Santa Margarita Makes Its Mark Against El Dorado

Santa Margarita was tired of hearing about the exploits of high-scoring El Dorado forward Ignacio Cid. So the Eagles shadowed Cid with their best defender, Derek Mantey, who shut him down and then shut him up.

With Cid quiet, Santa Margarita’s offense took over. The Eagles scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half and went on to win, 3-1, in the Southern Section Division III boys’ soccer final Saturday at Cerritos Gahr High.

The section title was the Eagles’ third in a row and fourth in seven seasons. But it was probably their most improbable one. They started the Sea View League 0-2-1.

“This is just like the first one,” said senior defender Brandon Meeks, a three-year starter. “Everyone doubted us, but we hung in there.”

And they hung on to Cid, wherever he went. Cid had scored 27 goals, including six in four playoff games. But Mantey didn’t give Cid a good look at the goal all game.

“That kid has stopped every great forward in the county and a national team kid on [Compton] Dominguez,” Santa Margarita Coach Curt Bauer said. “I asked him if he had one more game in him. And he did. I also think the field had something to do with it. That was the worst field I’ve ever seen.”

Meeks said the team was motivated by a newspaper profile of Cid that was printed Friday.

“We read the article and that was fuel to the fire,” Meeks said. “They definitely played their offense through [Cid]. When we shut him down, they didn’t know what to do.”

Afterward, Cid didn’t know what to say.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” he said. “I don’t have anything to say.”

Said El Dorado Coach Marc Smith: “Not only did they keep [Cid] out of the box, they kept him without any touches. I think he was getting a little frustrated.”

Santa Margarita (19-7-4) scored its goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half, the first two coming 50 seconds apart. Forward Sebastian Galmarini broke the scoreless tie when he headed in a header pass from Mike Meed.

Before the Golden Hawks could even hang their heads, midfielder Ryan Curtis took a pass from Spencer George and beat El Dorado goalkeeper Ryan Weirich, who had challenged Curtis after he got behind the defense. Curtis scored again in the 60th minute when his shot deflected off an El Dorado defender and caught Weirich leaning the other way.

“We knew we wanted to counter attack and that’s what we did,” Bauer said. “We thought we were faster up front.”

Smith had a different word for it.

“I thought we played really well,” he said. “We made three mistakes within a 15-minute span and that was the difference. I thought we were unlucky today. The breaks went their way.”

El Dorado, which finished with a 27-3-1 record, scored its goal in extra time on a penalty kick by Kyle Graham. The goal was the first sophomore goalkeeper Erick Foss gave up in five playoff games. Foss was one of nine new starters to Santa Margarita’s team this season. Meeks and George were the only returners.

“Things didn’t look good for us about six weeks ago,” Bauer said. “We didn’t start winning until we found out what was working.”