They’re at it again.
A year removed from an appearance in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section semifinals, Righetti High’s boys’ soccer team is keeping the ball rolling right into another playoff berth.
Head coach John Pranjic, now in his second year, has yet to lose a Pac-7 league contest in his coaching career, a streak spanning 19 games as of Feb. 2. Both he and his players aim to maintain the run.
“We haven’t had too much of a busy schedule. We’ve had a lot of days off in between games, so we’ve gotten a lot of good training days in,” Pranjic said. “We’ve been able to focus just on each match and prepare ourselves just for those 80 minutes. We haven’t had to look ahead.”
With just two starters returning from the team that ran the table and claimed the league title a year ago, Pranjic and his players anticipated a drop-off in production this winter. Instead, the Warriors have continued their mastery of Pac-7 competition.
After its win on Nipomo High’s home turf on Feb. 1, Righetti had successfully beaten every team in the Pac-7 at least once this season.
Pranjic said as long as his players remain in good health, the Warriors’ biggest obstacle is living up to the expectations that come with being defending champs.
“Everybody, even myself, we’re saying ‘We’ll never have a year like last year,’” he said. “Everybody comes to play us like it’s a championship game. For a team to beat us, it’s a big deal in this league.”
Stocked with a roster of All-League selections, the Warriors were sitting pretty for most of last season, going 26-2-1 overall. They won three playoff matches and ended the year with a 1-0 loss to Richmond’s Salesian High. This team began the season ranked third in the division, and while they might lack the same sheer talent of last year’s squad, they’re finding ways to win.
One cornerstone on the offense is senior forward Felipe Sahagun, who’s scored 13 goals through 13 games.
“I’m happy and proud of myself,” Sahagun said of his output. “It’s hard scoring in every game. You go against tough defenders and tough teams—just to get one by is pretty difficult. Some of them I feel I just get lucky. You have to be in the right place at the right time.”
A bench player last season, Sahagun would like a chance to avenge the loss to Salesian, this time on Righetti’s home field. So far, he’s been pleasantly surprised by the team’s 7-0 start and sees a home playoff game in the cards.
“We can’t get too confident,” he said. “We just have to give it our best at practice and at games.”
Sahagun and fellow senior Anthony Lang are both on pace to set school records for goals scored in a season. Lang scored twice against Nipomo High, giving him a dozen for the year as well.
The team’s offensive center, Lang said his role is to spread the ball and keep his team playing under control.
“I didn’t think that we’d do this well, but now that the team has come together and bonded, I think we’re doing as good as last year or even better,” he said. “We definitely have the skill, and we just need to keep working hard.”
Lang said being defending league champs does present unique challenges.
“Every team comes out here to play us and give it their best,” he said. “Every day is your last game. You have to play it to your fullest. You can’t let up one bit, or else they’re going to take advantage of it.”
As strong as the Warriors have looked on offense, goalkeeping and solid defense have made the difference. Despite being out-shot in many of their games, Righetti had given up just 11 goals going into a Feb. 3 contest against Atascadero, shutting out Santa Ynez, Templeton, Cabrillo, and San Luis Obispo.
Senior goalkeeper Ian Lane said a 1-1 tie in an early season scrimmage against St. Joseph was the “eye opener” that pushed him to increase his conditioning and training outside of practice.
“Everybody knew we weren’t the same team as last year,” he said. “We’re not blowing teams out, but we’ve managed to grind out games. We’ve had lots of younger guys step up, but it’s going to be important to us to just keep our momentum up.”
In addition to freshman Francisco Zepeda, the team is also leaning heavily on sophomore midfielder Juan-Carlos Maganda and senior defender Jared Miller, the team’s captain and defensive stopper, to come through in the clutch.
“He’s really been a key,” Pranjic said of Miller. “Anything that gets past our midfielders or outside backs, he’s usually there to clean it up.”
With games against San Luis Obispo and the season finale on Feb. 12 at Arroyo Grande, the Pac-7 crown isn’t a foregone conclusion just yet. However, Pranjic said by working to limit turnovers and opponents’ shots on goal, his Warriors should pull off a repeat performance.
“They’re not used to losing,” he said. “For them to make sure that never happens is what’s driving them right now. These guys like to be happy.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas likes to be happy, too. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 4-11, 2010.