SD Prep Sports: Prep Roller Hockey

www.sdprepsports.com

E-mail us at sdprepsports@cox.net

Home   Swimming/Diving   Cross Country  Track & Field   Roller Hockey   Water Polo   CIF Scorecard

2010 Prep Roller Hockey
San Diego Section/Metro Conference

Wolverines regroup, win another CIF hockey banner
Westview shut outs West Hills, 2-0, for fourth Kiwanis Cup title in six years

The big question mark all season long had been the final order of finish among the top four teams to gain entry into this year’s CIF-Metro Conference semifinals. The two semifinal winners would obviously play in the championship game. But the addition of a third place game for the first time further spiced up the proceedings.

The second-seeded West Hills Wolf Pack and the fourth-seeded Westview Wolverines both captured semifinal thrillers to meet in this year’s title game, played March 2 at the Escondido Sports Center.

The top-seeded Rancho Bernardo Broncos and the third-seeded Poway Titans, meanwhile, rolled to a finish in the third place game.

In both instances, the underdog prevailed.

Westview won its third consecutive Kiwanis Cup championship by recording a 2-0 victory over West Hills, which was fielding its best-ever team.

Prior to that, Poway set the stage with a dramatic 5-3 victory over the Broncos.

Rancho Bernardo, the team picked to win it all, finished fourth while Westview, a team reeling somewhat with four losses in its final six games, wound up winning it all.

Some 2010-11 season, in fact.

The Wolverines (17-6) received a pair of goals from Dillon Dixon and goaltender Greg Kurth recorded a rate shutout victory to stymie the Wolf Pack’s championship aspirations.

Dixon put Westview up 1-0 on a goal scored almost exactly midway through the first period, set up by Decker Seilhan. Dixon then doubled the Wolverines’ lead with 5:16 left in the middle period, this time set up by teammate Rishad Dalal.

Kurth took care of the rest with several brilliant and timely saves. West Hills went 0-for-4 on the power play, including a man-power situation in the final five minutes of the third period. The Wolf Pack also came up empty on two second period power play opportunities.

Likewise, the West Hills defense was up to the task — holding Westview scoreless on two power plays, including a pair in the first period.

The Wolf Pack finished the season 20-3, with two losses to the Wolverines.

Westview matches Scripps Ranch (2003-05) with three consecutive conference championships. The Wolverines have now won four Kiwanis Cup championships during their six years as a conference member (2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011).

RB won Kiwanis Cup titles in 2007 and 2008 to maintain the North County League’s dominance in the sport.

Poway 5, Rancho Bernardo 3
The Broncos (18-5) got the first goal of the game but the Titans (15-8) stormed back with three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead after the first period. Poway did not look back after that, going up 4-1 on a goal with 4:19 elapsed in the second period.

The Broncos did get closer to make for an interesting finish as Brian Gravelle scored midway through both the second and third periods to narrow the Titan lead to 4-3.

But Poway sealed its third place finish on a goal scored with 58 seconds to play by Conner Liebman, assisted by A.J. Wright.

Ryan Hockett led the Titans in the game with two goals and one assist while Wright also scored once to go with his assist for two points. Ian Busch also was credited with one goal while Spencer Oliver was credited with one assist.

Jake Troyer opened scoring for the Broncos, assisted by Zach Semonian. Gravelle’s third period goal, also set up by Semonian, came on a power play.

RB also had another man-up situation after closing to within 4-3 but could not capitalize.

Poway was whistled for four penalties in the game and gave up one power play goal. The Broncos were not called for a penalty in the game.

Championship Finals
Final order of finish
1. Westview Wolverines (seeded fourth), 17-6
2. West Hills Wolf Pack (seeded second), 20-3
3. Poway Titans (seeded third), 15-8
4. Rancho Bernardo Broncos (seeded first), 18-5

Final Playoff Rankings
1. Westview Wolverines (17-6)
2. West Hills Wolf Pack (20-3)
3. Poway Titans (15-8)
4. Rancho Bernardo Broncos (18-5)
5. Scripps Ranch (8-13)
6. Cathedral Catholic (13-8)
7. La Jolla Country Day (11-11)
8. Otay Ranch Mustangs (12-10)
9. Eastlake Titans (9-12)
10. Mar Vista Mariners (11-10)

Westview to go for another title, will face West Hills in 2011 Kiwanis Cup championship game

Posted March 1, 2011
At the beginning of this season, Westview High School roller hockey coach Mike Kurth sat down with his team and didn’t talk about defending the Wolverines’ Kiwanis Cup championship. Instead, he spoke to his team about winning another one.

Westview will get a chance to do just that Wednesday, March 2, at the Escondido Sports Center after defeating the top-seeded Rancho Bernardo Broncos, 6-5, in overtime in Monday’s semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Wolverines (16-6) will meet the second-seeded West Hills Wolf Pack (20-2) in the championship game, slated for 7:50 p.m. Prior to the playoff’s marquee match-up, Rancho Bernardo (18-4) will meet third-seeded Poway (14-8) in the third place game, set for a 6:55 p.m. start.

West Hills topped Poway, 4-2, in Monday’s other semifinal contest.

The Wolverines have won the last two Kiwanis Cup titles and will be bidding to make it three straight, which would match the three consecutive championships won by Scripps Ranch from 2003 to 2005.

Dillon Dixon scored the decisive overtime goal to put Westview in position to win another championship. Dixon’s game-winner negated a valiant comeback by the Broncos. Rancho Bernardo trailed 5-2 entering the final period but received goals from Kyle Shafer, Brian Gravelle and Cruz Major to tie the score at five-all.

Kyle Clements set up Dixon’s game-winner to spoil’s the Broncos’ rally.

Westview received goals from six different players to secure the victory. The Wolverines skated to a 3-2 first period advantage on goals by Clements, Willie Morrison and Decker Seilhan and tallied the only two goals of the second period scored by Hunter Weinstein and Chris Lee.

Clements and Morrison finished the game with a goal and assist each while Cody Wadstrom was credited with two assists.

RB actually notched the game’s jump goal, scored by Gravelle 4:10 into the contest. Westview, however, scored the next two goals to lead 2-1. The Broncos tied the game at 2-2 on a goal by Shafer with 7:00 left in the period. But the Wolverines went ahead to stay on Seilhan’s goal with 4:20 to play in the opening period.

Gravell’s second goal of the game trimmed the Westview lead to 5-4 with 4:35 to play in regulation, and Major sent the game into a deadlock at five goals apiece when he scored with 2:15 remaining in the third period.

Rancho Bernardo was not whistled for any penalties in the contest while the Wolverines successfully killed off two infractions, including a tripping minor late in the third period.

West Hills is fielding the school’s best-ever team and secured the Wolf Pack’s best-ever finish by taking command early against the Titans. Zack Peters and Spencer Galaas each scored first period goals to pace West Hills into a 2-0 lead.

Poway’s Reed Kinsey struck for the first of his two second period goals with 1:49 elapsed in the period to halve the Titans’ deficit on the scoreboard. A power play goal by Joe Swanson two minutes later gave West Hills a 3-1 lead before Kinsey brought his team back within striking distance on a goal with 5:15 remaining in the period.

But Galaas, assisted by Swanson, scored a power play goal with 1:06 left in the middle stanza to put the Wolf Pack back in front by two goals.

Neither team managed to score in the third period.

The teams combined for 11 penalties in the game, with Poway whistled for six minors. West Hills’ two power play markers proved to be the difference in the game.

Galaas led Central League champion West Hills with two goals and one assist while Swanson had a goal and assist. Eric Baldwin also was credited with an assist in the contest.

David Baldwin had three goals in the Wolf Pack’s 11-4 quarterfinal victory over seventh-seeded La Jolla Country Day (11-11) on Feb. 23 while Eric Baldwin scored twice.

In other quarterfinal games, Rancho Bernardo eliminated ninth-seeded Otay Ranch, 13-2, behind three goals and one assist each by Cruz and and Gravelle, while Westview nipped fifth-seeded Scripps Ranch, 5-4, on two goals scored in the final minute and Poway squeezed by sixth-seeded Cathedral Catholic on a goal with 1:41 left in the game.

Scripps Ranch (8-13) led 4-2 through two periods on a pair of goals by Aaron Peterson and Brandon Lopez. But the Wolverines rallied for three goals in the final period, including the game-tying goal by Morrison with 58 seconds to play and the game-winner by Dixon with 49 ticks left on the clock.

Luke Richard notched the game-winner for Poway against Cathedral Catholic (13-8). It was his second goal of the game. Justin Cintas had two goals and one assist for the Dons while Josh Feist contributed a goal and assist in the quarterfinal setback.

More to come.

Kiwanis Cup playoff seedings set:
RB, West Hills tabbed as favorites

The Rancho Bernardo Broncos (17-3) and West Hills Wolf Pack (18-2) have been tabbed as the two teams favored to meet in this year's Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs after seedings were conducted for the 10-team playoff draw. The Poway Titans (13-7) were seeded third and the defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview Wolverines (14-6) were seeded fourth, respectively, while the Scripps Ranch Falcons (8-12) and Cathedral Catholic Dons (13-7) were seeded fifth and sixth.

The playoffs face off Tuesday, Feb. 22, with two games.at Skate San Diego in National City. The seventh-seeded La Jolla Country Day Torreys (10-10) will test the 10th-seeded Mar Vista Mariners (11-9) at 4:30 p.m. The eighth-seeded Eastlake Titans (9-11) will meet the ninth-seeded Otay Ranch Mustangs (11-9) at 5:30 p.m.

First-round winners will join the remaining six teams in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at the Escondido Sports Center. In a pair of 7:10 p.m. games, top-seeded Rancho Bernardo will host either Eastlake or Otay Ranch while Westview and Scripps Ranch will renew their North County League rivalry. In two games scheduled for 8:10 p.m., Poway will take on CIF newcomer Cathedral Catholic while West Hills, fielding the school's best-ever team will collide with either LJCD or Mar Vista.

The semifinals are scheduled Monday, Feb. 28, at the Escondido Sports Center. The first-ever third place game is scheduled Wednesday, March 2, at 6:55 p.m., followed by the championship game at 7:50 p.m., both in Escondido.

There was a tie for the 2010-11 CIF-Metro Conference individual scoring title as Eastlake's Jace White (67 goals, 27 assists) and Otay Ranch's Ryan Trego (59 goals, 35 assists) both finshed with 94 points. Otay Ranch's Jon Managbanag (51 goals, 26 assists) was third with 77 points. RB's Kyle Shafer (36 goals, 35 assists) was the North County leader with 71 points, followed by Cathedral Catholic's Nick Sciabarra (47 goals, 20 assists) with 67 points.

Rounding out the conference's top 10 individual scoring leaders are Eastlake's Zach McMahon (34 goals, 32 assists) in sixth place with 66 points, followed in seventh place by Cathedral's Josh Feist (25 goals, 36 assists) with 61 points, in eighth place by Sweetwater's David Martinez (41 goals, 19 assists) with 60 points, in ninth place by Scripps Ranch's Jonathan Gauthier (44 goals, 14 assists) with 58 points and in 10th place by Hilltop's George Godiinez (38 goals, 19 assists) with 57 points.

League champions include Rancho Bernardo (10-2 in North County League play), West Hills (9-0 in Central League play), Eastlake (7-1 in Mesa League play) and Mar Vista (10-2 in South Bay League play).

Rancho Bernardo was 7-1 outside league play while West Hills finished 9-2 in non-league encounters. Eastlake finished 2-10 in games outside the Mesa League while Mar Vista finished 1-7 in match-ups against teams from outside the South Bay League.

Scripps Ranch and Poway appear to be the two hottest teams after Rancho Bernardo and West Hillss as the playoffs face off.

West Hills Wolf Pack: some kind of amazing
Posted Feb. 18, 2011
You can attempt to defend them, you can attempt to slow them down. But in the end, you just have to sit back and watch them do what they do best: win roller hockey games.

The West Hills Wolf Pack completed an amazing final week of regular season play with four victories in five days and an amazing run to the team's best-ever season with a conference best 18-2 record. The Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs await, and there is a feeling the 2010-11 season could end the same way it started for West Hills -- with a victory.

"I have a feeling we're going to be in the championship game," Wolf Pack head coach Steve Baldwin said optimistically.

Few would dispute that, especially the Eastlake Titans, who dropped a pair of hotly-contested non-league match-ups Thursday and Friday. The teams were tied 3-3 heading into the final period of Thursday's battle -- West Hills emerged weith a 7-3 win. Eastlake opened up a 2-0 lead in Friday's game, only to see the Wolf Pack methodically chip away with an offensive surge few teams are capable of in the conference to post a 6-3 victory.

And, yes, West Hills didn't even have its full team on the floor.

The Wolf Pack is likely to receive either the first or second seed for the playoffs. In their only meeting this season, Central League champion West Hills tipped Noirth County League champion Rancho Bernardo in overtime. RB set the pace among North County teams this season with a 16-3 record.

Teams surging at the end of the season include the Poway Titans and Scripps Ranch Falcons.

Mesa League champion Eastlake is playing its best hockey of the season while Otay Ranch shook off a 3-0 deficit against Hilltop on Thursday to post a gutsy 9-5 win and likely snare the final of 10 playoff berths.

Mar Vista will represent the South Bay League in post-season play.

The Kiwanis Cup seeding meeting is Saturday. The first round of the playoffs (bottom four seeded teams) is expected to start Tuesday at Skate San Diego, with quarterfinal games scheduled the following day at the Escondido Sports Center.

West Hills 6, Eastlake 3
Goals by Zac Zasueta and Zach McMahon staked the Titans to a 2-0 lead with 6:25 left in the first period but Joe Swanson got one back for West Hills 5:21 before the buzzer. The second period opened with the Wolf Pack prowling in front of the EHS goal and credit Titan netminder Darius Newhall with several brilliant saves to prolong what turned out to be the inevitable: two WH goals that enabled the East County visitors to go up 3-2. But Metro scoring ace Jace White made his presence felt on the rink throughout the contest, tying the game at 3-3 with a goal with 9:57 left in the middle period. The Wolf Pack scored the only three goals of the fnal period to secure the non-league win. Cody Boyer picked up the 4-3 go-ahead goal, Zack Peters scored with 5:16 left to put West Hills up 5-3 and Swanson netted his second of the game with 2:03 to play for the final three-goal margin victory.

Peters had two goals and two assists in the win while David Baldwin collected a goal and assist. Ryden Kerr also had one assist. Though he didn't make the scorsheet, Cody Demody was a key contributor with his hustle throughout the contest.

"If you could call them that, these were two good tune-up games for us entering the playoffs," EHS coach Rone Torres said

Eastlake also has a 3-0 loss to Westview this season, showing that when there is a will, the Mesa League Titans can certainly play with the best in the conference

White entered the week with 82 points (58 goals, 24 assists) atop the CIF-Metro Conference scoring chart and collected five goals and two assists in Tuesday's 9-5 league title-clinching win over Hilltop. White had all three Eastlake goals in Thursday's loss to West Hills to finish the final week of regular season play with 12 points in his team's final four games.

Otay Ranch's Ryan Trego trailed White entering the week by a mere four points with 78 points on 47 goals and 31 assists. Trego collected seven points (six goals and one assist) in Thursday's season-defining victory over Hilltop after registering nine points (six goals, three assists) in a 15-0 league victory over Bonita Vista on Tuesday.

The individual scoring race was too close to call until final results are officially tabulated.

West Hills opened the week with a 9-6 Central League victory over the Cathedral Catholic Dons. In the line-up for Cathedral was Justin Cintas, perhaps the top player in the league when he has time from the WSHL Gulls to lace up a pair of roller blades. Cintas had four goals in the game but it wasn't enough to overpower the deeper Wolf Pack.

"We had him double-teamed and he still scored four goals," Steve Baldwin said.

More to come.

Shake-up continues at the top for top Kiwanis Cup playoff seeds
Rancho Bernardo, West Hills claim league titles

Teams will be playing for seeding position — and automatic bids — as the final week of regular season play wraps up in the CIF-Metro Conference. The first salvos were fired Monday at the Escondido Sports Center in a pair of North County League thrillers. Loop leader Rancher Bernardo had to go to overtime to outlast pesky Scripps Ranch, 7-6, while Poway handed the league title to the Broncos with a stunning 5-3 victory over defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview.

The win was the second for Poway in the teams’ latest two meetings.

Kyle Shafer notched the OT game-winner on a power play for Rancho Bernardo. It was his third goal of the game and fifth point of the night. Jake Troyer scored twice while Brian Gravelle and Cruz Major each scored single goals for the Broncos, who improved to 9-2 in NCL play, 16-3 overall.

Aaron Peterson led Scripps Ranch (1-10 in NCL play, 7-12 overall) with two goals and two assists while Brandon Lopez collected two goals and one assist. Connor Kelleher and Jon Gauthier each finished with single goals for the Falcons.

In fact, it took a goal by Troyer with 1:30 left in regulation play to erase a 6-5 Scripps Ranch lead and send the game into overtime. It was a wild finish to the game, as Lopez and Gauthier each had late goals to put the Falcons up by a goal with 5:07 left.

Poway continued to make a last-minute bid to scramble the top seedings. The Titans got goals from five different players — Ryan Hockett, Conner Liebman, Jordan Gallen, Reed Kinsey and Charles Pitts — in turning back the Wolverines. Poway never trailed in the game, building a 3-2 lead through two periods and snapping a 3-3 deadlock with two goals in the final six minutes of the contest. Kinse, assisted by Pitts, put the Titans up 4-3 with 5:27 left. Poway sealed the victory on a goal with 28 seconds to play by Pitts.

Poway improved to 6-5 in NCL play, 13-6 overall, while Westview’s record dipped to 6-5 in NCL play, 14-5 overall.

West Hills earned its measure of fame as the first champion of the new Central League after turning back league runner-up Cathedral Catholic, 9-6, in a game played Monday at Skate San Diego. The Wolf Pack, fielding the East County school’s best-ever team, improved to 8-0 in league play and a conference-best 15-2 overall.

West Hills edged Rancho Bernardo in overtime in the teams’ lone meeting this season, setting the stage for the Wolf Pack to perhaps nose into playoffs as the No.1 or No. 2 seed.

“Our goal is to finish out the regular season undefeated in order to earn as high a playoff seed as possible,” West Hills coach Steve Baldwin said.

Spencer Galaas led the Wolf Pack with four goals while Corey Demody chipped in with a goal and two assists. Cody Boyer had a goal and assist while Ryden Kerr, David Baldwin and Zack Peters each scored once. Joe Swanson and Dominic Keiser each contributed two assists.

West Hills led 2-1 after the first period and 6-3 after the second period.

The Dons, competing in their first season in CIF-sanctioned play, dropped to 5-3 in league play, 12-7 overall. Justrin Cintas scored four goals in the loss.

Meanwhile, La Jolla Country Days 4-1 victory over Eastlake almost certainly relegated the South County’s complement of playoff qualifiers to the bottom available slots, however many that may be.

Four players scored goals for the Torreys (9-9 overall): Scott Ibsen, Jack Little, Zach Feldman and Ryan Owsiany. Little and Owsiany also picked up assists.

LJCD built a 3-0 lead before Marshall Bawden’s goal with 6:00 left in the middle period narrowed the EHS deficit to two goals. But the Torreys hung in there to score just 48 seconds into the third period to once again create some breathing room on the scoreboard.

LJCD can finish no worse than third in the Central League standings while Eastlake (6-1 in league, 8-9 overall) has the lead in the Mesa League after topping Otay Ranch (4-2 in league, 9-9 overall) by a 5-4 score on Feb. 10.

Eastlake can clinch a berth in the Kiwanis Cup playoffs with a victory against Hilltop (5-1 in league, 11-7 overall) on Tuesday. The Lancers, who lost to Eastlake but defeated Otay Ranch in the first round) can send the division into a mad scramble, however, with a victory.

Sweetwater defeated Mar Vista, 6-2, on Monday to draw the teams into a potential tie for the South Bay League banner, though an investigation is ongoing whether Sweetwater may have to forfeit several games due to an ineligible player. In Monday’s game, Shawn Trimmer scored four goals to lead the Red Devils. Pending any forfeits, Sweetwater improved to 8-2 in league play,10-8 overall, while Mar Vista’s record dropped to 10-9 overall, 9-2 in league play.

Mid-week Rankings
1. (tie) West Hills Wolf Pack (15-2)
1. (tie) Rancho Bernardo Broncos (16-3)
3. Poway Titans (13-6)
4. Westview Wolverines (14-5)
5. Scripps Ranch Falcons (7-12)
6. Cathedral Catholic Dons (12-7)
7. La Jolla Country Day Torreys (9-9)
8. Eastlake Titans (8-9)

Eastlake, Otay Ranch brace for the final conflict

Posted Feb. 9, 2011
The Eastlake Titans and Otay Ranch Mustangs both picked up wins Tuesday at Skate San Diego in preparation for their fateful encounter Thursday for the Mesa League lead. Both teams are tied with one league loss.

Otay Ranch defeated Eastlake, 7-3, in the teams’ initial match-up in early January. However, the Titans have improved much since then. To counter that, Mustang goaltender Gabe Beatie has developed into a star attraction. Beatie made more than 50 saves in a recent game against Rancho Bernardo.

Jace White (seven goals, three assists) and Zach McMahon (six goals, four assists) each collected 10 points in Tuesday’s 27-0 win over Bonita Vista while Alex Bule and Jordan Hines each had two goals and three assists.

White (40 goals, 16 assists) and McMahon (16 goals, 24 assists) entered the week as the Titans’ top two scorers. Hines (17 goals, 14 assists) ranked third in team scoring while Bule (12 goals, nine assists) was fourth.

Zach Bannon, a late returner to the team, scored a hat trick while J.D. Mayer had two goals and one assist. Jacky Ponce and Marshall Bawden each had a goal and assist while Zane White scored once and Josh Randall was credited with one assist.

The Titans improved to 5-1 in league play, 7-8 overall.

Otay Ranch (4-1 in league, 9-8 overall) topped Chula Vista, 14-4, as CIF-Metro Conference scoring leader Ryan Trego racked up seven goals. Teammate Jon Managbanag, who entered the week second to Trego in conference point-scoring, collected four goals and one assist. Cole Beatie and Joey Parisi each contributed one goal and one assist while Kyle Hawkins also scored one goal.

Trey Rogers and Bradley Bonney each scored two goals to lead Chula Vista (1-5 in league, 7-9 overall).

Trego entered the week with 36 goals and 30 assists for 66 points; Managbanag had 40 goals and 20 assists for 60 points — two points ahead of Rancho Bernardo’s Kyle Shafer (29 goals, 29 assists).

Torreys on top
La Jolla Country Day continued to make a statement why it belongs in the upcoming Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs by defeating Mesa Leageu co-leading Hilltop, 9-1, in a non-league game Tuesday at Skate San Diego.

Scott Ibsen led the Torreys with four goals and two assists while Zach Feldman had three goals and two assists. Ryan Owsiany had a goal and two assists while Jack Little contributed a goal and assist. Peter Kuetzing was credited with one assist.

LJCD opened up a 5-0 lead midway through the game after getting off to a 3-0 first period lead.

George Godinez scored Hilltop’s lone goal with 7:35 left in the middle period, assisted by Tylor Spracklin. However, any comeback bid by the Lancers was stymied as the Torreys closed out the game with four unanswered goals.

LCJD evened its overall record at 8-8; Hilltop dropped to 10-7 on the season.

The Torreys have now defeated each of the top three Mesa League teams, with a second game against Eastlake scheduled the last week of regular season play.

LJCD, which fields a small team numberswise, has one of the more challenging schedules in the conference this season.

Broncos hold off Titans, hold onto North County League lead

Posted Feb. 8, 2011
The top team — at the moment, anyway — in the 17-team CIF-Metro Conference appears to be the Rancho Bernardo Broncos after Monday’s 2-1 North County League victory at the Escondido Sports Center over the rampaging Poway Titans. The Broncos have been the most consistent team over the second half of the season and proved it by making two first-period goals stand up against a Titan team that in recent days had toppled both Westview and West Hills.

Brian Gravelle scored just 55 seconds into the game and teammate Zach Semonian doubled the RB lead with a goal with 9:12 left in the opening period. Poway finally managed to break the shutout on a goal by Jordan Gallen with 5:50 to play in the game but could not get any closer.

The win keeps the Broncos in sole possession of the NCL lead at 7-2 in league play, 14-3 overall. Poway dropped to 5-4 in league, 12-5 overall.

Meanwhile, defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview (6-3 in league play, 14-3 overall) had its hands full with a scrappy Scripps Ranch team that is still bidding for its first North County League game this season. The Wolverines won 5-4 after the Falcons had got their game in gear after trailing early 3-0.

Cody Wadstrom recorded a hat trick while Dillon Dixon contributed a goal and assist and Hunter Weinstein scored once. Aaron Peterson paced Scripps Ranch with three goals and one assist while Jonathan Gauthier had a goal and assist.

The final season rankings are starting to take shape, as Cathedral Catholic topped Eastlake, 8-4, and West Hills out-skated Otay Ranch in a pair of games Monday at Skate San Diego.

Cathedral trailed early 2-0 before chipping away to take a lead it would not relinquish against the more physically imposing Titans.

“They were a big team and came out fast against us — we had to make some adjustments and start controlling the puck,” Dons head coach Luke Storno said.

Cathedral’s skaters certainly listened to their coach’s advice with an excellent display of precision passing and positioning to undress the Eastlake defense over the second half of the game.

Josh Feist and Paul Franke each collected two goals and two assists while Andrew Valerian scored twice to lead the Dons (11-6 overall). Zach McMahon and Jace White each had two goals to lead the Titans (6-8 overall).

West Hills, meanwhile, continued to excel with its best-ever team in school history. How far the Wolf Pack finishes in the upcoming playoffs will be most interesting to chart.

Spencer Galaas led WH with six goals and one assist while Eric Baldwin chipped in with two goals and one assist. Ryan Trego led Otay Ranch with four goals and one assist.

Mar Vista defeated Southwest, 12-1, on Monday to entrench its position atop the South Bay League standings ahead of the second place Sweetwater Red Devils, who still have a chance to capture a co-championship by defeating the Mariners in the teams’ final match-up Feb. 14. A win by Mar Vista, however, would end the teams’ mutual series at 3-1. The Mariners currently hold a 2-1 series lead on SuHi after securing an exciting 6-4 victory last week. Sweetwater came from behind to make it a one-goal game late but Mar Vista answered with late goals of its own.

Hunter Calef led the Mariners (8-1 in league, 9-8 overall) with two goals and three assists in Monday's game while Joey Sherman had two goals and one assist and Kassandra Cook and Jordan Robinette each scored two goals.

Who’s on top? That’s a very good question
With the race for league titles and seeding positions in the upcoming Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs heating up, it appears there is no clear-cut favorite to carry off the top prize in this most competitive of seasons. The Westview Wolverines, Rancho Bernardo Broncos, West Hills Wolf Pack and Poway Titans have an edge over the remainder of the challengers, but just how to group those four top team is a challenge. They’ve all exchanged wins over the others.

In the most recent match-up, Poway bested Westview, 9-4, on Wednesday to drop the defending Kiwanis Cup champion Wolverines from a first-place tie with Rancho Bernardo in the North County League standings. In the process, the Titans moved into a second-place tie with Westview, with both teams trailing the Broncos by one game.

RB had to fend off a challenge from the Scripps Ranch Falcons to remain in first place by claiming a wild come-from-behind 9-7 victory on the strength of four goals in the final 8:50 of the third period to erase a 7-5 Falcon lead.

Are the Broncos the best? West Hills might have something to say about that after capturing a recent overtime victory. Westview has beaten RB twice in league play.

Is West Hills the best team? The Wolf Pack has proven it can best the best but also has shown it can be beaten by other top-flight teams in the conference if it doesn’t field its “A” line-up.

Is Westview the best? Coach Mike Kurth likens the perfect roller hockey game to a symphony where all instruments are in fine complement. Both the Wolverines and Broncos have similar games and it’s a toss-up as to which team has the edge on any given night.

Is Poway the best? The Titans have won six consecutive games since dropping an 8-1 decision to Rancho Bernardo on Jan. 10. Poway has defeated, in order, La Jolla Country Day (7-3 on Jan. 18), West Hills (5-3 on Jan. 19), St. Augustine (score unavailable on Jan. 24), Eastlake (14-1 on Jan. 26), Castle Park (18-1 on Jan. 27) and Westview.

Poway lost an early season match-up against Cathedral Catholic and has two league losses to RB and is 2-1 against Westview. The North County Titans could be the proverbial “X” factor in the upcoming playoffs, if not in the final round of NCL play.

In games Wednesday at the Escondido Sports Center:

Poway 9, Westview 4
Conner Liebman recorded three goals and one assist to pace the Titans in Wednesday’s big over Westview while Luke Richard (two goals, one assist), Charles “Mac” Pitts (two goals, one assist) and Reed Kinsey (one goal, two assists) each contributed three points. Ryan Hockett scored once.

The Titans rallied from a 4-2 first period deficit on the strength of four goals in the second period to take a 6-5 lead. Poway then sealed the victory by scoring the only three goals of the third period.

Cody Wadstrom led the Wolverines with two goals while Kyle Clements and Rishad Dala each scored one goal and Dillon Dixon collected two assists.

Rancho Bernardo 9, Scripps Ranch 7
Scripps Ranch built an impressive lead on four goals and one assist by dynamo Jon Gauthier, two goals and one assist by Brandon Lopez and a goal and assist by Aaron Peterson. But the Broncos staged a late rally to dash the Falcons’ upset bid. Jake Troyer made it a one-goal game with 8:50 to play and Brian Gravelle tied the score at 7-7 with 6:55 remaining in regulation play. RB netted the final two goals, both by Kyle Shafer, very late in the contest. Shafer scored the go-ahead goal with 2:40 to play and then added an insurance tally with 1:59 left on the clock.

Shafer finished the game with four goals and two assists while Gravelle had three goals and one assist.

Cathedral Catholic 6, St. Augustine 2
The teams will play for the annual Holy Cup after the conclusion of the season but it appears the Dons have to have the edge after defeating their parochial school rival once again in Central League play. Paul Franke led Cathedral (4-2 in league play) with three goals while teammate Nick Sciabarra contributed two goals and one assist. Jon Hendrix also picked up one goal for the Dons, who built a 5-0 lead in the game. Kurt Kerner and Mike Barr each scored single goals for the Saints, who dropped to 0-6 in league play.

In games Wednesday at Skate San Diego:

Castle Park 5, Southwest 3
The Trojans skated to their second South Bay League victory of the season over the Raiders as Eric Kolar scored all five goals. The Trojans improved to 3-11 this season while Southwest dropped to 1-12.

Eastlake 15, Chula Vista 5
The Chula Vista Spartans are easily the most improved team in the 17-team conference and put up a challenge once again against a higher-ranked opponent. Bradley Bonney opened and closed the scoring for the Spartans but the Titans’ superior speed and experience proved too much to overcome. Jace White showcased why he might be the best player in the South County by registering six goals and three assists. Teammate Zach McMahon also revved it up on the floor with five goals and one assist. Alex Bule had one goal and two assists while Jordan Hines scored twice to round out the scoring by Eastlake’s “Fab Four” seniors. Nic Rodriguez scored a goal with 38 seconds to play to close out the Titan scoring column. Trey Rogers keyed CV with three goals.

West Hills 1, La Jolla Country Day 0
The Torreys forfeited the game to the Central League game to Wolf Pack because it could not field enough players because of illness sweeping through the team. West Hills improved to 6-0 in league play while LJCD fell to 2-4 in league play.

Race for South Bay League roller hockey title heats up

Posted Jan. 31, 2011
Each of the four teams that constitute the CIF-Metro Conference's South Bay League plays the other four times this season for a total of 12 league games out of 20 games total. It's proven to be a highly competitive mix, with the Mar Vista Mariners and Sweetwater Red Devils moving to the forefront to challenge for the rights to this year's league championship -- and an automatic berth in the upcoming Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs.

With three weeks to play in the regular season, it remains a mystery as to which team will reach that goal.

"With each team in our league playing the other four times, it's proven to be very competitive," MV coach Ron Cole said. "We have a young team this season and we are gaining experience with each game."

It's likely the Mariners grew a lot while capturing a hard-fought 3-2 overtime decision over the Southwest Raiders Jan. 25 at Skate San Diego. Southwest held a 1-0 after shutting out the Mariners for two periods before Joey Sherman, who had missed the team's previous two games because of bronchitis, scored both of his team's final two goals, including the OT game-winner.

A victory by the Raiders would have made it a three-team championship race.

"We have a rivaly with Southwest -- we have a puck painted with the colors of the school on each side and it goes to the winner of each game this season," Cole said. "But the winner of the last game gets the bragging rights for the season, no matter how the series stands."

The multi-colored puck might remain in the Mariners' hands this season.

Mar Vista improved to 6-1 in league play following Monday's 9-3 victory against the Castle Park Trojans. Hunter Calef led the Mariners (7-7 overall) with three goals and one assist while Sherman had two goals and one assist and Jordan Robinette and Alfredo Chavez each collected one goal and one assist. Andrew Medlock and Warren Miller each scored single goals.

Eric Kolar had all three goals for Castle Park, which dropped to 1-5 in league play, 2-11 overall.

But memories linger back to Mar Vista's previous game -- the overtime thriller against the Raiders.

It appeared as if both teams would settle for a scoreless tie through two periods when Southwest's Martin Whitfield beat MV netminder Chas Van Horne with 3:14 remaining in the middle period.

Hunter Calef tied the game with a goal early in the third period, assisted by Sherman. With 6:16 to play, it appeared that Sherman may have scored the game-winner when he beat Raider goalie Sean Garcia. But Southwest had a surprise waiting three minutes later when Angel Rocha slid in the tying goal.

Each team had a golden chance to win the game in regulation but the contest was fated to go into overtime, where the Mariners claimed their second OT win this season -- the first coming against Sweetwater prior to the winter break.

Sherman scored the game-winner unassisted by somehow slotting the puck through a traffic jam in front of Garcia, causing the rest of the Marienrs to promptly break into a victory dance.

It was likely the most exciting game of the season for Mar Vista, which somehow managed to finally thwart Southwest's magnificent defensive stand in the game.

"I was surprised it went in," said Sherman, who finished the game with two goals and one assist. "I was falling as I shot it."

Sherman, who was absent from the line-up in the Mariners' 8-5 loss to Sweetwater on Jan. 18, had to catch his breath, both figuratively and literally, after scoring the OT winner.

"It felt crazy," he said. "I had lost a lot being out two games. I had no stamina. It actually felt like I had been out longer than just one week."

There have been three overtime games played in the 17-team conference this season and the Mariners have to feel charmed by owning two of those victories.

"I think the biggest thing to come out of that game was that we were playing as a team," MV's Jordan Robinette said. "Getting that overtime win really made us feel better about ourselves. It made the morale higher for our next game."

Southwest coach Jerry Nestlerode, while disappointed by the loss, lauded the performance of both teams.

“I was pleased by our team’s performance as well as that of our opponent,” the Raider coach said. “It was an excellent game. It shows what hard work is put in by both the players and coaches. It was one of the best games I’ve seen played this year. Unfortunately, we came up a bit short. Hopefully, we can make it closer next time.”

Meanwhile, Sweetwater continued pursuit of Mar Vista in the win column by defeating Southwest, 8-3, in Monday's early game. The Red Devils improved to 5-1 in league play, 7-7 overall, with a make-up game pending against the Raiders.

Freddy Bradshaw led SuHi with two goals and two assists, followed on the score sheet by David Martinez and Shawn Trimmer each with two goals and one assist. Earvin Buan and Josea Olmos each scored one goal.

In the Jan. 18 victory over Mar Vista, Martinez (four goals), Trimmer (three goals) and Bradshaw (one goal) combined for all eight of the Red Devil goals. Calef scored twice for the Mariners.

Mar Vista and Sweetwater play twice more this season: Thursday, Feb. 3, and Monday, Feb. 14.

"We're taking the rest of the season one period at a time," Cole quipped.

Nestlerode, who serves as a liaison to Jerry Schniepp, director of athletics for the Sweetwater school district, lauded the effort put in by every team in the conference this season.

“I’m happy with the direction the game is going, especially this year,” he said. “The games are more exciting with the realignment into four leagues. I’d like to see more schools from around the county get involved in our sport.”

In other games Monday, West Hills cemented its lead in the new Central League with a 15-3 victory over Cathedral Catholic. The Wolf Pack improves to 5-0 in league play, 10-2 overall.

As for the upcoming Kiwanis Cup playoffs, Nestlerode seems in agreement with the general consensus that at present there does not appear to be one clear-cut favorite.

“I think it’s significant this season that every team has at least one win and that every team has at least two losses,” he said. “I think West Hills in the Central League might have an edge in that league but in the other three leagues, its pretty much up for grabs. I’m really excited to see how it all pans out. At the top, I think there are four or five legitimate contenders who could win the whole thing.”

Girl power fuels Mesa League opener for Barons, Lancers

History, or rather, herstory, was made Monday afternoon (Jan. 10) at Skate San Diego in National City when seven female skaters took the floor at the same time for a CIF-Metro Conference roller hockey game. The Bonita Vista Barons fielded four of the girls while the Hilltop Lancers sent out their full complement of three female players.

“Unfortunately, our girl goalie (Nicole Tran) was sick or we would have had an all-girl line-up out there, including the goalie,” BVHS coach Keith Quigley said.

The eventual occurrence took place at the start of the third period, with the Lancers holding an 8-2 lead.

Taking the floor for the Barons were Lizz Fulton, Cindy Flores, Elise Borbon and Carlisle Cummins.

Shannon Malone, Michelle Manibusan and April Burnett countered for Hilltop.

The girls, braced by one male player for Bonita Vista and two male players for the Lancers, played nearly four minutes against one another.

“About halfway through, it was like, hey, there are all these girls out here,” Cummins said with a laugh. “It was very exciting.”

Quigley said when he informed his female players they would be taking the floor the start the period, he saw some shocked faces. “It was like whoa!,” he said. “But then they got pumped up and excited.”

"It was definitely fun," Malone said. "Everyone got a good laugh out of it. I knew this was the first year that so many girls had come out for the sport and it was cool to see that many girls out there"

The game also drew on the schools' rivaalry during the girls field hockey season.

"Guys usually try not to hit girls out there but girls will hit other girls," Fulton said.

" They were rough on us, but that's part of the game," Malone said.

Hilltop won the game 12-4, though none of the girls figured in the scoring..

George Godinez led Hilltop with five goals and two assists while Jeremiah Schultz had three goals and one assist, and Alfonso Arreguim, Nick Tesner and Luis Ontiveros each were credited with one goal and one assist. Kyle Heiskala had one goal while defenseman Tylor Spracklin had two assists. Freshman Jonathan O’Brien led the Barons with three goals and one assist. Felix Garcia had a goal and assist for Bonita Vista.

While BV’s Tran was unavailable for netminding duties on Monday, her brother, David Vera, donned the pads in her place.

Sweetwater 7, Southwest 4
Jan. 10 at Skate San Diego: The Red Devils built a 5-1 lead and weathered a three-goal outburst by the Raiders in the second period to post the South Bay League win. Sweetwater improves to 2-1 in league play while Southwest dropped to 0-3 in league play (0-7 overall). For the Devils (3-4 overall), David Martinez and Shawn Trimmer each had hat tricks while Lewis Lawson was credited with one goal.

La Jolla Country Day 13, St. Augustine 4
Jan. 10 at Skate San Diego: The Torreys have just seven players on their roster but are obviously getting the most out of what they have in hockey talent. LJCD skated to its first Central League victory by defeating longtime private school rival St. Augustine with a strong first period and strong closing act. The Torreys (4-3, 1-1 in league play) led 3-0 with 4:08 elapsed in the game and owned a decisive 6-1 advantage after the opening period. LJCD led 10-3 after two periods and out-scored the Saints (2-8, 0-2 in league play) by a 3-1 margin in the final period.

Ryan Owsiany (three goals, two assists) and Zach Feldman (two goals, three assists) led the Torreys with five points apiece while newcomer Jack Little scored two goals and two assists. Captain James Owsiany, playing his second game after recovering from a broken ankle during the WSHL Junior A ice season, contributed two goals and one assist, while Scott Ibsen and Peter Kuetzing each scored two goals. Sam Brink substituted for regular goaltender Cameron Bryant-Sowka, who was ill.

Nick Spardy led St. Augustine with two goals while teammates Mike Barr and Kurt Kerner each scored once. The Saints closed to within 9-3 with 4:45 left in the middle period.

Wolf Pack, Mustangs face off league play with victories

The West Hills Wolf Pack and Otay Ranch Mustangs have set the pace in their respective leagues, and it will be up to the rest of the teams to match up -- if they can -- as the CIF-Metro Conference's 2010-11 season continues to gain momentum. West Hills shut out St. Augustine, 17-0, in the first-ever Central League game while Otay Ranch held off defending league champion Eastlake, 7-3, as play got under way in the Mesa League.

West Hills 17, St. Augustine 0
The Wolf Pack was missing four players for the game against the Saints but West Hills' superior depth proved just too much in the game played Wednesday, Jan. 5, at Skate San Diego in National City.. The Wolf Pack held a narrow 1-0 lead until just after the midpoint of the first period before the goals started to pile up in the St. Augustine net. West Hills led 5-0 by the end of the opening period and was up 11-0 after the end of the second period.

Danny Aylesworth posted the shutout victory between the pipes for West Hills, giving fellow netminder Kanoa Cook a chance to skate out. Cook made the most of the opportunity by scoring two goals and adding one assist.

Cody Boyer paced the Wolf Pack with six goals while Joe Swanson (four goals, two assists) and Domini Keiser (two goals, four assists) each matched that with six points. Zack Peters led the team with five assists while Ryden Kerr contributed two goals and one assist and Corey Demody was credited with one goal.

West Hills improved to 5-1 on the season, with its only loss to defending conference champion Westview.

"Our performance so far this season shows that we have the strongest team in school history and are a CIF (title) contender," Wolf Pack coach Steve Baldwin said.

Thus far, there have been few lowlights for the conference's only East County team.

"I'm most proud of our 15-5 win we had over Scripps Ranch," Baldwin said. "We lost to Westview by a couple of goals but we didn't have two of our better players there. When everyone is in attendance, when everyone in our lineup is present, I think we can beat any team in the conference."

The Saints, who fell to 2-6 overall, would likely not disagree with that statement.

"For this game, we were missing two top forwards and a defenseman -- we've just got such depth, we can miss players and still score."

Cathedral Catholic edges LJCD in Central League opener
In another Central League opener, played Jan. 5 at the Escondido Sports Center, the Cathedral Catholic Dons finally managed to shake off the pesky La Jolla Country Day Torreys, 6-4, on a goal scored with 11 seconds left to play by Justin Cintas. The Torreys struck first in the game but the Dons responded with three unanswered goals to lead 3-2 at the end of the first period. Cathedral Catholic scored the only goal of the second period to build a 4-2 edge in the contest before LJCD made it a one-goal game with the first goal of the third period. The Dons restored their two -goal lead midway the final period before the Torreys once again closed to within a goal when Jack Little scored with 3:14 to play.

Cintas powered Cathedral Catholic (5-3 overall) with three goals and three assists while Nick Sciabarra contributed two goals and an assist and Andrew Valeriano scored one goal. Matt Martino was credited with an assist on what proved to be the game-winning goal scored by Cintas with 7:57 to play in the game.

Little paced LJCD (3-3 overall) with three goals while James Owsiany scored once and Zach Feldman contributed three assists. The Torreys successfully killed off all three penalties assessed against them, as did the Dons with their two short-handed situations.

Otay Ranch 7, Eastlake 3
If Manny Rodriguez was watching, he had to be smiling. Otay Ranch head coach Adrian Rodriguez' father passed away unexpectedly in his sleep on Dec. 17 and the local hockey community has felt a loss. The Mustangs won a game not only for themselves but their coach.

"Heart was a big part of this game," the Otay Ranch coach said afterward.

The match-up of teams favored to vie for this year's Mesa League championship turned into a match-up all evening long of the Mustang offense against the Titan defense. Eastlake, with only one game under its skates this season and very little practice time over the winter break because of rainy weather, looked out of sync almost from the opening whistle. To their credit, Eastlake held their east side nemesis to a scoreless first period. But Mustang captain Jon Managbanag scored the first of what would be his five goals in the game just 54 seconds into the second period and Otay Ranch had a 1-0 lead. The Mustangs doubled that margin to 2-0 just under three minutes later when Ryan Trego scored, assisted by Managbanag.

Otay Ranch led 3-0 when Managbanag scored a short-handed goal with 8:27 left in the second period. It would be the first of two short-handed goals he would score
in the game. Overall, Managbanag had a hand in six of his team's seven goals.

Eastlake finally got on the scoreboard with 4:03 left in the middle period. But playing catch-up all game long seemed to take a toll on the Titans, who admittedly weren't in midseason conditioning yet.

Managbanag scored just 1:29 into the third period to up the Mustang lead to 4-1. Otay Ranch led 6-1 before Eastlake's Jace White netted a pair of goals in the latter stages of the game. The Titans' got as close as 6-3 on the scoreboard before Trego (two goals, three assists) closed out scoring with 3:04 left in the game.

Managbanag (five goals, one assist) and Trego (two goals, three assists) accounted for all of Otay Ranch's scoring. Alex Bule got Eastlake's opening goal, assisted by J.D. Mayer.

Titan netminder Darius Newhall likely kept the score down with several key stops and fortuitous bounces of the puck.

"We had poise, we had class, we controlled the puck and that was important for us," Adrian Rodriguez said. "This is what we worked for. The kids practiced hard during the break. The passing was there and the puck control was there."

The Mustang coach singled out Trego and goaltender Gabe Beatie for thier outstanding defensive play. "Ryan played almost the entire game and Gabe was aggressive on their breakaways," Rodriguez said.

The ORHS coach called Managbang the team's quarterback.

"He's my eyes out there on the floor and does a good job helping lead things," Rodriguez said.

The teams rematch once more in league play, with the Titans now facing a must-win scenario in an effort to successfully defend their championship.

Bonita Vista 10, Mar Vista 5
The Barons' season has seemingly been either one of feast or famine in a continuing series of non-league match-ups, but coach Keith Quigley's team finally got a chance to make a statement for itself in a more even match-up on the playing court. The Barons (3-3 overall) rolled out to a 3-0 first-period lead, keyed by two goals from Jon O'Brien. The Mariners got one back 4:13 into the second period to trail 3-1 but Bonita Vista responded with four unanswered goals to lead 7-1. Mar Vista (3-5 overall) scored four goals in the final period to spice things up in the confidence department.

O'Brien led all scorers in the game with six goals while Felix Garcia collected one goals and three assists. Hunter Calef led the Mariners with three points on a goal and two assists.

Wolverines top Titans, 5-1, in North County League match-up
The defending Kiwanis Cup champion Wolverines got back in the win column following Monday’s loss to Rancho Bernardo by stopping the Poway Titans, 5-1, in a game played Wednesday at the Escondido Sports Center. Westview opened up a 3-0 lead and countered a goal by Poway’s Luke Richard with a momentum-shifting goal by Willie Morrison with just 13 seconds to play in the middle period. Morrison led the Wolverines with two goals while Decker Seilhan contributed a goal and assist and Dillon Dixon and Hunter Weinstein each added single goals. Rishad Dalal was credited with one assist.

In another North County League game Jan. 5 at the Escondido Sports Center, the division-leading Rancho Bernardo Broncos took care of business with an 11-1 victory against the Scripps Ranch Falcons. Brian Gravelle led the Broncos with four goals and one assist while a trio of players each collected three points: Geoff Sagara (two goals, one assist), Kyle Shafer (two goals, one assist) and Cruz Major (one goal, two assists). Jake Troyer was credited with a goal and assist while Zach Semonian was credited with one goal. Rancho Bernardo skated to a 6-0 first period lead. Jon Gauthier scored the lone goal for Scripps Ranch.

In games Monday, RB’s Shafer had a hat trick to lead his team to a 6-2 victory over Westview while Reed Kinsey’s hat trick helped lead Poway past Scripps Ranch 4-3.

Hilltop 9, Southwest 1: Lancers skate to 5th straight win
Jan. 4 at Skate San Diego: The Lancers rolled to their fifth consecutive victory behind three goals and one assist by George Godinez and a goal and two assists by Nick Tesner. Hilltop owned an early 3-0 lead before the Raiders scored with 8:19 left in the second period. The Lancer defense held from there, with the victors racking up six unanswered goals to close out the non-league contest. April Burnett and Michelle Manibusan each collected their first goals of the season while Josh Evangelist, normally the team’s starting goaltender, scored one goal and one assist while playing in the field. Kyle Heiskala also scored one goal while Jeremiah Schultz had two assists. Tylor Spracklin also had one assist in the game for the Lancers.

Sweetwater 12, Chula Vista 9
Jan. 4 at Skate San Diego: The victorious Red Devils eventually generated enough momentum in the latter portion of the game to break open what had been a back-and-forth contest. The teams were tied 5-5 through the opening period before Sweetwater (2-4 overall) struck for four goals in the middle period to take a two-goal lead. The Spartans (1-5 overall) crawled to within one goal, 9-8, with seven minutes left in the game, but the Devils responded with a goal just under two minutes later to regain a two-goal advantage. Chula Vista once again pulled to within a goal with 2:01 remaining but SuHi again found an answer for that by scoring unanswered goals with 40 and 15 seconds to play to emerge with a three-goal victory.

David Martinez scored a career-high seven goals to lead Sweetwater while Shawn Trimmer collected two goals, Freddy Bradshaw and Jose Olmos each had one goal and one assist and Earvin Buan scored one goal. Martinez and Bradshaw each had the final two goals to ice the victory.

The Spartans held a 3-1 lead early in the game. Bradley Bonney led Chula Vista with five goals and one assist while Matt Diaz had two goals and one assist and Ryan Mothershed had a goal and one assist.

"The game went back-and-forth, that's something I would not have preferred from our end but our team performed well and we ended up taking it," SuHi coach Marvey Ferrer said. "The team chemistry is getting there. We want to finish out strong in league play and maybe we can come out with a league banner."

The Devils are 1-1 in South Bay League play with their lone loss coming in an overtime match-up agaisnt current league leader Mar Vista (3-0 in league play).

Mustangs, Dons face off new year with victories

Posted Jan. 3, 2011
Skate San Diego hosted the first two games of the 2011 portion of the CIF-Metro Conference 2010-11 sechedule, with the Otay Ranch Mustangs and Cathedral Catholic Dons both skating off the floor with non-league victories to face off the new year. Otay Ranch defeated St. Augustine, 9-2, while Cathedral Catholic zapped Bonita Vista 29-0.

Otay Ranch (4-3) was embroiled in a tug-of-war with the Saints (2-5) through the open half of their match-up. The Mustangs took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Joey Parisi 4:50 into the game but the Saints held a 2-1 lead at the end of the first period on a pair of goals by Johnny Heid. It took Otay Ranch the better part of the middle period to tie the game and then go in front to stay. The Mustangs rattled off the only three goals of the period to lead 4-2 but the Otay Ranch lead in no way appeared safe. It wasn't until the Mustangs made it 5-2 with 7:53 left in the game did it appear that Otay Ranch was on the way to a victory.

Jon Managbanag (four goals, two assists) and Ryan Trego (three goals, three assists) each put on a display of hustle and technique, especially in the second half. Parisi finished the game with two goals whilre Cole Beatie was credited with two assists while newcomer Kris Holland also was credited with an assist. Maddie Melendez started the game between the pipes for Otay Ranch, with relief help from teammate Gabe Beatie.

"Everyone got to play in the game," Mustang coach Adrian Rodriguez said. "I was really pleased how our passing has improved from the beginning of the season."

Meanwhile, Cathedral Catholic improved to 4-3 in its first season in the conference. The Dons led 9-0 after the first period and 20-0 entering the final period.

Nick Sciabarra keyed the North County visitors with 11 goals and three assists while David Melbourne concluded a successful evening with six goals and five assists. Ryan North had six goals and one assist and Paul Franke had seven assists to each finish the game with seven points. Josh Feist had six points on two goals and four assists while Andrew Valerian contributed three goals and one assist. Tim Valles was credited with one goal.  

Lancers looking to future for success but league title in the short term would be nice

Posted Dec. 29, 2010
The Hilltop Lancers took it on the chin in a pair of prize fights to open the season, dropping successive non-league match-ups against West Hills and Poway by respective scores of 21-0 and12-3. But head coach Dan Vaccaro has set his sights on other goals: namely, to win this season’s Mesa League championship.

“I think we can do well enough to win our division,” Vaccaro said after the Lancers posted their first victory of the season via a 4-2 non-league decision against St. Augustine Dec. 7 at Skate San Diego. “If we went 12-8 for the season, I would be very happy.”

Hilltop rolled into the winter break with a 4-2 record on the strength of consecutive victories against St. Augustine , Mar Vista (14-1 on Dec. 9), Castle Park (16-1 on Dec. 13) and Cathedral Catholic (9-4 on Dec. 16).

The Lancers face off league play Jan. 10 against long-time rival Bonita Vista..

In the win over St. Augustine, the Lancers received two goals from George Godinez, a goal and three assists from Jeremiah Schultz, a goal from Tylor Spracklin and one assist from Alphonso Arreguim.

All four players comprise the team’s premier line. Schultz and Spracklin are serving as co-captains this season.

“We got a couple of studs (Schultz and Spracklin) and a couple of other kids who can play,” Vaccaro said.

Hilltop has been fortunate to have an unusually large recruiting class this season. Vacarro said more than 20 student-athletes tried out for the team, and 21 remain on the team’s roster. He was both surprised and delighted.

“We’ve got a great future,” the HHS coach said. “We only have two seniors out of this current group (Spracklin and Kyle Heiskala). The core of the team is young. Our goalie (Josh Evangelist) is a sophomore. We’re trying to do the best with what we have. We have a lot of raw talent and a lot of ambition this year.”

The latter attribute Vaccaro would like to capitalize on in coming seasons. The Lancers look to have one of the South Bay’s first developmental teams on the drawing board. “It is the same as it’s always been — the North County teams are far ahead,” the HHS coach said succinctly. “The good news is that we’re working on getting a JV program in place. With a little time, maybe we can work our way up.”

Help appears on its way with a new batch of freshmen and some newcomers willing to explore new territory. Now in its 11th season within the Sweetwater Union High School District, the sport has become an attractive alternative to traditional winter sports such as soccer, basketball and wrestling.

Three members of the school’s girls field hockey team tried out, as well as three members of the school’s boys water polo team. Shannon Malone, Michelle Manibusan and April Burnett are all first-time hockey players from the Lancers field hockey team.

Moreover, Malone serves as the president of the school’s Associated Student Body, while Manibusan serves as the school’s ASB vice president.

“It’s a lot more physical — it’s rougher playing against boys,” Malone said.

“But we get to push back,” Manibusan interjected with a smile.

Malone has already recorded a hat trick this season.

“I’m proud to have them with us,” Vaccaro said.

Moran is making the jump from playing goalie in water polo to bracing the net in a fast-paced sport played on wheels. He could be working on back-to-back league championships after helping the Lancers polo team capture this year’s South Bay League title en route to a berth in the San Diego Section Division II playoffs.

He is joined on the roller hockey team by Luis Ontiveros, also from water polo. Schultz, a roller hockey mainstay, played JV water polo this season.

“I had always wanted to roller-skate,” said Moran. “But playing goalie here is quite a bit different from water polo.”

The Lancers have obviously put their developing roster to good use by closing out the pre-winter break portion of their schedule with the key victory over the Dons, the runner-up to San Pasqual in last year's San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference playoffs.

Winter break report: South County teams catching up

The CIF-Metro Conference’s South County teams are noted for their notoriously slow starts to each high school roller hockey season. Returning players are still getting used to newcomers while newcomers are still getting used to the game. The finals games prior to the winter break were a perfect illustration.

In a game played Dec. 16 at Skate San Diego, Hilltop rolled to its fourth consecutive victory after absorbing a pair of lop-sided losses to West Hills (21-0) and Poway (12-3) to face off the season. In knocking off the Cathedral Catholic Dons, 9-4, the Lancers also became the conference’s first South County-based team to defeat a team based in North County.

Likewise, in a pair of games played Dec. 16 at Castle Park High School, Chula Vista’s 5-3 non-league victory over Mar Vista and Castle Park’s 5-3 South Bay League win over Southwest both heavily argued for parity among the conference’s second tier of teams.

Also, in a game played Dec. 16 at Skate San Diego, the St. Augustine Saints appeared to be in the process of pulling things a bit tighter together after opening the season with some injury problems after skating past the Sweetwater Red Devils, 14-0, in another non-league encounter.

Hilltop 9, Cathedral Catholic 4
Things didn’t look favorable early on when Cathedral’s Josh Feist, set up by teammate David Melbourne, scored a power play goal 3:50 into the game to give the Dons an early 1-0 lead. But the Lancers answered back with three unanswered goals to end the first period to lead 3-1. Cathedral made it a one-goal game when Nick Sciabarra, again set up by Melbourne, scored just 28 seconds into the second period. But Hilltop answered back this time with six unanswered goals to take a commanding 9-2 lead. The Dons scored the final two goals of the game in the final 4:10 to make the final score respectable.

Alphonso Arreguim led the Lancers (4-2) with one goal and five assists while George Godinez (four goals, one assist) and Jeremiah Schultz (three goals, two assists) each racked up five points. Tylor Spracklin also chipped in with one goal.

Feist and Sciabarra each paced Cathedral Catholic (3-3) with two goals and one assist while Melbourne finished the game with two assists.

It should be noted that the Dons’ Justin Cintas, who concurrently plays ice hockey at the Junior A level for the San Diego Gulls of the Western States Hockey League, did not play in the game. "We only had six guys for that game," Cathedral Catholic coach Luke Storno said in defense of his team. "A lot of guys were already gone on vacation."

Chula Vista 5, Mar Vista 3
The Spartans picked up their first victory of the season as Bradley Bonney scored the final three goals of the game to erase a 3-2 Mariner lead. The teams were tied 2-2 through the opening period of play, with Chula Vista (1-3) going in front 2-0 before goals by Jordan Robinette and Joseph Sherman tied the game. A goal by Sherman 1:33 into the second period gave Mar Vista (3-4) a one-goal lead but that was quickly answered by Bonney just 45 seconds later to pull the teams into a 3-3 deadlock. Bonney then took care of business for the Spartans by scoring the only two goals of the final period.

Bonney finished the game with four points by also adding an assist. Matt Diaz and Ryan Mothershep also were credited with goals for Chula Vista.

Sherman led the Mariners with two goals.

Castle Park 5, Southwest 3
Eric Kolar scored all five goals for the Trojans — three in the first period and one each in the final two periods. Castle Park never trailed in the game, leading 3-1 after the opening period and 4-3 after two periods. Nia Adams trimmed the Raiders’ deficit to a goal with 2:20 left in the middle period but Kolar “iced” the contest with his fifth goal of the game with 5:30 remaining in the game.

Kolar also scored a big goal for the Trojans (1-4, 1-2 in league) with 10 seconds left in the first period to give his team some much-needed breathing room after Southwest had closed to within 2-1 on the scoreboard on a goal by Steve Regaliaz. Chris Mikesell scored the Raiders’ second goal to make the score 3-2 early in the second period. Again, Kolar managed to answer back for Castle Park on a goal with 4:10 left in the period to give the Trojans a two-goal lead.

Southwest dropped to 0-5 on the season, 0-2 in league play.

St. Augustine 14, Sweetwater 0
The Saints reeled off six first-period goals and tacked on five more goals in the second period to lead 11-0. Nine players scored goals in the game for the Saints, led by Johnny Heid with a hat trick, Phil Park with two goals and two assists, Matt Camarata with two goals and one assist and Nick Sullivan with two goals.

Kurt Kerner, one of those players sidelined by injuries, returned to action with a goal and four assists. Patrick Plein had a goal and assist while Luke Totah and Robbie Kielty each were credited with one goal. Cole Rougas was credited with a pair of assists.

Veteran Nick Spardy is slated to return at midseason from his injury.

“We’re a younger team but I think we’ll be a more cohesive team (as the season goes on),” St. Augustine head coach Christian DaLuz said.

The Saints are set to face off play in the new Central League with a game against West Hills Jan. 5 at Skate San Diego.

“Our league will be tough,” DaLuz said. “West Hills is the most it’s ever been.”

Short-handed Dons look smooth in 26-3 win over Spartans
Dec. 15 at Skate San Diego: Cathedral Catholic entered Wednesday’s non-league game against the Chula Vista Spartans without two of its top players but that didn’t seem to break the Dons’ rhythm as they scored eight goals in the first period and added 12 more goals in the second period en route to a 26-3 victory. Cathedral Catholic led 20-2 after two periods.

Josh Feist was the star of the game with 15 points -- five goals and 10 assists – to lead the Dons. Andrew Valerian and Ryan North each scored six goals while David Melbourne had three goals and four assists, Stephen Hooker had two goals and two assists, Stephan Osaro scored two goals, Nick Sciabarra had a goal and assist, Tim Valles scored one goal and Griffin King was credited with one assist.

The Spartans scored one goal in each period. Morgan Spangler led Chula Vista with two goals while Ryan Mothershed scored once. Spangler pumped his arms after temporarily tying the score at 1-1 with a goal one minute after Cathedral Catholic took a 1-0 lead in the game. The goal by Spangler with 3:08 gone in the first period was the Spartans’ first of the 2010-11 season.

In another non-league game played Dec. 15 at Skate San Diego:

Otay Ranch 19, Castle Park 2
The victorious Mustangs played the majority of the game with their younger players taking the spotlight behind the leadership of captain Jon Managbanag, who led all scorers in the game with eight goals and five assists. Cole Beatie had four goals and one assist while Gabe Beatie, skating out of the net, collected two goals and two assists. Joey Parisi had a goal and assist while Matt Mendez, Tyler Hawkins and Brandon Wills each scored one goal. Jeremiah Jodzio, entering the game late after returning from a dental appointment, had a goal and assist.

The game was likely one of the most competitive to date played by the Trojans, who scored twice in the second period. Eric Kolar was credited with both Castle Park goals.

Otay Ranch led 5-0 after the first period.

Mariners foil Red Devils, take OT win for league lead

Posted Dec. 14, 2010
The race for this year’s South Bay League championship title rated to be a competitive sprint to the finish, and it now looks like it will be a full-on war after Mar Vista recorded a spirited come-from-behind 7-6 overtime victory over Sweetwater in a match-up of two early season league unbeatens Tuesday night at Skate San Diego.

Andrew Medlock scored just 28 seconds into the extra five-minute period after pouncing on a defensive miscue by the Red Devils, who proved their own worst enemy by coughing up a two-goal lead in the final three minutes of regulation play.

The teams were evenly matched throughout the exciting back-and –forth contest, with momentum swings providing the difference. Sweetwater, which has to stand as one of the most improved teams in the 17-team CIF-Metro Conference, held the advantage early on. The Mariners, who are in a self-described rebuilding season, caught fire in the middle part of the game to build a 3-2 lead on the scoreboard — only to have the Devils surge back in front.

But it was Mar Vista that clearly turned up the intensity in the final minutes of regulation while staring at a potential loss.

Joseph Sherman drew an assist on a goal with 3:00 to play to bring the Mariners within one on the scoreboard at 6-5 and then scored an unassisted goal with exactly one minute showing on the game clock to level the teams at six goals apiece.

Not on hand to witness one of his team’s most inspiration victories was head coach Ron Cole, who was celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary.

“We turned it up a notch when we realized we needed to score some goals and need to win game,” MV assistant coach Ryan Scott said. “We really wanted to win. We wanted it to be an anniversary gift for our head coach.”

The victory evened the Mariners overall record on the season at 3-3 after an 0-2 start and kept the Imperial Beach team at the top of the South Bay League standings with a 3-0 record.

Sweetwater dropped to 1-1 in league play, 1-3 overall.

Both Castle Park (0-3) and Southwest (0-4) remain winless in the early season.

The Devils, who defeated Castle Park by an 11-1 score in their league opener, took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Gabriel Segura with just 1:42 gone in the first period. But Mar Vista eventually retaliated on a goal to tie the game before Sweetwater went ahead 2-1 on a goal by Shawn Trimmer with eight minutes left in the period. But back came the Mariners as Sherman scored to leave the teams in a 2-2 standoff after the opening stanza.

It was a nip-and-tuck battle from there.

The teams were tied 4-4 after another period. Jordan Robinette made it 3-2 Mar Vista with nine minutes to play in the middle period. But Trimmer scored his second goal of the game, this time on a nice wrap-around, to even things up again.

The Devils scored the first two goals of the third period to go in front 6-4. John Reyes fed David Martinez for the 5-4 go-ahead goal with 2:12 seconds elapsed in the period and then Reyes gave the Devils a two-goal lead, assisted by Trimmer, with just 5:06 to play.

But the lead proved to be short-lived.

“A lot of the goals they got were because we were short-handed,” Scott said. “We finally got our power line out there and they took over.”

Joining Medlock on the team’s top line of shooters were teammates Robinette, Hunter Calef and Sherman.

The game-winner developed as Medlock took control of a puck that had deflected off a defenseman’s stick, then skated in alone on the SuHi netminder. The MV goal-scorer raised both arms in jubilation as the puck went in cleanly.

“We banded together,” said Medlock, the Mariners’ face-off specialist. “It was a league game. We needed this. We worked hard for it. We practiced hard for it.”

Robinette had two goals while Sherman had two goals and two assists. Sherman was credited with an assist on Medlock's game-winner.

Martinez led SuHi with two goals and two assists while Trimmer contributed two goals and one assist and Reyes had one goal and one assist.

The teams will meet three more times in league play.

Eastlake Titans triumph in season debut
Eastlake was the last team in the CIF-Metro Conference to roll out for its first game of the season and the Titans (1-0) didn’t look too rusty in posting an 11-1 non-league victory against St. Augustine (1-4). The reigning Mesa League champions rolled up a 4-0 first period lead, expanded it to 8-0 after two periods with the assist of many of the team’s younger players.

Freshman Jackie Ponce scored one goal to lead the sizable cast of newcomers.

Jace White (four goals, two assists) and fast-skating Zach McMahon (two goals, four assists) keyed the team’s returners with six points each while Jordan Hines collected two goals ane one assist, Alex Bule and Marshall Bawden each had one goal and one assist. Nic Rodriguez and Aric Alvarez each were credited with one asisst.

Darius Newhall recorded the shutout with some very nice stick saves in the final period as the Saints finally managed to penetrate the Titan zone with an increasing number of rushes.

White, Hines and McMahon are serving as the team’s three captains this season.

Who’s on top? Poway hands #1 Westview first loss of season
The defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview Wolverines shot out of the gate with a 4-0 start but had their skates cooled by the Poway Titans, 3-1, in a game played Dec. 13 at the Escondido Sports Center.

The Titans scored one goal in each period and never trailed. Jordan Gallen potted home the game’s first goal with just 2:09 elapsed in the North County League game, assisted by A.J. Wright. The Wolverines tied the game with 5:19 left in the period as Hunter Weinstein scored, set up by teammate Cody Wadstrom. That would be Westview’s only goal of the game.

Ryan Hockett scored the final two goals of the game to lead Poway. He took a pass from Reed Kinsey and scored just 1:03 into the second period to break the tie and put in what proved to be the game-winning goal. The Titans struck again early in the third period as Hockett this time took a pass from teammate Charles “Mac” Pitts.

In another North County League game on Dec. 13 at the Escondido Sports Center:

Rancho Bernardo 8, Scripps Ranch 1
Six players scored goals for the Broncos, who broke open a 2-1 contest with six unanswered goals in the final two periods. Brian Gravelle and Kyole Shafer each had two goals and one assist to lead RB, which also received a goal and assist each from Cruz Major and Geoff Sagara.

Tommy Bouquin and Nick McNameaney each scored one goal while Zach Semonian was credited with one assist for the Broncos.

Jon Gauthier scored with 7:25 left in the first period to halve an early 2-0 RB lead.

Otay Ranch 13, Southwest 0
Dec. 13 at Skate San Diego: Cole Beatie recorded seven goals and one assist while Jon Managbanag collected five goals and Ryan Trego dished out seven assists to go with one goal to lead the Mustangs. Tyler Hawkins and Joey Parisi each contributed two goals and one assist while Maddie Melendez was credited with two assists.

Otay Ranch led 5-0 after the first period and sported a 14-0 bulge through two periods.

Hilltop 16, Castle Park 1
Dec. 13 at Skate San Diego: The Lancers zoomed in front 13-0 after building on an early 5-0 first period lead. Shannon Malone was credited with four goals and one assist to lead Hilltop’s sizable corps of newcomers. Richard Pol was credited with three goals and one assist while George Godinez had two goals and two assists and Alphonso Arreguin had two goals and one assist.

Four players each scored single goals: Kyle Heiskala, Alberto Perez, Kevin Kemanu and Giovanni Rude. Luis Ontiveros had two assists.

Junior team captain Jeremiah Schultz keyed the team with five assists.

Eric Kolar scored the lone goal for the Trojans.

West Hills 29, Bonita Vista 0
Dec. 13 at Skate San Diego: The Wolf Pack racked up 13 goals in the first period and tacked on eight more in the second period to take a 21-0 lead into the final period. Coey Dermody paced West Hills with eight points on four goals and four assists while Dominic Keiser scored six goals, Joe Swanson had five goals and one assist, Jared Wiess had four goals and two assists, Ryden Kerr had three goals and three assists and Cody Boyer collected two goals and four assists.

Westview on top as early season rankings take shape

Posted Dec. 9, 2010
The early season rankings within the CIF-Metro Conference are quickly taking shape two weeks into the 2010-11 season after the defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview Wolverines edged last year’s Kiwanis Cup finalist Rancho Bernardo, 2-1, on Wednesday night at the Escondido Sports Center.

Westview remains undefeated at 4-0. The loss was the first of the season for the Broncos (2-1).

Cruz Major scored with 5:43 left in the first period to give Rancho Bernardo a 1-0 lead in the North County League encounter. But the Wolverines struck back with the game’s final two goals. Dillon Dixon fed Kyle Clements for the equalizing goal on a power play. The ending was dramatic. The teams skated in a 1-1 standoff until 57 seconds were left in the game when Cody Wadstrom scored the winning goal.

"The playoffs are going to be interesting because I think the top four or five teams in the conference are all pretty close to one another," RB coach Pat Sagara said.

In other games played Dec. 8 at the Escondido Sports Center:

Poway 7, Scripps Ranch 1
The Falcons (2-2) scored first but the Titans (3-1) followed with the game’s final seven goals in a North County League game. Reed Kinsey led Poway with three goals and one assist while Charles “Mac” Pitts had two goals and one assist, team captain Luke Richards had one goal and two assists and A.J. Wright scored one goal. The teams were tied at a goal apiece after the first period before the Titans opened up a 4-1 edge after the second period. Jon Gauthier scored the lone goal for Scripps Ranch.

Cathedral Catholic 14, Otay Ranch 4
The Dons opened up an 8-0 lead on the visiting Mustangs in skating to the non-league victory. Nick Sciabarra led Cathedral Catholic with seven goals. Matt Martinu was not too far behind with four goals. Justin Cintas was the game’s play-maker with one goal and five assists while teammate Josh Feist contributed a goal and two assists. Stephen Hooker scored one goal for the victors while Kevin Rodenbeck was credited with one assist. Ryan Trego rattled off a pair of goals 54 seconds apart late in the second period but the Dons carried a 10-2 advantage into the final period. Jonathan Managbanag and Joey Parisi added goals for Otay Ranch in the third period. The loss was the third in as many meetings against a team from the North County League. The Mustangs previously dropped 8-7 and 7-5 decisions to Scripps Ranch and Poway, respectively.

Lancers up-end Mariners 14-1 in non-league match-up
Dec. 9 at Skate San Diego: Jeremiah Schultz (five goals, two assists) and Tylor Spracklin (three goals) donned leadership roles for the Hilltop Lancers and it was not by coincidence. Schultz, a junior, serves as team captain while Spracklin, a senior, serves as an assistant captain. They were all over the court, dictating the course of the game. George Godinez was the game's play-maker, however, with seven assists. Phillip Funes contributed four goals while Alphonso Arreguim had a goal and assist and Alberto Perez scored once.

Hilltop amd Mar Vista were tied, 1-1, early in the game before the Lancers reeled off the final 13 goals of the non-league contest.

Funes opened scoring in the match-up, assisted by Godinez, with 2:20 elapsed in the game. Andrew Medlock levled the score at a goal apiece on a goal 3:30 into the contest. But the Lancers scored four goals in the final seven minutes of the opening period and retained the momentum thereafter. Hilltop led 5-1 after the first period and 11-1 heading into the final period.

In other non-league games played Dec. 9 at Skate San Diego:

Scripps Ranch 7, St. Augustine 1
The game was close early, with the Falcons holding a 2-0 edge on first period goals by Brandon Lopez and Adam Mesenue. Johnny Heid scored with 2:16 gone in the second period to have the score but the Saints could get no closer on the scoreboard, with Scripps expanding on a 4-1 second period lead with three goals in the final period. Jon Gauthier paced the Falcons with four goals and three assists while Lopez collected two goals and two assists.

Rancho Bernardo 26, Sweetwater 0
The Broncos received goals from 10 players, including multiple goals from seven players, in skating past the Red Devils. Alex Kaiser led RB with nine points on five goals and four assists, followed by Brian Gravelle with four goals and two assists, Dylan Fitzgerald with four goals and one assist, Jake Troyer with two goals and three assists, Kyle Shafer with two goals and two assists, Geoff Sagara with three goals, Andrew Graham with a goal and two assists, Nick McNameaney with two goals and one assist, Zach Semonian with a goal and assist and Tommy Bouquin and Luke Osmond each with one goal. The Broncos led 11-0 after the first period and 20-0 after two periods.

The Raiders led early 2-0 on goals by Steven Regaliza and Chris Mikesell before Mar Vista went on a tear by scoring seven consecutive goals. The teams were tied 2-2 through the first period of play, with the Mariners holding a 4-2 advantage heading into the final period. Mar Vista put the game out of reach with five goals in the third period.

Mikesell keyed Southwest in the game with two goals while Regaliza had one goal and one assist.

In other games on Dec. 8 at Skate San Diego:

West Hills 28, Chula Vista 0
The Wolf Pack skated to an 11-0 first period lead and tacked on seven second period goals en route to the shutout victory. Jared Wiess led West Hills with 10 goals and one assist while Cody Boyer collected seven goals and three assists, Joe Swanson added five goals and two assists, Zack Peters had three goals and seven assists, Ryden Kerr had a goal and three assists and Kanoa Cook had two goals and one assist.

La Jolla Country Day 21, Bonita Vista 1
The Torreys built an early 6-0 lead and coasted from there. LJCD led 8-1 after the first period and 18-1 through two periods. Ryan Owsiany paced the winners with seven goals and three assists while Jack Little had five goals and three assists, Zach Feldman had three goals and three assists, Scott Ibsen had two goals and three assists and Peter Kuetzing had two goals. Freshman Jonathan O’Brien scored the lone goal for the Barons with 4:19 left in the opening period.

Mustangs’ effort not enough to get past Poway Titans

The Otay Ranch Mustangs appear to be carrying the torch so far for the CIF-Metro Conference’s complement of South County-based team. But figuring out how to get a win against a team from the North County League continues to elude them despite their best effort.

The Mustangs fell to 0-2 in two encounters against NCL teams after dropping a hard-fought 7-5 non-league decision to the Poway Titans on Dec. 7 at Skate San Diego in National City. Otay Ranch held three early leads in the back-and-forth contest at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2. But the Titans gained the upper hand late with leads of 4-3 and 5-4.

The game featured goal exchanges between the teams until Poway was finally able to put two consecutive goals on the scoreboard at the very end of the game.

The entertaining match-up was tied five times.

Goals by A.J. Wright and Ryan Hockett proved to be difference for the Titans. Wright’s goal, assisted by Jordan Gallen, came with 7:47 to play in regulation to snap a 5-5 tie. Hockett’s goal, also assisted by Gallen, came with 2:34 to play to put the visitors up by tow goals.

The Mustangs played the final minute without a goaltender in a last-ditch effort to catch up. But neither team could find the net.

Hockett finished the game with a hat trick for Poway, which also received two goals from Spencer Oliver and a goal and three assists from Gallen.

The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and 3-3 after two periods.

Ryan Trego matched Hockett with a hat trick of his own for Otay Ranch, which also received two goals from Jeremiah Jodzio and one assist each from Cole Beatie and Johnathan Managbanag.

For the second consecutive start, Mustang goalie Gabe Beatie proved his worth. Beatie had 30 saves in the loss to Scripps Ranch and continually came up with big stops against the Titans.

The win improved Poway to 2-1, with the one loss coming to conference newcomer Cathedral Catholic.

Otay Ranch’s record dropped to 1-2.

"We were missing some players for this game and we're still missing some players for the season," Titan coach Dale Ingram said. "Once we got those guys back, we'll have a much better team."

Hilltop tips Saints, posts first win of 2010-11
Jeremiah Schultz proved to be the play-maker of the game with a goal and three assists as Hilltop picked up its first victory of the season by defeating the St. Augustine Saints, 4-2, in a non-league match-up Dec. 7 at Skate San Diego. George Godinez scored twice to pace the Lancers in the goal-scoring department while assistant captain Tylor Spracklin scored once.

Schultz, Hilltop’s junior captain, put on a display with his hustle and pin-point passing to shine as an early season player of the year candidate.

The Lancers led 2-0 on goals in the opening 6:45 of the contest before St. Augustine rallied to tie the game on goals by Johnny Heid and brother Greg Heid. But Hilltop broke the deadlock just over two minutes later and added the only goal of the third period in support of winning goaltender Josh Evangelist.

Mar Vista Mariners, Sweetwater Red Devils skate to early lead in revamped South Bay League

Posted Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010
The Mar Vista Mariners and Sweetwater Red Devils skated to an early lead in the new-look South Bay League with respective victories against the Castle Park Trojans. Mar Vista defeated Castle Park, 14-1, on Dec. 6 while Sweetwater captured an 11-1 victory from the Trojans on Dec. 7.

The wins by the Mariners and the Red Devils were their first on the young season.

Mar Vista 14, Castle Park 1
Dec. 6 at Skate San Diego: Hunter Calef led the Mariners with five goals and two assists while teammate Joseph Sherman collected five goals and one assist. Alfredo Chavez had a goal and two assists while Kassandra Cook was credited with a goal and Andrew Medlock two assists. Mar Vista built a 13-0 lead in the game after scoring seven goals in the first period. Mariner coach Ron Cole said his team is in the midst of a major makeover. "We have five seniors who are playing hockey for the first time," he said.

Eric Kolar scored the lone goal for Castle Park.

Sweetwater 11, Castle Park 1
Dec. 7 at Skate San Diego: The game was tight between teh two teams until the faster-skating and more deft puck-handling Red Devils appeared to wear down their opponent in the middle period. Sweetwater led 2-0 after the opening period on a pair of goals by Shawn Trimmer but added five more goals in the second period to break the game open. The Devils eventually led 10-0 before the Trojans spoiled the shutout bid. John Reyes paced SuHi with five goals and one assist while Trimmer settled for a hat trick. Lewis Lawsojn had one goal and one assist while Freddy Bradshaw and Joseph Olmos were each credited with one goal. When Reyes reached the five-goal mark, he held up five fingers for ecstatic Devil fans to see. Eric Kolar scored the lone goal for Castle Park, which on a positive note, was fielding one of its largest teams in recent years.

Wolverines welcome Dons to CIF hockey, remain unbeaten
The defending Kiwanis Cup champion Westview Wolverines welcomed the newest member to the conference with a statement making 6-2 victory Dec. 6 at the Escondido Sports Center. Cathedral Catholic finished runner-up in last year’s San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference championships.

The Wolverines opened up a 4-0 lead on the Dons, including a 3-0 edge at the end of the first period. The teams traded goals in the second period and Westview doubled up Cathedral Catholic in the final period. Willie Morrison led all scorers in the game with three goals while Hunter Weinstein, Dillon Dixon and Richard Dolal each had one goal and Kyle Clement and Decker Seilhan each contributed one assist.

Matt Martinu and Nick Sciabarra each scored single goals for the Dons while Justin Cintas had one assist.

In another game at the Escondido Sports Center on Dec. 6:

West Hills 15, Scripps Ranch 5
The Wolf Pack built an 11-0 lead on the Falcons in claiming the non-league match-up. Six players picked up goals for West Hills. Spencer Galaas led the Wolf Pack with five goals and one assist while Joe Swanson had two goals and four assists, Zack Peters had three goals and two assists, Corey Demody had two goals and one assist, Dominic Keiser had two goals and Cody Boyer contributed a goal and assist.

Bruce Gilmour scored three goals for Scripps Ranch while Jon Gauthier led the Falcons with four points on two goals and two assists.

In a game played Dec. 6 at Skate San Diego:

La Jolla Country Day 27, Chula Vista 0
The Torreys skated to a 12-0 lead after the first period and took a 21-0 lead into the final period. Peter Kuetzing led LJCD with a breakout showing by collecting 10 points on four goals and six assists while Scott Ibsen (eight goals, one assist), Sam Brink (five goals, four assists) and Jack Little (five goals, four assists) all collected nine points. Ryan Owsiany contributed four goals and one assist to the winning effort.

BV Barons face off new season with victories
The Bonita Vista Barons faced off the 2010-11 season with a pair of wins, defeating the Sweetwater Red Devils and Southwest Raiders by scores of 7-4 on Dec. 1 and 9-5 on Dec. 2.

“We have a big roster this year —14 players,” said BVHS coach Keith Quigley, who is returning for his 13th season behind the bench. “ I think that’s the most players Bonita has had in a while. I’m excited that we have five girls on the team — that’s a first for Bonita. I think it’s awesome that the high school roller hockey league is seeing more participation from girls.”

The Barons’ female connection starts in the back and works its way forward on the court. This year’s starting goaltender is junior Nicole Tran. “She is a very nice young lady who listens well and works hard in practice,” the BVHS coach said.

The BVHS line-up features four returning players and nine new players. Among the newcomers is freshman Jonathan O'Brien, who has an ice hockey background via a travel team at the Kroc Center. “Jonathan is a very strong player with lots of solid hockey experience,” Quigley said.

Another top player is senior Felix Garcia.

Garcia led the Barons with four goals in the non-league victory against Sweetwater while O’Brien chalked up three goals and one assist in his high school varsity debut. Garcia racked up eight goals to lead the team against Southwest.

“Overall, I’m excited about the make-up of the team this year because I have a great bunch of players,” Quigley said. “They want to learn and they work hard in practice. And on top of that, they are a very respectful group of young men and women, which I very much appreciate after coaching for so many years.”

CIF-Metro Conference rolls out 11th season
Four league champions will be crowned in 2010-11

Updated Monday, Nov. 29, 2010
The CIF-Metro Conference is back for its 11th season after surviving a round of threatened budget cuts within the Sweetwater Union High School District and the state’s only officially CIF-sanctioned roller hockey league is larger than ever due to the expansion to four competition leagues with the admission of one new school.

The arrival of the Cathedral Catholic High School Dons from the club-based San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference hikes conference membership to 17 varsity teams. The Dons will play in the new Central League alongside the St. Augustine Saints, La Jolla Country Day Torreys and West Hills Wolfpack.

The new four-league set-up promises to provide for much more even competition and parity within each league.

The 2010-11 season concludes with the Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs in late February and early March. Each team is scheduled to play 20 regular season games. Ten of the 17 teams qualify for the single-elimination playoffs.

The 2010-11 season faced off with a Nov. 29 non-league contest pitting the Hilltop Lancers and the West Hills Wolfpack at Skate San Diego in National City.

The majority of games will once again be played at both SSD and the Escondido Sports Center — venues located about 31 miles apart that reflect the conference’s north-south geographic split. The outdoor rink at Castle Park High School will be used for pre-Winter Break contests.

This year’s conference alignment:

North County League — Poway Titans, Rancho Bernardo Broncos, Scripps Ranch Falcons, Westview Wolverines.

Mesa League — Bonita Vista Barons, Chula Vista Spartans, Eastlake Titans, Hilltop Lancers, Otay Ranch Mustangs.

South Bay League — Castle Park Trojans, Mar Vista Mariners, Southwest Raiders, Sweetwater Red Devils.

Central League — Cathedral Catholic, St. Augustine Saints, La Jolla Country Day Torreys, West Hills Wolfpack.

Westview is the defending North County League and Kiwanis Cup champion while Eastlake won last season’s Mesa League title. La Jolla Country Day captured the 2009-10 South Bay League title but the Torreys move to the new Central League assures that a new South Bay League champion will be crowned in 2010-11.

Give them a howl: Wolf Pack wins season opener 21-0

Spencer Galaas scored four goals and three assists and Eric Baldwin was credited with one goal and six assists to lead the West Hills Wolf Pack to a 21-0 non-league victory over the Hilltop Lancers in the 2010-11 season opener for both teams Monday, Nov. 29, at Skate San Diego in National City. Zack Peters scored three goals and three assists while Joe Swanson (three goals, two assists) collected five points and Cody Boyer finshed the game with four goals.

A total of nine players scored goals in the game. Jared Wiess had four points on two goals and two assists while Dominic Kaiser scored twice. Danny Aylesworth, who played the first half in the field and the second half between the pipes, was credited with one goal and one assist. Kanoa Cook, started the game in goal, shared the shutout with Aylesworth.

Boyer scored the first goal of the 2010-11 season with 3:20 elapsed in the game. The goals came fast and furiously for West Hills thereafter as the Wolf Pack -- picked to win this season's Kiwanis Cup championship title -- catapulted out to an 8-0 lead after the first period. West Hills led 13-0 after two periods.

The lopsided victory came against one of the South County's traditionally stronger teams.

"This is the strongest team West Hills has fielded since joining CIF -- we'd like to make history this season by being the first West Hills team to win a CIF conference title," said Wolf Pack head coach Steve Baldwin, whose background in hockey goes back 35 years.

West Hills joined the CIF/Metro Conference for the 2005 season, though the school has had a team for the last 13 years.

Galaas (a senior) serves as team captain this season while Eric Baldwin (a junior) and Swanson (a senior) serve as alternate captains. Both Galaas and Baldwin also skate for the San Diego Gulls Junior A Tier III ice hockey team in the Western States Hockey League.

There's no question the Wolf Pack has paid its dues since joining CIF play by competing in the rugged North County League. With the move to four leagues in 2010-11, West HIlls has to be considered a favorite to win the inaugural Central League championship, though newcomer Cathedral Catholic might have something to say about that, as will the St. Augustine Saints and La Jolla Country Day Torreys, the new league's other denizens.

"We picked up a lot of players, plus we had two very hot JV players move up," the elder Baldwin said in regard to the Wolf Pack's sudden surge to the top this season. "It's just a combination of synergy and an impressive group of new players. They really click."

One thing that was apparent in the opener against Hilltop -- there was no drop-off in production when the team's younger lines took the playing court.

"We have 10 very solid players -- nine of whom also play travel ice hockey," the WHS coach said. "The teams with the most ice hockey players are the ones that have the best teams each year -- that's just how it is. The closer you get to the Kroc Center and the ice rinks in North County, the more ice hockey players you pick up. The South Bay doesn't have an ice hockey rink."

The elder Baldwin, a former State Assemblyman for the 77th District and an original member of the San Diego Hosers men's inline team, said West Hills will be fielding a middle school team this season that will play at the Escondido Sports Center. It is believed to be the first middle school team from below Mira Mesa to play in the Escondido league.

The future looks bright for the Wolf Pack in more ways that one, according to the WHS coach.

"One of our goals is to win aCIF title, but our other goal is that we want to rebuild roller hockey in East County," the elder Baldwin said. "There were three facilities in East County four or five years ago. Today there are zero. We'd like to use the high school team to help accomplish this by persuading city leaders to build and maintain a rink where the sport can grow again."

In other season openers played at the Escondido Sports Center:

Rancho Bernardo 6, Cathedral Catholic 3
Nov. 29 at Escondido Sports Center: Cruz Major scored four goals and Kyle Shafer had four asissts as the Broncos overcame an early 3-1 deficit to post the non-league victory. The Dons, playing in their first-ever CIF-Metro Conference game, took the early lead on a hat trick by Justin Cintas. However, the 2010 Kiwanis Cup finalists chipped away at the Cathedral Catholic lead, scoring the only three goals of the third period (all in a 1:21 span) to skate off with the victory. Brian Gravelle had a goal and assist for the Broncos while Luke Ostrand was credited with one goal. Cathedral Catholic is coached by former San Diego Voodoo standout Luke Storno.

Scripps Ranch 14, La Jolla Country Day 2
Nov. 29 at Escondido Sports Center: Mark Browner had four goals and three assists, Zach Lopez had four goals and two assists, Bruce Gilmour had three goals and Travis Sherman had two goals and two assists to lead the Falcons past the Torreys. Scripps Ranch built a 5-0 first period lead and would extend its lead to 11-0 before LJCD finally answered with its only tgwo goals of the game.Kelvin Do had one goal and two assists and Jonathan Gauthier contributed two assists to the Falcons' win. Ryan Owsainy led the Torreys with one goal and one assist while Jack Little scored one goal.

In other openingn week games:

La Jolla Country Day 17, Southwest 0
Nov. 30 at Skate San Diego: Ryan Owsiany had 10 points on six goals and four assists and Jack Little contributed four goals and four assists to help the Torreys skate to their first victory of the season. Peter Keutzing collected five points on four goals and one assist while Scott Ibsen had six points on two goals and four assists and Zach Feldman had one goal and one assist. LJCD led 6-0 after the first period and 11-0 entering the final period.

Otay Ranch 24, Mar Vista 2
Nov. 30 at Skate San Diego: Ryan Trego turned up the heat in his first game of the season by racking up 10 goals and 15 points to lead the Mustangs to the blow-out victory. Captain Jonathan Managbanag wasn't far behind on the scoresheet with nine goals and three assists. Cole Beatie notched a hat trick in his varsity debut while Tyler Hawkins had one goal and two assists and Jason Albano was credited with one goal. Otay Ranch led 11-1 at the end of the opening period and 16-2 after two periods. Hunter Calef led the Mariners with a goal and assist while Dylan King was credited with Mar Vista's first goal of the season.

Bonita Vista 7, Sweetwater 4
Dec. 1 at Skate San Diego: Felix Garcia scored four goals and Jonathan O'Brien collected four points on three goals and one asisst to pace the Barons in their season opener. Bonita Vista led 6-0 before Shawn Trimmer, assisted by David Martinez, finally put the Red Devils on the scoreboard. Sweetwater scored four of the game's final five goals. The Barons led 6-3 after two periods. Trimmer finished the game with one goal and one assist while Freddy Bradshaw scored twice. Gabriel Segura also scored one goal for SuHi.

St. Augustine 8, Mar Vista 1
Dec. 1 at Skate San Diego: Johnny Heid scored four goals, Michael Deiters had a goal and assist and Matt Camarata, Robbie Kielty and Patrick Plein each scored single goals to key the Saints in their season opener. Logan McConnell had 14 saves for the Saints, who led broke ann early 1-1 standoff with the final seven goals of the game. St. Augustine led 2-1 after the first period and 5-1 entering the final period.

Scripps Ranch 8, Otay Ranch 7
Dec. 1 at Skate San Diego: The visiting Falcons build just enough of a cushion to hold off the rampaging Mustangs. Scripps Ranch built leads of 3-1 (first period) and 5-2 (second period) before Otay Ranch made a last period surge with five goals. Jonathan Managbanag started the Mustangs on their heroic comeback trail with a goal 1:33 into the final period to make the score 5-3. But Daniel Connor got that back for the fast-skating Falcons to keep the hosts at a seemingly comfortable distance on the scoreboard. But a pair of unanswered goals by Ryan Trego made the score 6-5 with 6:27 to play in the game and the glimmer of a Mustang miracle comeback increased. Again, the Falcons blunted the combeback bid as Jonathan Gauthier scored an unassisted goal with 4:27 to put Scripps Ranch ahead 8-6. But Otay Ranch struck for a pair of goals just seven seconds apart to suddenly make it a one-goal game. Cole Beatie scored his second goal of the game with 1:49 to play to cut the score to 7-6 in Scripps Ranch's favor. Jeremiah Jodzio then scored off the ensuing face-off to tie the game. Each team had a short power play in the final two minutes of the game, and the Falcons proved one rush better as Connor Kelleher scored the game-winner with 52 seconds left on the clock to keep Scripps Ranch unbeaten on the season at 2-0. Gabe Beatie, making his varsity debut, had 30 saves for the Mustangs in the loss. Kelleher and Gautheir each finished the game with three goals and one asisst for the victors whiel Brandon Lopez contributed a goal and assist.

Cathedral Catholic 6, Poway 3
Dec. 1 at Escondido Sports Center: Josh Cintas had three goals and two assists to lead the Dons to their first-ever CIF-Metro Conference victory. Nick Sciabarra and Matthew Martino each contributed a goal and assist for Cathedral Catholic (1-1). The hat trick was the second for Cintas in as many games.

Rancho Bernardo 8, La Jolla Country Day 2
Dec. 1 at Escondido Sports Center: Cruz Major had three goals and one assist, Kyle Shafer had two goals and two assists and Brian Gravelle contributed a goal and assist as the Broncos improved to 2-0 on the season. Luke Otrand and Zach Semonian each scored once for Rancho Bernardo, which also was bolstered by an assist from Geoff Sagara. The game was closer early on than the final score indicated. The Broncos led 2-0 after the first period and the teams were tied 2-2 through two periods before Rancho Bernardo piled up six goals in the final 9:55 of the game to win going away. Jack Little and Zach Feldman each had one goal while Ryan Owsiany and Scott Ibsen each picked up one assist for LJCD (1-2).

Westview 7, West Hills 4
Dec. 1 at Escondido Sports Center: Who's the No. 1 team in the CIF-Metro Conference this season? West Hills was picked to win this season's Kiwanis Cup title in the preseason but the defending conference champion Wolverines had something to say about that in capturing a key non-league decision from the Wolf Pack in the season opener for Westview. The Wolverines opened up a key 4-0 edge in the game, lead 3-0 at the end of the first period and 4-1 entering the final period. Westview increased its lead to 5-1 on an unassisted goal by Willy Morrison just 30 seconds into the third period before West Hills finished with three of the period's final five goals. The Wolf Pack closed to within 6-4 with 5:37 to play but Morrison scored his second goal of the period with 3:02 left to seal the victory. Spencer Galass led the Wolf Pack (1-1) with two goals and one assist.

Bontia Vista 9, Southwest 5
Dec. 2 at Castle Park High School: Felix Garcia scored eight goals and Tae Kim had a goal and assist to power the Barons to their second win in as many games to face off the 2010-11 season. Bontia Vista jumped out to a key 4-1 first period advantage and led 7-4 through two periods. Junior Steve Refgaliaz paced the Raiders with two goals.

Poway 12, Hilltop 3
Dec. 2 at Skate San Diego: The Titans rolled out to a 5-0 lead, then successfully managed to hold off a Hilltop comeback bid that had closed the gap to 5-2 early in the second period, en route to claiming their first win of the season. Luke Richard led Poway with four goals and one assist while Jordan Gallen had two goals and one assist, A.J. Wright had a goal and two assists, Ryan Hockett scored two goals, Kyle Ingram contributed a goal and assist and Spencer Oliver had one goal. Ian Busch earned play-maker honors with three assists in the game for the North County visitors. The Lancers (0-2) received a goal and two assists from George Godinez and single goals from Jeremiah Schultz and Tylor Spracklin.

Westview 14, St. Augustine 2
Dec. 2 at Skate San Diego: The Wolverines improved to 2-0 on the season behind four goals and three assists by Willy Morrison, two goals and three assists by Decker Seilhan, hat tricks by Chris Lee and Greg Kurth, a goal and three assists from Rishad Dalal and one goal by Young Cho. Johnny Heid had both Saints' goals, while Phil Park pickedd up one assist. The Wolverines built a 13-1 lead in the game. St. Augustine dropped to 1-1 in non-league play.

Team previews
Rancho Bernardo Broncos
Rancho Bernardo won back-to-back Kiwanis Cup titles in 2007 and 2008 and dropped a 7-2 decision to Westview in last season’s conference championship game. RB coach Pat Sagara said his team should be somewhere in the championship mix again.

“We graduated nine seniors from last year's team, so we are a fairly young team this year,” Sagara said. “We have five returning seniors from last year’s CIF championship game team, so we have senior leadership for the team all with championship game experience.”

Top returners for the Broncos include senior defenseman Cruz Major and senior forward Kyle Shafer, both with three years of varsity experience. Rancho Bernardo is anchored between the pipes by senior goaltender Ryan Hicks, who earned second team all-conference honors last season.

“Several of our underclassmen players have played for different travel teams over the past years, so they are experienced in playing very competitive hockey and have shown they are very capable players,” Sagara said. “We will compete for the North County League title, then see what happens in the playoffs.

The Broncos’ underclassmen are led by sophomore defenseman Zach Semonian, who played for Team USA West in last summer’s AAU Junior Olympic Games and later in the summer for Team California in State Wars.

“We’re confident that with the team we’ve assembled for this season (that) we will compete for the North County League title, then see what happens in the playoffs.”

Eastlake Titans
The Titans drew the No. 5 seed in last year’s Kiwanis Cup playoffs — highest among the South County’s contingent of teams — but dropped a 5-0 decision to fourth-seeded Poway in the quarterfinals. Eastlake coach Rone Torres expects his team to once again carry the torch for the conference’s southern teams this season.

“I think we have a great team returning this season in roller hockey,” the EHS coach said. “We have a solid core of four-year veterans returning for the most part and, in turn, will add to bringing along the youngsters we are adding and already have on the rosters.

The Core Four include Jace White (captain), Alex Bule, Jordan Hines (assistant captain) and Zach McMahon (assistant captain).

“Those four core players are definitely what leads and holds my program together,” Torres said. “We've all been together for a full four years now and have traveled all over for NARCh and other off-season tournaments. I have developed solid and lasting relationships with all of their families, and at the end of the day, it's the bond we have that is going to help keep the program for Eastlake at the top of the Mesa League.”

Sophomores Marshall Bawden and Aric Alvarez clearly lead the Titans’ complement of youngsters on the floor. “They are the next two Titans to take the program over and make it their own,” the EHS coach said. “I see a lot of the fire and defensive play in Aric that I do in Jace White now, and Marshall reminds me of a young Nate Scharmann with his skill and leadership abilities.”

Senior J.D. Mayer returns for this third season and looks to make a significant contribution to the team. “In each of the last three years I have seen him grow into a player who can be on the rink just as much as anyone on the roster and make major contributions as a defenseman and high-slot point player,” Torres said.

The Titans continued to be braced in the net by Darius Newhall, who is returning for his third season as the team’s starting goaltender. Newhall, who will be sporting a leaner look this season, has experience with several travel, house and 16AA teams. Torres calls him the top netminder in the Mesa League.

“He improved last year and doubled nearly all of his numbers, again sealing off games and taking us through the playoffs,” the EHS coach said. “He looks and feels a lot better and should be back as the top netminder in the Mesa League, and hopefully an all-conference mention come the end of the season.”

Torres is most excited about what he terms “a great freshman class” coming in this season.

“That is going to be able to keep the program turnover at an all-time low,” Torres said.

The newcomers include Jackie Ponce, Gabe Sanchez, Zane White (brother of just graduated Zach White) and Jaden White (brother of Justin and Jace White).

“Jackie enters as the first female we’ve had in a few years, and after hearing how she grew up playing in leagues with her cousin Nick Spardy (St. Augustine), I have a feeling that she is going to be an intricate part of my program for years to come,” Torres said.

As for the remaining cadre of incoming freshman, the EHS coach said assimilation will be the key to their contributions in their first year at the high school level.

“All of these guys are returning to roller action after playing in youth or on travel teams and will need some time to assimilate to the game at the varsity high school level, but like most kids who come through the program, will contribute over time and help us grow and get better.”

Otherwise, the EHS coach said the goals of the program have not changed — win the Mesa League championship and challenge for a conference title.

That road may be one filled by a few bumps as the Titans embark on perhaps the team’s most challenging schedule in their history. Torres has slated six non-league games at the Escondido Sports Center, playing one game against each team in the rugged North County League. Eastlake will also take a Central League tour by playing two games each against West Hills, LJCD and Cathedral Catholic besides one game against St. Augustine.

The Titans have just one game scheduled against a team from the South Bay League. That is against Mar Vista.

West Hills is the preseason pick to win this season’s Kiwanis Cup championship.

“The road will be rough as we will face our toughest scheduled to date since I took over five or six years ago,” Torres said.

Game on!