SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Boys Lacrosse

2005 Metro Conference Report

BV Barons growing game under new coach

By Phillip Brents
Posted April 12, 2005

Photo: Bonita Vista's James Arakaki (2) battles Bishop's Miles Barnett (27) for a ground ball.

No matter how small the effort, Bonita Vista High School boys lacrosse coach Ed Jeziorski applauded it. He was easily the most vocal participant in Monday’s non-league encounter between the host Barons and Bishop’s, a game won 17-5 by the visitors.

But winning wasn’t necessarily the point, Jeziorski said.

“This was a game to find out where our program is,” the new Barons coach said. “We have such a young team that this was a learning experience for us.”

Jeziorski previously coached the sport at La Costa Canyon and Torrey Pines high schools and even at UC-San Diego. He hopes to lay a solid foundation at Bonita Vista. Certainly, he has the means to accomplish that with a middle school feeder program that encompasses 60 student-athletes and another 35 student-athletes on the Barons junior varsity team.

“I’m new here to Bonita. I wanted to see where we were at. Bishop’s is well coached and its players know the game very well. We have a lot of work to do,” Jeziorski said.

The Knights, who improved to 5-1 overall with the victory, scored the game’s opening five goals, led 6-2 after the first period and 11-3 at halftime.

Contrast that with the Barons’ previous game — a 13-4 Metro Conference victory against Chula Vista.
“We want to build to where we can compete out of our league,” the Bonita Vista coach said. “We have such a young team — we only have four seniors starting — our future looks bright.”

Bishop’s entered the game owning a 12-5 victory against Monte Vista and a 14-9 victory against Granite Hills, both traditional East County powers, as well as league wins against USDHS (12-7) and Preuss (16-5).

Colby Rhodes led the Knights with five goals while Will Geier scored four times and Conner Thomas and Patrick Wafer each scored twice in support of goalie Luis Montiel, who was credited with four saves.

Jeziorski got a chance to air out his lungs when the Barons scored quick back-to-back goals to trim their early deficit to 5-2. Senior James Arakaki, the Metro Conference’s 2004-05 roller hockey Player of the Year, scored the first BV tally, followed in short order by a goal by fellow roller hockey teammate Brent Flanigan.

Bonita Vista opened the second quarter of play with possession of the ball but the Knights gained control in their defensive end and promptly scored on a counter-attack.

Arakaki and Flanigan both finished the game with two goals apiece for the Barons, who also received a second-half goal from Jeff Burnham.

Entering Monday’s game’s Bonita Vista’s only two on-field losses had come against Francis Parker and Eastlake (in the teams’ conference opener).

Jeziorski said Burnham, a senior attack-man, and senior midfielder Chris Hasley are counted among the team’s impact players, along with Arakaki, junior goalie Ulises Contreras, sophomore Blake Tanner and senior Brent Nash. Tanner and Nash also were members of the Barons’ Mesa League championship roller hockey team.

Bonita Vista, which captured last year’s Metro championship despite a season-ending loss to Eastlake, was to close out first-round conference play with a game scheduled Thursday against Hilltop, which has started to undergo its own metamorphosis.

Jeziorski said the results of the second round of conference play could be interesting. In the short term, however, he is looking for steady improvement from his team. In the long term, he is looking toward a more even playing field in non-league competition from future Baron squads.

“We have a lot of talent here. But right now it’s young talent,” he said.