‘A tale of two halves’
Second half powers Wildcats past Escalon 4-1 and into semifinals
The Sonora High School boys soccer team appeared to be in trouble as they trudged to the sideline at halftime down 1-0 to the No. 6 Escalon Cougars in the first-round of the CIF Sacjoaquin Section Division V playoffs.
However, the Wildcats erupted in the second half, with four different players scoring goals, to overtake Escalon and win 4-1 to advance to the semifinals.
The game’s most pivotal moment came on a Wildcats corner kick in the 57th minute. In a very similar fashion to Escalon’s goal, sophomore Taber Burgess sent the ball into the box and it ricocheted out to junior midfielder Kevin Cimolino.
Cimolino wasted no time as he sent the ball through traffic and into the back of the net to equalize the game. Sonora fans in attendance erupted in cheers, and his teammates swarmed him in celebration.
“It was bouncing around from a corner (kick) and it rolled out right to me,” Cimolino said. “I just lined up my shot and I think, ‘keep it low.’ ”
Cimolino’s equalizer was one of only two goals the junior has scored this season, having served in a largely
defensive role through most of the team’s games this season.
The decision to move Cimolino up to the central midfielder position has paid immediate dividends for Sonora, as Cimolino has scored a goal in each of the two games he has played at the position, Wildcats assistant coach Mark Kuykendall said.
“We moved him up from more of a full-time defensive midfielder, to more of
a central midfielder and we started that in the Summerville game, so he is playing a bit more forward,” Kuykendall said. “He has just been perfect. He has been doing a great job and he knows how to step up and take a shot when it’s open.”
While the adjustment to a new position so late in the season might be daunting, Cimolino said that once he is on the field, playing his game, nothing phases him.
“When I am out on the field, everything kind of clears. All the nerves kind of go away for me,” Cimolino said. “I am not really thinking about anything else but the game.”
Cimolino’s goal seemed to open the floodgates for Sonora, who could not be stopped in the final minutes of the second half. After the lackluster first half, the team felt the urgency of the moment at halftime and decided to make a change, according to Cimolino.
Sonora goalkeeper Aiden Bautista said that from his vantage point, Cimolino’s goal changed the entire landscape of the game for the Wildcats.
“That was a huge switch,
Bautista said. “You could tell, in Escalon’s faces, that they were beat up. They were shocked that we were able to come back with that goal. That definitely helped us out a ton. It turned us around.”
Cimolino’s contributions didn’t stop there. In the 69th minute, the Wildcats were awarded a free kick and Cimolino sent a beautiful ball into the box where freshman striker Sam Villafana managed to head the ball backwards into the net to give Sonora the lead.
Only moments later, Villafana streaked up the sideline and crossed the ball into Chad Kuykendall, who found Burgess for yet another goal, giving the Wildcats some breathing room with a substantial 3-1 lead.
Finally, in stoppage time, captain Tim Blackmore blasted in a goal from nearly 30 yards out which landed squarely in the top right corner of the goal — one of Blackmore more impressive scores on the season — to end the game 4-1.
An unsung hero for Sonora was Bautista, who managed 10 saves on the night amidst the onslaught of talented Escalon attackers, allowing only the one goal.
Bautista’s performance was pivotal in keeping the Wildcats above water. Despite the disappointment of giving up the game’s first goal, Bautista said he was able to stay focused.
“If it was an easier blocking shot, that would have eaten me up, for sure. It bounced off the post — it was a great shot. There was no way I (would have been) able to block that,” Bautista said of Flores’ first-half goal. “At the same time, I had previous saves before that, so I gave myself a little bit of credit … I just stayed mentally strong and it proved effective.”
Sonora head coach Josh Kurz and Mark Kuykendall were complimentary of Flores, as well as fellow midfielders Beaden Inglis and Jesse Gomez after the game.
“We noticed his great play, but we really didn’t change any of our gameplan, we just talked to our midfielders about standing him up, not letting him turn,” Mark Kuykendall said. “I thought they double-teamed him when it was appropriate, (but) he was a very, very good player. It was very difficult to displace the ball from him.”
With their win Tuesday, the Wildcats earned a shot at No. 2 seed Riverbank at 6 p.m. Thursday in Riverbank. Heading into that match, Kurz and Mark Kuykendall say they are looking for the team to put together a complete, 80-minute performance.
“This isn’t the first time that they had this kind of second half,” Mark Kuykendall said. “This has happened multiple times on the year where we weren’t very happy with the first half of play — we were in the game or maybe we were even up — but we weren’t really happy, and then they responded in the second half. If we could put two halves together, we will be very tough to beat. It was a tale of two halves.”