Perfect 10

The Jesuit-Carmichael soccer dynasty has little trouble adding ring No. 10. 

By JIM McCUE | Senior Contributor

As the winningest boys’ soccer coach in state history, Jesuit-Carmichael’s Paul Rose is no stranger to his Marauders claiming Sac-Joaquin Section titles. But the fact that this year’s team, ranked No. 3 nationally in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings, won the program’s tenth section championship with such ease was a mild surprise to Rose, who is in his 34th year of coaching.

“It was a little bit of a surprise, but we scored very quickly and played very well in big games this year,” he said. “I felt that if we got an early goal that it would lead to more goals.”

That was certainly the case as Jesuit jumped out to a quick lead en route to a 5-0 victory in which Rose was able to clear his bench and get his full roster playing time in the section final. 

The Marauders (27-1-1) expected a strong challenge from the Grizzlies, who handed Jesuit its lone tie early in the season, but overwhelmed Granite Bay in the final as they did to so many teams throughout the season.

Senior midfielder Niko Hansen and a deep compliment of talented teammates made sure that Granite Bay (20-4-1) had no chance in the title match. Hansen scored in the second minute of play by flicking in a corner kick sent into the middle by Anthony Ayala, and added two more goals to record hat tricks in both the section semifinals and finals.

“Niko has a nice combination of speed, strength, quickness, and skill that make him very difficult to defend,” Rose said of the team’s leading scorer. “He is special, for sure, but it helps if you have more than one talented player attacking.”

Rose said senior strikers Kaba Alkebulan and Miguel De Sousa, and junior Evan Barrett comprised “the best front line I have seen in my 34 years of coaching.” And the trio made Hansen a more dangerous threat.

Barrett added a goal in the eighth minute to break the game open, and the offense rolled the rest of the afternoon. The quick strikes ensured that the Marauders would not have to endure the heartbreak of a section final loss in penalty kicks, as they did a year ago against longtime rival Davis. 

With the scoring handled, Jesuit’s stingy defense anchored by sophomore goalkeeper Luc Barbe recorded its 23rd shutout of the season to tie a state record.

The Division I championship was Jesuit’s third in the last four years. Granite Bay, making its first appearance in the top division, finished as runner-up for the second consecutive year. The Grizzlies fell to Bella Vista in the Division II final in 2011.

DIVISION II
Bella Vista-Fair Oaks 2, Turlock 1 (5-4 on penalty kicks): The Broncos found themselves in unfamiliar territory before finding their way to a familiar spot at the top of the Div. II field. Bella Vista (20-0-2) trailed at halftime for the first time all season, and needed an extra round of penalty kicks to finally vanquish pesky Turlock to win its second consecutive Div. II title and fourth in seven years.

“I didn’t worry too much about the fact that they scored,” Bella Vista coach Zack Contreras said of his team’s halftime deficit. “I knew that we would score, but just didn’t know when or how many.”

After the intermission, it took just four minutes to deadlock the score at 1-1, but the Broncos could not penetrate the Bulldogs’ crowded defensive set for the remainder of the game and overtime. Only Matt Waldron found the back of the Turlock net when Stefan Sarkovich sent a corner kick to the near post that Trevor Jackson headed on to Waldron for the equalizer.

With the score tied, Bella Vista dominated the possession, but would have to rely on its freshman goalkeeper to preserve the team’s unblemished record and first-ever back-to-back section titles. 

Drake Callendar, one of just three underclassmen in the Broncos’ starting lineup, saved two penalty kicks, including the final attempt by Turlock to extend the tiebreaker further. After senior Tyler Miguel buried the ball in the back of the net to give Bella Vista the advantage, Callendar blocked a hard shot to set off the Broncos’ celebration.

“It would have been disappointing to lose with the team we had,” Contreras said. “With the caliber of players we had, anything short of a championship would have been tough to take.”

DIVISION III

River Valley-Yuba City 2, Central Valley-Ceres 0: Alfredo Hernandez scored both goals for the Falcons (10-2-3), who handed Central Valley its third title match loss in four years. River Valley relied on its defense and taking advantage of the few opportunities on offense that it had to capture the Div. III championship. Often loading their own penalty box with six or seven defenders, the Falcons frustrated and stymied Central Valley’s potent offense, which featured a pair of talented attackers in Diego Duran (22 goals) and Omar Orozco (19 goals). River Valley goalkeeper Triston Montoya made just three saves for the shutout as the Hawks (24-3-2) could not finish despite dominating possession for most of the match.

DIVISION IV 

Vista del Lago-Folsom 1, Galt 0: The Eagles capped their season with a third consecutive Div. IV title with a narrow defeat of their Sierra Valley Conference rival. Vista del Lago (14-2-2) had split a pair of regular season games with Galt (17-4-1), but won the important rubber match. Matt Raymond set up Will Dubay for the game’s lone score and the Eagles posted their seventh shutout of the season. Vista del Lago did not allow a goal in three playoff games, outscoring opponents 4-0 in the postseason.