Montes leads Live Oak past Gridley
Tony Montes knows this rivalry all too well — he's been on both sides of it.
Once a Gridley High Bulldog, Montes transferred to Live Oak following his freshman year in which the Bulldogs won the Northern Section Division II championship.
He still lives in Butte County and grew up going to school with most of the members of the Bulldogs soccer team.
If Montes didn't put together something impressive in Live Oak's home opener on Tuesday, he wasn't going to be able to go home with bragging rights.
His hat trick should more than suffice.
Montes scored half of the Lions' goals in a 6-1 victory over their border rival, Live Oak's fifth straight win over Gridley.
"I came out here with a vengeance," Montes said. "Whenever you play cross-town rivals you want to win. It means a lot to all of us."
During football season, the Harvest Bowl played between these two schools grabs all the attention but the rivalry between the soccer programs goes even deeper.
Live Oak knocked Gridley out of the postseason in both the 2009-10 and 2007-08 seasons. The Lions took home the section title in 07-08 and Gridley won it a year later.
The Bulldogs were back-to-back champions in 2005 and 2006 though are coming off the program's first losing season in more than a decade.
In Tuesday's match, Live Oak showed it hasn't lost any of its offensive firepower despite losing 2010-11 A-D Player of the Year Hector Cibrian (now at Chico State) to graduation.
In the 15th minute of play, junior Pedro Valencia assisted sophomore Sal Vargas to put Live Oak ahead 1-0.
That score sparked an onslaught from the Lions. Not even two minutes later, Montes scored his first of three goals with a line drive kick to the top of the net from about 15 yards out.
Three minutes after that goal, Montes found the net again, this time off a perfect cross from senior captain Armando Araujo.
Gridley cut the deficit to 3-1, but Jose Cuellar extended the lead back to three goals with a score right before halftime.
Live Oak outshot Gridley 13-3 in the first half.
"Everybody's well-rounded and we have a lot of depth," Montes said. "As every practice goes, we get better and better. We have a lot of chemistry together."
Valencia picked up his second assist with a nice free kick to the front of the net from 40 yards out. Cristian Leos headed in the ball for a 5-1 advantage.
Montes completed his match with a goal from about 50 yards off a free kick that just sailed over the top of the keeper's head.
Lions coach Mike Owen thought the 6-1 final wasn't indicative of how close the match was. He said there are still plenty of bugs his team needs to work out.
"It didn't really feel like a win today," Owen said. "We had a little more luck on our side today. We're not quite there yet."
Live Oak opened its season last week with a resounding 7-0 victory over Sutter. The Lions will face Pierce on Thursday before heading north for the Central Valley Shootout in Redding beginning Friday.
The Lions will match up with the Bulldogs in the tournament's opening game.
"It's looking up for us," Owen said. "We just have to continue to build and get better."
