Titans Dominate Marina in a Downpour During Their First-Round Match

Not even a torrential downpour could dampen the mood at Tesoro High Friday, where the South Coast League champion Titans kicked off the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs with a convincing 2-1 victory over Marina of Huntington Beach before a raucous, if not soggy, home crowd.

Although the final score may have indicated otherwise, the contest was a lopsided affair, as Tesoro outshot the Vikings, 22-7, racking up 11 shots per half and stymieing Marina on the defensive end.

The Vikings' lone score came with under two minutes left in the second half when Tesoro's Connor Dudas accidentally headed a Marina free kick into his own net, but besides the ultimately meaningless flub, Tesoro's play was nearly flawless.

Jared Allen took part in both of Tesoro's goals, as the fleet-footed foward scored only 45 seconds into the second half, and set up Justin Dhillon's first-half goal.

Working the ball along the right wing, Allen charged toward the box and fired off a blistering shot that was blocked by Andrew Arredando directly toward the waiting feet of Dhillon, who tapped the ball in for a 1-0 lead 20 minutes in.

"I thought we played pretty well, considering the conditions," Tesoro coach Don Skaff said. "We controlled the game for the most part. We had a ton of chances. [Marina] was a little late to the ball, and we were a little quicker. I'm proud of how my boys played."

Tesoro fired off the blocks in the second half, wasting little time in findng Allen, again along the wing, except this time the junior's shot found the net, and it took most of the wind out of Marina's sails.

The Vikings only seriously threatened once in the second half, but Tesoro keeper Michael Breslin was in place to make the save. Breslin finished the day with three stops, but most of the defensive credit was due to stopper Trevor
Curtis and the Tesoro defensive backfield, who frustrated Marina's forwards whenever they managed to cross midfield.

Thanks to Connor Wilkinson and Bryan Breslin, those opportunities were limited. The same couldn't be said for the Dhillon brothers, however, as forwards Justin and Sean combined to fire off 12 shots for the Titans.

"We played well, but we can still get better," Skaff said. "We opened the gate a little bit more [today], and we won a lot of balls in the air, which is good for us. But it's only going to get harder, and we know that. So we have to get ready to pick our game up."

Up next for the Titans (15-5-5) in the second round on Wednesday will be West Torrance, which beat Servite on penalty kicks after playing the Friars to a 1-1 tie on Friday.