From the sports archives: The South San Francisco boys' soccer team knocks off Capuchino

Elbows and feet were flying, players were pushing, shoving and grabbing. Hard tackles bordering on fouls were a part of the game throughout, but in the end, visiting South City prevailed with a 3-1 win to stay undefeated on the season.

“We haven’t been in a game like this all year,” said South San Francisco coach Anthony Dimech. “We’ve been playing good soccer. Today, it was a dogfight in the park. It was good to see my guys keep their heads. It’s good to get that experience.”

Both teams nearly came to blows midway through the first half when a Capuchino forward was apparently elbowed in the head. He walked over to the offending Warriors’ defender and gave him a two-handed shove in the chest. Several members from both teams came flying in but no further damage was done.

It appeared the rest of the game was used to seek revenge. The Mustangs were looking for payback and the Warriors returned the favor when they got it.

“This is usually a physical game,” said Capuchino coach Rod Kovacevic, referring to the Mustangs’ game against South City. “[Nonleague] or league, it seems to be a little more of rivalry, even more so than Mills, which is a really a rivalry. It always turns into a physical match. That’s been the case as long as I can remember -- 10, 11 years.”

When the teams decided to focus on soccer, it was the Warriors who had the better of it. They controlled the midfield, which enabled them to vary their attack -- they could either build up their offense with several passes or could send long through passes to strikers running up top.

Capuchino, on the other hand, had trouble stringing passes together, thus using the more direct approach on goal.

“South City played better. They controlled the midfield. We had a hard time regaining the midfield,” Kovacevic said. “That’s why they had more chances.”

The Warriors (6-0) took a 1-0 lead 15 minutes into the match on a turnover at midfield. The ball rolled along the midfield stripe and a Capuchino player was waiting for the ball to roll by him so he could turn upfield. Instead, Jose Perez stepped up and stole the ball. After a couple of touches, he sent a perfect through pass that hit Aldo Castro in stride. He carried the ball deep into the Mustangs’ end and from about 25 yards, struck a perfect shot over the goalkeeper’s head and just under the crossbar for a 1-0 Warriors’ lead.

That lead held up until halftime but a few minutes into the second half Capuchino (3-4) saw a golden opportunity fall by the wayside. On a corner kick, Nick Medina got his head on the ball at the far post. The South City goalkeeper tried to punch the ball clear, only to have it skip off his fist and back toward his goal. A Warrior defender cleared the ball off the line with his head and the crisis was averted.

Only temporarily.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, the Mustangs finally struck. Omar Castro sent a perfect pass into the middle of the box off a free kick 45 yards away from the Warriors’ goal. Teammate Nicholas Sanchez was there and put a backward header on the ball and it found the back of the net.

The Capuchino celebration was short-lived, however. Two minutes later, South City took the lead for good. Esteban Martinez drew almost the entire Capuchino defense to the left side of the field. Unfortunately, that opened up a ton of space on the backside for Jaime Torres. Martinez sent a long cross to the other side of the field. Torres took a couple of touches to settle the ball and unleashed his shot before the Mustangs’ defense could recover. He slipped his shot inside the far right post for a 2-1 advantage.

About seven minutes later, the Warriors added an insurance goal on a beautiful set piece. South City was awarded a free kick just outside the Capuchino penalty box. Richard Luna sent a curling cross to the far right post where Castro came streaking in and buried it with his head for a 3-1 lead.

“There were a lot of free kicks in the game. A lot of good chances,” Dimech said.