For the soccer players from Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos, Friday night is the dream game.
After years of playing with and against each other as kids on AYSO and club soccer teams, the crosstown rivals will meet in the biggest match for a prep player: the CIF Championship.
The Dons and Chargers clash for the Division 2 boys title in the first all-South Coast, CIF final at 7 p.m. at UCSB’s Harder Stadium.
Dos Pueblos keeper Chris Castillo was the hero in the semis, stopping three shots in a shootout.
Alfredo Ibarra, center, has scored in three of Santa Barbara's four playoff games so far.
The home of the 2006 national-champion Gauchos and the site for this year’s NCAA College Cup is a fitting venue for the biggest local prep soccer game in years. The players, who’ve had to cope with bumpy, clumpy, worn-out high school fields, will revel in dribbling and passing the ball on a smooth, level, natural surface.
Tickets for the final are $9 for adults and $5 for students and kids. They can be purchased Friday at the each school from 7:30 a.m to 1 p.m. and at the Harder Stadium box office, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
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Santa Barbara, which is seeking its sixth title in history, enters the match as the favorite. The top-seeded, senior-laden Dons were expected to have a banner season after returning most of their team that reached the semifinals last year. And they’ve lived up to the expectations, posting an amazing 28-0-1 record and outscoring opponents 107-12.
Their one blemish on the record is a scoreless draw at Dos Pueblos in a Jan. 12 Channel League game at DP. In that game, the Dons missed on several early scoring chances and the Chargers settled into a defensive posture and played with discipline and patience.
Santa Barbara avenged the tie in the return game. The Dons scored two goals in the first 10 minutes and forced DP to open up its attack. The Chargers got one goal back, but Santa Barbara controlled the majority of play and won 2-1.
Now they go at each other again, with both teams playing at their peak.
The Chargers (15-5-7), who are in the finals for the first time since sharing the title in 1983 with Camarillo, have raised the level of their game. They are unbeaten in their last seven matches and have knocked off playoff foes Knight, 3-2, Valley View, 4-1, Corona, 2-1 and Bell Gardens in a penalty-kick shootout, 3-2.
Dos Pueblos, foreground, and Santa Barbara, background, played to a scoreless draw on January 14. It's the only game that the Dons haven't won this season in 29 contests.
First-year coach Tovi Eliasen has done a tremendous job developing this team into a title contender and having it play as a cohesive unit.
Forward Eduardo Cortez and Rodrigo Perez each have scored 14 goals and have a knack of finding each other on the field. Kenny Lara and Vicente Perez provide good services from the outside and Danny Rowell is a good distributor in the central midfielder and very accurate on free kicks.
VIEW CHARGERS SOCCER TEAM PAGE *** VIEW DONS SOCCER TEAM PAGE
On the defensive side, Branden Tangel is a solid ball-winner in the middle of the pitch. His tremendous leaping ability makes him especially tough in the air. Kyle Schmechel and Casey Donahue are tough to beat on the outside, and German Macedo and Tony Modugno hold down the middle of the defense.
At goalkeeper, Chris Castillo has been magnificent in the playoffs. In the semifinals, he blocked three Bell Gardens shots to win the penalty-kick shootout. Eric Katz also has had a big year.
The Charger defense will have its hands full trying to contain the potent Santa Barbara attack, led by the dangerous combination of senior central midfielder Jesse Gonzalez and senior forward Christian Pardo. They each have scored 20 goals this year.
Bolstering the Dons’ offense are forward Luis Santana and outside backs Fernando Alvarado, George Munoz and Blake Heller. Alex Santana patrols the central midfield and is very good at linking up with Gonzalez and the forwards on long balls and set pieces. Justin Jimenez keeps the Dons offense clicking off the bench.
Fullbacks Brian Joseff and Spencer Pritchard are solid defenders and important contributors to the Dons’ attack on the flanks. Marcos Lopez and Jose Alfaro control the central defense in front of veteran goalkeeper Justo Alvarado. Pritchard and Alfaro are juniors while the rest are seniors.
The Dons start as many as nine seniors, but you can’t overlook the underclassmen. At forward, energetic sophomore Alfredo Ibarra provides a huge spark off the bench. He’s scored goals in the last two playoff wins and has 14 for the year. Junior Tyler Schleich has fully recovered from an ankle injury and has made key contributions in the last two playoff wins.
Santa Barbara has a great tradition of producing outstanding soccer teams, and coach Todd Heil’s club this year has to rank among the best in school history. They’ll be looking to add a sixth star to their jersey.
The Dons, who have defeated Littlerock (9-0), Chino Hills (1-0), Saddleback (2-1) and Katella (4-1) in the playoffs, last won a CIF title in 2001 when they tied Brea-Olinda in the final.
There will be no more shared titles. The CIF last year changed its rules and went to the tiebreaking procedure of two 10-minute golden-goal overtime periods and a penalty-kick shootout to determine a winner.
This is the second time in two years that Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos have met in a CIF final at UCSB. The girls volleyball teams met at Rob Gym in 2008, with the Dons walking away as CIF champions.
I smell an upset! DP has gone too far to stop now. I think we'll have more fans there too. Woohoooooo!!!!
I smell an upset! DP has gone too far to stop now. I think we'll have more fans there too. Woohoooooo!!!!
Boy, were you wrong. DP got SCHOOLED!!!
It wasn't even a game. SB dominated every aspect of this game.
I told all my friends…When SB scores the 1st goal…THIS THING IS OVER! and it was!!!!
NOSOTROS!!!!!