Hernandez scores late to deliver league championship for Century

Century midfielder Amirgy Pineda, right, gets pulled down by Magnolia's Pedro Martinez in Thursday's Orange League match at Magnolia.
Century midfielder Amirgy Pineda, left, gets tackled in the box by Magnolia's Brian Martinez setting up a penalty kick which gave Century a 1-0 lead.
Magnolia's Brian Martinez goes up for the header on Thursday at Magnolia.

By Damian Dottore | ddottore@scng.com | Orange County Register

February 12, 2015 at 7:54 p.m.

ANAHEIM – Jose Luis Hernandez was standing in the box right in front of the goal three minutes into stoppage time when he saw the ball coming his way. Hernandez plays center back for Century, and he’s not used to scoring a bunch of goals.

But Thursday’s game with Magnolia was tied and the winner had a chance to win the Orange League championship. So Hernandez decided to throw his body toward the ball to see what would happen. As he stuck his leg out, the tip of his cleat made just enough contact with the ball to knock it into the goal and deliver a 2-1 victory. Brandon Damian set the game winner up with his corner kick to the far post.

Century (8-10-6, 6-2-2) shares the Orange League championship with Anaheim, which beat Savanna on Thursday.

“It is an amazing feeling. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the ball go in,” he said. “It is surreal.”

Hernandez also had the difficult task of marking Manuel Acosta, who has scored a county-leading 28 goals this season for Magnolia.

“He’s a real dynamic player. He has a lot of speed on him,” Hernandez said. “You have to be able to keep him off balance and keep him on his weak foot.”

Hernandez shut Acosta down in this game as the Sentinels only goal came off a header from Anthony Islas in the 67^th, which tied the game 1-1.

“He (Hernandez) is the backbone of the team. He is the heart,” Century coach Bruce Silverman said. “He is the one that makes everything happen at the back. It all starts with him.”

But Hernandez got some help, too in this match. In the 61^st minute, Acosta sprinted into the box while Centurions goal keeper Edwin Minero was caught out of position, and had a good look at an empty net.

Acosta took aim at the near post, but Damian slid in front of the ball to make the save for Century. Pedro Martinez collected the rebound and took another shot, Alexis Morales denied Magnolia’s junior defender, kicking the ball out of play.

“All season we have had a problem with that … finishing. It was a real heartbreaker today,” Magnolia coach Jose De La Cruz said.

The Sentinels (14-6-2, 6-4) were trying to win the first league championship in boys soccer in school history.

“I told the kids we couldn’t get the little one (league championship), so let’s go after the big one (CIF),” De La Cruz said. “We fell asleep on that corner and they got us, but I am really proud of the kids.”

Amirgy Pineda scored the first goal for the Centurions, knocking a penalty kick into the right side of the goal in the 30^th minute. Pineda was playing in just his second match since playing with the United States U18 national team in the Copa Chivas Internacional in Guadalajara.

In other boys soccer:

No. 1 El Toro 3, No. 5 San Clemente 2: Khalid Francis finished with a goal and an assists as the visiting Chargers (11-0-6, 4-0-4) clinched the South Coast League championship with the victory. Ezekiel Ochoa and Henry Alvarez also scored for El Toro.

Sunny Hills 2, Troy 0: Bronny Toledo and Nick Vazquez both scored for the host Lancers (18-3-2, 9-1-0), who clinched the Freeway League championship on Tuesday.