Like San Clemente last weekend, Santa Barbara’s soccer team faces another opponent hungry for its first CIF title.
The six-time Southern Section champion Dons will take on an Oak Hills team that is seeking the school’s first title in any sport on Friday night at 7:30 in the CIF Southern California Regional Division 2 Boys Soccer Championship at Warren High in Downey.
Oak Hills, located in Hesperia, is one of the surprises of the boys soccer playoffs. The Bulldogs (24-2-3) were seeded ninth in the Southern Section Division 4 playoffs and reached the final, upsetting perennial power Salesian in the semifinals. They lost to El Rancho in the title match.
To reach the regional final, they knocked off top-seeded and CIF-SS Division 2 champion Claremont 1-0 on Wednesday.
“Nobody’s given us much credit down the hill for being a decent team,” Oak Hills coach Darren Goodman told the Victorville Daily Press after the win over Claremont. “We got ranked ninth in our division and here we are in the state regional finals. We’re just trying to get these kids the credit they deserve. If they win Friday, I think they’ll get that.”
Oak Hills burst on the prep boys soccer scene in a hurry. The school has twice been a CIF-SS finalist since opening in 2009 — it was in the Division 6 final last year as a free-lance team, losing to Mountain View.
The Bulldogs are led by senior forward Anthony Caudle (19 goals, 15 assists) and Chazz Cameron, who scored the game-winner against Claremont in the first half.
The defense and goalkeeper Ricardo Ramirez made the goal stand against numerous Claremont attacks.
Santa Barbara (22-6-3) finally was able to finish off a team in regulation time in the regional semifinals. The Dons got an early goal from senior midfielder Sanford Spivey and game-clincher from substitute Thomas Crawford to beat University City in San Diego in Wednesday’s other regional semifinal.
Before that game, four of the Dons’ last five matches were decided in either overtime or by a penalty-kick shootout. The one match that ended in regulation was the CIF-SS Division 1 final, in which they lost 2-1 against San Clemente.
Santa Barbara players were obviously disappointed after the loss, but they weren’t dispirited. Spivey and senior center-back Tony Alfaro both said afterward they were looking forward to getting another shot at a regional championship.
Now they get their chance.
The Dons lost to Corona del Mar (1-0) in last year’s regional final. It was their only defeat in 33 games.
