Rio repeats: Rio Americano beats rival Jesuit to take Division II soccer championship

Two Carmichael schools located a soccer pitch or two away from each other faced off on Wednesday night at Cosumnes River College to decide the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II championship.

Top-seeded Rio Americano beat No. 3 Jesuit 1-0 to repeat, only this one was a bit sweeter, given the opponent.

A tight, scoreless match finally broke away when Rio Americano sophomore midfielder Donovan Raftery lofted a ball into the box that was headed into the back of the net by senior striker Andy Collins with 15 minutes remaining.

The defense took over from there to extended Rio’s winning streak to 21 games and its record to 22-1. The only blemish is a 1-0 loss to Inderkum on Dec. 2. Rio beat Jesuit 2-0 on Dec. 8. The team has 18 shutouts.

Raiders coach Antonio Sutton said headers are a specialty for Collins, noting that he has scored from his head at least five times this season.

The Marauders (12-6-6) were not short of opportunities. In the fifth minute, they were awarded a penalty that senior goalkeeper Nate Heron promptly saved. Sutton acknowledged the threat that Jesuit posed in attack.

“Jesuit is a very dangerous team,” Sutton said. “It’s not lost on us that they are going to get chances. But when it counted, our defense and goalie were able to make the stops to hold us in it.”

Rio defenders Ethan Woodhouse, Luke Taghavian and Jonah Ezekiel-Thacker assisted in the clean sheet. Sutton said his team’s three-defender system places the Raiders in a unique position.

“Our philosophy is basically to outscore the other team,” Sutton said, “Since we only play with three defenders, we have to be aggressive going forward and push numbers forward. Fortunately for us, we’ve been able to score some goals this year.”

The Raiders’ attack did not need to score more than one goal to outscore the Marauders, but forwards Quinn Mahoney, Jacob Merri, Joshua Brown and Collins created plenty of opportunities.

In the midfield, starters Blake Rennie, Kyle Norris and Raftery kept possession tight in the center half as well as contributing to play moving forward. Raftery ultimately got the game-winning assist. The Raiders were ecstatic after the game as the low 40-degree temperature and high winds did not faze them.

Collins was most impressed with how his team overcame a slow start.

“We weren’t sure how the season would go with the early loss to Inderkum, but we really turned it around,” he said. “I’m just so excited to be able to win a second straight championship with this group of guys.”

The Raiders now move to the CIF Northern California regional playoffs starting next week. Sutton is in his eighth year as the Raiders coach alongside assistant Craig Huft.

Jesuit overcame a slow run of losses at the beginning of the season. The team’s captain, Kaleb Asfari, was mentioned as a real threat by the Rio coach. He put on a show, nearly scoring on five total shots. Jesuit holds a record 14 section banners, including four in Division I since 2015.