By Jon Haber
Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN — Ten minutes into overtime, Samohi senior defender Nico De La Rosa stepped behind the out-of-bounds line near the left corner flag, ready to launch the soccer ball high over his head and into the six yard box.

Senior forward Alessandro Canale was ready, waiting to nudge the Santa Monica High School boys’ soccer team into the record books. De La Rosa threw the ball and Canale ran under it and jumped for the header, but he missed.

The ball ricocheted off his back and took a fateful bounce toward junior midfielder Juan Magana, a late substitute after junior midfielder Ricky Martinez left the contest with a hamstring injury.

Facing the stands, Magana swung his left foot around and made contact with the ball. It deflected off a Poway defender and soared passed a diving goal keeper.

Pandemonium ensued.

Santa Monica fans, players and coaches swarmed the field at Warren High School Saturday celebrating Samohi’s CIF-SS State Division I championship against Poway (20-3-4)

“I saw the ball come in, and I wanted the goal,” Magana said. “As soon as the ball popped out, I took the shot and it ended up going in.”

The 2-1 overtime victory capped off an historical season for the Vikings — one in which the team didn’t lose a single game (29-0-1), dominated the Ocean League (9-0), won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) division IV championship and captured the first ever CIF state division championship.

“For us, it was more than we expected,” said Frank Gatell, Samohi head coach. “We knew we were a good team, but people were saying, ‘It’s just Division IV, and you’re not playing against division I teams.’”

Division I schools have more students than Division IV and therefore have the ability to chose from a larger group of athletes, helping them to field superior teams.

“For us to go into this division I tournament and prove our soccer was successful, we earned the respect of a lot of others and showed from day one we were playing real soccer,” Gatell said.

Some players couldn’t even describe what they were feeling after the game.

“It was surreal, having our guys run out and knowing we’re the best team in the state and, in a way, the country,” sophomore goal keeper Michael Freedman said. “All the glory is awesome,”

Samohi played without All-CIF injured goal keeper senior Alex Kovacs for the second straight game. Freedman once again filled the void.

“He stepped up … in the finals,” Martinez said. “I was proud of him.”

While Freedman may get some recognition for performing well when needed most, he credits his his defenders for taking most of the pressure off the goal keeper.

“(Nick) Ferro, (Tyler) Horton and (Chris) De La Rosa are back there protecting me. I only had to make limited saves,” he said. “These guys helped me out tremendously. In my opinion, they’re the best defense in the nation.”

After a scoreless first half, the Vikings jumped out in front in the game’s 47th minute when Martinez headed the ball into the Titan’s goal.

“I went one-on-one with the goalie, and I beat him for the header,” Martinez said.

The 1-0 lead didn’t last long though. Two minutes later Poway answered back on a cornerkick. Three Poway forwards came at Freedman, and he couldn’t stop the ball, resulting in a 1-1 tie.

Gatell knew the momentum had swung to Poway, but he remained positive.

“The best thing is, even after you get scored on, you’ve already proven you can score,” Gatell said. “So the question of scoring again is gone. You need to muster up and do it again.”

The rest of the game was a battle, as both defenses sat back and waited for the other to blink. It didn’t happen.

The Titans missed two shots wide of the goal, and Samohi couldn’t piece together a solid attack.

Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie, forcing the game into overtime. Under new CIF rules, the state division championship game overtime is a 15 minute sudden death, meaning the first team to score wins the game. If no one scores at the end of 15 minutes, the game advances to penalty kicks.

“I just told my players, it comes down to heart. It had to be bigger than Poways’,” Gatell said.

After Magana’s game-winning shot, the players realized they reached their goal of a perfect season.

“It means everything. A perfect season, that’s what we all wanted,” Magana said. “We went undefeated, taking CIF and state. You can’t ask for more.”

The players were also excited Samohi was finally getting the recognition it deserved.

“Now, all the schools in California pretty much respect us,” Martinez said. “They know who Santa Monica [High School] is now and won’t think we’re a little division IV team who can’t do anything.”

After all the celebrating, the team got together one last time on the bus ride home, and it finally sank in. The game was the last time they would ever play together on a soccer field.

“We have 13 seniors, and we wanted to make it special,” Freedman said. “We wanted this to be the best year out of these seniors’ careers. They deserved it.”

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