Roller Hockey

Barons roll to Kiwanis Cup title

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Feb. 16 -- The term "second season" took on literal meaning for the Bonita Vista High roller hockey team when it captured the championship title of the inaugural Kiwanis Cup tournament. Gathered on the floor at Chula Vista RollerSkateLand were the top four regular season finishers in the Metro Conference’s nine-team history-making CIF-sanctioned league. The teams were seeded based on regular season finish in this end-of-season tournament, but they didn’t end up that way once the final horn sounded.

Bonita Vista, which finished third in the regular season standings with a 10-2-2 record, upset top-seeded Hilltop by a 5-4 score to win the right to showcase the perpetual Kiwanis Cup.

Doug Lentz tied the score at 4-4 and John Donahoo set up teammate Joseph Goularte’s game-winning goal as the Barons rallied from a 4-3 deficit to capture the single-day tournament that followed the conclusion of regular season play the day before. The loss was the first on the season for Hilltop, which carried a 14-0-1 record into the cup final.

"Absolutely unbelievable," exclaimed Bonita Vista coach Keith Quigley. "It was absolutely awesome. The whole tournament was great. But Bonita couldn’t have played harder. Everyone gave 120 percent. They came out flying for both games. We took it because we were hungrier. We had something to prove."

Lancer coach Dan Vaccaro did not hesitate to give credit to Quigley’s troops. "Bonita plays a very disciplined game. They’re not a flashy team. They just out-hustled us," the Hilltop coach said. "We finished the regular season undefeated and get to hang the championship banner. I think our kids didn’t realize that once the season ended that everyone was out to knock us off."

Bonita Vista’s championship game victory made amends for an early season 9-4 drubbing administered by the regular season champion Lancers.

But it was clearly time to wipe out the early season results as far as the Barons were concerned. The teams tied 2-2 in their second regular season matchup just three days earlier to perhaps give a preview of things to come. In that game, Donahoo and Lentz scored goals for Bonita Vista, which led 2-1 before the Lancers rallied for the tie on a goal by Josh Gomez.

The championship playoff game, however, started off on an ominous note for the Barons, who trailed by scores of 1-0 and 2-1. Hilltop’s Carl Horten notched the game’s jump goal and Lancer teammate George Agonowski matched a goal by Bonita Vista to put the regular season champions back on top.

However, unanswered goals by the Barons’ Reuben Felizardo and Joey Galeno promptly turned the tables on Hilltop, forcing the Lancers to play catch up while suddenly staring at a 3-2 deficit. Hilltop did just that as Gomez rang up the tying goal on an assist by Horten, who then provided the go-ahead goal at 4-3 with an unassisted tally.

But that only set the stage for Bonita Vista’s dramatic comeback.

"It was a tense and emotional game," Quigley said. "We’d fall behind, tie it up, go ahead and they would tie it and go ahead, and we’d come back to tie it and the the lead."

Said Vaccaro: "We just couldn’t protect our lead."

Upsets were the norm on the day, however.

Castle Park, which finished fourth in the league standings, upended Eastlake, the second-place team in the regular season standings, by a 6-4 score. Richard Garcia and Brian Baker both led the first-year Trojans with two goals and one assist apiece while Arturo Garcia scored twice.

Like the run of the championship game that was to follow, Castle Park set the pace by overturning an early 3-2 Eastlake lead. The Trojans scored three unanswered goals to take a 5-3 before the Titans made a belated comeback to close the score to 5-4 on an unassisted goal by Danny Cordero. But Richard Garcia sealed the contest in the Trojans’ favor with another unassisted goal.

The playoffs started with a pair of overtime semifinal matchups. Hilltop was forced to fend off Castle Park, 6-5, while Bonita Vista earned its championship date with a thrill-seeking 4-3 victory against neighborhood rival Eastlake.

The Barons again enacted a bit of revenge by atoning for a mid-season 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Titans.

The Lancers’ Horten scored the game-winning goal in the game against Castle Park, which closed the encounter with three unanswered goals to send the matchup into overtime. Horten led Hilltop with two goals while Richard Garcia scored a three-goal hat trick.

The game appeared to be safely in control on the scoreboard after the Lancers had retaliated from an early 2-1 deficit by scoring four consecutive goals to take a 5-2 lead. But goals by Baker, Mike Delgado and Richard Garcia tied the game at 5-all to send a shockwave through the building. The run of unanswered goals followed single tallies by Hilltop’s Gomez, Joseph Casillas, Horten and Agonowski.

"The way to beat Castle Park is to stomp on them early. Castle Park has got some quick and speedy players. We got up 5-2 and the last three or four minutes, we got to playing offensive and trying to pad our lead and didn’t play defense," Hilltop’s Vaccaro explained.

Donahoo, assisted by Joseph Victoria, supplied the winner in the semifinal round against Eastlake. Following a familiar script set down in the postseason tournament, the Barons rallied from an early 2-1 deficit before handing back the lead before Ballow and Lentz broke through with a pair of goals to put the Barons up 3-2. But Ricky Hernandez, assisted by Cordero, came through in the clutch to deadlock the contest at three goals apiece.

Bonita Vista survived six penalties in the game while Eastlake was whistled for four infractions.

The championship tournament, which received sponsorship from the Chula Vista Kiwanis Club, served as a fitting end to the first season of official CIF play in the sport in the section, according to the Lancers’ helmsman.

"We had a terrific first season. We showed that great hockey can be played down here. The tournament was a great success and ending to the season. It showed that teams in the South County can play good hockey. Hopefully, we can show how hockey can mushroom down here," Vaccaro said.