Rea coach late to game, but prompt for win

COSTA MESA — As 12:30 p.m. rolled around on Sunday, St. John the Baptist appeared to be in full force while Rea seemed to be missing a few key ingredients, mainly its coach.

Luis Roman arrived ten minutes into the game to coach the Rea Sharks to a 3-2 victory. The Sharks defeated St. John the Baptist for the boys’ fifth- and sixth-grade Silver Division championship title in the eighth annual Daily Pilot Cup.

“I was in L.A. with my parents,” Roman said after the game at the Costa Mesa Farm Complex.

The Sharks’ victory came with some controversy that left the players from St. John the Baptist with a bitter taste in their mouths as Jacob Breckenridge’s goal five minutes into the second half was nullified on an offsides call.

The St. John parents voiced their disappointment and frustrations with the referee, who stopped play to explain that the St. John’s player was offsides.

“That was definitely a goal because the goalie touched it so there is no way it could have been offsides,” St. John Coach Joey Eggers said.

Jonathan Aldaco scored two goals, including the game-winner with 18 minutes left, to lead Rea. Gaudencio Dominguez added one goal of his own for the Sharks. Kevin Jacobs and Johnny Dmitruk had one goal each for St. John.

The first half started with St. John attacking. Rea goalie Erick Hernandez was on top of his game all afternoon long. Geovany Rosas, Andy Martinez, and Julian Guardado all manned the defensive front for Rea.

Three minutes into the match, Virgilio Martinez’ shot sailed over the St. John goal. St. John then had several attempts on Rea, but Hernandez didn’t let any balls pass him.

Dominguez was running all over the field trying to attack, and at the 16-minute mark of the first half, he scored.

Rea was aggressive offensively throughout.

On one particular play, Aldaco ran to the left side of the field and just managed to cross the ball, before falling off balance out of bounds.

Jacobs sailed one of his attempts over the Rea goal post. Four minutes later, Jacobs scored off of a corner, tying the game, 1-1.

Aldaco then drilled a powerful kick to give Rea the lead, 2-1, just three minutes before the half ended.

The second half began with St. John unleashing an offensive attack. Jacobs displayed fancy footwork on a number of plays, though the Rea defense was constantly stopping attacks.

Guardado had many powerful kicks for Rea on defense.

St. John had a lot of corner kicks, and Brennan Porras kicked many of them hard. With ten minutes gone in the second half, Dmitruk scored on the assist by Breckenridge to tie the game, 2-2.

Just two minutes later, Rea had a free kick and Aldaco netted his second goal of the afternoon, putting Rea up for good, 3-2.

“It was great and we won the championship,” Aldaco said.

Liam Shilington and Ethan Momestine worked to control the midfield for St. John, constantly pushing the ball up the field. Bill Crosson played amazing defense all game long, and had an impressive slide tackle on one play.

Play became physical late in the second half with several St. John players getting knocked down. One Rea player was hit in the face by the ball and had to leave the game.

With five minutes left in the game, the referee asked the parents to calm down and explained he was doing his best.

“This ref was bogus the whole time, nothing should have happened the way it did,” Eggers said. “We got knocked down and he didn’t call anything, [but] we had loads of fun.”

Even Rea Principal Gloria Hardy was in attendance to help Rea celebrate. Hardy had her hands full as the boys’ third- and fourth-grade team was playing on the nearby field.

“They love the sports, they’re passionate about it and they wanted to bring it back home,” Hardy said. “It’s tough to watch two championship games at the same time; I was going back and forth with my camera.”

JASON KORNFELD may be reached at (714) 966-4616 or at [email protected].