Valley titles on the line
Strathmore, Lindsay boys soccer hosting finals
Just a few weeks ago these two teams were bitter rivals, challenging each other and making strong cases for the coveted East Sequoia League championship that hadn’t left the hands of the Lindsay High School boys soccer in six seasons. But now with both the Cardinals and the Spartans of Strathmore hosting CIF Central Section championships today at 6 p.m., all that other stuff is in the past while each team attempts to make history in their own way.
As the Central Section’s No. 6 team, the defending Div. IV Valley champion Lindsay Cardinals (25-2-2, 9-1 ESL) have a chance to be the first LHS team to go back-to-back after receiving the top-seed and cruising through the playoffs to reach a title game with secondseeded Mira Monte (242-4) of Bakersfield.
Less than five miles away, top-seeded Strathmore (14-9-1, 8-2 ESL) is not only hosting the school’s first-ever boys soccer Valley title game, but are also in position to win the program’s first-ever title after advancing to face seventh-seeded Orange Cove (11-12-5).
Talent in the Valley
Making it to the Valley title game, let alone hosting it, is special. But for these two teams — one that has dominated others, while the other has quietly snuck up and nonbelievers — these games are a chance to remind others of the large amount of talent in the Valley as well as the growing strength of the ESL in particular.
“I think it’s a great thing because it says a lot about our Valley here, the great talent that we have,” Madrigal said. “I just actually finished telling the boys today, ‘You know Lindsay’s in it, they’re playing Valley. I want you guys to support them and cheer them on.’ Because a lot of them play on our same club team.”
The Cardinals have controlled the ESL for years, but over the last two season’s the Spartans have become a nagging thorn in Lindsay’s side. In both this season and last, Lindsay has lost on the road to Strathmore and had to watch the Spartans celebrate taking down the reigning ESL champions. Despite winning the Esl-title for the seventh year in the row, Madrigal went on to tell his players, that now that league is over, his players should support the Cardinals.
“When we play them in league it’s different,” he said. “Show no respect, no mercy. But
now that they’re in their own championship and we’re in our own, that’s something to be proud of. Because they’re your friends, they’re your neighbors and that says a lot about our kids here in the Central Valley. I think it’s an eyeopener that there’s a lot of good talent here.”
For Lindsay head coach Tony Godoy, Strathmore making it to the Valley championship only speaks to how much better the ESL is becoming.
“For the longest time, Strathmore was inferior as far as competitionwise,” Godoy said. “We would destroy them all the time, even when I was in high school. So Jimmy has done a great job of turning the program around. I hope
they win. It would just mean that our league is getting stronger and stronger...it’s better for us. The competition will rise and I know they’re our rival, but they’re in a completely different division, so them winning would only help our program as far as competition going forward.”
Making history, finally
The weight of winning the school’s first Valley title isn’t lost on the Spartans, but for senior captain Alejandro Bermudez, winning the Valley title, period, is something he’s wanted to do since he was just a freshman on the varsity team.
The midfielder said he went through three years of heartbreak to reach this moment. In his first season, the team lost in the quarterfinals and during the last two playoff trips the Spartans fell in the semifinal game.
“It was heartbreaking for me because my goal coming into high school was to win Valley championship,” Bermudez said on Wednesday. “My goal’s been to win Valley and it’s been heartbreak after heartbreak and we just don’t want [that] anymore. I don’t want these guys to suffer as much as I have. Me and coach, we’ve been here together since my first year, his first year. We’ve suffered together through all this and we just don’t want these guys to suffer.”
The Spartans have been through a lot, but they’ve faced tough situations and teams to prepare them for this moment. They’re facing a Titans team that they defeated 3-1 at the start of the season, but they
have no doubt that the Orange Cove team that upset third-seeded Exeter (9-10-3) and won two road playoff games will be different than the one they faced earlier.
“I don’t know much about Orange Cove,” Madrigal admitted. “The teams that they’ve played, they haven’t played really anybody big like we have. So I think we do have the advantage because we’ve been preparing all season playing big teams, big names. When we played them earlier in the season, we played them with probably a week of practice and I didn’t even have all my players that day. And they may have not had all their players either.”
He added, “I think it’s going to be a great game because I have my full squad here. We’ve had practice all year long so I think we’re prepared honestly. And like I said, I’m not knocking down on Orange Cove. They’re here at the Valley championship for a reason. Maybe they’re hungry, but I think we’re hungrier than them.”
The Titans full stats were not available on Maxpreps.com, but the Spartans stats show that they’re led offensively by Bermudez and junior striker Osvaldo Ibarra with 14 goals apiece. Orange Cove has scored 66 goals to Strathmore’s 49, but with 50 goals allowed, they’re slightly behind the Spartans’ 44. For that, Strathmore has junior goalie Damian Rodriguez and junior midfielder Enrique “Quique” Gomez to thank for solid defensive outings all season.
“Our defense has
been strong all year long, ever since we had Quique [and] Damian,” Madrigal said. “I’ve watched them grow up and I’ve coached them growing up and I know they’re prepared. I trust them and I have confidence in them.”
Back-to-back
The last time Lindsay hosted a Valley championship game was in 2012, but the last time the Cardinals had a chance to go back-toback was nearly a decade ago after the 200708 team won the Valley title. Godoy was a senior on the 07-08 team and didn’t have a chance to go back-to-back. But with 14 seniors on his squad, he can understand how significant this game is.
“They completely deserve it,” Godoy said. “So many good players come through Lindsay High School and some of them were just unfortunate to not have the supporting cast so now that we have that this would be the best chance to win again for a very long time. Just happy for those guys, they’ve been playing together for years, and years, and years. So it takes a group like that to make something special. I hope we end it right.”
Senior captain and center defensive midfielder Agustin “Guty” Valdovinos, who was apart of last season’s championship team added, “I think it’s really important because sometimes teams win it and then lack motivation to come back and do it all over and I think this group has it. If we actually go through and get the job done, it’ll be very nice.”
Valdovinos has been a large part of a Cardinals defense that’s shutout fifth-seeded Orosi (17-10-5) after defeating ninth-seeded Kerman (11-12-1) 7-1 in the quarterfinals. Not only has Valdovinos led the team on defense he’s also contributed a goal in each game.
“I think I stress a lot that regardless who we are or who we’re playing; off the ball, we have to be first to the ball, and we have to work harder than any other team off the ball because on the ball we can be as comfortable as we want but we always want to have the ball,” Valdovinos said on the team’s defensive success.
On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals are led by senior center midfielder Marcos Ceballos. The defending ESL player of the year leads the team with 30 goals and chipped in 13 assists.
Lindsay’s been able to cruise through the playoffs but they know tonight’s game will not be like the previous two. Mira Monte’s defeated seventh-seeded Shafter (14-11-3) 2-1 and then beat last year’s Valley runner up, thirdseeded Arvin (17-4-3), 4-1 in the semifinals. The Lions star player is sophomore Jonathan Alvarenga who leads the team with 31 goals and 14 assist.
“They feed him up the middle, he checks in really well,” Godoy said. “And he’s a little bulky, so he has body size on him. But we’re making minor adjustments to our defensive just because of him...so I have confidence that our guys will do the right thing.”