After a year’s absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Don Cerone Memorial/Kiwanis Cup championship playoffs returned to the playing court for the 2021-22 CIF-Metro Conference season.

The championship trophy honors both the memory of Don Cerone, a co-founder of the San Diego County High School Roller Hockey Conference and longtime supporter of scholastic inline hockey in the region, as well as the playoff champion of the current season.

It has been awarded since the inaugural 2000-01 season.

The CIF-Metro Conference continues to own the distinction as the lone scholastic inline hockey league officially sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body of education-based sports in the state, and its longevity as the longest-running inline scholastic league in the state.

The 2022 championship game took place Feb. 28 at the Escondido Sports Center to wrap up four rounds of single-elimination playoffs. Ten teams began to quest to raise the coveted trophy and the Cathedral Catholic Dons finally accomplished the deed with a 4-3 overtime victory against the two-time defending Kiwanis Cup champion Scripps Ranch Falcons.

It was no means an easy task, especially after the Dons – as well as the Falcons – had their 2020-21 season wiped out by COVID-19 protocols.

“We were excited to recommence roller hockey as a varsity sport at the school following a return to play from the postponed 2020-21 North County League season,” Cathedral Catholic coach Pete Sciabarra said.

The Dons – spearheaded by then sophomore Quinn Conway – had engineered a meteoric fourth-place finish in the 2020 Kiwanis Cup playoffs. Much of the foundation for this year’s championship team was laid there.

“We had a well-rounded team of two seniors, two freshmen, a sophomore and three juniors, including a first-time hockey player and goalie Victor Habas,” Sciabarra said.

Cathedral Catholic did receive experience from its seven skaters, who all are active ice hockey players, including two who played for the high school’s composite team, the Central Cathedral Jets, who compete out of the San Diego Ice Arena in the Anaheim Ducks High School Hockey League (ADHSHL).

Not all games were completed during the 2021-22 season because of coronavirus outbreaks but the Dons did skate to a well-rounded 10-2-1 regular season finish to earn the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Cathedral Catholic and Scripps Ranch (11-3 in the regular season) split their two regular season encounters, with a third game not made up.

The rubber game, as it turned out, would be the championship game.

Both teams received byes to the quarterfinals. Top-seeded Scripps Ranch skated past the ninth-seeded Escondido Charter White Tigers by a score of 12-0, while the Dons rolled past the sixth-seeded Poway Titans, 8-2, to advance to the semifinals.

In the semifinals, Scripps Ranch ended fourth-seeded Bonita Vista’s perfect season to that point (a 17-0 run) with a 9-2 victory while Cathedral Catholic used a goal scored by Matt Matsuda with 1:30 remaining in regulation play to edge the second-seeded Westview Wolverines by a score of 6-5.

The only team left for the Dons to defeat was the Falcons, who were hoping for a championship three-peat anchored by standout goaltender Tori Fraser, the lone returner from the team’s last completed season in 2019-20.

At first, in fact, it appeared as if Scripps Ranch might run away with a victory after Julian Thebeault opening scoring just 24 seconds into the game.

But that was not the case and both teams quickly settled in for a humdinger of a championship contest.

The teams combined for five goals in the first period. The Dons quickly tied the game, 1-1, on an unassisted goal by Conway with 1:30 elapsed in the matchup.

Scripps went ahead, 2-1, with eight minutes gone in the period as Ryan Mauro put away as pass from teammate Aidan Wallbridge. But Cathedral Catholic wasn’t done. Matsuda tied the contest, 2-2, with 5:45 left in the stanza on another unassisted goal, and Conway scored his second goal of the game with 2:30 remaining in the frame, assisted by Matt Cavanaugh, to put the Dons ahead by a goal.

The Falcons tied the game, 3-3, with 6:30 to play in the second period as Emile Thebeault entered this name on the scoreboard, assisted by Mauro.

Neither team scored in the third period to set up a dramatic finish.

“Good, close game,” Scripps Ranch coach Greg Friedman commented.

Cathedral Catholic finally broke through with the game-winning goal at 13:30 of overtime as Matsuda, assisted by Dutch Sellerberg, scored on a breakaway.

The game was otherwise even with both teams recording 33 shots.

Both goaltenders played exceptionally well. Habas was credited with 30 saves while Fraser had 29 saves for the Falcons.

The Kiwanis Cup championship was the first for Cathedral Catholic while Scripps Ranch owns five conference championships to its credit (2003-05, 2019, 2020).

The Dons had recorded a runner-up finish to Rancho Bernardo in the 2015 Kiwanis Cup championship game and to Westview in the 2016 Kiwanis Cup championship game.

Cathedral Catholic, which finished as the highest scoring team in the North County League during the regular season, finished the 2021-22 season 13-2-1 overall while the Falcon, the top defensive team in the league, finished 13-4.

Scripps Ranch received four goals from Garion Barber and three goals and one assist from Mauro in the semifinal win over Bonita Vista. Emile Thebeault had one goal and two assists to further propel the Falcons.

Jacob Hunter and Max Anderson scored the two Baron goals while Cam Belyk and Diego Nunes picked up assists.

Matsuda led the Dons with four goals in its upset semifinal win over the Wolverines. Sellerberg collected one goal and two assists while Alex Eiguera scored one goal. Conway recorded the game-winning assist.

Westview received four goals from Oliver Polonichiko. The Wolverines led 5-3 through two periods before Cathedral Catholic made its fateful comeback with three third-period goals.

In the quarterfinals, Barber keyed Scripps Ranch with five goals and two assists while Conway was the Dons’ high point man with four goals and two assists.

Westview defeated the seventh-seeded Eastlake Titans, 15-1, in the quarterfinals to meet the Dons in the semifinals. Canty rang up four goals and three assists while Polonichiko racked three goals and six assists.

Third-place game

Polonichiko racked up five goals and one assist while Michael Chua scored three goals to lead Westivew to an 8-1 win over Bonita Vista in the third-place game preceding the Kiwanis Cup championship game.

Josh Mahlow recorded two assists for the Wolverines, who finished the season with an overall 13-2-1 record.

Westview built a 6-0 lead through two periods before Bonita Vista (17-2 overall) scored its lone goal. The Wolverines tacked on two more goals to close out the game.

Bonita Vista outshot Westview 31-25 in absorbing the season-ending setback.

The Barons finished 14-0 in regular-season play among the seven Sweetwater Union High School District teams and tacked on a pair of victories in the ensuing district playoffs (13-5 over the fifth-seeded Hilltop Lancers and 10-3 over the second-seeded Eastlake Titans).

Bonita Vista skated past archrival Eastlake, 15-1, in the district championship game played Feb. 10 at the Castle Park High School outdoor rink.

Anderson led the Barons’ scoring parade with eight points on six goals and two assists while Belyk notched seven points on four goals and three assists.

Anderson, who earned honors as the MVP of the district playoff tournament, paced all district scorers in the regular season with 54 goals and 81 points to overtake early season leader Alejandro Vargas of San Ysidro High School with 46 goals and 71 points as the district runner-up.

“All in all, the Barons definitely had an amazing season,” summed up BVHS head coach Keith Quigley, who has coached the team since its inception in 1998. “The team achieved some big things this year, including goals we set out for the team at the beginning of the season. I’ll really miss my seniors, but they’ll all be moving on to do bigger and better things. It is nice to know that I have a really solid core of returning players coming back next season.”

Bonita Vista rolled past the fifth-seeded Patrick Henry Patriots, 12-4, in the quarterfinals to face off its Kiwanis Cup playoff run.

Anderson (four goals, three assists) and freshmen Belyk and Hunter (both with four goals and two assists) spearheaded the Baron victory.

Bonita Vista’s monstrous winning streak actually encompassed 25 games, dating back to the shortened spring 2021 district season in which they posted an undefeated 8-0 mark.

Playoff field

Ten of the 13 conference teams gained admission to this year’s Kiwanis Cup championship playoff field – all six North County League teams and four of the seven Sweetwater district teams.

The opening elimination round on Feb. 16 featured two games at Castle Park High School: Escondido Charter defeated the eighth-seeded Otay Ranch Mustangs, 8-1, while seventh-seeded Eastlake zipped past 10th-seeded Hilltop by a score of 9-1.

Jessee Coons led Escondido Charter with a hat trick. Emilio Navarrete scored a hat trick for Eastlake while teammate Cash Schreiber collected four points on two goals and two assists.

Escondido Charter finished last in the North County League standings at 1-13 but entered the playoffs with momentum after recording a 3-2 upset win over Westview, the North County League runner-up team, in the final game of regular-season play.

“This year, 90 percent of our team is brand-new skaters,” Escondido Charter coach Jake Pribble said. “It’s really been a challenge. The first half of the season we were practicing on how to skate. But it all came together in our last game.”

Otay Ranch had finished second in the regular season Sweetwater district standings with a 7-4 record and placed third in the district playoffs as Riley Holt scored with eight seconds left in overtime to propel the Mustangs to a dramatic 5-4 win over Hilltop.

KIWANIS CUP CHAMPIONS
2001 – Bonita Vista Barons
2002 – Bonita Vista Barons
2003 – La Jolla Country Day Torreys (Scripps Ranch declared conference champions)
2004 – Scripps Ranch Falcons (22-0 season)
2005 – Scripps Ranch Falcons
2006 – Westview Wolverines
2007 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos
2008 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos
2009 – Westview Wolverines
2010 – Westview Wolverines
2011 – Westview Wolverines
2012 – Poway Titans
2013 – West Hills Wolf Pack
2014 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos
2015 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos (20-0 season)
2016 – Westview Wolverines
2017 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos
2018 – Rancho Bernardo Broncos
2019 – Scripps Ranch Falcons (18-0 season)
2020 – Scripps Ranch Falcons
2021 – Not contested
2022 – Cathedral Catholic Dons

— Phillip Brents

Photos/Phillip Brents, Cathedral Catholic Dons/provided

(March 23, 2022)