Sea Kings silenced

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CORONA DEL MAR — Luis Reyes silenced them all, everyone on the Corona del Mar High sideline, the boys’ soccer players, the parents, the students and all the other athletes from other teams that came to watch a thrilling finish.

It was for a moment they all experienced a bit of Reyes’ world.

Reyes is deaf.

The quiet one from Rio Mesa of Oxnard remained silent after the 98-minute match, but had no reason to be devastated like Corona del Mar’s side. He scored the best goal of his life. Reyes knocked in a golden goal with two minutes left in the final overtime period, lifting Rio Mesa to a 4-3 victory in a quarterfinal of the CIF Southern Section Division IV playoffs Friday at CdM.

“It feels really great,” Reyes signed while a teammate translated of how it felt to end such an intense game. “I feel so happy.”

There was hardly any joy for the Sea Kings (8-8-4). Heading into overtime, which are two 10-minute periods, CdM Coach Pat Callaghan described his team as emotionally spent. That was mainly because the Sea Kings seemingly had the win slip through their hands.

Rio Mesa’s Josh Kent scored the equalizer to make it 3-3, with two minutes left in regulation.

“It seemed like just a muddled little play in the box,” Callaghan said of Kent’s goal. “The ball was bouncing and it just nipped in somehow, an off-speed finish, a misdirection type thing. The timing is tough. We were right there. You feel like the game is over and it’s in your hands. It’s so difficult to respond after that and to recover from that situation.”

Callaghan did say the Sea Kings continued to show a strong effort in overtime. CdM junior Paul Zubatov nearly scored on a header off a pass from sophomore Brian Ford with four minutes left in the second overtime period. The CdM defense turned away a handful of scoring chances, until Reyes finally broke through.

He won a 50-50 ball near CdM’s goal to set himself up with an open shot and he beat goalkeeper Zak Mauer-Erickson, one of the seniors who Callaghan said were key for the Sea Kings this season. Mauer-Erickson was a big reason the Sea Kings won at Santa Monica, 3-1, Wednesday, Callaghan said.

Mauer-Erickson also kept the Sea Kings in the game, making two big stops in overtime. He finished with eight saves.

Defenders Miles Kellerman and Alfie Nowak were also noted by Callaghan as seniors who were highly instrumental in CdM’s playoff run.

Callaghan struggled to speak of his team’s future because of his appreciation of the seniors.

Freshmen Grady Howe, Mason Case and Jack Gorab were key contributors in CdM’s scoring, plus the Sea Kings’ star striker, Reed Williams, will be coming back next season for his senior year.

“Obviously we have a bright future with these young freshmen,” Callaghan said just before wiping a few tears away. “But the seniors are the glue that kept us together. Yeah I look forward to our future, but we’re not looking at that right now.”

During the match, the future played mighty fine during the present. Howe scored 10 minutes in, booting in the ball from about 20 yards out. It came shortly after Gorab’s corner kick. The Spartans (13-8-3) tried to clear out Gorab’s kick, but Howe countered. Howe’s shot ricocheted off the cross bar, bounced to the ground and went in.

Howe ran toward the CdM sideline, excitingly cupping his hand to his ear as if he wanted the crowd to cheer louder.

But 10 minutes later Rio Mesa answered back when Michael Hernandez scored on a header.

Junior Ryan Kontra helped the Sea Kings regain the lead with three minutes left in the first half, scoring on a quick cross from Williams. Kontra did a somersault and a flip to celebrate his goal.

But the Spartans kept fighting back. Callaghan figured they would. He said he felt uneasy and anxious before Friday’s game. Rio Mesa entered the playoffs as an at-large team, the fourth-place team from the Pacific View League. But now the Spartans are one of three teams from their league to reach the semifinals.

They began in the wild-card round and battled their way to Corona del Mar. Just like in Reyes, there was no quit.

Playing against a team like CdM made it all the more challening.

But Rio Mesa’s standout senior Javier Marquez scored his 17th goal of the season in the 62nd minute to make it 2-2. Junior Jerry Ponce also gave the Sea Kings fits. He’s Rio Mesa’s leading scorer with 21 goals.

“You can’t neutralize both them of them,” Rio Mesa Coach Brandon Fuchs said. “And when you do we have another guy who can come up and that is Reyes.”

Gorab scored the go-ahead goal for a 3-2 lead after finishing Case’s pass.

But, again, the Spartans never wavered.

Later in overtime Reyes put the Sea Kings away.

“He’s completely deaf,” Fuchs said of Reyes. “That was good because we had him on the side where all the fans were and he couldn’t hear them. It worked to our advantage.”

STEVE VIRGEN may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or by e-mail at [email protected].