Last-minute dramatics send McLane High to NorCal Division III boys soccer title match

There are few guarantees in life other than death and taxes.

Add Víctor Luevano converting a penalty kick to that precious list.

The McLane High senior calmly blasted a penalty kick with time expiring in regulation to send his team to the championship of the CIF Northern California Regional Division III in a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Las Lomas High of Walnut Creek.

Second-seeded McLane (now 21-6-3 with an 8-game winning streak) expects to host third-seeded Tierra Linda High of San Rafael (No. 3 seed with a 17-5-2 record) this Saturday.

McLane is now 16-1-1 at home this season.

Luevano figures he has converted on all of five or six penalty kicks he has taken in McLane’s magical season. And, all of them have been kicked to the right.

“I knew I was going to make it. I’m always comfortable with my penalty kicks,” said Luevano. “Penalties are nothing to me. It’s really a free goal, if I’m being honest.”

Luevano’s winning goal was set up when sophomore Guillermo Martínez got tripped inside the penalty box on a rare McLane offensive attack.

But, Luevano had to wait about 4 minutes while the head referee, who did not signal a trip, conferred with the side linesman to see if there was a trip. Then, the head referee ran to the other side of the field to check in with the other linesman.

“They stalled and made him wait for a long time out there,” said McLane head coach Erik Rodríguez. “He recovered himself. He’s the man!”

Up to the point, Rodríguez was thinking the game would go into overtime and be decided by penalty kicks, just like McLane did in a quarterfinal victory Tuesday night against Lincoln High of San José.

Las Lomas, which fielded a taller team, proved adept at passing the ball and controlled the ball about 70% of the second half. However, they could not penetrate the McLane defense and goalkeeper Christian Martínez.

“Our backbone has always been our defense all year long,” said Rodríguez. “In the Valley playoffs, our offense came alive a little bit. Yet in these last couple of games we’ve struggled a little bit to get goals.

“We’ve always relied on our back three defenders. They, combined with our goalie, are playing excellent.”

Martínez, the goalkeeper, didn’t play with the team until his year. The senior was crucial in making a key penalty kick by Lincoln on Tuesday.

He plays lots of soccer, and some friends on the team asked him to join this year.

“I play a lot of positions, but here I’m the goalie,” said Martínez, whose philosophy is “it’s just a game, win or lose,” after Tuesday’s win. “But, I know the team relies on me, so I have to have a positive mind and think that this game is for us.”

Thursday’s match did not have the monsoon-like rain, wind and cold that Tuesday offered. But, Martínez did make a few crucial saves on difficult shots.

Luevano said his fellow players kept hearing about Las Lomas’ height advantage.

“Our players came out a little scared. They weren’t as confident as usual,” he said. “We haven’t been in this situation of being in state. A lot of our players are young, they’re smaller, so I think they came out with some fear.”

Rodríguez credited Las Lomas (21-2-2) for playing tough.

“I got to give it to Los Alamos. They came to play. They put it on us the whole second half,” he said of a team that came in with a 78-8 scoring advantage.