Central Valley’s and Ceres High’s boys soccer programs played another tightly-contested game.

The Hawks narrowly topped the Bulldogs, 1-0, during the crosstown matchup in the rain on Feb. 10 at Ceres River Bluff Regional Park.

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie earlier this season.

“It was a very tough game for both teams,” Central Valley head coach Horacio Garcia said. “It was evenly-matched. I’m just happy to get the win.”

“I know we didn’t win,” Ceres High leader Gilbert Zamora said. “But our performance was really good. We had chances to score. We didn’t finish.”

The Hawks posted a 9-10-6 overall record and placed fourth in the Western Athletic Conference with a 7-4-3 mark this season.

Central Valley fell short of its goals of trying to repeat as WAC champions and qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the 10th time in the past 11 years.

Garcia thought his team would earn a postseason berth based on the strength of its overall body of work.

The Hawks beat five playoff-qualifying teams, including Ceres High, Gregori, Livingston, Lathrop and McClatchy.

“It put us in a pressure situation needing to get the win against Ceres High,” Garcia said. “We did our part. We had to wait for the committee to decide. Unfortunately, we didn’t get in. We were one spot away from making (Division-I) playoffs.”

Ceres High dropped to 8-8-5 overall.

The Bulldogs finished fifth in the WAC standings (6-5-3) and earned the No. 14 seed for the Division-III playoffs.

Ceres High returned to the postseason following a two-year absence.

“I’m excited,” Zamora said. “I always believed we’d make playoffs. That was my mentality. It took us three years to get back. Last year, we lost a lot of close games in the last five to 10 minutes. This year, we played 100 percent until the end. That was the difference. We’re a family. We play for each other and to win.”

Central Valley’s Alejandro Garcia netted the game’s lone goal in last week’s matchup with Ceres High.

Miguel Gutierrez collected the assist.

Goalkeeper Damyan Garcia made two saves.

“Damyan did an awesome job for us,” coach Garcia said. “He’s really good at blocking shots. I’m happy he got a clean sheet in his last high-school game.”

Bulldog freshman goalie Johan Lopez had three saves.

Alejandro Garcia scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 60th minute.

He scored from 16 yards away off pass from Gutierrez on a counterattack.

Central Valley capitalized 10 minutes after Ceres High defender Jesus Torrez exited the contest after being assessed a red card for a hard tackle 10 minutes into the second half.

“It came down to the team that made the least mistakes,” Horacio Garcia said. “Playing a man down is really hard. We were able to capitalize on that.”

“It took us five minutes to adjust,” Zamora stated. “We had our chances. We had a lot of through balls. We couldn’t finish.”

“They have a really dangerous striker (Leo Baez),” coach Garcia added. “He’s hard to contain due to his speed. He’s very fast and technical with the ball.”

Both teams had to deal with unfavorable weather conditions that influenced game play. 

“The rain made it worse for everybody,” Horacio Garcia said. “It did affect how both of us played. It made it challenging to display our best soccer.”

“The weather wasn’t good,” Zamora stated. “There was a lot of slipping and falling. We were having a little more trouble controlling the ball.”

Central Valley has collected six wins, no losses and one tie against Ceres High since the 2021-2022 school year.

The Bulldogs challenged the Hawks this winter.

“We’ve always had fun, win or lose,” Zamora said. “The kids know each other. Our school wants to win. Their school wants to win.”

“We have respect for every team we play,” he added.

The Hawks won four of their final five league games to remain the hunt for a playoff berth.

Led by defenders Isaiah Ruiz, Jayden Rodriguez, Willy Camarena and Elias Godinez, the Hawks allowed just 12 goals and posted seven shutouts in WAC play.

Damyan Garcia and Osvaldo Cisneros split playing time at goalkeeper.

“This is the first year we haven’t made playoffs since I took over (in 2020-21),” coach Garcia said. “Knowing how young our team was, that didn’t stop us from working hard to reach our goals. I’m happy with how the team played. Our chemistry improved. We were very competitive. For me, it’s a positive season. Not making playoffs is going to motivate us to play better next year.”

Central Valley will lose six players to graduation, including Cisneros, Damyan Garcia, Israel Guajardo, Jayson Orque, Mahliek Smith and Damian Tafolla.

“I’m happy with how they performed,” Horacio Garcia said. “They really helped us. I’m thankful for their hard work.”

The Hawks started just one senior this season.

“If everybody comes back next year, we should be able to compete for the league title and a playoff berth,” Horacio Garcia said. 

Ceres High bounced back this year after back-to-back disappointing seasons.

The Bulldogs will lose 14 players to graduation: Maxwell Arana, Leo Baez, Diego Bernal, Fernando Galvan, Jose Hernandez, Eli Lopez, Andres Marcial, Cris Prieto, Ismael Pulido, Anthony Savala, David Tapia, Landon Teng, Jayson Trevino and Oscar Zavala.  

“I was very confident we could beat any team after our third game,” Zamora said. “A lot of it had to do with practice sessions. We got to know players. We moved players around. They would play any position. They just wanted to win.”