Immediately after the game-winning goal was scored, exuberant Bonita Vista players dogpiled behind the Scripps Ranch net.

Sticks, gloves and helmets littered the floor where their ecstatic owners had dropped them when the defining moment in time had occurred.

“We knew we had to be," Quigley said. "Scripps Ranch is a very good team. These guys had to match their intensity level and match their aggressiveness. For them to tie it up and then get a power play to end the game and for us to pull it out was unimaginable, it was phenomenal.”

The Falcons stood in shocked silence as they watched the championship trophy being presented to the Barons. They stood, their faces ashen and expressions sullen,  in utter devastation as they watched Bonita Vista players take turns hoisting it skyward in the ceremonial victory lap. This was the trophy they had expected to win. This was the scenario they had expected to act out. Instead, they saw those dreams end in an overtime loss for the second consecutive year.

“Tough one — two years in a row,” Scripps Ranch coach Greg Friedman said.

The Falcons, one of two teams to cross over from the more established San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference (from which the Barons abandoned for CIF play last year), fell by the same score in overtime to Carlsbad in last year’s county club championship game.

Assistant coach Don Cerone called Tuesday’s Scripps-Bonita Vista tilt “the greatest roller hockey game between two high school teams.” Cerone serves as commissioner for the SDCHSRHC. He knows what he’s talking about — he’s seen the best play over the years.

“The goalie was the difference in both games. Sean Seal stood on his head last year for Carlsbad and Lentz was the difference this year. He was making saves out there he shouldn’t be making,” Cerone said in complimenting Lentz for his standout play.

Ironically, it was Lentz’s inspired play that once again helped the Barons keep the Kiwanis Cup in South County. Last year as a junior, Lentz led Bonita Vista in playoff scoring as a field player. This year, he keyed the team from the goaltending position. He may be the conference’s ultimate team player.

His goal was simply to win a championship to end his four-year high school career. “Nothing is going to keep me from Metro this year,” he had said in an online instant messaging session in the preseason.

As it turned out, nothing did.

“A dream senior game,” the Barons’ Quigley said in describing Lentz’s performance.

“I took it period by period, that’s all,” Lentz explained. “I wanted to get a shutout in each period, and if they scored, to hold them to one goal. I got two shutouts.”

The first period ended in a scoreless tie, with Bonita Vista able to slow down the tempo of the game to its advantage. The Barons flooded their defensive zone with bodies clad in dark blue jerseys, congesting shooting lanes and forcing the puck along the boards. When in doubt, they simply cleared the puck down court. The Falcons owned a 9-5 advantage in shots for the first 15 minutes and stepped up the pace in the middle period, outshooting Bonita Vista 10-5 to take a 19-10 edge in shots.    

But it was the Barons who owned the better scoring chances. Beam stopped Galeno on a breakaway with 1:30 left in the opening period, looking backward into the net to see if the puck had ventured across the goal line (it had actually lodged between his pads underneath him). Beam wasn't as lucky with 8:12 to play in the second period when Brent Nash beat him on an odd BV rush, with John Donahoo supplying the assist. Donahoo was playing in just his second game after being out of action more than two months after being injured in a car accident.  

The game settled down in the early stages of the third period with the Barons holding on to their slim 1-0 lead until the Mesa League runners-up caught a break when a shot in front of Beam hit a stick and deflected top shelf. Austin Ballow was credited with the goal at the 10:20 mark, assisted by Arakiki. Ahead 2-0 with Lentz (33 saves) doing his best impression of a vacuum cleaner in front of the BV cage, it looked like the two-goal lead might hold up until the Comries finally broke through in the waning stages of the game.

With waves of Scripps Ranch jerseys flooding the Baron zone, Lentz's shutout finally gave way (after 25 consecutive saves) with 5:12 to play in the period as Dan Comrie -- who would later be announced as the Metro Conference Player of the Year -- scored an unassisted goal to halve the Bonita Vista lead. Less than a minute later, the game was tied -- this time courtesy of older brother Rick, who beat Lentz top shelf on a set-up pass from Jennings Brieck, the team's super sophomore.  The Falcons then looked to pull out the victory after being awarded a power play with 1:24 left on the score clock. However, the Barons (who were outshot 35-23 for the game) dug down deep once again and prevented what looked like the inevitable.

Once in overtime, it was much of the same -- Scripps Ranch buzzing around the BV net, hurling plastic at Lentz (some of which got through a maze of skates that he either pounced on or cradled). The game appeared as if it could end at any time -- in the Falcons' favor. Had it been so, it would have been the conference's greatest high school roller hockey game won by its greatest team. Instead, it became the conference's greatest game won by a team that gave its greatest effort.

"We lost to them 7-4 the first time and tied the second game 5-5. I told my guys it was our turn now," Quigley said. "We wanted to keep the Kiwanis Cup in the South Bay."

Division II Championship game report

Division I Playoff Goalscoring

Player (school) G-A-Pts

Joey Galeno (Bonita Vista) 6 goals

Frankie Warren (LJCD) 4 goals

Nathan Sigmund (LJCD) 4 goals

Dan Comrie (Scripps Ranch) 4 goals

Reuben Felizardo (Bonita Vista) 3 goals

Rick Comrie (Scripps Ranch) 3 goals

Max Guise (LJCD) 3 goals