Vikings sweep championships at Vallecitos Soccer Tournament

Vallecitos Elementary School hosted the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament which brought athletes from seven small elementary schools in northern San Diego County and southern Riverside County to compete Nov. 14, and the Vikings won both the boys' championship and the girls' championship.

"It went great. We won first place for both boys and girls, so it's two straight that we've won first place in both the boys and girls competition," Vallecitos coach Ray Hanbeck said.

The seven schools participate in sports tournaments with each school hosting a different sport each month. The 2019-2020 tournaments began Oct. 10 with the Pauma Volleyball Tournament at Pauma Elementary School, and Vallecitos won both the girls' championship and the boys' championship.

"I don't think we've ever done that, so that's an accomplishment in itself," Hanbeck said of sweeping the first two tournaments of the school year. "This is the first year I can recall that the boys and girls won the first two tournaments."

The championship was also the third in a row for the boys in the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament. Last year Vallecitos won the boys' portion of the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament while the Vallecitos girls placed fourth. The Vallecitos boys also won the 2017 Vallecitos Soccer Tournament while the Vikings' girls placed second that year.

The girls played at Rainbow Park, which is owned and maintained by San Diego County and has a synthetic turf surface, while the boys utilized the Vallecitos Elementary School playground. Hanbeck coached both the boys and the girls during practice, but because the games were played simultaneously Hanbeck coached the boys during the actual competition while Yeraldi Hernandez was the Vikings' girls' coach.

Four referees volunteered their time for the Vallecitos Soccer Tournament: father and son Tony Avila and Tony Avila, Nick Guerra and Paul Mattson. Volunteers also staffed a snack bar which allowed refreshments for the spectators while also providing some funding for the Vallecitos athletic programs.

The games utilized a 20-minute running clock. The seven teams were divided into two pools; each team played each other team in the pool before the pool winners played for the championship and the pool runners-up played in the third-place game.

Eighteen boys were on the Vallecitos team.

"There was even a fourth-grader who played a little bit in one of the games," Hanbeck said.

That fourth-grader substituted for an injured older player. Although he was the only fourth-grader to see action on the field, some fifth-graders played.

The Vallecitos boys began play with a 2-0 victory over Pauma. Edgar Ortega scored both of the Vikings' goals while goalkeeper Armando Yanez recorded the shutout with assistance from starting defenders Jordan Anicete, Alex Correa, Marcos Morales and Yahir Sanchez.

Vallecitos defeated Warner Springs in a 1-0 contest.

"It was a tighter match than the boys had anticipated," Hanbeck said.

Ortega scored the game's only goal in the final two minutes.

The Vikings' final pool play game was against Julian Elementary School. Ortega scored twice for a 2-0 lead before a Julian goal finalized the score in the 2-1 match.

Borrego Springs Elementary School won its pool, so Vallecitos faced the Coyotes in the championship contest.

"Borrego Springs had a pretty strong kicker that was a strong scorer, and we ended up having to strongly defend against him in the championship game," Hanbeck said.

Yanez and the defenders held the Coyotes scoreless, Ortega and Raul Duenas each scored a goal and the Vikings captured the championship with a 2-0 triumph.

"They played very well. They knew what they had to do," Hanbeck said.

"I'm proud of the way that they were able to challenge, scoring against schools that are for the most part larger schools," Hanbeck said. "It's an accomplishment being competitive against larger schools."

Cottonwood Elementary School from Aguanga defeated Julian in the boys' third-place game.

Vallecitos had 17 student-athletes on the girls' team. Only two of those are eighth-graders, one is a seventh-grader and the rest are in sixth or fifth grade.

"They had a younger team for the most part," Hanbeck said. "The girls were able to step up to the challenge."

Pauma was the initial opponent of the Vallecitos girls. The Vikings and Bobcats were scoreless in regulation, triggering a penalty kick shootout to decide the game. The shootout consisted of three shooters from each team. Tiffany Hernandez scored the only goal in that overtime to give the Vikings the victory.

Cheyenne Crowe was the goalkeeper who shut out the Bobcats, and she was aided by defenders Cailey Crowe, Daisy Robles, Daisy Trejo and Kimberly Vildavia.

Vallecitos followed that match with a 3-0 triumph against Warner. Hernandez scored the game's first two goals and Natalia Loera had the final successful shot.

Although Julian defeated Vallecitos in a 1-0 game, both Pauma and Warner Springs beat Julian. Pauma and Vallecitos both had 2-1 records in pool play. The first tiebreaking criterium was the head-to-head result, which gave Vallecitos first place and Pauma second place in the pool.

The championship match between Vallecitos and Cottonwood was tied at 1-1 before the Vikings scored for a 2-1 win and the girls' championship. Hernandez and Yamilee Rico each scored a goal for Vallecitos.

Pauma defeated Hamilton Elementary School from Anza in the girls' third-place game.

"I'm overjoyed about how things worked out," Hanbeck said of winning both the boys and girls championships.

The schools will reconvene Jan. 16, contingent upon favorable weather, for a flag football tournament. Cottonwood will host the tournament, although the Cougars do not have their own field and the competition will be played at Hamilton High School.