After 2 Overtimes, Valhalla and San Diego Share 2-A Title

Derek Berry would have stayed on the soccer field and played all night. But, after a double overtime, the Valhalla senior had to walk off the field sharing the 2-A division boys’ soccer championship with San Diego after a 1-1 tie Friday at Torrey Pines High School.

“You just can’t end a championship game like this,” Berry said. “The only solution is to play until somebody wins. If it goes all night, it goes all night.”

This is Valhalla’s fourth consecutive trip to the final. Valhalla has won the championship outright in 1986 and ‘88, and shared the title in 1987 with Poway.

“I don’t think we played very well. That’s a compliment to the other team,” Valhalla Coach George Logan said. “They slowed it down when they had to, speeded it up when they had to and substituted when they had to.”

San Diego Coach Milton Hidalgo had some praise of his own about Valhalla.

“We came in as the underdog tonight, nothing said. Say Valhalla and you say no more, “ San Diego Coach Milton Hidalgo said. “They had the better part of it tonight.”

Valhalla (24-0-1) had to come back from an early deficit only once this season, in an early-season game against Poway. San Diego (20-1-3) caught goalkeeper Chris Wyse off guard and scored 10 minutes into the game. As Wyse was diving for the ball in the corner of the box, San Diego’s Giang Lai kicked it away to teammate Keith Navasak, who scored. Sixteen minutes into the second half, Hargrove scored from an assist by Berry to tie the score.

“I thought was were going to win it once we got our momentum back,” Hargrove said. “I was really impressed with our defense.”