Rodieck Leads Esperanza Past Redlands in Overtime

Mark Rodieck hadn’t been heard from lately. Two playoff games had passed and Esperanza’s leading scorer had yet to produce for the second-seeded Aztecs.

When Rodieck, a senior forward, finally surfaced in the Division I semifinal game Tuesday, he made up for lost time by scoring the tying and winning goals to lift the Aztecs past Redlands, 3-2, in overtime at Esperanza High.

“He’s been quiet in the playoffs until today,” Esperanza Coach Kino Oaxaca said. “Today he was ready.”

Rodieck had plenty of excuses for not displaying the form that generated 27 goals in the regular season.

He reinjured his left knee, which had been surgically repaired last season, in the Aztecs’ first-round victory over La Verne Damien, then suffered a thigh injury Friday in Esperanza’s 1-0 victory over Capistrano Valley.

However, Rodieck emerged from his postseason scoring slump when Esperanza needed him most.

Fourteen seconds after third-seeded Redlands had taken a 2-1 lead in 52nd minute, Rodieck, with his back to the goal, volleyed a high shot over goalkeeper Chris Basirico, who had drifted to far from the goal.

It was defensive lapse Oaxaca and Rodieck had noticed in the first half.

“Earlier in the game, we took a shot and the goalkeeper had to leap back and save it with one hand,” Oaxaca. “I think [Rodieck] remembered that when he took the shot.”

“I never knew it went in until I saw it rolling in the back of the goal,” Rodieck said.

The game-winning goal was less flashy, but just as memorable for Rodieck, who said the two scores were the most important goals he’s scored.

Eight minutes into the first overtime, David Clemments collected a loose ball on the sideline near midfield and sent a long pass to Rodieck, who was racing toward the right post. A Redlands defender attempted to head the ball out, but it was too long.

The ball went directly to Rodieck, who took two steps and fired it under Basirico’s right arm.

The victory put Esperanza into the final for the third time in four years. The Aztecs will meet top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula at 6 p.m. Friday at Cerritos Gahr High School.

“I’m happy to be there again,” said Oaxaca, who led the Aztecs to Southern Section titles in 1986 and 1993. “It took everything we had, but we’re in the final and we’re for real.”