Coach Alfredo Reynaga wanted to test his team early in the season against a Sac-Joaquin Section finalist, and the two sides were reunited Friday when 11th-seeded Lathrop traveled to No. 6 Kimball to start the Division III playoffs.
Reynaga’s Spartans avenged the loss from two months ago, getting an early second-half goal from Angel Barajas to stun the Valley Oak League champion 1-0 in Tracy.
Lathrop (16-7-4) was without several key players in the non-league match won by the Jaguars (12-3-2), 3-0.
“When we played them without depth, we competed,” Reynaga said. “We felt pretty good with where we were at the time. Tonight was a whole different game.”
The lone goal was scored when Lathrop’s top scorer, Ociel Mora, was nursing an injury on the sideline. Juan Diego Morales filled in at striker and contributed to the goal, finding Barajas on the back post with a cross on a counter attack.
“After we scored, we got overexcited and undisciplined,” Reynaga said. “We ended up making adjustments to keep control of the game. (Kimball) kept pushing and tried catching us on counters.”
Reynaga credited defensive midfielder Jesus Hernandez for disrupting many of Kimball’s counterattacking opportunities.
“Our defense played really well,” Reynaga said. “It was good to see some of our players show up big time, and our goalkeeper (Jashanbir Bhuee) kept the clean sheet.”
The Spartans will head to Folsom next Tuesday to meet third-seeded Vista del Lago (15-2-3) in the quarterfinals. The Eagles opened with a 3-0 win over No. 14 Wood.
Rio Linda 4, Sierra 3
Hugo Reyes gave No. 14 Sierra (11-7-3) an early lead, but the fourth-seeded Knights (19-4-2) responded with four unanswered goals.
Diego Lopez and Oswaldo Sanchez cut the deficit in the second half with a goal apiece. Alejandro Sanchez contributed two assists. The Timberwolves were on the front foot in the final 20 minutes, hitting the post late in the game.
“The score does not reflect the game,” Sierra coach Joe Pires said. “We made some mistakes in the back, and it seemed like they capitalized every time. They made us pay for it.”
Rio Linda hosts No. 5 Pioneer (12-4-1) in the second round.
Valley 2, Manteca 0
Making their first postseason appearance in a decade, the 16th-seeded Buffaloes (10-17-1) put a scare into No. 1 Valley (21-4-4) at Cosumnes River College.
The start of the game was delayed because late-arriving officials, and the Vikings opened scoring with an early goal.
“Right after that, the boys realized we could play with these guys,” Manteca coach James Burns said. “The game was pretty wide open. I thought we’d have to sit in defensively and take away their possession game, but we had the run of play the final 25 minutes of the first half.”
The Buffs had several opportunities to tie it before halftime. Kevin Mundo fed Jose Flores with a cross, but the shot was deflected by the crossbar. Ethan Frazer had a head shot saved off the line by Valley’s goalie. Manteca had another chance with the ball bouncing around the goal area and Valley’s keeper down inside the 6-yard box.
The Buffaloes continued to press in the second half, but Valley gave itself some needed breathing room with a late goal.
“I told the boys they can’t look at this like a loss,” Burns said. “Look at the things the senior class did this year to pour the foundation for the program and create opportunities and expectations for the next group. We have a lot of freshman, sophomore and junior players who can see that we went toe-to-toe with the No. 1 seed. This feels like we’ve leveled up. It’s sad to think I can’t get another game with these seniors, but it’s exciting looking forward.”
