BOYS SOCCER: Santa Cruz High Takes Home Another CCS Title

Santa Cruz 2, Live Oak 0

The Star: Santa Cruz junior forward John Chronopoulos scored both goals within minutes of each other in the second half to give his team its second Central Coast Section Championship in as many years.  Chronopoulos finished the season with a staggering 32 goals.

The Turning Point: Coming off a scoreless first half, which gave Live Oak a glimmer of hope of winning the championship, the Acorns made a big mistake by fouling forward Yosef Richardson as he attempted to score. They awarded a free kick from the penalty, allowing leading scorer Chronopoulos to get a crack at breaking up the scoreless affair. He did just that, banging in the penalty kick goal to put his team on the board early in the second half.  The score also relaxed Chronopoulos, which spelled more trouble for the Cardinals opponents. The deadly striker added a second tally about a minute later that put the Cardinals up for good, 2-0.

The Quote: "This team is the best in the area and next year we expect to be even better." — Santa Cruz’s junior forward John Chronopoulos said.  “I did not expect to be that open on the second goal I got the ball and started dribbling and saw that the center was leaning towards the right so I shot for the corner of the goal and made it,” Chronopoulos said.

The Cardinals players all enjoyed the incredible ride to a Division III section crown.

“This season was just incredible. We beat teams with scores like five to nothing. It’s just unbelievable,” Santa Cruz’s senior midfielder Ethan Gomez said.  “Live Oak came out tough. They were the toughest team we’ve faced this season.”

Championship fever caught up with Santa Cruz goalie Dylan Manning earlier in the week.

“This season was amazing. The fact that we were in the championship game was on my mind this whole week I could not eat, sleep, or even think about anything but this game,” Santa Cruz’s senior goalkeeper Dylan Manning said.

The shutout victory left a smile on the face of a very proud head coach.

“I thought that we did not make many mistakes. I told my team just to relax and everything would work itself out. It just so happened that we scored those two goal early in the second half,” Santa Cruz head coach Semih Sabankaya said.

What's Next? The Cardinals get to enjoy this Championship before getting back to work for next season.

Bottom Line: Santa Cruz will be very good and tough to beat in the years to come.  This is their fifth championship in the last 10 years. 

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