Cebrero sparks late rally by Atwater soccer

Eduardo Cebrero said his eyes shot straight to the heavens as soon as he took his shot.

The Atwater High School junior offered a silent prayer that the ball would find its mark. He needn’t have worried.

No divine intervention was necessary as the striker’s curling, left-footed blast from 30 yards out left Grace Davis goalkeeper Roberto Montanez no chance. The 74th-minute goal proved to be the game-winner as the Falcons rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Spartans in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoffs.

Top-seeded Atwater will play host Thursday to No. 9 Ponderosa, which defeated No. 8 Grant 2-1.

“I was pretty nervous when we started, and I think it led to me messing up a lot early,” Cebrero said. “I was pretty frustrated but knew we’d worked so hard to get where we were. I couldn’t let it end like that.

“When the shot went in, I was pretty emotional. I’m not going to lie, I cried. My dad was here to see it, so it made it kind of perfect.”

Cebrero explained that his dad couldn’t make the usual 4 p.m. start because of work, but the night game allowed him to attend for just the second time this season. Papa Cebrero had to be proud as his son helped spark a late rally to extend Atwater’s season.

Nerves seemed to get the best of the Falcons (23-2-3) out of the gate as they took the field as a No. 1 seed for the first time in school history. The pressure only mounted as a much looser Grace Davis (14-9-1) squad opened the scoring in the 24th minute.

The Falcons were forced to play without starting sweeper Alex Rios, who had an injured ankle. The makeshift defense did a solid job filling the void but was burned by its only real first-half mistake when an ill-advised tackle attempt left Edin Chavez free on the right side of the 18-yard box. He fed a ball across the six for an easy finish by a streaking Edgar Vazquez to send Davis into the half up 1-0.

“We played as nervous a game as any team I’ve ever seen in that first half,” Atwater coach Jimmy Brewer said. “We looked scared to death. Hopefully, it’s out of our systems, because I told them we can’t afford to play like this again against anyone.

“The one thing I can say is this team has shown a lot of heart all season and the ability to come back the few times we’ve fallen behind. We had so many balls go through the box and find no one, that when we finally got one we were able to take a breath.

“After that, the second goal seemed inevitable.”

That breath of relief came from freshman Gerardo Delgadillo in the 67th minute.

The Falcons turned up the pressure in the second half, pounding the Davis goal, but were unable to produce an equalizer. That changed on a quick give-and-go between Cebrero and Delgadillo down the left wing. Delgadillo snapped a quick shot that sneaked past Montanez (five saves) at the near post and sent the Falcon Field crowd into a frenzy for the first time all night.

Cebrero provided the winner seven minutes later, stealing a failed Spartans clearance. He took a touch and powered his left-footed drive over Montanez.

Mario Chavez made four saves in the Falcons’ victory.

This story was originally published November 4, 2014 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Cebrero sparks late rally by Atwater soccer."