SD Prep Sports:

2006-07 Winter Sports
Metro Conference

Roller Hockey

Otay Ranch roller hockey team:
2006-07 Mesa League co-champions

Posted Feb. 20, 2007
Who says that defenders can’t share in the glory? The Otay Ranch roller hockey team got down to defense when it mattered most and what mattered most in the end was the Mustangs’ 8-4 victory against La Jolla on Feb. 15 that secured a share of this year’s CIF/Metro Conference Mesa League championship.

The dramatic victory came in the final regular season game of the season and allowed Otay Ranch to finish in a tie with Eastlake for first place in the league standings. The Mustangs entered the regular season finale in must-win mode after Eastlake defeated Bonita Vista, 5-4, in the preceding game to move into sole possession of first place. La Jolla needed a victory to move back into first place to retain the title as league champion or a tie to share the banner with the Titans.

That La Jolla had defeated Otay Ranch, 8-3, in the team’s first-round meeting on Jan. 18 generated more than a little concern among many on the Mustangs roster.

Otay Ranch coach Mark Holland said the championship game victory against La Jolla will be placed next to the best performances in the team’s history after his team played its best game of the season in its most important game of the season. “This was a great, great win for these kids,” Holland said. “That’s the way we would have written the script if we had the chance.”

But it almost didn’t end that way.

Otay Ranch owned a 10-3 record following a dominating 9-2 victory against St. Augustine on Jan. 25 to stand as the top-ranked team among South County-based squads. But a 7-2 loss to South Bay League leader Mar Vista on Jan. 30 ushered in a 2-3-1 streak that dropped the Mustangs from first place in the Mesa League standings. A 3-2 loss to Bonita Vista on Feb. 13 nearly cost Otay Ranch a chance of even tying for the league banner.

Four teams — Bonita Vista, La Jolla, Eastlake and Otay Ranch — entered the final week of the season all having an equal shot at claiming at least a share of the title depending on the combination of results in the final two games. Entering the final game of the season, the four teams were separated by just one point in the standings.

When Eastlake topped Bonita Vista in one of the most exciting games ever played in conference history, that set up the second championship game of the night, with an Otay Ranch win handing the Mustangs a co-championship and a La Jolla victory giving the Vikings sole possession of the banner.

The season-ending victory gave Otay Ranch a 7-3 record in league play, 13-6-1 overall. Eastlake also finished 7-3 in league play, 14-6 overall, while Bonita Vista and La Jolla finished with identical 6-3-1 records in league play, 10-9-1 overall records.
“We barely had enough,” sophomore standout Zach Johnson said.

Despite the downturn in the final two weeks of the season, the Mustangs had one last opportunity to redeem themselves. In other words, not to led an opportunity completely slip away.

Johnson said the turnaround began during a recent practice session. “We just had one practice that seemed to go well for everything. It all seemed to click and it was like old times,” he said.

The return of Josh Donaldson didn’t hurt, either. Donaldson, who was playing in just his third game of the season, and teammate Angelo Seganti proved to be among the biggest men on the floor despite not regularly lighting up the team’s scoresheet. The Mustang duo drew the primary assignment of defending the Vikings’ dynamic scoring duo of Johnny Noris and Nick Whaley. Noris entered the final week of competition ranked second in the 18-team conference in overall scoring with 100 points while Whaley was third with 88 points, making the duo the conference’s No. 2 scoring tandem with 188 points (behind Mar Vista’s Ian Nicklen and Jeremy Tanaka with 195 combined points). Noris had 14 points in a second-round 16-11 against St. Augustine on Feb. 6 while Whaley racked up 12 points in that same game.

Depending on who was out on the floor, Otay Ranch’s game plan also included either Johnson or Gabe Beddoes to add further containment on the Vikings’ dynamic duo while the team’s forwards did their job by applying pressure on the opposing goaltender, Kenny Satterlee. Mustang netminder Victor Holland played well, too.

The elder Holland conceded that his team would cough up goals while playing against a team of that caliber but the key to success, he said, was to make the Vikings chase his players around the rink to the point that they wore down.

Otay Ranch’s defensive-minded strategy worked from the onset, holding La Jolla to one goal in the opening period — and that came with just 19 seconds left in the stanza. The Mustangs never trailed in the game, leading 2-1 at the end of the first period and 5-3 after two periods. The Vikings scored once more in the third period but Otay Ranch won the period with three goals of its own to end the game in celebration.
Both Noris and Whaley were each credited with two goals and one assist in the contest.

“It was a very intense game. It was fun — never a dull moment,” Johnson said.

Matt Nafarrete’s penalty shot goal with 3:44 left in the second period likely was the game’s turning point. The Vikings, initially down 2-0 on the scoreboard, had chipped away to close the gap to a goal at 4-3 when Nafarrete was awarded the one-on-one opportunity against Satterlee. It was the second-ever penalty shot taken by the Mustang skater and he remained perfect at 2-0 by depositing the puck past Satterlee to give Otay Ranch back its two-goal edge.

“I thought I had to make it — it was a big momentum shift,” Nafarrete said.

Nafarrete finished the game with three goals to match Johnson (two goals, one assist) with three points while Ricky Gutierrez led all Mustangs on the scoresheet with six points on two goals and four assists. A.J. Walker had a goal while Seganti was credited with a pair of assists.

Mark Holland said the teams did a complete role reversal from their initial encounter when several Mustang standouts were battling the flu. Holland went so far as to say that his team — deprived of its legs and depth — likely played its worst game in its three-year history.

“When you play La Jolla, you better show up with everything you have. We didn’t then,” he said.

When it mattered most, however, Otay Ranch was able to get its full game in gear. The elder Holland said that was exactly what it took because the Vikings didn’t quit. “They kept the game way too close for our comfort,” the Mustang coach said in due respect for La Jolla.

Otay Ranch finished with a 42-30 edge in shots. The Mustangs closed out the game with an empty net goal with two seconds left.
The Otay Ranch coach called it a “great night to be a Mustang.”

Gutierrez and Walker scored the opening two goals of the game and Gutierrez gave Otay Ranch a quick momentum boost by scoring off the opening face-off of the second period after La Jolla had halved its deficit on the scoreboard to 2-1.

But the Vikings proved scrappy throughout and though La Jolla’s dynamic duo may have encountered some stiff resistance from the Mustang defense, Noris and Whaley did manage to fire off their fair share of shots. It seemed that every time Otay Ranch went up by two goals, the Vikings countered to make it close once more — at least through the first two periods.
Otay Ranch’s 3-1 lead shrunk to 3-2. A 4-2 lead was soon whittled down to 4-3.

“Every time we’d pull away, a couple more minutes passed and their counter-attack turned a nice scoring opportunity into a goal,” the elder Holland said.

Nafarrete’s penalty shot was awarded when a La Jolla defender hauled down a Mustang attacker who was breaking free down the slot while Otay Ranch was already enjoying an advantage on a delayed penalty.

The two-goal cushion became a three-goal cushion and then a four-goal cushion as the Mustangs defense controlled the game for a critical nine-minute stretch by holding the game scoreless until Otay Ranch could finally put the game away in the closing minutes.

The elder Holland said the team’s game plan and team effort came together and, in his words, “held together for 45 minutes of great hockey.” The Mustangs bench boss credited puck movement, limiting turnovers, excellent passing, solid defense, short shifts, great goaltending and a total effort from everyone as the components to a championship-game performance — and a championship season.