Boys Soccer Final: With a heavy heart, Mountain View wins its second straight Division 6 title for former vice principal Bobby Salcedo, whose memory lives on with the team
"Everyone has a special place in their heart for Salcedo," Mountain View midfielder Fabian Villasenor said. "We all wanted to do this for him."
Mountain View championship photo gallery
By Fred J. Robledo
This one was for Bobby.
Before the Mountain View High School boys soccer team accepted its championship plaque after knocking off top-seed Hesperia Oak Hills 2-1 to capture its second straight CIF-Southern Section Division 6 title on Saturday at Warren High School in Downey, the Vikings took a moment to gather themselves. They huddled, raised their hands, looked at the sky and shouted Bobby Salcedo's name, the former vice principal of the school who was murdered during the Christmas Holidays while vacationing with his wife in Mexico.
Salcedo, who also was an El Monte City School Board member, was a casualty of Mexico's ongoing drug war, Mexican authorities believe. He was kidnapped from a restaurant and murdered along with five others in the small town of Gomez Palacio.
He also happened to be one of the Vikings' biggest fans and supporters, coach Frank Corona explained.
"We worked so hard after Mr. Salcedo's passing and dedicated the season to him," Corona said. "Last year he was our No. 1 fan. We had a fundraiser to raise money for our (championship) rings, and he did most of the fundraising for us."
After advancing in the playoffs twice with sudden death-overtime victories and surviving a penalty shootout in the semifinals, the Vikings didn't want to stumble with one hurdle left to clear.
This time the second-seed Vikings (16-4-4) didn't need any last minute heroics to beat Oak Hills (21-5-4), giving the Vikings their third section title since 2005.
Two second-half goals, one an own goal and the second by Pablo Tellez in the 57th minute, gave the Vikings enough insurance to pull it out despite not having reigning Tribune player of the year Diego Rodriguez, who was limited to just a few second-half minutes because of an injured left knee he suffered in the semifinals.
But it didn't matter, central defenders Julian Amado and Jose Valdez did a wonderful job bottling up Bulldogs forward Juan Nuno, who entered the game with 39 goals and 13 assists, but left frustrated.
Vikings senior midfielder Fabian Villasenor won fifty-fifty balls all over the place and had an influence on both Vikings' goals.
Villasenor's long throw into the penalty area was back-headed toward the goal by Jesus Mariscal, deflecting off the shoulder of Oak Hills defender Brett Croft straight into the near corner for an own goal in the 47th minute to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
The Vikings doubled their lead after peppering Bulldogs goalkeeper Broderic Capps, which started on Villansenor's corner kick and Manuel Garcia's quick shot that was initially turned away by Capps.
Carlos Zarate followed with a point blank shot that Capps poked away again, but Tellez was able to follow it up, rifling home a right-footed shot in the 57th minute to stake the Vikings to a 2-0 lead.
The Vikings had to sweat it out the final minutes after Oak Hills midfielder Miguel Rivera scored on a broken play in the 69th minute, but they bunkered up and got it done.
"Last year we were the number one team all season and it was kind of expected (a championship)," Villasenor said. "This year we came in as underdogs and we knew they were the top seed (Oak Hills) and were going to fight us, but we overcame adversity all during the playoffs and weren't going to come up short after coming this far."
After the Vikings' slow 4-4-1 start in December, they refocused after dedicating the season to Salcedo.
"Everyone has a special place in their heart for Salcedo," Villasenor said. "We all wanted to do this for him."
The Vikings hope to begin pursuit of their first Southern California Regional title next week. The pairings are announced today with first-round games on Tuesday.
"One of our biggest motto's is work," assistant coach Javier Aguiniga said. "There are teams that come from better communities than ours with better resources, but money can't buy hard work, it can't buy heart and passion, and now we want to win the (Southern California championship) and put El Monte on the map.
"I know we're (El Monte) known for a lot of other stuff, but we're proud to represent our city and do everyone proud."
fred.robledo@sgvn.com
626-962-8811, ext. 2161
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Congratulations boys. My brother is smiling down and feeling very proud of all of you.
The Tribune, your home for all Mountain View coverage, is very proud of our latest soccer power.
This is becoming a soccer mecca!!!!
I must admit I was surprised by the Mt. View result. Congrats to this fine side for accomplishing what few soccer teams ever do, back to back CIFs.
I still think CIF is in a tough spot. Both HW and JSerra have played MUCH tougher schedules than M View and have more quality wins as well.
Do you really think the D6 winner merits a state spot over the D1 runner-up??
CIF should go to enrollment based divisions that mirror the numbers that the state office uses to avoid this kind of conflict.
Congratulations to Mt. View High soccer for winning a CIF championship. Enjoy your success and hope you make state tourney! Rosemead High supporter.
To Tough Road:
Shows what you know about Mt. View soccer. CIF should allow schools like Mt. View to play in the state tournament. Private schools make themselves good teams with money instead of making good teams with heart and their communities like here in EM. I guess CIF is in a jam.
Is it time to step up a division or 2 for Mountain View?..
Congratulations to the Vikings soccer players for a great season. The Panthers players and soccer staff salute your win. You showed your champions heart in Tuesdays semi-final match and deserved to be our division champions! Again, Congrats.
Coach San-Martin
Pasadena Poly Panthers Varsity Boys Soccer
Congratulations Soccer team from Mountain View! Back-to- back Division Champions!
Congratulations to Mt. View on Div. 6 soccer championship.
Another topic, why do other Mission Valley League sport teams have to play in division 2 or 3 and lose in the first round, except usually football?
Any word on whether the Mt. View game will start on time?
By my estimation, Mountain View must win to get in to the State Tournament. There are four spots available in the D II State Tournament. Three of those spots have been clinched: Cornona Del Mar, Santa Barbara, and the winner of J Serra and Harvard Westlake (all D II state teams who have won higher CIF-SS divisions).
The crazy scenario here is: if Mountain View wins, CIF will probably have to take them over the loser of the D I game (J Serra or Harvard-Westlake)!!!!
This would show how screwy the system is...an enrollment based state tournament and a mixed system in the Southern Section!
However, I don't think CIF will be in that jam. Despite their valiant efforts thus far, Mountain View is likely to lose today...probably by 2 or more goals.
Dear Mr. Robledo:
I think it was foolish of you to diminish the military merit of the Purple Heart, which is awarded, for example, for being shot, stabbed, blown up, disfigured, or dismembered. Nevertheless, I wish all the kids well, partly because in actual combat, both sides want to survive.
--Memo Muñoz, Temple City