Concord gets past Dublin
By Ricardo Sanchez Jr.

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

NCS boys soccer

Concord High School's Matt Mitchell waited long enough and finally seized his opportunity in the 78th minute.  After Kyle Beasley's initial shot was blocked, Dublin goalkeeper Joey Leal had trouble corralling the ball.

That mishap gave Mitchell enough room to sneak in, poke the ball into the net, and give the Concord boys soccer team a 2-1 win over Dublin in the first round of the North Coast Section 2A playoffs on Wednesday at California High School in San Ramon.

"That goalie has rock-hard hands," Mitchell said. "I knew if I hung around I had a chance."

The Minutemen advanced to the quarterfinals to face Diablo Foothill Athletic League champion Miramonte on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Orinda. It will be second DFAL opponent the Minutemen will have to face in the playoffs.

Considering the outcomes of the regular-season contests, the Minutemen (12-10-3) were supposed to lose to the Gaels (11-6-4).

Although Concord finished with a better league record than Dublin, the Minutemen lost twice to the Gaels. Both times the score was 3-0. Of course, this is the playoffs.

"One simple fact," Dublin coach Mark King said. "This is NCS. You can throw everything out. They played a little harder that we did."

Said Mitchell: "Third time's the charm."

Concord came out with an energy that was sustained by Minutemen coach Rory Gentry's substitution patterns. He repeatedly gave his players some extra breathers and that allowed his team to sustain pressure throughout.

"We were ready," Mitchell said. "Our game plan was to bring pressure."

Horacio Ruvalcaba gave Concord a 1-0 lead in the 43rd minute when Leal overplayed the ball and came too far out of the box. Ruvalcaba gently lifted the ball over Leal's head.

The Gaels answered eight minutes later, when Phelip De Ort beat Concord goalkeeper Patrick Fry one-on-one and placed a ball inside the far post. But that was all the offense the Gaels mustered.

"I told the guys, 'Remember, even though this game ended our season, it doesn't define our season,'" King said. "They left it all on the field today."

NCS 3A

California 5, Washington 3: With a hat trick, Ian Conklin single-footedly brought the Grizzlies back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2.

Once in overtime, his teammates did the rest.

Dan Seltzer and Andrew Wiedeman each scored goals in the second 10-minute overtime to lift No. 7 California (15-5-2) to the first-round win over the visiting Huskies. The win moves the Grizzlies into a 7 p.m. quarterfinal Saturday at No. 2 De La Salle.

Washington (11-13-2) grabbed a 2-0 lead with two goals inside the first seven minutes. Conklin managed to answer both, and sent the teams into the half tied 2-2.

After the Huskies grabbed the lead again in the second half, Conklin tied it up once more by scoring with approximately 15 minutes left in regulation.

After both teams went scoreless in the first overtime, Seltzer broke the 3-3 tie in the 94th minute of play. Wiedeman added his goal three minutes later.

"I can't complain about the boys," California coach Brian Rouillard said. "The boys played well. I think they were victimized a bit, but they fought back and stayed positive the whole time."