CHULA VISTA, Feb. 14, 2002 -- This season’s South Bay League roller hockey championship race got a lot clearer after Castle Park’s 10-0 victory against defending Metro Conference champion Hilltop on Feb. 7. The Trojans moved to within one victory of clinching outright possession of their first league title in their modest two years of existence. They wrapped it up on Valentine's Day with a 12-3 victory against Mar Vista.

“It was great. My players have struggled a lot this season. They’re happy but it’s been a struggle,” said Trojan head coach Gene Garcia, whose team will finish the season with eight players (six skaters and two goaltenders) because of injuries and regular season attrition.

At one point, it looked like there might be three teams that could end up with equal shares of this season’s South Bay League banner. The La Jolla Country Day Torres did their part by dealing Eastlake a pair of defeats on Feb. 7 to improve their league record to 6-2. A Hilltop victory against Castle Park would also have given both teams two league losses. But the Trojans faced an injury-depleted Lancer squad and instead rolled to a championship-clinching win.

Richard Garcia led Castle Park (14-5-0) with five goals and two assists while teammate Je’van Meyers finished the crucial contest with three goals and one assist while Arturo Garcia added two goals and two assists.

The loss dropped Hilltop to 13-5-1.

Castle Park lost its scoring leader, sophomore Don McGraw, to a broken foot four games prior to Wednesday’s 10-1 non-league victory against a similarly-depleted Sweetwater team. The Trojans have had to rely on their star talent to play virtually all 45 minutes of games to compensate for the lack of a significant bench. Sophomore Richard Garcia, who has assumed the team scoring lead in McGraw’s absence, has played all over the court, from defense to forward. Older brother Arturo Garcia has healed from a dislocated collarbone suffered earlier in the season.

Besides the two Garcia brothers, other primary contributors this season for Castle Park have been Meyers, senior goalie James Haug, Alex Guerrero, Emmanuel Madrid and Houston Fry, among others. Elisa Martinez had two assists in Wednesday’s game.

The team’s resolve, despite its manpower drain, is to roll into the playoffs as best it can. “We had a team discussion and the kids wanted to go on. It’s all about heart,” the elder Garcia said.

After Wednesday’s 6-1 victory by top-seeded Scripps Ranch against sixth-seeded Eastlake, there doesn’t expect to be much of a point spread between combatants in the upcoming playoffs. “It’s a shame,” Gene Garcia said, "with Donnie I think we could win it.”

However, in a season that has continually produced is share of upsets and late season parity, nothing seems safe until the final buzzer sounds on Feb. 26.

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Prior to Castle Park’s title-clinching victory against Hilltop, the Torres faced two do-or-die games against the Titans. Nathan Sigmund keyed LJCD to its 9-5 victory with three goals and two assists and added two goals in the 5-4 decision. Max Guise had a hat trick in the 9-5 win while setting up two goals in the 5-4 victory. Royce Leomo was credited with three goals in the two games for Eastlake. Victor Mancillas and Chad McElroy each scored twice for the Titans while picked up an assist.

Eastlake, despite fielding a team with five freshmen starters and one sophomore, has started to jell as the playoffs near. The Titans led a veteran Bonita Vista team by a 4-1 score before scrambling for a 5-5 tie Tuesday. Eastlake held regular season conference champion Scripps Ranch to four goals for the balance of its game Wednesday before finally bowing 6-1. The Falcons had reached the double digit figure in scoring in 10 of 19 previous contests.

Meanwhile, the 18-team San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference is also gearing up for its playoff tournament. Twelve teams have been seeded, with Inland League champion Rancho Bernardo (8-1-2) receiving the top seed and Eastern League champion Granite Hills (9-2-0) receiving the second seed. First round play started Wednesday and continues with quarterfinal-round games on Feb. 20 and semifinals on Feb. 27 that lead to the championship game March 1 at 7:20 p.m. at the Escondido Sports Center. First-round and quarterfinal-round games will be played at the Escondido venue while the semifinals will be held at the La Mesa Sports Center.

Rounding out the top four seeded teams in this year’s playoff field are defending conference champion Carlsbad (seeded third) and Poway (seeded fourth). Carlsbad (7-3-1) won the North League title while Poway (7-3-1) finished second to Rancho Bernardo in the Inland League.

In games Wednesday, fifth-seeded San Pasqual (9-3-0) skated past 12th-seeded Torrey Pines (4-7-1) 3-1; eighth-seeded San Marcos (7-4-1) edged ninth-seeded St. Augustine (6-4-2) 6-5; 11th-seeded Vista (7-5-0) upset sixth-seeded Fall-brook (6-5-1) 6-5 in overtime; and seventh-seeded Mt. Carmel (7-4-1) shut out 10th-seeded Patrick Henry (5-6-1) 3-0.

Non-qualifying teams included Monte Vista (4-5-2), La Costa Canyon (4-7-0), Rancho Buena Vista (2-8-1), Escondido (2-8-1), Valhalla (1-10-0) and Valley Center (0-10-1).

Metro Conference Championship Playoffs

The Metro Conference has received clearance from the San Diego Section to conduct an official conference playoff championship in two divisions. The Division I and Division II championship games are scheduled February 26 at Skate San Diego in National City. It’s a fitting manner to conclude what has turned out to be nothing short of a fantastic sophomore season for the fledgling CIF-sanctioned circuit.

The top six teams in the 11-team conference will qualify for the Division I playoff field with the lower five finishing teams competing for the Division II championship.

The league champions in both the Mesa League and South Bay League will receive first-round byes in the Division I playoff bracket with the third-seeded team facing the sixth-seeded team and the fourth-seeded team meeting the fifth-seeded team in opening round games on February 19. The top-seeded team will play the lowest remaining seed in the semifinals, scheduled for February 21, while the second-seeded team will face off against the highest remaining seed. The two semifinal winners will then square off in the Division I title game on February 26 at 7 p.m.

The Division II playoff field will feature five games on February 19 and five games on February 21 to determine the final order of finish, with each team playing four games. The two teams with the highest point total will advance to the Division I championship game on February 26 at 6 p.m.

Scripps Ranch has won the Mesa League title and is the No. 1 seed in the Division I playoff field. Castle Park won the South Bay League championship and is the No. 2 seed in Division I.

Scripps Ranch enters the Division I playoffs led by conference scoring leader Dan Comrie, who had notched 80 points on 49 goals and 31 assists in 15 games. Castle Park’s Don McGraw (43 goals, 22 assists) and Richard Garcia (30 goals, 35 assists) were second in conference scoring with 65 points apiece. The Scripps Ranch tandem of Brandon George and Colin Beam led conference goaltenders with a combined 2.38 GAA.