Boys’ 5-6 Silver Division: Andersen repeats

As the main referee finished officiating one Daily Pilot Cup final that went to penalty kicks, he stayed on the same field to work one more.

His next assignment seemed to be heading to penalty kicks as well, until the referee made a controversial call in the final minute of the boys’ fifth- and sixth-grade Silver Division championship between Andersen Elementary B’s team and Paularino.

Paularino’s Stephen Belmontes appeared to record the game-tying goal in the 59th minute off a free kick from almost 30 yards out. Paularino’s sideline erupted, and then Paularino found out the goal would not count.

The referee said he signaled for an indirect free kick, meaning another player had to touch the ball before it entered the goal, and not a direct free kick. Paularino Coach Walter Olmedo said the referee never put his hand up to signal an indirect kick, while Andersen B Coach Scott Ecker said the ref did signal.

The call stood and Ecker’s team held on for a 3-2 win at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex, claiming a title in the youth soccer tournament for the second year in a row.

The latest finale didn’t go the full 60 minutes, as the referee called the match with less than a minute left. The ref stopped things after Olmedo and some fans asked him why he did not allow the goal.

“I asked them to get off the field and they would not get off,” said referee Jeff Chandler, who quickly blew the whistle to call the match, even though Olmedo and Paularino’s fans were standing on the sideline.

Paularino’s coaches, players and fans could not believe it.

“Again, he points, he directs, he doesn’t give the signal from the beginning, so I told my player, ‘Hey, take a direct kick,’” Olmedo said.

Belmontes’ goal, which would’ve been his third, would not be the equalizer.

There was a reason why Ecker said he was worried about the contest with Paularino, which also featured Deen Dokovic, Dario Rodriguez, Kevin Palumbo, Edwin Olmedo, Eric Henriquez, Raoul Hernandez-Barraza, Gerard Martinez Climaco, Lalimo Bijanjan, Kevin Perez Cruz, Hector Sanchez, Luis Corrales and Bryan Sanchez.

Andersen B was coming off a rough 5-2 win against Kaiser B in the semifinals.

“[Kaiser B] had two red cards [called] on [its] players, two of [its] parents [were] kicked out,” Ecker said. “You hope [the tournament is] for the kids. We’re all out here for the kids. [Those are] the lessons that we’re trying to teach them, like, you know, it’s competitive, but it’s also for fun. We don’t want anybody to get hurt. Both referees, both [in] the semifinal and the final, I think they did a great job of taking care of the kids, because I’ve got two that are borderline [concussed] that I had to do concussion protocol on.”

One of those players Ecker checked on was his son, Jackson.

Jackson saw action in the final, which saw Andersen B get off to a strong start. Giulio Misitano scored two goals in the first 16 minutes.

His best goal was the first and it came in the ninth minute, when he moved to his right and in traffic unleashed a shot toward the far post. With two early goals, someone asked Misitano’s younger brother, “How do you say hat trick in Italian?” Giorgio, a 7-year-old, shrugged his shoulders.

Oliver Ayala, in the 24th minute, produced the third goal for Andersen B. The team went into halftime with a commanding 3-0 lead.

The advantage began to dissipate. One minute into the second half, Belmontes scored for Paularino to cut the deficit to two.

The forward had three chances to score again in the 44th minute, but goalkeeper Jackson Gagner stopped him on consecutive shots inside the box.

Belmontes’ second goal came in the 55th minute, off a direct kick from the left, making it a one-goal affair. He took another free kick four minutes later, from the opposite side, and this one went in as well, but the ref waved it off because it was an indirect kick.

“Fun,” Ecker said of the experience he shared with his team, which included Luke Wallace, McGuire Shimmelpfennig, Cyrus Ordoubadian, Ben Daniel, Pete Daniel, Danny Dillon, Cashus Irani, Jordan Gomez, Dylan Duplanty, Luke Ogden and Daryon Mehraban. “We almost didn’t make it through [to the playoffs out of our pool]. We tied our second game in pool play [against College Park], and it came down to goals, it went to the third tiebreaker. We beat [St. John the Baptist], 4-1, and [College Park] beat [St. John the Baptist], 3-1. If [College Park] would’ve won, 3-0, we were out.

“[Once] we got that behind us, [we were like], ‘Let’s just go have some fun and see how far we go.’”