Coach Todd Heil was in a crouch on the sidelines, his chin resting in his hands in what appeared to be a state of semi-despair. His Santa Barbara High boys soccer team was down 2-1 in the CIF Division II quarterfinals, and the clock was frozen with two minutes on the board… Stoppage time.
The Dons were praying for the equalizer and instead they got more, scoring twice in the span of a minute to break Montebello’s heart, 3-2, at Peabody Stadium.
You really couldn’t have scripted it any better.
“We were trying to just get it into overtime, honestly,” said Heil.
But Luis Santana wouldn’t accept that, breaking away and slipping a left-footed game-winner into the back of the net just a couple of minutes before the final whistle.
“When I saw the ball I didn’t really know what to do, so I just took it in and shot it and it went in,” said Santana, who got a bloody lip in the ensuing dogpile.
The Dons out-shot the visitors 11-3 in the game, misfiring on five golden opportunities in the first half.
“If we didn’t win this one I think that first half would have driven me insane for the next year,” said Heil.
It would have been 1-0 in favor of the Oilers if not for a dazzling save by Santa Barbara goalie Emmanuel Angulo in the 30th minute. Montebello got a cross and header that was a sure-thing to go high into the top of the net, but Angulo leapt and got a hand on it, sending it just over the crossbar. It was the only Oilers shot of the half.
“That was incredible, because it would have really put us in the tank emotionally after missing so many shots… It kept us in the game,” said Heil.
Montebello (13-4-4) got on the board first, scoring two minutes into the second on a point-blank header by Jon Cuellar. Santa Barbara responded just 60 seconds later, as Christian Pardo was taken down in the box and Jesus De La Luz converted the penalty kick. The Dons had three solid chances — including a goal that went in but was called off due to a hand-ball — before the Oilers’ Christian Gutierrez got one over Angulo’s head and off his fingertips with 14 minutes remaining.
Santa Barbara’s Jesse Gonzalez booted a free kick from the top corner of the box with seven minutes left that went magically untouched as it bent in and ricocheted off the top post and over.
There were a handful of injuries that stopped play in the second half, and the match lasted nearly nine minutes after the clock was stopped at the two-minute mark. Things looked ready to wrap-up, and Heil was in his nervous couch seemingly awaiting the final whistle.
“We had headed so many balls over the net and headed so many balls wide. I was wondering if we had reached our pinnacle,” he said.
But the ball found its way down to Montebello’s goal, and was headed back-and-forth across the goal three times before Jesus Flores used his head to knock it in, sending Heil out of his crouch and into a jubilant leap.
Before the smiles could fade, Santana found the back of the net for the game-winner.
Montebello’s frustration was evident, as senior Jesus Rodriguez was red-carded in the final minutes and another Oiler was red-carded for using profanity towards the officials in the post-game handshakes. Montebello coach Jesus Garcia was not pleased with the officials to say the least, citing missed offsides calls and too much extra time given.
“The kids played their hearts out, and the ref gave it away,” said Garcia. “I’ll say it. I believe we got homered here. It’s not the kids, though.”
It was Montebello’s first loss since December 20th.
Santa Barbara (23-2-3) plays next on Tuesday at Valencia of Placencia.
