Sanger wins school’s first Central Section boys title; Central boys are back-to-back champs
In front of at least 1,000 fans at Tom Flores Stadium, top-seeded Sanger High beat No. 2 Dinuba 4-1 Friday night in the Central Section Division II boys soccer final, securing a first section title in school history, according to historian Bob Barnett.
“That is is really the most exciting part of all this,” Apaches coach Alex Gutierrez said. “I knew when we came into this three years ago that we had a lot of history against us. We really thought about how can we grow this program from the bottom up and these boys are really a testament putting themselves out there for the past three years.”
Last season, the Apaches advanced to the section final against Tulare Western and lost 3-0 in a shootout.
Sanger didn’t want any part of that this time around receiving a goal from Michael Esparza when he scored off a rebound in the first half.
The Apaches scored three goals in the second half to put the game out of reach.
“I wish we would’ve got it last year,” Esparza said. “We redeemed ourselves.”
The Central Section has seven automatic berths in the California Interscholastic Federation North and South regionals. Eight-team brackets in 10 divisions (five boys, five girls) will be announced Sunday.
Eleven of 12 divisions crowned champions Friday, with the Clovis-Clovis North girls D-I final set for Saturday.
Central boys repeat
Travel time for Central? No problem for the Grizzlies.
Fourth-seeded Central defeated No. 1 Santa Maria 1-0 to make it back-to-back section Division I championships. Eliab Betancourt scored in the second half.
The Grizzlies won as a No. 4 seed last year, too, but because of upsets they were at home in the semifinals and finals, beating No. 7 Ridgeview 3-2 in the final.
There was another upset this year, San Luis Obispo losing again as the top seed in the quarterfinals.
Central (21-4-3) allowed just one goal in four playoff matches.
Dos Palos remembers Porterville firefighters
The Dos Palos boys carried a banner on the field to remember the two firefighters who were killed in a Porterville Library fire before their match against No. 1 Granite Hills in Porterville.
The third-seeded Broncos then won the school’s first section title with a 3-1 victory in Division VI.
Earlier Friday, hundreds turned out in Porterville for remembrance of the fallen firefighters.
Other championship highlights
Division III girls — Behind two goals from Marissa Montelongo, No. 1 Kingsburg defeated No. 3 San Joaquin Memorial 3-0. The Vikings have won four section titles.
Division V girls — No. 1 Fresno Christian built a 2-0 lead in the first half and held on for a 2-1 victory over No. 2 Kerman. It was the Eagles’ first title since 2001.
Division V boys — No. 2 Mendota won its fourth section title in dramatic fashion, defeating No. 1 Farmersville 4-3 on penalty kicks.
Division IV girls — No. 3 Orosi edged No. 4 East 2-1 for its second title. The first came in 2018.
CIF CENTRAL SECTION SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIPS
BOYS
DIVISION I
No. 4 Central 1, No. 2 Santa Maria 0
DIVISION II
No. 1 Sanger 4, No. 2 Dinuba 1
DIVISION III
No. 1 Foothill 3, No. 2 Highland 0
DIVISION IV
No. 1 Garces, No. 3 Shafter 0
DIVISION V
No. 2 Mendota 1, No. 1 Farmersville 1
(Mendota wins on PKs, 4-2)
DIVISION VI
No. 3 Dos Palos 3, No. 1 Granite Hills 1
GIRLS
DIVISION I
Saturday’s championship
No. 3 Clovis at No. 1 Clovis North, 1 p.m.
DIVISION II
No. 1 Centennial 1, No. 2 Tulare Union 0
DIVISION III
No. 1 Kingsburg 3, No. 3 San Joaquin Memorial 0
DIVISION IV
No. 3 Orosi 2, No. 4 East 1
DIVISION V
No. 1 Fresno Christian 2, No. 2 Kerman 1
DIVISION VI
No. 2 Arvin 1, No. 1 Frazier Mountain 0
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 9:10 PM.
