Rea’s championship Juan on Gonzo

Barry Faulkner

Even familiar slang terms for scoring proficiency proved useless

against the wave of shots directed into the net by the Rea Elementary

Sharks and its goal machine, Juan Gonzalez.

Gonzalez amassed five goals by halftime, six overall, to lead Rea

to an 11-0 soccer victory over the Kaiser Knights in the fifth- and

sixth-grade boys gold division championship game of the Daily Pilot

Cup at the Costa Mesa Farm Sports Complex Sunday.

Rea, which has now won the boys fifth- and sixth-grade division

four straight years, scored twice in the third minute, once in the

seventh and once in the 11th as Coach Gannon Burks punctuated the

pyrotechnics with words of praise for Gonzalez.

“That’s the hat trick,” Burks shouted after Gonzalez netted his

third goal, which made it 4-0.

When Gonzalez scored for the fifth time, Burks awarded him the

mythical “Golden Sombrero,” symbolically earned by anyone who does

four of something in a variety of sports.

But when Gonzalez kept producing, Burks admitted he could not keep

pace.

“I don’t know what comes after Golden Sombrero,” Burks said with a

smile after the triumph, which, he said, pushed his team’s scoring

advantage in five tournament games to 38-1.

Martin Garcia added two goals, while Raymundo Sollana, Rodrigo

Rubalcava and Chrisitian Canizalez also had goals in the most

lopsided win of the tournament for Rea.

“This is probably the best team we’ve had,” Burks said. “Their

passing is phemonenal. Juan is a sixth-grader and a big-time club

player. I think he had 13 goals in the tournament coming into the

final.”

Gonzalez and Garcia made up the Sharks’ front line, while Burks

credited midfielders Rigo Perez, Aldo Castillo, Ervin Bahena and

Sollano, stopper Sam Pimentel, sweeper Rubalcava, as well as

fullbacks Gilberto Garcia and Jesus Garcia for eliminating any

suspense surrounding the outcome.

Goalie Jesse Perez played the final and semifinal, a 7-1 win over

Killybrooke Sunday morning, after goalie Kevin Madraga broke a finger

after the first three games.

Canizalez and Raul Ayala came off the bench for Rea, which, Burks

said, also benefited from the contributions of managers Luis Cortez,

Fidel Escalera and Eduardo Gonzalez.

Jenny Burks and Kurt Suhr shared coaching duties for Rea.

Juan Gonzalez finished up playing goalie for Rea and collected one

save.

The Knights, who had goals by Simon Hedrick, Jacob Manning and Jay

Ordaz to defeat Mariners Christian in the morning semifinal, smiled

and laughed as they bounded through the postgame handshakes with Rea.

Kaiser Co-Coach Chris Ingalls praised forwards Matt Mello, Jake

Manning and Mario Figueroa, halfbacks Bobby Okvist and Ordaz, as well

s sweeper Daniel Netzer, midfielder Danny Ingalls, defender Dane

Sequiera and goalie Wes Shaw for leading the Knights’ run through the

tournament.

Shaw shared time in goal in the title game with Logan Newett and

both made a handful of heroic saves, some of the diving variety,

against the Rea rush.

Also aiding the Knights’ cause were Chris Segerblom, Chris Ocampo,

Taylor Hensley, Justin Cerrato and Dylon Gravelle.

Leisha Mello shared coaching chores with Chris Ingalls.