Somehow Belmont Shore did it.
Really, it wasn’t as if Shore was playing poorly, but after a loss to the touring Woodlands side from Texas and then in the regular season to the San Diego Mustangs, as well as a very nervy and close semifinal to the SOC Raptors, they were not favorites to win the SoCal Boys HS Club final this past weekend.
But in the rematch with the Mustangs, Shore managed it, and in pretty emphatic fashion, winning 32-7.
How did that happen?
“It’s just been one of those seasons,” said Head Coach Johnny Pua. “About 40% of our team was in the school league when we played our first game. We returned a bunch of guys from last year’s championship team, but some of them were injured playing other sports. We had a lot of rain, and that made it hard to find fields. It was like all of that was combining for us to not really have the kind of start or the kimd of cohesion we wanted.”
Some how they kept it going but it was hard work. Coaches were spending time finding practice fields rather than planning what to do once practice started.
“We knew what it took,” said Pua. “We know the standard. But this is a really tough league.”
They persevered. They beat Thunder but Pua said that was a very tough game, had a similar experience with SOC, and then lost to San Diego on April 13. But they were piecing things together. They were getting tougher, and healthier.
“The guys were learning resilience and they showed a lot of character,” said Pua. “They didn’t complain. They came with the right mindset and were working together. That’s how we were able to pull it out in the semifinal against SOC.”
That 23-21 semifinal was certainly a nailbiter. But Belmont Shore came out of that game convinced there would be no repeat of the San Diego loss from earlier.
“It really comes down to the mindset and the understanding of what it takes,” explained the coach.
