Acorns, Bulldogs will square off in Santa Teresa Division next
year
MORGAN HILL — For guiding his Acorns to an 8-0-6 league finish complete with their first conference championship since 2006, Tony Goble has been named West Valley Division boys soccer Coach of the Year.
Under him, Live Oak (9-3-11 overall) won or tied its final 19 matches. The No. 11-seeded Acorns upset No. 6 Sacred Heart 1-0 in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division III tournament, then tied No. 3 Santa Cruz 1-1 in the quarterfinals only to fall 4-3 in penalty kicks.
For Goble, the recognition added to a special 11th year with Live Oak High School.
“It’s an honor. It’s something special to be named Coach of the Year,” he said Wednesday. “Anybody in the league was deserving, being out there day in and day out and putting in everything to do everything you can. It’s nice to be honored.”
Goble joined six of his players on the West Valley’s postseason awards list. Defenseman Adolfo Canela, and midfielders Alejandro Diaz and Ben Hartl were named first-team all league with Hartl adding the division Sophomore of the Year award.
Hartl and Diaz led the team in goals during league play.
“Ben was one of those special kids who played hard, practiced hard and led by example,” Goble said. “He was always going full speed. I nominated him for the award because he definitely deserved it.”
Forwards Ubaldo Lopez and Dylan Frechette, and defenseman Paul Jensen made the second team for Live Oak, which is moving up to the Santa Teresa Division.
Canela and Frechette are the team’s only graduating starters.
“They did what you’d expect as seniors this year,” Goble said. “Dylan had a solid season, and Adolfo who helped solidify the defense after we moved him to stopper around Christmas. We’re going to miss both of them next year.
“Our goal is going to be to make it back to CCS.”
Sobrato, which finished 8-4-7 overall and 7-3-4 in the Santa Teresa, produced five all-league nods.
The first-team honorees are senior midfielders Jovani Franco and Cesar Arellano and sophomore midfielder Shawn Henner. Junior Miles Mammen (midfielder) and Ramsey Ghamrawi (goalkeeper) are the Bulldogs’ second-team picks.
Henner earned the Sophomore of the Year award — a season after being named Santa Teresa Freshman of the Year.
“They were guys that were consistently at practice and working hard each day,” coach Ricardo Martinez said Wednesday. “They showed quite a lot of leadership.”
Franco, who scored a team-high seven goals, lived up to Martinez’s expectation, but Arellano was a surprise.
“I didn’t expect him to start because of his size. He definitely stepped up,” the sixth-year coach said. “Jovani worked hard the entire season.”
After an up-and-down start in league, Sobrato began to turn the corner with a 3-2 victory over Gunderson and a 1-0 loss to reigning Division III section champion Prospect. The Bulldogs won four of their last five games to finish fourth — narrowly missing the playoffs.
“That wasn’t a disappointment,” Martinez said. “With the way we finished, we proved that all those teams we tied we could have beat.”
