Golden West rallies past West Valley for 8th straight crown

LONG BEACH - In a classic championship battle between a pair of elite programs, the Golden West Rustlers rallied past West Valley 15-12 to claim the 3C2A state championship Saturday at Long Beach City College. The win marks the eighth straight championship for the Rustlers, second only to their own nine-title run from 1989-1997. But it didn't come easily because of an equally-talented West Valley side that came up just short of topping GWC in the fourth-consecutive championship battle between the two teams. A rally for the ages secured the win for GWC.

The Vikings (30-6) came out on fire, scoring on their first possession and outscoring the Rustlers (36-4) 6-2 in the opening quarter. Liam Rogers led the WVC offensive wave with two goals, while Phil Portisch, Sy Lazzaroni, Berkecan Yalcin and Taine Pickering all tickled the twine once.

Two goals from Michael Rogers and one from Joao Goncalves countered a solo score from Ethan MacLeod to make it 7-5 with 3:06 left in the second quarter. Lazzaroni and MacLeod added two more WVC goals for a 9-5 lead and the teams traded goals, another from Rogers, one more from Portisch and one from Tomas De Luca to end the half at 10-7, WVC.

The Vikings were still in the lead at 12-11 when the third quarter ended, but the Rustlers had outscored the Vikings 4-2 and had tangibly grabbed the momentum. West Valley would not score again after the third. De Luca tied up at 12-12 at 6:36 of the fourth and, remarkably, Golden West got its first lead of the game on an Edward Hanley rocket at the 5:05 mark. Rogers scored again at 4:34, followed by a Cerkez power-play goal at 2:26. Golden West played keep-away the rest of the way, the final horn sounded and the Rustlers, including head coach Scott Taylor and the rest of the coaching staff, leaped into the pool in the customary water polo championship celebration.

Rogers finished with a team-high five goals, followed by three from De Luca, two from Cerkez and one each from Ethan Carrington, Goncalves, Handley, Zeno Kormendi and Jack Wright. A brilliant Pablo Souza picked up the win in goal. MacLeod's three goals paced West Valley, while Lazzaroni, Portisch and Rogers each had two. Zalan Hegedus, Pickering and Yalcin all found the back of the cage once. William McKeon had eight saves to cap a stellar tournament

Third place game: S3 Long Beach City over S2 Orange Coast 9-8

A large, noisy crowd was treated to one of the tournament's most entertaining games, which ended with the home team taking a 9-8 thriller. Long Beach (24-9) thwarted a spirited Orange Coast (22-14) fourth quarter rally after taking a 7-5 lead into the final stanza.

OCC got on the board first on a Cade Zeilinger goal on the first Pirate possession. Long Beach countered with six-on-five tallies from Sandro Pueyo and Cooper Haddad. Zeilinger added another, before Andrija Stankovic scored to give LBCC a 3-2 lead after one.

A defensive second quarter resulted in one goal for each team and a 4-3 Long Beach lead at the half. The Vikings opened the third with three straight goals, one each from Max Earhart, Pueyo and Haddad, to take a 7-3 lead. Two OCC goals from Carmelo Bangs sent the game to the final

eight minutes with Long Beach in front 7-5. Haddad and Stankovic tallies made it 9-5 with 6:16 left. Orange Coast found the back of the cage with three unanswered goals in the final four minutes, but it wasn't enough.

Haddad's three goals paced the scorebook for LBCC, followed by two from Pueyo and Stankovic. Earhart and Colley Ochoa scored one each. Diogo Checchinato stopped ten OCC attempts to pick up the win in goal. Bangs and Zeilinger led the Pirates with three goals each, while Sam Brooks and Sawyer McCormick finished with one apiece.

(Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA)