Santa Ana Wins First Soccer Title : Division 4-A: Five goals in second half propel Saints past Beverly Hills. Gus Plasencia scores three times in 5-1 victory.

Santa Ana, which has waited a long time for a Southern Section soccer championship, couldn’t even wait for the final whistle to start celebrating Friday night.

When the game was finally over, Santa Ana had a 5-1 victory over Beverly Hills in the Division 4-A championship game at Gahr High School. It was the school’s first soccer title.

For the players, their coach and many of the fans, it was long overdo. And, they wanted to start the party as soon as possible.

* Coach Sam Buenrostro, a member of the 1981 Saint team that reached the 4-A final, was drenched with a bucket of water with five minutes left.

* A banner, proclaiming the Saints champions, was unfurled by the players on the bench with four minutes left.

* And Gus Plasencia left the game after a three-goal performance, hugged Buenrostro, then waved to the crowd and shouted, “We did it!” with two minutes to go.

After 18 years of soccer, 11 league championships, five semifinal appearances and one second-place finish, the Saints finally had a championship.

“I’ve been waiting 10 years for this,” said Plasencia, who was 8 years old the last time the Saints played in a championship game.

“We knew that the school had never won a championship. It was important to us to be the first.”

Plasencia made sure of it. His three second-half goals erased a 1-0 halftime deficit.

Beverly Hills (18-7-2) did a good job on Plasencia in the first half. Defenseman Charles Forsch gave him no room to maneuver.

But, in the second half, Plasencia could not be stopped.

With 23 minutes left, Jorge Perez lobbed a pass from midfield. Plasencia hesitated a second, then turned around Forsch and scored into an open net.

“I knew the guy was tired, so when the ball came in I waited and he stopped,” Plasencia said. “I didn’t even kick it that hard, but the net was wide open.”

The goal seemed to break the Saints’ tension that was building since they fell behind on a fluke goal midway though the first half.

The Normans’ Mark Jaffe picked up a loose ball at the side of the net. He appeared to pass the ball, but it deflected off Santa Ana’s Rafael Serrano and into the net.

For the rest of the half, Santa Ana was in a daze.

“I told them at halftime they better wake up or they would regret it,” Buenrostro said. “I was on the 1981 team and we came in overconfident and got our butts kicked. I told them that if they didn’t start playing, they were going to wake up tomorrow morning and have something to cry about. They were going to miss their chance.”

The Saints seemed to heed those words and played with a ferocity in the second half.

Nine minutes after Plasencia scored, Juan Santa Cruz took a direct kick from 30 yards out. The shot appeared to fool goalie Doron Barness, who watched it go into the net to break the tie.

“Getting the first goal was the tough one,” Buenrostro said. “Once we got that, I knew we would get more.”

Plasencia scored on a header, then off a corner kick to give the Saints a 4-1 lead. He finished the season with 26 goals.

Of Santa Ana’s 12 goals during the playoffs, Plasencia scored eight and assisted on two others.

By the time Fredi Hernandez finished off the Saints’ scoring, the celebration was in full swing.

“This was our season,” Plasencia said. “It was time for Santa Ana to win a championship.”