NCS boy soccer playoffs: Petaluma wins first title 3-2 against Fortuna

After dueling evenly for two 40-minute halves and then a 10-minute overtime period, Petaluma and Fortuna were still knotted at 2-2 as the seconds ticked away on the second OT. After that, the North Coast Section Division 1 boys soccer championship would be decided by penalty kicks.

But with seconds left in the final overtime, Petaluma’s Kevin Rojas found the ball at his feet about 20 yards from the goal.

He twisted around and with his left foot - his weaker one - pounded home a stinger past Fortuna’s goalkeeper to win the game and bring No. 1-seeded Petaluma its first boys NCS soccer championship pennant in school history.

“I’m speechless,” he said, still teary after his teammates mobbed him on the pitch at Elsie Allen High School Saturday night. “I wasn’t even expecting it. I just turned and made it.”

It was the perfect way for Rojas and team co-captain Luis Rodriguez Flores, both seniors, to go out.

“They were a good, hard-working team,” Rodriguez Flores said, “but I felt like we had more motivation.”

On their minds was Rob Brockman, an assistant coach who died last year who added an inspirational spark to the team with his pre- and post-game speeches. The Trojans won the Sonoma County League last year for the first time and dedicated their games all last season to Brockman.

“I felt like he was here,” Rodriguez Flores said of Saturday’s NCS title game.

Now they can add a second SCL title and an NCS Division 1 crown, compiling a 17-3-2 overall record.

No. 10 Fortuna finished 18-4-4.

Petaluma scored first, 18 minutes in, on the second drive within a minute, swarming the Fortuna goal.

After keeper Arturo Ruiz dived and pushed one shot off to the left, Trojan Alex Sosa booted the ball over him into the net from about six yards out.

The Huskies came out strong in the second half, winning possession and creating chances, but coming away scoreless until Julia Urbina was able to control the ball in a crowd about five yards out and shoot past the outstretched hands of Petaluma goalkeeper Javier Borras.

That tied the game with about 17 minutes left in regulation time.

“I felt like we contained them pretty well all the first half,” said Petaluma coach Greg Lamansky. “But the second half, we just couldn’t match the energy they had. We were back on our heels a bit.”

Eight minutes later, a collision between the Huskies’ Martin Calderon and Petaluma’s Marco Silveira resulted in a Trojan free kick from about 20 yards out, straight on.

Ethan Waters perfectly placed a shot over the Huskies’ defensive wall and into the upper right corner of the goal to go up, 2-1.

Petaluma looked to be in control, but the Huskies battled for every ball, putting together several breakaways.

With three minutes left, Fortuna’s Calderon scored a low roller past Borras to tie the game again and send the game to a 10-minute overtime, with the first to score winning the NCS title.

Both teams traded opportunities for the first extra period, which rolled into another 10-minute OT. As time ticked away, it appeared the game was headed to penalty kicks.

But Rodriguez Flores said he had a feeling it would end before that.

“At that moment, I knew we were going to win. We weren’t going to penalty kicks. Let’s end the game now,” he said he was thinking.

Lamansky said Rojas, who was fairly quiet through the earlier part of the game, “just never, ever quits.”

Much of the Trojan team was in tears following the physical game, which got a little chippy late as they battled back and forth.

“I told the team, ‘This is what greatness feels like,’” Rodriguez Flores said.

Fortuna, which had traveled 2,000 miles to NCS games in the past two weeks and knocked off the No. 2 and No. 6 seeds, will go home with their heads held high, coach Daniel Holmes said.

Fortuna captain Chico Cortez said of Petaluma’s winning shot: “That’s soccer. It’s a beautiful game, a beautiful game.”

You can reach Lori A. Carter at 521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.