Change of season brings new life for area squads

Tokay High boys soccer coach Ruben Gomez feels as the new season progresses, so will his Tigers.

After Tokay lost to area neighbor and defending SacJoaquin Section Division IV champion Galt 3-1 at the Grape Bowl on Tuesday night, adjusting to a new base offense will continue to grow, the coach noted.

“We’re trying to learn a new formation,” said Gomez, whose squad ran a base 3-5-2 offense against the Warriors.

Another change for Tokay, along with Galt and the rest of the section, is change of seasons. Since the late 1980s, high school boys soccer teams started their season in the fall. But two years ago, the section passed a law to move both boys and girls soccer, which was played in the spring since 2002, to the winter season.

The move is to set up state championships games before the end of this decade, as there is in football, volleyball and boys and girls basketball.

“It’s not bad because the kids are used to playing in the winter time,” said Gomez of the boys playing on their club team during the winter in previous years. “It’s just a matter of getting their mindset that our games are going to be at night time instead of versus daylight in the fall.”

Gomez, in his 28th season with the Tigers, and co-coach Dale Strawn have a combination of returning and new players this season. In the fall of 2015, Tokay took third place in the Tri-City Athletic League with a 9-6 record and 13-7-2 overall.

Returning are senior defender Alejandro Anrade, junior midfielder Noah Scofield, fullback Nicholas Montaon, strikers Ivan Rosales and Michael Valencia, and midfielder Luis Plaza, who had an assist in the Tigers’ lone goal against Galt on Tuesday night. At the net is goal keeper Joel Luis, who handled the kicking chores for the Tokay football team this past season.

Other Tiger booters who played plenty against Galt were Matthew Salas, Ivan Rosales, Diego Hernandez, Jason Mugia and Luis Plaza.

Lodi

Last year, Flames coach Dave Clemons watched his squad post a 3-10-2 mark in the TCAL and 4-12-2 overall.

“We had a tough season,” Clemons said.

This season, Lodi plays only six non-league games. But five are against teams that made the playoffs last year. The Flames are not playing in any tournaments before the start of TCAL action.

Most important for Clemons are seven players returning this season. Leading the way are five seniors — midfielder/defender Adrian Vargas, who could also see action at fullback; Sergio Gonzalez, forward; Juan Lopez, midfielder; and midfielder Cesar Calderon.

Juan Romero, defender who started as a sophomore last year, is one of two juniors who played as sophomores for Lodi last fall. The other is midfielder Luis Sandoval and defender Alex Oseguera.

“We are fortunate that we have a good core group varsity experience from last year,” Clemons said.

Newcomers from the

Flames’ frosh-soph team are midfielders Tyler McBee and Jose Gomez.

Today, Lodi opens the pre-season at Bear Creek.

Galt

Producing winning records in the Sierra Valley Conference and going deep in the section playoffs since the early 2000s has become the norm for Galt, which has played in three section title games the last four seasons. That includes fall 2015 when the Warriors beat cross-town rival Liberty Ranch 2-1 on penalty kicks for the section’s Division-V title. Galt finished its season with an 8-1-1 record in the SVC and 20-1-4 overall.

Dane White, in his second season as Galt’s coach, has lost a lot of players from that section championship team to graduation last spring.

“We have a young squad; mostly sophomores and juniors,” White said. “We lost a lot of seniors ... our dominant style of play is out the window. So it’s time for us to re-establish that identity.”

White has only four seniors: Saul Ortiz, Fabian Rodriguez — who scored one of the Warriors’ goals against the Tigers on Tuesday — Eliseo Diaz and Miguel Pantoja.

Juniors that started against Tokay on Tuesday are team captains Arath Chavez and Jose Alvarez, along with Adrian Copado and Orlando Villalobos.

Seven sophomores are part of the Warriors’ roster. Goal keepers Maico Ortiz and Hector Ochoa are two of them. The remaining five are Nathan Villllobos, Jason Welch, Davian Marquez, Ramiro Ramirez and Giberto Lopez. A freshman joins the Warriors in Alex Gonzalez.

“We have a strong club program (in the offseason),” White said. “Our high school culture is really supportive has a lot of positively associated with it, and it carries into sports. They want to be part of the (soccer) legacy where they can excel, and be the best.”

Liberty Ranch

Andrew Fisher is the Hawks’ new coach. Prior to arriving at Liberty Ranch, Fisher was the Lassen High boys soccer coach for five years. Lassen is located in Susanville.

Like Galt, the Hawks have fed off success of players who also play on club teams in the offseason. Prior to fall 2015, Liberty Ranch won the section’s D-IV crown in 2013. The Hawks have played in two section title games since the school opened its doors toward the end of the 2000s.

“I am extremely excited and honored to have the coaching position at Liberty Ranch,” Fisher said. “They have a legacy of high quality soccer.”

Returning players for the Hawks are midfielder Mark Vasquez, whom Fisher calls “very strong on the ball, very confident and distributes the ball well.”

“I’m learning about my team,” said Fisher, who teaches history at the school. “I’ve watched and analyzed their playing style and skill set. It’s been a learning process to pick up their skills, and understand their strengths and weaknesses. It’s been fun getting to know the players on the team.”

Two strong fullbacks in Carlos Navarro and Manuel Gomez-Armas, both seniors, are the “generals of the defense,” Fisher notes.

Other key players for the Hawks are Mason Ginni, a forward; Sal Medrano, a junior fullback who was moved up to the varsity squad in the fall of 2015 as a sophomore; and David Rangel, another forward who is a junior.