Front LtoR: (Orange Crush) Ben Virto, Rick Magana, J.D., Art Vazquez: (Geckos) Armando Ramirez, Abraham Gonzalez, David Ortega, Dustin Baker, Ernesto Chavez, Diego Elizarraza. 2nd, LtoR: (Orange Crush) Christian Rodriguez, Ygnacio Rodriguez, David Ayala, Eric Shide: (Geckos) Rodrigo Villanueva, Antonio Rios, Victor Barrios, Brian Tolley, John Alvarez, James Pettit. 3rd, LtoR Peter Tolley (Geckos) Rafael Rodriguez (Orange Crush) Tomas Gonzalez and Juan Nava (Geckos) Not pictured from the Orange Crush: Assistant Coach Leslie Reed, Tanner Reed, Javi Maldonado, Lalo Gomez, Mario Alvarado. Photo by Mark Baker

Local soccer teams take first and fourth at Section 10 tourney

March 05, 2004
Sports
AYSO Division U12 Region 82-Area W 1st (Geckos) and 2nd (Orange Crush) place teams traveled to Bakersfield February 28th and 29th to compete in the Section 10 playoffs. Both teams coming out of the Region 82 championships were represented by Santa Paula. Saturday started out rough for the Region 82 champions as they had the first scare of their undefeated season, tying Woodland Hills 1-1. The team was back in winning form for the remaining Saturday games as they put down San Luis Obispo and Bakersfield, seeding them 3rd for Sundays games.The Region 82 2nd place team from Santa Paula earned a 1st place seed for Sundays games by easily putting down their three competitors on Saturday. Sunday’s games saw the boys playing hard yet coming up short as they lost two games for a 4th place finish in the Section 10 playoffs.Fans were thrilled on Sunday as the Region 82-Area W champions stepped on the field with their crushing defensive play and aggressive, passing offensive game. Visalia was the first team on Sunday to experience defeat at the hands of the Region 82 champions while Valencia waited for their chance to hand the Geckos the first loss of their season. Valencia looked confident as the Section 10 championship game kicked off although soon found themselves unable to score or defend their goal against the undefeated Geckos.The Section 10 championship was won by Santa Paula’s Geckos, score 9-0 with Brian Tolley, tournament MVP putting in 5 goals, Abraham Gonzalez scoring 2 including a perfectly executed head shot in front of the goal and Antonio Rios and Diego Elizarrarez each adding another.
The Geckos will be one of four teams travelling to San Pedro on March 27 to compete in the Tri-section Southern California Championship tournament.



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