At the midway point of the Blossom Valley League’s West Valley Division season, the Sobrato High boys soccer team has become the odds-on favorite to win the championship and earn just its second Central Coast Section playoff berth in program history.
The Bulldogs (13-0-1 overall, 6-0 in league) are improving with each passing week, and that’s bad news for the rest of the squads in the division. Sobrato beat James Lick 2-0 on Jan. 20, throttled Piedmont Hills 5-0 two days later and defeated Oak Grove 2-0 on Jan. 24.
The team is getting it done with superior ball-control skills which often results in a rather sizable time of possession advantage.
“Their possession is what wears teams out,” Bulldogs coach Jeff Brown said. “When you play a team that has the ball all the time, sometimes you’ll make mistakes by pressing too hard. You have to really keep your mind in the game to do it.”
No one has been able to mentally and physically pull it off against Sobrato this season. Junior midfielder Phi Nguyen was largely responsible for the team controlling the possession for large chunks of time in the first half against James Lick.
A wizard with the ball, Nguyen’s ability to make pinpoint passes and dribble in tight spaces has been key for the Bulldogs this season.
“The James Lick players were calling his name when playing him because they knew to mark him out,” Brown said. “He’s almost unstoppable because the ball sticks to his feet like glue.”
In addition to Nguyen, Brown credited midfielders Ian Nave, Jordan Hay, Diego Chakarevski, Riley Ludley and Kyle Ton for possessing the ball “beautifully.”
“I wanted them to play a little quicker to be honest with you, but sometimes they just want to show up for the fans for whatever,” Brown said smiling. “We’re just stressing simplicity and quick play.”
Strikers Jose Gomero and Christian Grave scored in the James Lick match, and Paulo Mancera scored both of the goals in the most recent contest against Oak Grove. Mancera also had a terrific assist on Grave’s goal, threading a perfect pass that connected with a hard-charging Grave in-stride down the right seam.
Grave did the rest, dribbling a good 30 yards before scoring on a shot as he was falling down, a result of getting pushed from behind. The goal accounted for the final score of the game in the 53rd minute and took the wind out of the sails of James Lick, which prior to Grave’s tally had their best stretch of play in the second half.
Gomero scored the first goal after he was fouled inside the 18-yard box, taking a shot in the lower back in the process. Despite getting back up rather gingerly, Brown had Gomero take the penalty kick and he delivered, slotting a perfect shot to the lower left corner in the 32nd minute.
“I thought our boys executed really well,” Brown said. “They did everything I asked of them.”
Brown was effusive in his praise of defenders Bobby Romero, Kyle Chimienti, Sergio Garcia, Emiliano Santana and Mancera, who gave the team a huge lift with two quick goals in a 4-1 win over Silver Creek on Jan. 17.
“We were having trouble in that game and he just lit them up,” Brown said. “It was bam-bam, two goals. If you want dedication, I don’t think these guys have missed a practice the whole season.”
After eking out several wins in its non-league games and then into the beginning of league action, Sobrato looks to be putting distance on its competition with four consecutive victories by two goals or more. As of Jan. 25, James Lick actually had 19 points to the Bulldogs’ 18 to top the West Valley Division. However, that’s misleading because the Comets have played two more contests.
Only the winner of the division earns an automatic berth in the CCS playoffs. Sobrato’s only previous appearance in the postseason came in the 2011 Division II tournament, where it was unceremoniously bounced in the opening round 4-1 by Overfelt.
Sobrato is looking to shatter the program record for victories in a single season and win a playoff game should it get there. The program is thriving as its junior varsity team is attempting to go undefeated for a third straight season.
And, get this: out of the 11 players who started the James Lick match, only two were seniors.
“That means the future of Sobrato soccer is looking good,” Brown said. “I’ve got to pinch myself to be involved in this whole thing because it’s pretty exciting and we’ve got a special group of boys. It’s been barren ground for Sobrato soccer for so long and the beauty of this season is most of the guys playing are juniors and sophomores. Another year of maturity with those boys is really going to make them into something special I think because every year at this age is a big difference depending on how fast you mature.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com and (831) 886-0471, ext. 3958.
