Prep boys’ soccer rankings: Whitney moves up, Galt enters top 10, showdown in Woodland

We often focus on the heavy-hitters in high school sports. The best of the best.

Often, that’s the largest and most-affluent schools. In Sacramento-area boys’ soccer competition, that mostly means Jesuit, Whitney, Davis and Del Oro, all of whom sit at or near the top of their respective leagues.

But a number of smaller schools are making names for themselves behind star-turn seasons from their strikers.

Vacaville has been mowing through competition this winter in no small part because of Nathan Beltran’s breakout season. The junior has piled up 16 goals in just eight games as six of the Bulldogs’ seven wins have come by multiple goals. His 32 points are the most of any area soccer player entering Tuesday’s games.

It’s hard to ignore the efforts of Rio Americano’s Quinn Mahoney, who has tallied 12 goals and three assists in eight games. It’s not a coincidence that all of Rio Americano’s five wins have been of the blowout variety.

And Cristan Gomez of Woodland is making a name for himself, with 13 goals and an assist. His efforts led the Wolves to a showdown with crosstown rival Pioneer on Tuesday night.

Woodland-Pioneer showdown

Woodland and Pioneer high schools are natural rivals.

They’re the only public schools in a city of 60,000-plus people. Woodland is the historic old school near the heart of town. Pioneer is the newer school out by the strip malls and younger housing.

They’re Tuesday night meeting means more than who will likely win the Golden Empire League. It’s about pride and bragging rights. It’s also the only game on the schedule between the two schools this season, which means the loser won’t have a chance to clap back unless it’s in the playoffs, which start in three weeks.

Rankings moves

What do I know?

It’s easy to wonder, as I missed multiple unbeaten teams in our initial rankings last week.

Galt debuts in our rankings this week with a 7-0-2 mark and a tricky remaining schedule in league play.

Davis remains the top team as the Devils have continued to eke out tight wins. They’ve won their last four games by a combined five goals. That is not a lot of margin for error.

Other rankings have Whitney above Del Oro, but the Golden Eagles beat the Wildcats for 90 minutes in their first matchup of the season, with Whitney scoring in added time to earn a 1-1 tie, so we’re sticking with DO for the time being. Whitney, perhaps motivated by the rankings last week, mowed through then-No.5 Granite Bay 4-1 last week to make a statement. The Wildcats moved up to No. 3 this week, with another showdown against Del Oro looming.

The Bee’s Top 10 boys’ soccer teams

(records entering play Tuesday)

1. Davis 8-1

2. Del Oro 5-0-2

3. Whitney 8-2-1

4. Rio Americano 5-1-2

5. Vacaville 7-0-1

6. Placer 12-1-1

7. Jesuit 8-2-2

8. Pioneer 9-1

9. Woodland 8-2

10. Galt 7-0-2

Bubble Teams: Granite Bay, Liberty Ranch, McClatchy, Ponderosa, Pleasant Grove.

This story was originally published January 18, 2022 at 11:40 AM.