League games pile up on boys soccer after rains

Three Ramona High School boys soccer losses during the first week of February extended the Bulldogs’ losing streak to four.

The Bulldogs, who also lost Jan. 29 at Mount Carmel, were on the losing end of a Feb. 1 home contest against Westview, a Feb. 3 game at Oceanside, and a Feb. 5 home match with Orange Glen. The losses gave Ramona a 3-6 record in Valley League play and a 9-9-1 overall mark.

Because rain postponed the Jan. 20 and Jan. 22 games, those contests were made up on subsequent Mondays. That gave the Bulldogs six league games in two weeks.

“It was absolutely brutal. Half of our league was played in two weeks,” said Ramona coach Michael Jordan.

The scheduled Jan. 22 match was against Westview, whose six Feb. 1 goals against the Bulldogs were twice the total Ramona had allowed in any previous game during the season.

“Westview played great. They played at a whole different level than us,” Jordan said. “We were just outmatched.”

Not even a defensively oriented formation with five defenders, four midfielders, and one forward could stop the Wolverines from taking a 3-0 halftime lead. Jordan returned to a two-forward formation for the second half, in which Westview scored an identical number of goals. Ramona’s only score in the 6-1 loss was an unassisted goal by Eddie Delgado midway in the second half.

The 2-1 loss at Oceanside gave the Pirates a sweep of the season’s league matches with the Bulldogs.

“Came out a little bit flat and had to push hard in the second half,” Jordan said.

Oceanside led 2-0 at halftime, but Jordan went to three forwards in the second half.

“I think we pretty much controlled the second half of the game,” Jordan said.

Andy Garcia joined Chris Huber and Michael Quilo in a forward role.

“The three of them played really well together up top,” Jordan said.

Garcia scored the Bulldogs’ goal against Oceanside. Ramona also had a corner kick with about 30 seconds left but was unable to score.

“We came up a little bit short,” Jordan said.

Orange Glen entered its match at Ramona leading the Valley League standings. The Bulldogs had a 1-0 halftime lead; after the Patriot goalkeeper made a save of Eric Brown’s shot the Bulldogs had a corner kick. The ball was not cleared out, and Delgado was able to score.

The Patriots tied the game about 15 minutes into the second half and scored the winning goal with about 10 minutes remaining.

“We played so great,” Jordan said. “I was so proud of the boys.”

The four-game losing streak is the longest of the season for the Bulldogs, who will try to break it tonight at home against Valley Center. That match will be Senior Night, although Ramona’s final home game will be Feb. 17 against Westview.