Water Dawgs go 3-2 at San Diego Open, beat Del Norte in league match
By Joe Naiman
Ramona High School won three of its five games at the San Diego Open tournament Oct. 22-27.
“We won all the games we were supposed to,” said Ramona coach Donnie Williams.
The Bulldogs also defeated Del Norte in an Oct. 23 Valley League match during the week. The league win at Ramona’s pool gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 Valley League record while Ramona ended the tournament with an overall 17-10 season mark.
Ramona’s Oct. 22 tournament game was an 8-5 loss to Patrick Henry at the El Capitan pool.
“We just didn’t play well,” Williams said.
The Bulldogs’ 9-5 win over Del Norte included a 5-1 lead at one point.
Outside of the pool, Oct. 26 did not go well for Williams, whose mother passed away that morning in Havre, Montana. The tournament matches that day had better outcomes for Ramona, which started the day at the El Cajon Valley High School pool with a 10-3 win over El Camino.
“We actually did a real good job against El Camino. I thought we played solid defense,” Williams said.
Williams brought up junior varsity players Taylor Holas and Wyatt Jeffers for the tournament. Ramona’s second Oct. 26 game was at Santana High School against Bonita Vista, and Holas was Ramona’s goalkeeper for the second half of the 16-9 game.
“It was really just a lopsided game,” Williams said.
The Bulldogs’ fourth consecutive win was in their first Oct. 27 match, which was at El Cajon Valley. Ramona faced Steele Canyon for the third time in 2012; in a Sept. 25 non-league match the Bulldogs had a 10-5 lead and held on for a 10-9 victory while an Oct. 12 Vellenkamp Tournament contest was an 11-9 Ramona victory.
Ramona had a 5-1 lead over the Cougars in the Oct. 27 game before Steele Canyon scored the final three goals of the first half.
“They seem to be able to come back on us,” Williams said.
This time Ramona had a strong second half to capture a 10-5 victory.
The Bulldogs closed the tournament with a 12-5 loss to Westview.
“It wasn’t a good second half,” Williams said.
Ramona scored the game’s first goal before trailing 3-2 after one period.
“We started off good in that game,” Williams said. “The second period we were doing a decent job.”
Westview and Ramona are both in Division II for CIF playoff purposes. The Wolverines and Bulldogs will learn their post-season fate at the Nov. 5 CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting.