Dos Pueblos’ Taylor Gustason fires a shot at Villa Park goalie Sam Thompson. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Blake Parrish scored twice in Thursday’s CIF opener for Dos Pueblos tying Ayala’s Josh Garcia for 10th all-time in the Southern Section’s all-time single-season scoring record.
The Chargers defeated visiting Villa Park 11-4 in the process to advance into the CIF Division-1 quarterfinals.
“It’s definitely a great honor,” Blake Parrish said after the game. “There’s a lot of great players who have come through CIF Southern Section. It’s kind of like the hub of water polo so it feels like a big deal to be part of that. It’s surreal for me because there’s a lot of guys (in the top-10) that I’ve looked up to.”
Dos Pueblos senior Blake Parrish
Parrish’s 199th goal of the season was DP’s last, giving the Chargers an 11-4 lead with 3:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Villa Park’s Edgar Garcia, next on the list, tallied 201 goals in a season twice. The record belongs to Nick Estevez of Nogales, who scored 233 goals in 2011.
Kelly Reynolds, Taylor Gustason, Dylan Elliott and Jake Griffin added two goals each. Quinn Peacock scored once.
“We’re a run and gun team. We generate a lot of offense,” Parrish said. “The key for us is not how many goals we score but how many goals we prevent.”
Dos Pueblos’ defense only allowed one goal in the second half to allow the Chargers to pull away. That one Villa Park score came first on a terrific wrap-around shot by the Spartans’ . Reynolds responded with two consecutive goals, one on an in-close lob over Villa Park goalie Sam Thompson after Thompson blocked Reynolds’ first attempt.
“That’s a big shot and, really, it’s a deflating shot,” said Dos Pueblos head coach Chris Parrish. “It was kind of the icing where I think they realized, ‘ok, we really have no shot.”
Dos Pueblos didn’t allow another Villa Park goal, a stretch that covered the final 11 minutes of game time.
“We knew that if we played good defense, offense would follow,” Reynolds said. “We tried to win every quarter and we were able to accomplish that. Overall it was a good team performance.”
Dos Pueblos led 7-3 at halftime. After finishing the first quarter holding a slim 3-2 lead, the Chargers scored the first three goals of the second period to go up 6-2. Gustason scored his first, followed by a penalty shot by Griffin, then Elliott scored on a 3-on-2 when the two defenders split to cover the wings leaving him wide open.
“I felt like we played really great,” said Dos Pueblos goalie Kyle Krutenat. “We had a solid defensive performance and we played well on offense so I was very happy.”
Villa Park’s Bryan Harbaugh cut the lead to 6-3 with a minute before halftime but Peacock’s goal from the perimeter pushed the lead back to four.
Three other Villa Park players scored in the game: Gunnar Abato, Josh Green and Brett Leiter.
Chris Parrish echoed his players’ sentiments.
“We played some solid defense. We didn’t give up many easy looks,” Parrish said. “Holding them to zero in the fourth quarter was the defense I really wanted to see right there.”
The quarterfinals are Saturday. Dos Pueblos will travel for a morning match to third-seeded Los Osos, which defeated Palos Verdes 12-11 on Thursday.
DP’s Dylan Elliott screens a defender for shooter Kelly Reynolds.
MOST GOALS SCORED IN A SEASON – CIF SOUTHERN SECTION
1. 233, Nick Estevez, Nogales, 2011
2. 229, Hakop Kaplanyan, Glendale Hoover, 2009
3. 226, Alexander Hernandez, Bell Gardens, 2006
4. 225, Gilbert Estrada, Bell Gardens, 1989
5. 223, Ryan Williams, San Bernardino, 1993
6. 213, Sergio Macias, Bell Gardens, 1996
7. 207, Arthur Kotanjian, Los Altos, 2003
8. 201, Edgar Villa, Bell Gardens, 1994
8. 201, Edgar Villa, Bell Gardens, 1995
10. 199, Josh Garcia, Ayala, 2004
10. 199, Blake Parrish, Dos Pueblos 2014
