Viking boys win Vallecitos Soccer Tournament

Not only did Vallecitos Elementary School host the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament in which athletes from seven small elementary schools in northern San Diego County and southern Riverside County played Dec. 13, but the Vikings also won the boys championship.

“They were very dominant and it was a very good team, one of the best teams that I’ve had,” Vallecitos coach Ray Hanbeck, who has been on the Vallecitos faculty since 1995, said. “We really had a strong midfield and forward attack on our offense and a strong defense.”

The scheduled date for the tournament was Dec. 6 with Dec. 13 being the day the games would be played in case of rain on the originally planned day. Although no rain fell in Rainbow Dec. 13, the storm from the previous week required work to make the fields playable.

“It took a lot of effort to pump the water out,” Hanbeck said. “We have a drainage issue.”

Enough water was removed to allow the tournament to be played.

“The fields were kind of spongy,” he said.

The Vallecitos Soccer Tournament included both boys competition and girls games. While the boys utilized the Vallecitos Elementary School field, the girls played at Rainbow Park, which is owned and maintained by San Diego County and has a synthetic turf surface.

A portable store allowed spectators drinking water and other refreshments and removing water on the grass also benefited spectator access.

“We needed to have it drained so people could walk around and get to and from the field,” Hanbeck said.

The conditions did not deter spectators from watching the games.

“We had a really good turnout. There were a lot of people there,” Hanbeck said.

The seven elementary schools in the 2018 tournament were divided into pools for round-robin play with Vallecitos, Pauma, Warner and Julian in one pool and Borrego Springs, Cottonwood of Aguanga and Hamilton of Anza in the other pool. The games were 20 minutes and utilized a running clock, and the teams did not switch sides midway through the contest.

The Vallecitos boys began with a 2-0 victory over Pauma. Ivan Franco and Raul Duenas scored the Vikings’ goals. The shutout by goalkeeper Armando Yanez involved contributions from rotating defenders Angel Anaya, Jordan Anicete, Izal Armenta, Alex Correa, Jose Garcia and Marcos Morales.

The shutout victory was one of three in the Vikings’ four games.

“We were strong on defense. We had overall a very strong team this year,” Hanbeck said.

Although Warner fielded a team, they were outmatched by Vallecitos in the 7-0 game.

“It was pretty one-sided,” Hanbeck said.

Franco scored twice and one goal apiece was scored by Duenas, Leo Hernandez, Pedro Madrigal and Edgar Ortega. The Vikings’ other score was on an own goal.

An own goal gave Julian the only score of the tournament against Vallecitos in the Vikings’ final pool play game. Duenas, Franco and Ortega scored in the 3-1 triumph which gave Vallecitos first place in the pool.

The boys championship match pitted Vallecitos against Borrego Springs. Ortega took a corner kick from Hernandez and was able to place the ball past the goalkeeper for the Vikings’ first goal. Hernandez scored a goal himself to conclude scoring in the 2-0 win.

“It was a very easy team to coach,” Hanbeck said. “They knew what to do.”

Thirteen boys played for the Vallecitos team.

“The kids once again did a great job doing their best and playing well and representing their school,” Hanbeck said.

Julian took third place in the boys’ portion of the tournament.

The Vallecitos girls placed fourth with Julian winning the championship, Hamilton taking second place and Cottonwood winning the third-place game against the Vikings. Yeraldi Hernandez coached the Vallecitos girls.

The Vikings began play with a 3-0 triumph against Pauma; Tiffany Hernandez had two goals and Jennifer Diaz scored once, while goalkeeper Cheyenne Crowe recorded the shutout. Hernandez scored all three goals in the Vikings’ 3-0 victory against Warner Springs and scored the lone Vallecitos goal in the 2-1 loss to Julian which concluded pool play.

The third-place game between Cottonwood and Vallecitos required a penalty kick shootout, which the Cougars won, after the conclusion of field play resulted in a 1-1 deadlock. Diaz scored the field play goal for the Vikings.

Five referees volunteered their time for the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament: father and son Tony Avila and Tony Avila, Nick Guerra, Paul Mattson and David Urguiza. Guerra and Mattson also donated four soccer balls for the tournament.

“I was happy with the way it turned out with the weather and the support from the schools,” Hanbeck said.

Cottonwood will host a Jan. 17 flag football tournament, contingent upon favorable weather, although Hanbeck did not expect enough Vallecitos student interest for the Vikings to participate and anticipated the Feb. 14 basketball tournament at Borrego Springs to be the next event for his athletes.