SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Roller Hockey

Division II Championship Game

Red Devils break out, stop Aztecs 6-4

By Phillip Brents

NATIONAL CITY, Feb. 26, 2002 -- His name is Gerardo Ortega but they call him "Gera." A second-half addition to the Sweetwater High roller hockey team, he has been on offensive force at times. Being offensive was exactly what Red Devil coach Mike Duffey had in mind in the team’s CIF-Metro Conference Division II championship game against the late blooming Montgomery Aztecs. Sweetwater had lost its last two meetings against the Aztecs, both by five-goal margins, including a 5-0 drubbing in the latest matchup in the preliminary playoff seeding action. However, the Red Devils played anything but "soft" in the latest encounter.

Ortega had five points on two goals and three assists and teammate Brandon Fox added a hat trick as Sweetwater (10-14-1) won the first-ever CIF-sanctioned playoff trophy with a 6-4 victory against the Aztecs (6-18-1).

"I’m very proud of both myself and the team because we came so far," explained SuHi junior goaltender Louie Valentine, who earlier in the Division II round-robin playoff format recorded the first-ever CIF postseason shutout. "Last year, we didn’t play as a team. Now we can finally say we’re the Red Devils."

Erasing the memory of the two previous losses was motivation enough, according to victorious Sweetwater players.

"We just had fun out there," said sophomore Marvey Ferrer, the team’s leading scorer with 20 goals and 10 assists in regular season play.

If Montgomery had any advantage based on its 3-0-1 preliminary-round playoff record, it didn’t readily show. Instead, a hungry Red Devil squad manifested itself on the playing surface.

Sweetwater took an early 2-0 lead courtesy of a goal and assist by Ortega, who had been quiet with just three goals in four previous playoff games. The Red Devils scored just 16 seconds into the contest when Steven Martinez fed Ortega for the game’s jump goal. Ortega set up teammate Brandon Fox at the 1:00 mark of the period for a quick 2-0 advantage. However, the Aztecs chipped away at the early deficit on goals by Josh Royal and Chris Troie to knot the score at 2-all with 9:40 left in the period. Bobby Palma drew the assist on Royal’s goal that cut the Sweetwater lead to 2-1; Troie’s goal was unassisted and came on a deflection.

The Red Devils used a quick start to regain the momentum in the middle period. Fox scored his second goal of the game 2:30 into the second period to put the Red Devils back in the lead at 3-2. Ortega had the assist, his second of the night. Sweetwater maintained the one-goal lead despite incurring two penalties in the period. The ability to kill man-disadvantage situations, in fact, played to the Devils’ advantage. Sweetwater killed three of its four penalties in the game, including the first three it drew, and also scored a power play goal on its only opportunity.

When Montgomery did score on the man-advantage, the Devils had an answer. Fox was charged with a tripping penalty to open the third period. However, Ortega went coast-to-coast, splitting two Aztec defensemen and slipping the puck between the pads of goaltender Danny Valle for a short-handed goal just 1:49 into the period. Montgomery got the goal back 40 seconds later when Troie scored his second of the game, assisted by Mike Mortensen, to take advantage of the penalty. However, the Devils still held the lead at 4-3.

Fox, a junior, scored his hat trick goal just 38 seconds following the Aztec man-power goal to put Sweetwater ahead 5-3. Steve Martinez drew the assist. With Royal sent to the penalty box for interference, Martinez gave SuHi its biggest lead of the game, 6-3, when he converted a power-play feed from Ortega. Ortega passed from the wing and Martinez took his shot from straight on, with the puck trickling off Valle (24 saves) into the net.

Royal made the score 6-4 after scoring his second goal of the game with 4:13 to play. However, the Red Devils managed to maintain their ferocious fore-check and keep the Aztecs from making a final run at a comeback.

Royal entered the game as the top playoff scorer in Division II with 10 goals.

"We had played poorly in the two previous games against them. The guys knew they had to play real hard, play a real hard fore-check and not to let them set up. We had two guys on the puck all night. We needed to play a more aggressive game, an offensive one," Duffey said.

"Our coach told us this was the last game of the season -- that we would remember it the rest of our lives," said Valentine, who was credited with 16 saves.

"That was my best game ever," Fox said.

Sweetwater outshot Montgomery 36-20. Ortega finished as the game’s top play-maker while Martinez had a goal and two assists. Fox had the team’s other three points -- all goals -- while Valentine and the SuHi defense (Abel Sanchez, Brian Wilkinson and Ivan Arvizo) held their end of the floor.

The Red Devils lose just one player from this year’s team.

Troie and Royal keyed Montgomery with two goals apiece. Troie capped a solid five-game playoff run with five goals and eight assists. Bobby Palma, the Aztecs’ regular season leading scorer, was held to one assist in the Division II title game.

"We underestimated them," Palma said.

Division I Championship game report

Division II Playoff Goalscoring

Josh Royal (Montgomery) 12 goals

Roque Luna (Mar Vista) 6 goals

Anthony Arciga (Mar Vista) 6 goals

Bobby Palma (Montgomery) 6 goals

Gerardo Ortega (Sweetwater) 5 goals

Brandon Fox (Sweetwater) 5 goals

Clint Jones (Mar Vista) 5 goals

Chris Troie (Montgomery) 5 goals

Jamil Patiag (Montgomery) 4 goals

Marvey Ferrer (Sweetwater) 4 goals

Steven Martinez (Sweetwater) 4 goals

Tony Crenshaw (Southwest) 3 goals

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

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