Seniors lead way as Paly, Gunn, M-A boys all advance Seniors lead way as Paly, Gunn, M-A boys all advance (February 20, 2004)

by Keith Peters

This is the time of the year when seniors are supposed to step forward and provide that all-important leadership. That certainly was the case during the opening round of the Central Coast Section soccer playoffs Wednesday.

At Menlo-Atherton, senior Javier Hil crossed to senior Robert Kent, who provided the lone goal in the Bears' 1-0 victory over No. 13-seeded Live Oak in Division I action.

At Gunn, senior Matt Marquess sent a cross to sophomore Brandon Der, who finished the play to give the Titans a lead that would become a 3-0 victory over No. 15 Independence in another Division I opener. Senior Bobby Bateman finished the scoring after stealing the ball deep in Gunn territory and streaking down the field to finish.

And at Palo Alto, senior Michael Bianchi scored twice and assisted once to spark the Vikings to a 5-0 romp over No. 16 Prospect in a Division II opener.

As a result, all three local teams advance to CCS quarterfinal action Saturday. The No. 1-seeded Vikings (17-4-1) will face No. 8 St. Ignatius (11-8-3) at Burlingame High at 10 a.m. The No. 2-seeded Titans (14-3-5) will take on No. 7 Mt. Pleasant (16-5-3) at San Jose's PAL Stadium at noon, while the No. 4 Bears (12-3-6) will face No. 5 Bellarmine (19-4-3) at PAL Stadium at 4 p.m.

Also Saturday, the top-seeded Palo Alto girls (14-2-3) will take on No. 8 Santa Teresa (10-9-1) in a Division I quarterfinal at Milpitas High at 2 p.m. Leading the Vikings is senior Kat Stolpa, the Most Valuable Player of the SCVAL De Anza Division this season.

Speaking of seniors, Menlo-Atherton's CCS opener was quite a highlight for Kent, a midfielder playing the final home match of his career.

"That's the first goal I've ever scored in high school," said Kent.

That achievement was even lost on veteran M-A coach Juan Camahort.

"That was your first goal?" Camahort asked. "You picked the right time to do it."

After struggling to a scoreless first half despite numerous attempts, the Bears finally broke through in the 50th minute. Hil, who led the Bears with 19 goals this season and who is headed for Cal in the fall, took a throw in deep in the right corner and spotted a wide open Kent streaking toward the goal.

"I just saw open space," Kent explained. "I was just so open. It was a nice setup play."

Hil crossed the ball to Kent, who pounded it past Live Oak's fine keeper, Nick Rauschnot, who had denied the Bears time and again throughout the sun-splashed afternoon on M-A's plastic grass field.

"I'm usually doing the assisting," Kent said of his dearth of goals. "I had opportunities last season against Watsonville (in the Homestead Cup tournament), but just blew it over the net."

Not this time, however.

"I'm definitely happy not to end my high school career without getting a goal," Kent said.

Kent's goal was the Bears' ninth in the past five matches. Prior to that, Menlo-Atherton's offense was nonexistent during three straight scoreless ties.

"We were in a big scoring slump," Kent said.

It appeared the Bears had returned to their offensive woes in the first half Wednesday as Hil's best efforts to set up his teammates went for naught time and again.

"We had a lot of shots, a lot of chances," Camahort said. "We're creating the opportunities, but we're just not finishing."

Fortunately for the Bears, their solid defense that was led by Darren Borcherdt, Spencer Collom and Ricardo Correa helped keep them in the game.

One of the offensive problems, however, is that Hil is so good with the ball, that his teammates tend to stand around and watch him - rather than get involved in the play. By the time the Bears react, Hil usually is surrounded by two or three defenders. Hil, however, was still good enough to get off at least a half-dozen shots against Live Oak that were either tipped away or just over the crossbar.

If Hil can convert a few of those Saturday against Bellarmine, the Bears just might avenge last season's 1-0 loss to the Bells in the CCS quarterfinals.

"I don't think they (Bellarmine) are as good as last year," Camahort said, "and we're better than last year."

The Bells advanced with a 3-2 win over Leigh. The winner of Saturday's match will advance to the semifinals Tuesday at PAL Stadium.

"It's one down and three to go," Camahort told his players after their victory.

Gunn is in a similar position following its 3-0 romp over No. 15 Independence. A victory over No. 7 Mt. Pleasant on Saturday will put the Division I defending champions into a Tuesday quarterfinal at PAL Stadium against either No. 6 Leland or No. 3 Gilroy (19-0-5), the only undefeated team in the tournament.

The Titans took that all-important first step toward their title defense by scoring twice in the first half to decide things early. Marquess got things rolling after weaving through the defense to set up Der's goal. Junior Alex Guzinski scored moments later on a penalty kick and Bateman finished off the Sixers in the second half with his late, unassisted goal.

In between, Gunn's defense sparkled. Ryan McDermott, Nitzan Zorman and Anton Horwath were joined in their fine efforts by Allon Jacobs and Vinnie Beltrami.

Gunn could have cruised, but had two goals negated by offside calls in the first half. The Titans also battled through the muck on their rain-soaked field, giving first-year coach David Burgee his first-ever CCS victory.

Paly coach Don Briggs also gained his first section triumph after the Vikings roared back from a scoreless first half to score five times after intermission.

"We were just trying to do too much," Briggs said of his team's play in the opening half. "I told them to just keep it simple."

Juniors Jean Choi and Manny Barrigan teamed up for the first goal in the 53rd minute, with Barrigan making it 2-0 off Bianchi's assist six minutes later. Bianchi made it 3-0 off an assist from David White with junior Pierre Meloty-Kapella making it 4-0 six minutes later off a nice cross from Ed Chang. Bianchi concluded the offensive fireworks with a blast from just outside the goal box in the 76th minute.

Team captains Pedro Duarte and Cameron Taylor did a fine job controlling the midfield, with Taylor dropping back to anchor the defense despite playing with a deep thigh bruise.

"I didn't think he'd play," Briggs said of Taylor's injury, suffered a week earlier in a regular-season finale win over Gunn. Taylor, in fact, wasn't cleared to play until just before Wednesday's match. "He's been our guy back there (on defense) all year."

Briggs was able to play everyone against Prospect, but won't have that luxury against St. Ignatius.

"I don't see any easy games on the horizon," Briggs said.

Should Paly get by the Wildcats on Saturday, the Vikings could face No. 4 Santa Cruz on Wednesday in a semifinal at PAL Stadium. Santa Cruz is the only team to beat Division I powerhouse Watsonville this season.

The CCS Division II finale is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 27 at PAL Stadium at 4:30 p.m. Briggs and his Vikings are hoping to be there, as not as spectators.

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