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Servite beats St. John Bosco, wins Trinity title
BELLFLOWER – The plan to beat St. John Bosco was simple: Stop Derek Vogel.
Finding a way to take that strategy off a piece of paper and onto the field, though, was a different story.
Vogel is the reigning Trinity League MVP and a member of the Galaxy’s academy team. He’s the best forward that Servite coach Mike Lussier said he has seen this season. By far.
On Wednesday, Vogel had another two goal game against Servite, both of them coming in the second half. But just three minutes after Vogel tied the score, Conner Bevans scored his 23rd goal of the season to lead Servite to a 3-2 victory against the host Braves.
It was an historic moment for the Friars as their victory combined with Santa Margarita’s loss at JSerra delivered Servite’s first league championship since 2004. Back then the Friars were in the Serra League. That season also marked the last time the Friars had won a game on St. John Bosco’s field.
“It was a mountain that we knew we had to climb," Lussier said. "And the boys did it, and we felt this was the group that could do it. This is a really, really good team. They are a tight group. It was going to take a group that is completely unified, that has mature leaders and a lot of heart. This team has that.
"Even when it got level at 2-2, we still put away the game winner at the end. That takes character.”
And a lot of hard work, too, battling quite possibly the best player in the Southern Section. The last time the Friars faced the Braves, Vogel scored twice to lead St. John Bosco to a 3-1 victory.
Wednesday, Lussier played with three holding midfielders and put a defender directly on Vogel and had another one playing slightly behind him who could lend a hand anytime Vogel touched the ball.
Even through all of that, Vogel singlehandedly brought the Braves back into the game. In the 71st minute, Vogel curled a low hard shot around the two Servite players marking him, and the ball just cleared the inside of the far post to make it 2-1.
Four minutes later, he wrapped a free kick around the Friars’ four-man wall and put the ball in the upper right corner of the goal. Servite’s freshman keeper Keith Murphy leaped as high as he could to make the save, but this shot was indefensible and the game was tied 2-2.
“He is fantastic. … Even with two guys on him he still put two in. That’s unbelievable,” Lussier said.
It didn’t take long, though, for the Friars to get the lead once again. In the 78th minute, Felipe Silva dribbled deep into the box, but the Brave’s keeper dropped to the ground and wrapped up the ball before Silva could get off a shot.
The ball, however, squirted free, and even though three St. John Bosco defenders were standing in front of the goal, none of them tried to clear the ball, allowing Bevans to sprint in and fire home the championship-winning goal.
Bevans has 60 points this season, coming off 23 goals and 14 assists.
Jimmy Reyes and Mitch Ersek both scored in the first half for the Friars.
“This is an incredibly hard league to win, and to do it means a lot,” Lussier said. “The big goal we set at the beginning of the year was can we do it? Can we win it? We have been close the last several years, but didn’t get the right breaks.
"But this year we have done the right things at the right moments, and that has been the difference.”
