Mar Vista High School head coach Ron Cole has been a bit more choosy with his words this season. "There are a lot of good teams in this league and we have our hands full. I have the utmost respect for every team in this league," Cole said after his Mariners escaped with a 12-6 victory against the first-year Otay Ranch Mustangs in CIF-Metro Conference’s season opening game on Nov. 30.

Fast forward one month and the Mariners have more than earned their share of respect — as well as collecting the first league championship title in school history after Mar Vista defeated Hilltop by a 7-3 score on Jan. 3 at Skate San Diego in National City.

The win gave the Mariners a perfect 7-0-0 record and a lock on sole possession of first place in the five-team South Bay League standings. The team effort may not have been the best in Cole’s eyes but his players will gladly take the first league title in the program’s five years of existence.

Sophomore Jeremy Tanaka scored a hat trick while cousin Ian Nicklen, an all-conference selection last year as a freshman, added two goals and one assist as Mar Vista pulled out to leads of 2-0, 4-1 and 5-2 before finally winning by four goals. Adrian Avalos scored twice for the Mariners, who also received two assists from Trevor Stutzman.

"When you don’t play well as a team but still find a way to win, that’s usually the mark of a good team," said Cole, whose team has gone on to outscore foes 90-12 to rank fourth in offense and second in defense in the 18-team conference.

Tanaka had six goals and two assists in the Mariners’ 12-2 victory against Otay Ranch on Dec. 16 as Mar Vista extended its unbeaten start to the season to 6-0-0. It was the best game of his two-year career in what also stood perhaps as the team’s most inspired performance in school history. Nicklen had four goals in the game, while another cousin, Marcos Rodriguez, was named the team’s Player of the Game for his defense of Otay Ranch’s Adrian Rodriguez, who had entered the week as the conference’s top scorer.

Nicklen has since taken over the top scoring role with 31 goals and 17 assists. Tanaka ranks third in league scoring with 22 goals and 10 assists. Tanaka’s emergence as a goalscorer has taken some of the pressure off Stutzman — last season’s leading scorer — who has become the team’s all-around playmaker this season with 11 goals and 16 assists.

The Mariners’ desire to elevate their game to three full periods of high-energy play against the Mustangs was a tribute to how far they want to go this season. Mar Vista lost in overtime in last year’s postseason Kiwanis Cup tournament semifinals. With the addition of five North County teams into the conference this season, playoff victories rate to be even harder to come by.

The wheels appear to be turning in perfect synchronous fashion this season for the Mariners, however. "We felt that this would be a difficult game for us. We knew that Otay Ranch would be gunning for us to avenge that first game (a 12-6 Mar Vista victory). We felt we had to play our best to win. I asked our players to play their best and to give me an early Christmas present — a win — and they did. I was proud they kept up their energy throughout the game and kept their heads up all three periods. I have to give respect to Otay Ranch. They’re a great team. The scoreboard does not reflect how good a team Otay Ranch really is," Cole said.

Otay Ranch’s Rodriguez finished with a brilliant goal in the game by weaving through the entire Mariner defense and firing a shot while being leveled, he was limited on the score sheet by both aggressive defense and the equally brilliant play of Mar Vista netminder Mike Gisi, whose quick glove save on a low liner ticketed for the corner struck by Rodriguez on another scoring chance was the stuff reserved for the proverbial highlight reel.

"Our player of the game was Marcos Rodriguez," Cole said. "Here’s a sophomore who played defense on the best player in the league."

Mar Vista joined Bonita Vista as the only 9-0-0 teams in the 18-team conference following its 9-0 victory on Jan. 11 against an undermanned Castle Park squad. The Mariners, who rank in a tie for most shutouts in the conference with six, have resorted to sportsmanship play in recent games against the lesser talented teams in the league, as witnessed by the 6-0 win in their previous game against Southwest.

The decision to work on passing plays rather than racking up goals has drawn raves of approval from the team’s parents. Cole said he himself knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of lopsided scores. "We’re on top now but could be in their shoes in the future," the Mar Vista coach said.

First-year heroes

Otay Ranch secured second place in the South Bay League standings with its 6-6 tie against Hilltop on Jan. 11. The Mustangs appeared in position to improve to 7-2-0 before the Lancers erased a 6-4 lead in the final 4:32 with unanswered goals by Brian Mark and Ruben Benavides. Otay Ranch (6-2-1 overall) remains two standings points ahead of Hilltop (4-4-1 overall) with one league game remaining for each team.

In the teams' first meeting, Otay Ranch had pulled off a 7-5 victory, then considered an upset. However, the Mustangs were in the rematch from the start, taking a 2-0 lead before later fighting back from a 3-2 deficit to lead by scores of 5-3 and 6-4 in the final period. Matt Nafarrete led Otay Ranch in the game with a hat trick while Adrian Rodriguez, a member of the under-16 youth national team, added two goals and one assist.

"I was so proud of our kids. We were down 6-4 and tied it up. Cory Garvin, who is one of our top offensive players, was ill. It was a good team win," Hilltop coach Dan Vaccaro said.   

"We didn’t play very disciplined against them the first time. We spent too much time in the penalty box. Bonita has a very solid team from top to bottom. We couldn’t defend their top players. I don't know if you can really stop James Arakaki and Kelly Nash. Those are the two players that really make that team go. But we will have to contain them," said Eastlake coach Jeff Mechling, whose team owns the top-rated defense in the conference with just 11 goals allowed in nine games.