Bears go back to back

Anuar Montes celebrated his 16th birthday in style Friday.

Montes scored what turned out to be the winning goal as the Pierce High boys soccer team edged visiting Esparto, 2-1, at Gregg Lemaster Field to capture its second straight Northern Section Div. III championship.

"He said he knew we would win," Bears coach Horacio Mendoza said, interpreting for Montes when Montes was asked about how it felt to score the winning goal. "He didn't know at the time that it was the game-winner. He was just excited about scoring on his birthday."

Montes' goal came 31 minutes into the second half. Rogelio Melendrez centered the ball to Montes from the left wing. Montes slipped behind a Spartans defender and went 1-on-1 with the keeper and hammering it past the goalie.

The Bears (14-1-2) were seeded No. 1, while Esparto (10-5-4) was the No. 2 team. Both are in the Sacramento Valley League South, which Pierce has won for the past three seasons. This year, the two clubs battled to 2-2 stalemates twice. Friday, everything seemed to go the Bears' way.

"I think we came out and wanted it more," Mendoza said.

It looked like Esparto might be the team that was going to come out on top early in the game.

The Spartans' Juan Morales launched a corner kick that Pierce goalie Cesar Ramos leaped to try and grab. Ramos punched the ball straight up as he fell to the ground.

As he was lying on the ground, Ramos somehow managed to get a foot on the ball and kicked it away.

"The save made the difference," said Ramos, calling it his best save of an outstanding season that saw the Bears register five shutouts, including three games leading up to the title contest.

"He had his best game," Mendoza added about his keeper.

That save seemed to energize the Bears, who completely dominated the Spartans in the first half, outshooting Esparto, 15-3.

"We had a lot of shots on goal, a lot of opportunities," said Danny Ambriz, who scored the Bears' first goal.

With less than 3 minutes remaining before intermission, Ambriz gathered in a long throw-in from Eduardo Navarro, then made a short run before taking a shot on goal from the right side and scoring just inside the right upright.

"That goal seemed to give us some confidence," Ambriz said.

Esparto, meanwhile, was playing with a sense of urgency in the second half, especially after Pierce's second goal. Finally, with less than five minutes remaining in the game, Rafael Torres scored for the Spartans, angling the ball from the middle of the field into the left corner of the net.

Less than a minute later, Pierce looked to widen the gap when Melendrez darted behind the Esparto defense on a breakaway. He was tripped up by a Spartan, however, robbing the Bears of a possible goal.

The hard foul on Melendrez was one of several committed by players on both teams.

"That's the way it is with us and Esparto," Mendoza said. "It's always a physical game."

Compounding the problem was a very soggy field that had large patches of mud from a passing storm right before the game. The conditions made it tough for both teams to get firm footing.

It was the Pierce defense which rose to the occasion, Mendoza said. The back line included Jose Cabrera, Gerardo Aceves and Jesus Murillo, with help from Luis Ornelas and Leonardo Velazquez.

The Bears could have more Section titles in front of them. Pierce loses only three seniors — goalie Ramos, forward Ambriz and sweeper Cabrera.

"I'm not ready to say that," Mendoza said, when asked if the Bears are primed for a three-peat.

Contact sports reporter Richard Myers at 749-4714 or rmyers@appealdemocrat.com.