In a classic championship battle between a pair of elite programs, the Golden West Rustlers rallied past West Valley 15-12 to claim the 3C2A state championship Saturday at Long Beach City College. The win marks the eighth straight championship for the Rustlers, second only to their own nine-title run from 1989-1997. But it didn't come easily because of an equally-talented West Valley side that came up just short of topping GWC in the fourth-consecutive championship battle between the two teams. A rally for the ages secured the win for GWC.
The Vikings (30-6) came out on fire, scoring on their first possession and outscoring the Rustlers (36-4) 6-2 in the opening quarter. Liam Rogers led the WVC offensive wave with two goals, while Phil Portisch, Sy Lazzaroni, Berkecan Yalcin and Taine Pickering all tickled the twine once.
Two goals from Michael Rogers and one from Joao Goncalves countered a solo score from Ethan MacLeod to make it 7-5 with 3:06 left in the second quarter. Lazzaroni and MacLeod added two more WVC goals for a 9-5 lead and the teams traded goals, another from Rogers, one more from Portisch and one from Tomas De Luca to end the half at 10-7, WVC.
The Vikings were still in the lead at 12-11 when the third quarter ended, but the Rustlers had outscored the Vikings 4-2 and had tangibly grabbed the momentum. West Valley would not score again after the third. De Luca tied up at 12-12 at 6:36 of the fourth and, remarkably, Golden West got its first lead of the game on an Edward Hanley rocket at the 5:05 mark. Rogers scored again at 4:34, followed by a Cerkez power-play goal at 2:26 that sealed the win.
MacLeod's three goals paced West Valley, while Lazzaroni, Portisch and Rogers each had two. Zalan Hegedus, Pickering and Yalcin all found the back of the cage once. William McKeon had eight saves to cap a stellar tournament.
The 2024 Vikings have much to be proud of: an undefeated Coast Conference title, the program's sixth NorCal championship in seven years, and a powerful run in the 3C2A state championship tournament.