Years from now, when players from the 2009-10 Santa Barbara High and Dos Pueblos boys soccer teams talk about that incredible night of March 5, people probably will think they’re making it up.
Who would believe that a high school soccer match could draw a crowd of 8,000 people to a stadium?
Maybe in some soccer-mad nation like Brazil, England or Mexico.
But here?
Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara met at UCSB’s Harder Stadium to settle the CIF Division-II championship on March 5. The Dons went on the win the game and the title in front of an estimated 8,000 fans.
The CIF-Southern Section Division II championship game between crosstown and Channel League rivals Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos at UCSB’s Harder Stadium that night will go down as one of those magical moments in Santa Barbara sports lore.
Alums who played back in the day were probably shaking their heads in disbelief as they watched fans continue to pour into the stadium after halftime.
“Could you imagine this many people coming to watch us play,” they had to be asking themselves.
Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos deserved all the attention because both teams experienced unforgettable seasons.
DONS TEAM PAGE || CHARGERS TEAM PAGE
The Dons, counting their 3-0 in in the championship game (giving them a sixth star on their jersey), won four tournaments during the season, captured the Channel League title and finished second in the CIF Division 2 Regional tournament. They had 32-game unbeaten streak and finished record was an eye-popping 31-1-1 record.
Dos Pueblos, which got hot at the right time of the year, wound up as a runner-up in the Channel League, the CIF-SS Division II tournament and CIF Division 1 Regional. The Chargers’ record was 17-6-8.
Both teams played quality, unselfish soccer and each had individual players step up in crucial moments to keep them on a collision course to the championship game.
High school boys soccer has been big in this community since the mid-1970s, when Santa Barbara High won three straight CIF championships under Lito Garcia. Players from those talent-rich teams went on to become stars at the collegiate level and some even played professionally.
Santa Barbara High senior midfielder Jesse Gonzalez was named Channel League and CIF Offensive Player of the Year for leading the Dons to the CIF-SS D-II title.
Since that time — thanks to several soccer-devoted families in the community that have provided the program with skillful, savvy players — the Dons have been known as a perennial power in the CIF Southern Section.
“We’ve been very fortunate here at SBHS to have some great players and teams play soccer,” Santa Barbara coach Todd Heil said. What made this team so special was the chemistry and their ability to overcome adversity all year long. This team truly played for each other and never for individual stats. While there was a target on our back every time we took the field, the boys always remembered to have fun.”
Dons’ possession game was definitely fun to watch.
In the Division 2 final, they were like European club champion Barcelona, knocking the ball all over the field and making the opposition chase them.
“I’ll go on record as saying we have to be one of the most skilled and technical high school teams in the nation,” said Heil. ‘Our ability to possess and control the tempo of most of the games we played this year was a big factor in the number of goals we scored. We averaged 3.5 goals a game this year and we didn’t do it by playing long ball or kick-or-run.”
Heil was fortunate to have large group of seniors with a lot of varsity experience. They made sure team stayed focused.
“Our senior leadership was incredibly instrumental in our success this season,” the coach said. “Our three captains, Jesse Gonzalez, Marcos Lopez and Alex Santana, were absolutely fantastic in their leadership on and off of the field. Christian Pardo, while not a ‘captain,’ was also instrumental as a senior leader.”
Another key to the Dons’ success was their great depth. Their play never suffered when a starter went down with an injury.
“In terms of adversity, we played our first 13 games without Fernando Alvarado, we played 15 games in the middle of our season without Tyler Schleich, we played seven games without Luis Santana and we finished the season playing our last 10 games without Sanford Spivey,” Heil noted. “That’s a lot of talent to lose and still be able to succeed as we did this year, and depth was the reason why. While Fernando, Tyler and Luis all returned for playoff action, Sanford did not. Players like Blake Heller, Alex Santana, Tyler and Justin Jimenez rose to the challenge and filled the void that losing Sanford left.”
After a blowout 9-0 win in the first round, the Dons endured a couple of nailbiters in the second and quarterfinal rounds (1-0, 2-1). They went on to win the semifinals (4-1) and final (3-0) convincingly and blew through the first two rounds of the CIF regional playoffs before falling shot 1-0 against a very good Corona del Mar squad in the regional final.
It was their only loss of the season, but it no way dampens the greatness of the entire body of work.
In fact, it sets a new bar for future Santa Barbara teams.
Dos Pueblos head coach Tovi Eliasen shows off the Chargers’ CIF runner-up plaque at Harder Stadium.
Dos Pueblos certainly set a higher standard for its soccer program. Under first-year head coach Tovi Eliasen, the Chargers advanced to a CIF-SS Division 2 final for the first time since they won it in 1983, and they made the (based on enrollment) CIF Regional 1 final. They lost to Paramount 2-0.
Eliasen and his coaching staff changed the culture at DP. Players worked for each other and played with discipline. The Chargers were a team that just kept getting better and never seemed satisfied with their performance.
“We needed organization throughout the program more than anything,” Eliasen said. “I had a unique perspective being involved in the background a little bit last year, so I got to see the potential in the talent level of the squad, but I was also able to pinpoint things that were lacking. The team needed a unified direction, proper goals to shoot for and, most importantly, to come together as a unit. My assistant (Jake Cryan) and I worked hard on all of these things right from the start.”
The coaches worked with senior captains Rodrigo Perez and Branden Tangel to keep the squad united.
“They are the coaches on the field,” Eliasen said. “When their communication and actions match the coaches’, then it is easier for everyone to believe in what we are doing, and to work hard for it. Rodrigo and Branden’s hard work also made it easier for other senior to make their own respective leap, be it with work ethic, attitude or commitment.
The Chargers could have relaxed after holding top-ranked Santa Barbara to a scoreless tie during the regular season, but they kept pushing to improve. They outscored their next three opponents 10-1 before losing to the Dons in their return match 2-1.
Chargers keeper Chris Castillo was at the top of his game during the postseason, making three saves in a shootout against Bell Gardens that gave Dos Pueblos a place in the CIF final.
In the playoffs, Dos Pueblos never flinched in pressure situations. They rallied to beat Knight in their first-round game on the road and, behind goalkeeper Chris Castillo, pulled out semifinal matches in the Southern Section and regional semifinals in penalty-kick shootouts.
Eliasen said the 3-2 win at Knight gave the team confidence it could do well in the CIF playoffs. He added that some fortunate coin-flips for home field also helped the Chargers.
“It’s fair to say we never dreamed of being in a CIF Sectional or Regional title game,” the coach said. “We were simply trying to achieve our goal of making the sectional tournament. When we won that first game away against Knight in Palmdale, we felt on top of the world. At practice the next day, we felt more confident than we had ever been. What followed was getting lucky with three straight home games, which helped us to advance in tough games against tough teams.”
Eliasen’s influence appears to have stabilized DP’s program and given it direction. And the players have bought into it.
Perez said after the Chargers’ 4-1 playoff win over Valley View that the team wanted to be an example for future DP teams.
“We often talk about how special this experience is,” Eliasen said. “Even without winning, we are so lucky to be where we are, to play the game we love in a beautiful place, at a top academic school like Dos Pueblos. We were fortunate to have a lot of soccer talent on this team the past few years, but it had never had that belief in each other, or necessarily pride in the program. I told them the best gift they can even give is to leave a legacy of success at the school, to set the bar high for future Charger soccer players. These seniors have done that, and have past the challenge on to next year’s seniors.”
