Dos Pueblos’ Blake Parrish catches a glimmer of sun in his eye as he prepares to take a shot in Thursday’s game. (Presidio Sports Photos)
With a share of the Channel League championship on the line on Thursday, Dos Pueblos held off Santa Barbara High, 12-4, to finish the league season with a 7-1 record and a share of the league title.
It’s the second-straight league championship for the Chargers, who will enter CIF as the league’s second seed after losing a coin flip to co-league champion San Marcos. Playoff brackets will be released on Sunday morning.
The Chargers defense was stingy, holding Santa Barbara scoreless in the first and fourth quarters.
“We just shut them down on defense,” said Dos Pueblos’ Taylor Gustason. “The second half they only scored one I think and that was just great defense.”
Dos Pueblos’ defense forced plenty of turnovers and limited Santa Barbara to only 15 shots throughout the game.
“It’s good momentum going into CIF,” Gustason said about the win. “Knowing that we can shut down anyone on defense is just a good confidence boost for us and we’re hoping to do good in CIF.”
Blake Parrish was the game’s leading scorer with five goals. The Dos Pueblos senior has amassed 187 this season and is close to breaking into the top-10 all-time for single-season scoring in the CIF Southern Section.
Jake Griffin and Kelly Reynolds both had two goals, while Quinn Peacock, Jason Tang and Dylan Elliot all had one. The Chargers could have had more if not for Santa Barbara’s goalie Justyn Barrios who blocked a penalty shot and finished with nine saves.
Santa Barbara High goalie Justyn Barrios makes one of his nine saves, including a blocked penalty shot.
Dos Pueblos did not pull away until the second half. A perfectly placed lob shot by Chris Bartholomew in the second quarter fell just inside the goal post to make the score 4-3 in favor of Dos Pueblos with only 40 seconds before halftime.
Reynolds quickly scored for the Chargers to put them up 5-3 at the half. The lead was built to 10-3 in the third quarter before Santa Barbara managed to score again.
“We knew this was going to be a game that we’re not going to overlook them. We came in pretty prepared,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish.
Playing the role of spoiler on Thursday did not go according to plan for Santa Barbara High, which finishes tied for third place in the league standings with Ventura. The Dons (16-12, 3-5) and Cougars will face each other in Ventura on Thursday in a play-in game that will determine the league’s third playoff team.
“We need to put this one behind us like it never happened,” said Dons head coach Mark Walsh. “We have one game tomorrow for an hour against Ventura. Whoever is the better team for an hour is going to go to playoffs so I told the guys whoever wants it more and plays smarter is going to win that game tomorrow.”
Bartholomew, Adam Gross, Jack Rottman and Sawyer Rhodes scored for Santa Barbara. The Dons were playing without starter Chris Gaffney, who recently injured his shoulder and is out for the season.
