La Canada, Playing Picture-Perfect, Rolls, 5-1

The Corona High fan with the video camera had been filming nonstop since his team stepped off the bus an hour before Saturday’s kickoff.

Now, with the Southern Section Division IV boys’ soccer championship game just underway at Gahr High, he was advising those around him of the Panthers’ stingy defense.

“We haven’t given up a goal in the playoffs and only four all season,” he said.

“La Canada’s not the only team to win a lot of games the last two years.”

Midway through the second half, with La Canada leading, 4-0, and well on its way to its second consecutive division title with a 5-1 victory, the fan and his camera were nowhere to be found.

The Spartans (25-0) dissected Corona, extending their section records for consecutive victories (50) and goals scored in a season (145).

Chief among the La Canada players giving lessons was stopper Gaston Haupert, who had a goal and an assist while dominating play wherever he roamed.

“I don’t think there was a better player on the field today than Gaston,” said La Canada Coach Lou Bilowitz, who has won three section titles in a nine-year tenure.

“He controlled the middle of the field by winning the loose balls and moving forward, then dishing them off.”

And what a supporting cast Haupert had to work with. Thirteen of the Spartans’ 18 players are seniors and seven of them, including Haupert, have signed to play NCAA Division I soccer next season.

None of La Canada’s underclassmen figured in its scoring, which began in the 30th minute. Josh Sweeney dribbled out of the right corner and passed to Haupert high in the Corona penalty area. Haupert moved the ball forward to striker Jason Cropley, who scored from 10 yards.

La Canada went ahead, 2-0, nine minutes into the second half when striker Nick Andrus sent a pass along the Corona goal line and Leo Cuellar redirected it into the net.

A minute later, Haupert scored the Spartans’ third goal after blocking a Corona clearing attempt with his chest and blasting a 20-yard, left-footed shot into the net. Cuellar scored his second goal in the 57th minute, converting a pass from Andrus after the pair bore down alone on Corona goalkeeper Matt Cloward.

Reserve Jason Ballard scored La Canada’s final goal in the 76th minute by arcing a shot over Cloward and under the crossbar. Aaron Allen scored in the final minute for Corona.

Corona played a physical style but was overwhelmed nonetheless.

“We just take it to teams that try to intimidate us,” said Spartan fullback Derrick Dyslin, who began attending La Canada in the fall of 1994. “I set a goal for us to go 50-0 at La Canada, and we achieved that.”