Mustang kickers continue their quest for first CCS title since
1991
GILROY – ‘Our team. Our passion. Our heart.’
That’s the driving force behind this year’s Gilroy High boys soccer team, which already completed its regular season undefeated with an 18-0-5 overall record heading into the first round of the CCS Playoffs.
‘Our expectations. Our goals.’
There are two very separate lists for both of those titles that the Mustang kickers alone put down on their team contract, the size of a banner, for everyone to sign before their miraculous run even got started.
“We came up with: make top 5 in CCS, beat Live Oak, be undefeated and stuff like that, come to practice, work hard, and everybody had to sign it so that was agreeing to what we said,” sophomore midfielder Ben Alcantar said. “It’s signing a contract for goals and expectations for the year.”
The Mustangs already have met most of them, like being ranked second in CCS at season’s end, beating rival Live Oak, going to the finals of the Homestead Cup, and, most of all, remaining undefeated to win the T-CAL title.
But there’s still one goal left to conquer.
“It’s basically a contract. Since you sign it, you’re going to have to stick to everything that is on there,” junior fullback Arron Thomas said. “On the column that says, ‘team goals’, I think we’ve accomplished most of them. The one that we haven’t accomplished yet is going to the second round of CCS, but we haven’t been there yet.”
The post-season begins at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at Mustang Stadium, where No. 3 Gilroy will host No. 14 Woodside (14-2-2), the Peninsula Athletic League Champions.
The Mustangs are trying to make it to the second round of the playoffs after losing in the opening round the last two seasons. Both were on the road by one goal – a 3-2 loss to Menlo Atherton last year and a 1-0 loss to Watsonville in 2002.
“It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. It doesn’t matter if it’s Watsonville or Leland because we have heart. That’s what it takes, heart and passion,” junior sweeper Artemio Arteaga said. “Even if we’re down 5-0, with heart and passion you’ll be able to catch up and probably beat them, too. Nobody is better than us. We’re at the level now, so now we’re even.”
Confident, but never cocky, are the garlic kickers who still seem to carry that underdog stigma despite their unbeaten resume.
“I knew we were going to have good players, but it was whether we could play together that was the main thing,” junior midfielder Alfonso Motagalvan said. “I kinda knew we were going to have a good season, but not undefeated.”
“I think we’re good now, but I think we can do much better if we’re all playing together,” sophomore teammate Luis Becerra added. “It’s just incredible because there hasn’t been a team going into CCS that’s been undefeated, so I guess it’s taken a lot of hard work, but it’s been a fun ride.”
Also stated on the team contract is, ‘We want to go where no team has gone before. … in all we do!’ That is the attitude personified by all the Gilroy players from the starters to the last man on the bench.
“I think there’s a lot of players on this team that really want to win. There’s a lot of heart in them. Many of us don’t really have the skill as much as other teams do, but it’s just the will to do things and do them right,” junior striker Everardo Diaz de Leon said. “Again, this team puts a lot of effort into the games, and I give a lot of credit to the coaches because they make us work hard and I guess it’s paying off.”
Coaches Armando Padilla, who has continued his success from junior varsity in his first varsity season, and Brian Hall, a World Cup soccer official who assisted on varsity the last two seasons, use a strong, relentless work ethic to bring out the best from their players.
“Especially the new coaching staff, I think was the big difference. We’ve got coaches that know what they’re doing. Brian knows a lot about soccer and Padilla’s played the game,” Motagalvan said. “They know how to make changes when it’s necessary, and we have the players to change positions and do whatever they can to help the team.”
The Mustangs have stared into many first-half deficits this season, and with just a few halftime adjustments, they have turned them all into second-half comebacks. After all, giving up or not fighting until the end would be a violation of the team contract.
“We definitely look at the banner every game. For example, look at number three and what does this say, ‘Intensity of the game or Focus on the game. Do everything we need to do,’ ” junior striker Jorge Plata said. “We use the banner a lot because that’s our goals and we accomplished a lot of them.”
The team’s David-versus-Goliath tale is still not over with hopes of winning Gilroy High’s first CCS title since the 1991 season.
“There’s a lot of talent in here and a lot of people have experience already. Like Javi, Evy, Fonso, Plata have experience in championship games,” sophomore goalkeeper Brian Velasquez said. “They’re the older ones, too. Everyone looks up to them. They help you out if you do something wrong. We’re like a family.”
The leadership and experience is intact for the Mustangs to accomplish the rest of their goals along with an infusion of new, young, talented players who share in the same mission of success.
“I think this year there is a better chemistry, a younger team and guys who are willing to work hard and do whatever it takes to win,” Motagalvan said. “I think that’s the difference. There’s less I’s on the team.”
The players carry on like one big family, exemplifying team unity to the fullest. Everyone has similar goals and expectations of themselves, and everyone knows it is all for one and one for all.
“For me, (the main goal) was win league because I had two years in a row that we were supposed to win that and this third one is like third time’s a charm,” senior striker Javier Hernandez said. “(The team contract) set goals for us that we want to accomplish and we look forward to trying to reach those goals, and, so far, we’ve reached a lot of them.”
Each player adds something special to the team – from Hernandez and Diaz de Leon’s speed to Plata’s rocket shot to Alcantar and Motagalvan’s ball control to Arteaga and Ismael Nava’s defensive prowess to Joel Vera and Jamie Binowski’s boost off the bench to Jose Esqueda’s endless versatility.
“This year it was more clear to us what we wanted, where we’ve been building tradition going to CCS every year, and this year we want to take it to a higher level,” Alcantar said. “I hope we get past the second round and hopefully win CCS.”
“That’s my dream right there to get past the first round and make history for the first time since 1991,” Arteaga added.
The Mustangs season began with a scoreless tie against Alisal back on Nov. 14 and the tough non-league schedule continued with a 2-1 win over Aptos and a 1-1 tie against Santa Cruz.
Then came the Homestead Christmas Cup, the largest high school boys soccer tournament in Northern California, where Gilroy started to gain momentum with key wins over Archbishop Mitty in the quarterfinals and then a victory decided by penalty kicks over Leland. (Binowski scored the clinching penalty kick and Velasquez made a name for himself saving penalty kicks.)
“I think (our most memorable win) was beating Leland in PKs,” Motagalvan said. “I think that was the most exciting game of the season.”
In the Cup Finals, the Mustangs once again battled to a tie score at the end of regulation against top-ranked Watsonville and the game moved into penalty kicks. Gilroy ended up falling short in PKs, missing its first three shots, but the unfavorable result counted as only a tie for the team’s overall record.
The Mustangs then went on a tear in the Tri-County Athletic League, defeating Salinas, Hollister, Palma, and North Salinas twice and winning one and tying the second against Live Oak.
“It feels great after you beat a big team that’s physical. It’s great to beat them because now they know these guys are small, but they know how to take the ball, dribble around us,” Arteaga said. “Soccer is not about height. It’s about mentality. That’s something I follow. As long as you have the mentality that you are better, nobody is going to beat you.”
Nobody did.
Even with all that the Mustangs have accomplished, they still return to practice to work hard, upholding the agreement made at the beginning of the season.
“I am one who likes to work hard in practice and in games, so when I signed that these were goals that I was going to meet, because I am a hard worker,” junior forward Jose Espina said. “(We still need) to work smarter and work harder and also try to learn each other’s play because throughout the season things have been a little inconsistent so we have to work more together as a team.”
“It’s really paying off,” Esqueda said. “Right now, we’re undefeated and we’re doing good and I think that all of the practice and the pushing has paid off.”
