The two best teams in CCS DII will remain so in the record books as Gilroy and Serra weren’t able to settle who was better after 100 minutes of physical and emotional soccer.
The Mustangs and the Padres battled to a 2-2 tie after 80-plus minutes of regulation and two 10-minute overtimes were not enough.
“I know it’s a co-champ, but still, for me, it feels like a championship,” said coach Armando Padilla.
Both sides had late goals score to force or continue overtime. Serra scored with five minutes left in the game for force OT and Gilroy responded to an early goal in extra time to force a second OT.
Andres Jimenez came through in the 89th minute that saved Gilroy’s season. That was after Serra’s Nick Schnable knotted the game at 1-1 in the 75th minute then found the back of the net in the 83rd for a 2-1 overtime lead.
Padilla said he was happy his boys are finishing the season champions, especially since it had been seven years since the team last got a taste of a CCS Championship.
“We haven’t been here since 2007 and the last time we came close was last year in the Division III semifinal. We just felt like we deserved to be in the finals,” said coach Armando Padilla. “This year we had the opportunity, but things didn’t bounce in our favor today. It was a great game. You can’t take anything away from Serra, they’re a great team.”
Both sides had opportunities to claim the title but late goals both times denied a clear winner.
Gilroy netted the first goal of the game in the 56th minute and nearly killed off the remaining 24 to end things in regulation.
Emmanuel Cruz put his team ahead when he attacked a loose ball near the goal by getting behind the defense. It was set up by a long free kick that took a big bounce that allowed Cruz score.
“I did this for my team and my team supported me in everything,” Cruz said.
Meanwhile, the Padres picked up their attack that for 56 minutes had been thwarted.
Kevin Acosta stood on his head for the first half of the game, stopping half a dozen opportunities.
“Our team has such a heart and a fight. We were very rarely down in a deficit all season, so we knew we had a chance to come back,” said Padres coach Jeff Panos. “And we’ve got one of the best strikers in the Bay Area.”
With five minutes remaining in the game — minus stoppage time — Serra finally figured out the Mustang net minder on the foot of Schnable.
“No. 11 (Schnable) he was going to be the play maker, and sure enough he got them back in the game,” Padilla said.
Serra’s leading goal scorer broke free on a counter attack in the 75th minute and found the upper left corner of the net to tie the game.
Padilla said he had wished his boys had played a little more physical on that play, either going for the ball or a hard foul that would have stopped the breakaway.
“Get the ball or get the body. At that moment we could have afforded to take a hard foul, a tactical foul. We failed to do that and he punished us for it,” Padilla said.
Gilroy nearly got it back in the 79th minute when Luis Urias hit what he thought was the go-ahead goal. But the official waved it off, calling a foul on Gilroy.
The game stood at 1-1 heading into overtime, but Schnable needed little time to put Gilroy on the ropes.
In the 83rd minute, Schnable muscled his way past the defense and found the back of the net for a 2-1 lead.
“He’s been doing that for us all year. It’s fitting for his last game of his high school career he scores two goals,” Panos said.
Serra then went into lockdown defense, keeping Gilroy out of the box, forcing the Mustangs to settle for longer shots.
Gilroy then got a dramatic, game-saving shot of its own in the 89th minute.
Jimenez launched a shot from the far side across net and he hit a Serra defender and the ball was redirected past the goalie.
“It gave us a boost up and we wanted it with all our hearts,” Cruz said.
Padilla said Jimenez took what the defense was giving him and he made something happen.
“They bring the bus and they park it and it’s really difficult to get something in there,” Padilla said. “They knew what we were about and so they did very well defending that. They forced us to take a shot on the outside of the 18 and that’s what Andrew did. And thank God for that deflection.”
That forced a second overtime period, but by that time, both sides were gassed. Neither side had a quality opportunity in the final 10 minutes, forcing the tie.
The game very easily could have swung in favor of Serra. The Padres had two goals waved off, one because of a foul in the first period and again in the second when the ball rebounded off the cross bar of football uprights right behind the net.
