CERES -- Scott Fisher never stopped running. Never stopped moving those long, powerful legs, no matter how many Central Valley defenders dared to cross his path.
One. Two. Three. And finally, four, goalie Andrez Cazares.
Fisher bullied through them all, like a fullback plowing through the line of scrimmage, scoring perhaps the biggest goal in East Union history.
And it was hardly a thing of beauty. No jukes. No spins. Not a single pass.
Fisher picked up a loose ball near midfield and cut a direct path to the Central Valley goal, eventually poking home the "assurance" goal in a 5-2 victory over the Hawks.
Victor Garibay scored twice with his head, Jordan Kron had three assists and the Valley Oak League champions strode off the field at Central Valley, hand in hand, with a slice of history its spent years chasing.
The win lifts East Union into Saturday's Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 championship — its first appearance in a section final. East Union (15-7-2) will play Vista del Lago, which beat Sierra in Thursday's other semifinal game.
"It's a great feeling," said East Union coach Clarence Goes, who, earlier this season, announced this would be his last on the Lancer bench.
"All the hard work we've been putting in with these kids … I've seen this slowly developing over the years.
"Everything finally fell into place. I was going to (retire) last year, but I knew we had such a good group."
Central Valley (20-2-1), meanwhile, was saddled with a familiar take-home package: a little bit of regret and disappointment, wrapped in a string of "what ifs."
The Western Athletic Conference kings had only been beaten once all season and fielded the Stanislaus District's most dynamic player in left-footed wizard Daniel Ochoa, but none of that seemed to matter on a sunny Thursday afternoon.
For the third consecutive season, Central Valley's season ended short of a section championship. The Hawks reached the last two D-4 finals only to be turned away by Ceres and Vista del Lago, respectively.
A rematch with Vista simply wasn't in the cards. Fisher made sure of it, stemming a Central Valley flurry with an unlikely goal in the 62nd minute.
Trailing 3-1, the Hawks came sprinting out of the halftime intermission, funneling the offense through Ochoa, a junior with the golden Nike boots.
The 2010 Bee Player of the Year made it 3-2 seven minutes into the second half with a back-door header, and very nearly had the equalizer on a number of occasions.
"We knew it wouldn't be easy. It's not easy winning a section championship," Ochoa said. "We wanted it, they just wanted it more."
Check that, Fisher wanted it more. The second-half substitute could feel momentum shifting and seized his only opportunity.
"I had to score," he said. "At that point, momentum wasn't clear."
Fisher sprinted onto a loose ball and plowed through three defenders, somehow keeping the ball at or near his feet. Cazares stopped his initial shot, but Fisher reached the rebound first, toepoking his shot into an open net.
"He's a warrior," Garibay said. "Everything you have, don't stop — those are the things a good forward has to do. Thanks to Fish we got the monkey off our backs."
East Union attacked through the air, scoring four goals on balls played high into the penalty box.
Kron connected with Miguel Barbosa and Garibay on long throw-ins for the bookend scores, and found Garibay with a cross in the eighth minute to make it 2-0 early.
Cruz Hernandez made it 3-1 with a free kick in the 39th minute that slipped through Cazares' gloves.
"We have guys that can attack with their feet and their heads," said Goes, whose team hasn't lost in nearly two months. "That's a big weapon for us."GV soccer falls. Page C-4
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