League play.
“We started off strong and got caught at the end,” Otay Ranch head coach Matt Chism explained. “We lost our structure and came away (with the win) by staying calm and not playing too excited.”
Eugenio Revilla scored with 37 seconds left in the second three-minute overtime period to finally settle the outcome of the game as the Mustangs rallied from a goal down in the first three-minute overtime period to prevail.
Diego Gomez gave Bonita Vista (13-5 overall) a 7-6 lead off a feed from goalie Diego Sanchez
Otay Ranch scored the only two goals of the second OT stanza. Cooper Mestre tied the game, 7-7, and after a hit posts by BV’s Emiliano Castro, Revilla got his chance to score cross cage from the near post past Sanchez.
The Barons had a goal by Gomez disallowed with four seconds left in regulation play.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak by Bonita Vista.
“We seem to start out slow and fight back strong,” BVHS head coach Betty Alexander said. “Tight games are always the hardest to lose.”
The Mustangs (11-9 overall) roared out of the gate by taking a 4-1 lead in the first quarter on a pair of goals each by Angel Aguiar and Eddie Rosenfeld. The Barons got one goal back by Christian Montoya but Aguiar scored his third goal of the game early in the second quarter to spike Otay Ranch’s lead to 5-1.
Bonita Vista reeled off five consecutive goals to take a 6-5 lead at the end of three quarters.
Castro scored twice and Gomez added a goal as the Barons trailed, 5-4, at halftime. Castro scored his third and fourth goals of the game in the third quarter as Bonita Vista took a one-goal lead.
Rosenfeld evened the score, 6-6, on a five-meter penalty shot that turned out to stand as the only goal of the fourth quarter despite a flurry of scoring chances by both teams.
Otay Ranch had an opportunity to win the game on a six-on-five in the final minute of regulation play but Sanchez blocked a rocket shot by Aguiar with 32 seconds left.
Conversely, BV’s Gomez appeared to score off a restart only to have the goal disallowed on a technicality.
“That changed the momentum right there,” Alexander said.
Sanchez, who is averaging 16 blocks per game, played up to form while Mustang goalie Matt Olimski was credited with 22 blocks.
The overtime game was the second straight in league play for the Barons, who out-lasted defending league champion Mar Vista, 14-12, in a marathon match-up Oct. 8 at SWC. Gomez scored with 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime against the Mariners.
With the game deadlocked at 10 goals apiece, Ezekiel Flores scored two goals and Castro scored once in the first OT period while Flores added another goal in the second OT period. Sanchez had 18 saves in the game, regulation and overtime combined.
Faux Mahan led Mar Vista (0-2 in league, 3-9 overall) with six goals.
“The whole game it was they scored, we scored,” Alexander said. “They opened up a two-goal lead at the beginning and then we caught up.”
The Barons opened this year’s East County Invitational with an 11-6 loss to Clairemont on Oct. 5 and then won their four remaining games to place ninth overall. Bonita Vista defeated Pacific Ridge (13-3) and Mission Bay (12-8) last Friday and followed with wins over Monte Vista (12-3) and El Capitan (12-6) on Saturday.
Otay Ranch placed sixth in the ECI with a 3-2 record. The Mustangs scored tournament wins over Mission Bay (9-5), Clairemont (8-7) and Classical Academy (12-1) and dropped match-ups against West Hills (10-9) and Clairemont (10-8).
Titans stay afloat with 15-9 win over Lancers
Eastlake improved to 4-0 in Mesa League play by defeating Hilltop for the second time in as many games. The Titans led 9-3 at halftime and 13-6 after three quarters in Wednesday evening’s match-up at the SWC pool.
Nate Niehaus and Will Johnston each had five goals for Eastlake’s while Mitch Lannom scored three times.
EHS head coach Austin Legg said neither team had a real edge after playing the first time – a 15-8 Titan victory on Oct. 8 at the Parkway pool.
“Both team were able to see what the other guy had and make their adjustments,” explained Legg, whose team improved to 10-7 overall. “In a small pool, you’ve got to keep to the game plan and, as the game progresses, you have to execute it even more.
“We count-attacked very well. I thought we kept the turnovers to a minimum.”
Eastlake entered the week seventh in the Division II power rankings — up from 10th the previous week.
“We’ve moving up little by little,” Legg said. “The points are all close in the top 10.”
Hilltop, which entered the week ranked second among Division III teams, saw its record dip to 1-2 in leaguer, 7-3 overall. The Lancers defeated Monte Vista, 14-7, in a non-league game Tuesday in Spring Valley.
Anthony Torroll led Hilltop with four goals in Wednesday’s loss to Eastlake while Josh Fischer had two goals and Emilio Cruz, S. Gutierrez and Andy Uribe each had one goal.
Olympian Eagles go up 3-0 in South Bay League play
The Olympian High School boys water polo team has started to pile up the wins after a slow start to the season. The Eagles improved to 3-0 in South Bay League play after defeating host Southwest, 19-7, on Monday and visiting San Ysidro, 10-9, Wednesday night. Wednesday’s contest served as a match-up of last year’s South Bay league leaders.
Olympian (5-5 overall) has won five of its last seven games and four of its last five after finishing 2-3 in last week’s East County Invitational.
D.J. O’Brien (six goals, one assist) and Brandon Sanchez (five goals, two assists) each finished with seven points in the win over Southwest while Alan Contreras, Noah Collins and Austin Greenwell each scored two goals. Eagles goalie Anthony Segarra made 17 saves on 24 shots.
Olympian picked up two key Division III wins over High Tech San Diego (8-7) and Mission Bay (10-9) in the tournament. The wins upped the Eagles to No. 9 in the division power rankings — seemingly a solid playoff perch.
D.J. O’Brien led the Eagles with three goals and two assists in Wednesday’s game while Austin Greenwell and Noah Collins each scored two goals and one assist. Anthony Segarra had 11 goalie saves on 20 shots.
“We’re playing much better,” Olympian coach Carolyn Lechner said. “The tournament was the turning point in our season.”
San Ysidro dropped to 2-1 in league play, 2-12 overall. The Cougars defeated Chula Vista, 12-5, on Monday after opening league play with a 14-3 win over Southwest on Oct. 7.
