GAZETTE PHOTO BY DAN TUCKER MARIPOSA’S JONATHAN KING FIGHTS FOR CONTROL AGAINST A LE GRAND BULLDOG IN LAST MONDAY AFTERNOON’S FINAL SOUTHERN ATHLETIC LEAGUE MATCH. THE GRIZZLIES BATTLED TO A 2-2 TIE WITH THE SAL CHAMPS, AND TRAVEL TO CAPITAL CHRISTIAN NEXT TUESDAY TO LAUNCH THE PLAYOFFS. Mariposa’s youthful varsity soccer squad has learned to respond. Monday afternoon against this season’s Southern Athletic League champions from Le Grand, Mariposa fell behind early, 2-0, but battled back to finish with a 2-2 tie.

The last time these two teams met, Le Grand dominated, 6-0.

“I think it is so key for kids to learn they have to respond. They have to answer and not give up,” said head coach Adam Finney. “Le Grand beat us badly the last time we played, and Delhi beat us 6-0, and we came back and beat them the next time we met. It really means a lot that a team this young learns that it can answer and stay in the game.”

Having clinched a playoff berth with last Wednesday’s win over Turlock Christian, 1- 0, the Grizzlies were purely playing for pride.

The Bulldogs scored early on a header off a corner kick. Just minutes later they added a second goal on a penalty kick.

With just 5 minutes left in the first half, junior Dillon Helms smashed a shot from 35 yards out that the Le Grand goalkeeper couldn’t handle. Sophomore Grizzly Joe Lewis scooped up the mishandled ball and swept it into the corner of the goal to keep the Grizzlies within striking distance and get Mariposa on the board.

“We had them on their heels at the end of the first half. We had two shots from Jonathan (Gonzalez) and Joe (Lewis) that literally missed by inches. We could have won if those would have found the mark,” Finney said.

Mariposa made some defensive personnel adjustments at the intermission and came back to blank the Bulldogs in the second half.

Senior midfielder Jesus Ortiz deadlocked the match 15 minutes into the period when he scooped up a drop ball and drilled it off the outstretched fingertips of the Le Grand goalkeeper to make it 2-2.

Against Turlock Christian, it was the play of Lewis and goalkeeper Ian Merzwinski that earned the Mariposa win.

In a match played under extremely windy conditions, Lewis stole the ball from a Turlock Christian defender, stepped inside the box and peppered it home from 18- yards out just 10 minutes into the contest.

“The wind was howling at about 20 to 30 miles per hour, so the ball moved 7 to 10 feet on every pass. There was absolutely no control, and Ian’s play was key,” said Finney.

Mariposa will travel to Sacramento next Tuesday to face the champs of the Golden Empire League, Capital Christian. That’s the same team the Grizzlies knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last year in their march to the school’s first ever Sac-Joaquin Section soccer title.

Capital Christian went into its final league game undefeated, and Finney said, “I’m sure they’ll have a measure of revenge on their minds, but we’re still excited to still be playing.”

Finney is even more excited about next season when Mariposa could return as many as eight starting players from this year’s third place SAL squad.