SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Bonita Vista's James Arakai breaks through the Poway defense.

Victory at last!

Bonita Vista Barons 5, Poway Titans 4

By Phillip Brents

Updated Feb. 9, 2005

In one short sentence, Bonita Vista's Eric Enciso deserved this one. So did South County, in general.

Photo: Eric Enciso brings the puck up the floor for Bonita Vista

It was Enciso's goal with 7:57 left in the third period that stood up as the winning margin in the Barons' come-from-behind 5-4 victory against Poway Tuesday night at Skate San Diego in National City. The win by Bonita Vista ended a streak that had seen teams from the North County League compile a 19-0-2 record in the inter-league matchups.

It took 22 games but the rather large monkey has finally been removed off the figurative shoulders of teams from the Mesa and South Bay leagues.

It might not seem like much but at least it is a start.

It came in a game that many felt the Barons (14-2-1) could not win after falling 6-2 to Scripps Ranch and notching a 5-5 draw with Vista in their opening two inter-league contests. Poway (14-2-0) was rated the best the North County League had to offer with one loss in 15 games.

It only proves it is time to rethink any preconceived notions about North County League dominance in the upcoming Kiwanis Cup playoffs. That could still happen but at least the Mesa League champion Barons served notice they will not go down without a good fight.

"Awesome!" were the words used by BV coach Keith Quigley to describe his team's performance. Few gave the Barons any chance of hanging with their physically larger North County League opponent for three full periods without losing a step. Quigley even admitted he was surprised by his team's spirited game.

"We had a really solid practice on Saturday. We felt we had a couple of things to go over. One was positioning and the other was intensity. All the North County teams are strong. The intensity has to be picked up against those teams. We really got up for this game. I'm extremely proud of how we stepped up and played. There were five of six guys who played the whole game," Quigley said.

Even Poway players offered hints they were impressed by the Barons' resolve afterward.

"This was the game I've been waiting for the team to see what it could do if we all put it together and we did," Quigley said.

If there was anyone who deserved to get the game-winner, it was Enciso, who has played a more defensive role in the inter-league matchups and may have become lost in the shadows of more prolific scoring teammates like James Arakaki and Kelly Nash. Arakaki and Nash helped fuel the upstart victory with four goals and three assists between them, but the Barons showed to everyone watching that there is more to them than just one or two standout players.

In the future, foes will have to defeat a team.

“It felt pretty good. We had a North County team. They’re pretty good. We played pretty strong defense,” Enciso said.

What the Barons, who had gone winless in three straight games (0-2-1) after starting the season 13-0-0, accomplished was impressive in coming back from a 2-0 deficit after the first period. Adam Gould, assisted by Brent Ozaki, gave Poway a 1-0 lead with 5:33 remaining in the opening frame. Matt Pecenco, who had made a habit of feasting on South County goaltenders in the Titans' previous two inter-league matchups (collective score: Poway 30, South County 0), doubled the lead three minutes later.

The scenario seemed to follow the same script that had been written in virtually all the preceding 21 inter-league games: North County team gets out to an early lead, North County team pulls away for a comfortable victory.

This squarely did not happen. Bonita Vista challenged and got back in the game.

The Barons were worn down by a relentlessly charging Scripps Ranch team and made to look ordinary. It was a shocking turnaround, downright humbling for the best team in South County. Flashes of brilliance were display in the heroic comeback against Vista by scoring four of the game's final five goals. Bonita Vista continued to build on its game against Poway, which admittedly had gone unchallenged in previous wins against Southwest and Castle Park.

The Titans did not exhibit any of the same power they displayed in man-handling Hilltop by a 6-0 score in their initial inter-league contest. Poway crashed and thrashed for a 4-0 first-period lead against the Lancers and looked like an unstoppable force unleashed on the rest of the conference.

Rather than playing a physical game against Bonita Vista, Poway seemed to play the Barons' game -- one of skating and finesse. There was physical contact but nothing like in the game against Hilltop.

What was played on the floor was an inline hockey game, not an ice hockey game. Advantage: Bonita Vista?

Perhaps.

Bonita Vista's James Arakaki takes a stab at the Poway net.

It also did not hurt that Arakaki, the Barons' resident superstar, was totally on his game. While Nash had a hat trick in the game against Vista, it was Arakaki who played with fire in his veins against Poway.

Arakaki, who also plays ice hockey, had apparently included on his wish list to score a win against Scripps Ranch this season. In the final minute of Bonita Vista's game against the Falcons on Jan. 31, one could sense Arakaki's frustration and that frustration boiled over into an ugly incident on the court. He channeled his energy against Poway like in no other game before. He played like a man possessed, like someone on a mission.

Arakaki had a part in the Barons' first four goals with two goals and a pair of assists. He got his team on the scoreboard with just under three minutes elapsed in the second period to cut the Poway lead to 2-1. Less than three minutes later the score was tied at 2-2 after Arakaki threw a shot in front of the Titan cage for Nash to put away.

Poway got the lead back at 3-2 with 5:36 left in the period as Trevor Cochran finished off a play from Pecenco that began with the Titans relentlessly pounding at the puck in the BV defensive end. The puck finally sprang loose as play carried toward the Baron net and a quick stab redirected it past Bonita Vista's star netminder Cody Mazzarella.

The Titans, however, had little time to celebrate the lead as Nash, positioned perfectly at the side post, got her second of the contest, set up by Arakaki, with 3:00 to play in the period.

Three-three.

An errant pass in the opening stages of the final period set up Poway team scoring leader Stephen Lockwood for the 4-3 go-ahead goal just 37 seconds into the period. It was as if someone had turned page in the script to the North County League's traveling horror show again.

But there would be no third-period runaway for the Titans.

Having faced their wall in previous physically-exacting games against Scripps Ranch and Vista, the Barons decided to climb this one.

With Mazzarrella making clutch saves and frenzied Poway passes flying across the goal crease to no avail, Bonita Vista kept dodging that next Titans goal. Arakaki, meanwhile, started dragging Poway defenders along with him toward the Titan net. Nash evened the game at 4-4 with a goal two minutes after Lockwood had given his team the lead.

Left: Bonita Vista's Kelly Nash prepares to whip off a shot on the run.

The momentum seemed to quickly shift. The unthinkable had suddenly happened. No South County team had even been in this position before so late in a game against a North County opponent. After Enciso's shot rang off the pipe and went in, the unbelievable happened: a North County team was suddenly playing from behind in the third period.

It was totally new territory being blazed at this point.

"We're not going to lose this game," Poway players resolved from the bench. The final few minutes saw a determined Titan team flood the attacking zone but the Barons were ready with saves by Mazzarella and everyone back playing defense.

Poway pulled its goaltender inside the final minute and precious time was spent by Titan forwards retrieving the puck shot the length of the floor behind the empty net.

“I thought our team could go undefeated this season. Playing against the North County teams is a big deal for the South County. It's good competition for the CIF division," Arakaki said.

Arakaki indicated that Bonita Vista’s improved fortunes revolved around improvement in its passing game.

“Puck control is the key to the game,” he said. “If you can move the puck, you have to do less skating. If you control the puck, you control the game.”

The Barons proved Tuesday’s big win against Poway was no fluke by defeating Rancho Bernardo, 10-4, on Wednesday. The Broncos had entered the game undefeated in three inter-league contests with victories against Eastlake (7-5), Hilltop (8-2) and South Bay League champion Mar Vista (7-3).

Nash paced Bonita Vista (15-2-1) with five goals while Arakaki contributed three goals and one assist. The Barons opened up a 3-1 first-period lead and broke away with six of the game’s final seven goals after Rancho Bernardo (9-8-1) had pulled to within a goal in the middle period.

“We had this high level game against Poway. We were a little off our game. We weren’t as intense. I give this game to Cody. He made a ton of saves. It was a much different effort,” said Quigley, whose team improved to 2-1-1 in inter-league games.

The playoffs obviously await.

Inter-league scoreboard
Just past the halfway point in the series of 48 inter-league games between North County League teams and those from the Mesa and South Bay leagues, the North County League led 24-2-2. Bonita Vista has held its own with a 2-1-1 record while South Bay League champion Mar Vista owns the other tie (against Westview). Playoff seeding will be interesting, to say the least.

La Jolla Country Day (6-11-0) hiked its inter-league record to 3-0-0 with an 18-0 victory against Chula Vista (1-16-0) on Tuesday. Matt Mulligan had six goals while Oren Siegel had four goals and two assists.

Westview (10-4-2) hiked its inter-league mark to 2-0-1 by thoroughly dominating Hilltop on the scoreboard with an 11-0 shutout victory. The Wolverines broke out to a 4-0 first-period lead and closed the game in strong fashion with five goals. Dan Luczak led Westview with five goals and one assist while Mike Kiraly and Leo Scheiler each scored twice.

Vista (11-4-2) improved to 2-0-1 in inter-league games by defeating Eastlake 7-4 behind a hat trick from Lukas Smith and two goals from Manny Alvarado. The Panthers broke a 1-1 first-period standoff with three second-period goals and added three more in the final period to expand on a 4-2 lead through two periods. Kyle Wagner continued his amazing season with a pair of goals for Eastlake, which fell to 10-6-1 with its third consecutive inter-league loss.